BlogFeed

Limited Time Offer: Add a Computer to Your Backup & Save

edelaney — Tue, 15 May 2012 21:10:00 GMT

As a Carbonite customer, you already know the value in backing up your irreplaceable computer files – from your photos and videos to your tax records and other important documents. In fact, in a recent Carbonite survey, 50% of Americans said they would rather lose all of their vacation time for a year than lose the files on their computer. We don’t think you should have to choose!

For a limited time only, if you have more than one computer in your home, we have a special offer to help you protect them all. You’ll save 5% on each computer that you add to your account. Plus, if you add an additional computer before July 1, 2012, you’ll also get two months FREE!

Here’s how to redeem this offer:
Login to your Carbonite Account here: https://account.carbonite.com
Go to: “Add A Computer” (left-hand side)
Click on: Buy another subscription and follow the prompts.
IMPORTANT: Be sure to use offer code "ADDTWO_FB" before you click the “Checkout” button to get your 2 bonus months.

If you’re not already backing up – start a free trial today.

Take it from Thomas Edison - Small Businesses Should Back Up with Carbonite

ashli — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 18:54:20 GMT

Last year, we were alarmed to learn that although almost half (48%) of small to medium-sized businesses had already lost irreplaceable data, 31% of SMBs still weren’t backing up because they believed it was a hassle.

When we set out to create an online backup product for SMBs, we knew we couldn’t develop just any product. We sought to design an innovative product to specifically address the backup requirements, budgets, security and accessibility needs of these businesses – and one they would actually want to use.

That’s why we’re proud that the Edison Awards™ has recognized Carbonite Business with a 2012 Silver award in Innovative Services. It’s truly an honor to be recognized alongside such innovators in the spirit of the great Thomas Edison, who was a driving force behind America’s long history of innovation, creativity and ingenuity in the global economy.

If you'd like to give Carbonite Business a try, you can start your 30-day free trial on our website.

Add your NAS device to your Carbonite Business online backup

ashli — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 17:40:53 GMT

Did you know Carbonite Business can back up your network attached storage (NAS) device?

Carbonite Business NAS backup allows small businesses to easily back up the contents of their devices to the cloud. Once enabled, any data saved on your NAS will be automatically protected in the cloud. You can also access your important data from the cloud from any internet-connected device, even when you or your employees working remotely or on-the-go.

If you’re a Carbonite Business Administrator or Billing Owner, you can add your NAS device to your backup the same way you add any files or folders on your computer - simply select the NAS device with a click of the mouse and select ‘back this up.’ It’s that easy.

For more information on how to add your NAS device to your Carbonite Business backup, please read About Carbonite and NAS Devices from our online knowledge base.

Not a Carbonite Business customer yet? Start your free 30-day trial today.

World Backup Day Tips from Carbonite - Secure Your Photos in the Cloud

ashli — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

If you lost all of your digital photos, what would you be willing to sacrifice to get them back? For World Backup Day 2012 keep your cellphones and coffee – just make sure you’re backing up your photos online.

World Backup Day Backup Tip #5: Secure Your Photos in the Cloud

Download photos/videos off of all your devices: It’s easy to lose a phone or camera and lose all the photos stored on its internal memory. Make sure to download all your photos and video from your device to your computer.
Protect photos with more than just a disk drive: Computers are subject to all sorts of problems—from corrupted files to damaged hard drives to theft—that can make your photos disappear forever. Don’t rely on the one copy of your precious photos and videos on your computer, back them up.
Go to the cloud: Keep your photos and videos safe from disaster by backing them up online. With an online backup service like Carbonite, your memories are spared from computer meltdowns, theft, floods, fire or other disasters that can destroy your computers, external hard drives and photo devices.

By backing your photos up online, not only are they secure, but they’re accessible from nearly any internet connected device (including your smartphone!) at any time via the cloud.

Don’t have Carbonite? Begin backing up today by starting a free trial.

World Backup Day Tips from Carbonite - Make the Most Out of the Carbonite Cloud with Mobile Access

ashli — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 14:55:54 GMT

Need your resume for an impromptu interview? Wish you could show mom that photo of the kids? Forget to print your report? You never know when you’ll need a file. With our free Carbonite Access mobile app, you can securely access the files in your backup set from your smartphone.

World Backup Day Backup Tip #4: Make the Most Out of the Carbonite Cloud with Mobile Access

To gain access to your backup from your smartphone, all you need to do is download the free Carbonite Access app. With Carbonite Access you’ll be able to:

•   Browse the files in your Carbonite backup, arranged exactly as they are on your computer
•   Open and view files right on your mobile device
•   Listen to your backed up music from within the app
•   Share any file in your backup – just attach a file to an email and pass it along

Download Carbonite Access for iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®, BlackBerry®, or Android™.

Not a Carbonite Customer yet? Begin backing up today by starting a free trial.

World Backup Day Tips from Carbonite - Include Files in Your Backup

ashli — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 16:30:15 GMT

We all think “a computer crash will never happen to me” – until one day it does. In a recent survey, we learned that half of Americans have already experienced at least one computer crash in which they lost all of their digital data! So, there really is no time like the present to make sure you have all your important files protected in your backup.

World Backup Day Backup Tip #3: Include Files in Your Backup

When you first install Carbonite you are given two options for back up, with automatic or advanced/manual settings. The Automatic, or default, backup options are recommended and will be a fit for most users. (For a complete list of what is backed up by default with Carbonite, please read File Types Carbonite Backs Up in our online support knowledge base.)

However, if you have important files or folders that can be backed up by Carbonite but aren’t included in the automatic settings, you can add most of these files to your backup set with just a few clicks.

PC users can back up files excluded from the default backup setting in two ways: by backing up single files or choosing specific types of files (e.g., .avi, .jpg, .doc). Mac users can add any files which are excluded from the default backup by selecting them individually through the Carbonite Preferences pane.

For step-by-step instructions on how to add files, read Backing Up Files That Are Excluded by Default in our online support knowledge base.

Not a Carbonite Customer yet? Start backing up today with a free trial.

World Backup Day Tips from Carbonite - Test a Restore

ashli — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:21:06 GMT

With the majority of Americans keeping digital-only versions of data, it’s alarming to learn that 46% of Americans would never see their files again if something happened to them. What would you do if you lost the only copy of your resume or your music collection was deleted?

The main reason our customers back up their computers is to ensure they can recover their valuable files if they are lost, deleted, or damaged. That’s why our next World Backup Day backup tip is to test out a restore before there’s an actual need to recover your files, so you know what to do.

World Backup Day Backup Tip #2: Test a Restore

Performing a test restore is a great way for you to ensure you will know how to restore your files from your Carbonite backup. As you can imagine, if you do need to retrieve a deleted file or have just experienced a crash, it can be a stressful moment. Follow these step-by-step instructions to see how simple it is to restore your files, as well as guarantee you’ve selected all desired locations for backup.

Steps to perform a test restore:

Now, if you ever need to perform a critical file restore, you’ll be ready! For help on how to perform a complete restore of all your files, read Restoring All of Your Files in our online support knowledge base. Not a Carbonite customer yet? Start a free trial today.

World Backup Day Tips from Carbonite - Check Your Backup

ashli — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:35:50 GMT

When the digital versions of your photos and documents are the only versions that exist – and 82% of Americans told us they keep only digital versions of their files - it’s more important than ever to back up the documents and files that are most important to you. So, in honor of World Backup Day on March 31st, we wanted to share a few key backup tips and best practices this week.

Carbonite customers know the importance of backing up, but. it’s also important to double-check your backup. While Carbonite online backup is automatic, it’s a good backup practice to take a moment to check the backup status of your files and folders to ensure they are included in your backup and protected.

World Backup Day Backup Tip #1: Check Your Backup

For PC users, you can easily determine which files and folders Carbonite is backing up with the colored status dots that appear next to a file or folder as visible on your computer (desktop, folder lists, etc.). These colored status dots show you if a file is backed up, pending back up or not selected for back up. With this patented Carbonite technology, you can easily see the status of your individual files or folders. You can learn more by reading How to Tell What’s Backed Up (Windows) in our online knowledge base.

With the Mac version of Carbonite, you can view the colored status dots through the Carbonite Preferences pane. Again, these dots will show you if a file is backed up, pending back up or not selected for back up. You can learn more by reading How to Tell What’s Backed Up (Mac) in our online knowledge base.

After checking your backup, if you notice any important files have not been backed up with Carbonite’s default backup settings, then you can easily add the files to your backup set. To learn how to add files, read Including Files In Your Backup Set.

Not a Carbonite customer yet? Start your 15-day free trial today!

World Backup Day is March 31 - What are your files worth?

ashli — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 14:53:46 GMT

What if your computer crashed today, would you be able to get all of your files back? If not, what would you be willing to sacrifice to recover your precious data? World Backup Day, a day for computer data backup awareness, is March 31. A recent study from Carbonite revealed that although 82% of Americans keep only digital files, 39% haven’t backed up their data in over a year. And what they’d be willing to give up to get back their lost data is surprising!

In honor of this event we ask you to consider what your digital files are worth to you and if you’re keeping them safe. If you’re not already backing up with Carbonite, we invite you to start a free trial so you can start safeguarding your files today!

Big Gaps in Small Business Backup Plans [Infographic]

ashli — Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:30:00 GMT

How reliable is your small business’ data backup plan? Recently, we surveyed small businesses to study how they prepare for a data disaster. We found that many small businesses are in fact backing up their data – yet despite known risks, they continue to choose a range of out-of-date and unreliable technologies to protect important business data.

Close the gaps in your small business backup plan. Try a free 30-day trial of Carbonite Business, and if you’re ready to trade in your “clunker" of a backup solution now, you can get 3 months free with this limited time offer.

A Message from Carbonite CEO, David Friend Regarding Ads on Limbaugh

ashli — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 21:41:50 GMT

UPDATE

A Statement from David Friend, CEO of Carbonite as of 6:45pm ET, March 3:

“No one with daughters the age of Sandra Fluke, and I have two, could possibly abide the insult and abuse heaped upon this courageous and well-intentioned young lady. Mr. Limbaugh, with his highly personal attacks on Miss Fluke, overstepped any reasonable bounds of decency. Even though Mr. Limbaugh has now issued an apology, we have nonetheless decided to withdraw our advertising from his show. We hope that our action, along with the other advertisers who have already withdrawn their ads, will ultimately contribute to a more civilized public discourse.”

——

Original post:

Over the past two days we have received a tremendous amount of feedback on Rush Limbaugh’s recent comments. I too am offended and very concerned about his comments. Limbaugh’s remarks have us rethinking our future use of talk radio.

We use more than 40 talk show hosts to help get the Carbonite message out to the public. The nature of talk radio is that from time to time listeners are offended by a host and ask that we pull our advertising. This goes for conservatives like Limbaugh and progressives like Stephanie Miller and Ed Shultz. We even get customers who demand that we pull the plug on NPR. As an advertiser, we do not have control over a show’s editorial content or what they say on air. Carbonite does not endorse the opinions of the shows or their hosts.

However, the outcry over Limbaugh is the worst we’ve ever seen. I have scheduled a face-to-face meeting next week with Limbaugh during which I will impress upon him that his comments were offensive to many of our customers and employees alike.

Please know your voice has been heard and that we are taking this matter very seriously.

Sincerely,
David Friend

10 Rules for Entrepreneurs: Make mistakes, move fast, recover, and learn

ashli — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:28:24 GMT

Of all the lessons I’ve learned in business, rule #5 from my personal 10 Rules for Entrepreneurs - Make mistakes, move fast, recover, and learn - should apply to everyone from the CEO on down. But it doesn’t mean that we should strive for mistakes. It means is that you have complete tolerance for good bets that go wrong. There’s a big difference between mistakes that are the result of incompetence and mistakes that are the result of a carefully considered risk that goes sour.

Let me give you an example. Suppose an engineering team releases a product that turns out to have an obvious security flaw that causes huge harm to the company’s reputation. It turns out that nobody had performed adequate testing. That’s simple incompetence and somebody clearly really messed up. On the other hand, let’s say that in order to beat a competitor to market, an engineering team takes some shortcuts to get a new product out the door in half the time that they had originally estimated. Nevertheless, the product flops. It would be easy to say in retrospect, “You should have done more market research, more testing, more focus groups, etc.” but those processes would have delayed the product to the point where it would have surely flopped. The bottom line: you took a chance, and you failed. Now, you need to figure out why you failed so your next chance unfolds differently. What could have been done differently that would have made the outcome more favorable? How will you apply what you learned to the next product? And, is it too late to go back and fix what went wrong and try again?

In a fast moving industry, you can’t eliminate risk. Trying to eliminate risk is like driving by looking in the rear view mirror – as long as the road is straight, it works fine.

-Dave Friend, Carbonite CEO

Quick Tips to Safeguard Your Tax Documents This Tax Season

ashli — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:47:33 GMT

It’s that time of the year again – tax season’s in full swing. Did you know the IRS requires you to keep your tax documents and records for years – with different requirements for different documents? The IRS also recommends you keep all of your W-2 forms until you’re eligible for retirement! As you begin to prepare your taxes, online backup solutions from Carbonite offer a simple solution for protecting important tax documents and other valuable files.

Here are a few tips for protecting your tax documents:

Scan paper documents – Keeping scanned copies of financial documents and receipts for tax deductions will help protect your financial information from being damaged and lost or misplaced. Storing documents digitally also allows an added level of protection if you choose to encrypt your files.
Organize – Organizing digital or scanned financial records and receipts on your computer, for example in folders named by tax year, can help keep your files easy to find for years to come
Back them up the cloud – Backing up your financial documents and receipts online with Carbonite not only helps safeguard your important information from a computer crash, theft, or the unthinkable – a natural disaster – but your files will be also be accessible from nearly any internet connected device if you need to reference a document on the go.

More than half of Americans (51%) have experienced a computer crash where they lost all of their digital files, but 39% admit they have never backed up their computers, or haven’t done so in more than a year. Once you install Carbonite, the automatic backup runs continually in the background, backing up new and changed files whenever your computer is connected to the internet – saving you from having to remember to back up and also saving you time.

If you want to start protecting your tax files this tax season, you can start a free trial of Carbonite Home or Carbonite Business today.

10 Rules for Entrepreneurs: Hire people who know more than you do

ashli — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:00:00 GMT

It’s National Entrepreneurship Week in the U.S., and in honor of the celebration I’d like to continue on with my 10 Rules for Entrepreneurs and talk about Rule #6, “Grow your team. Hire people who know more than you do.”

The idea of hiring people who know more than you do seems obvious and most CEOs don’t have a problem with it. No CEO is going to turn down an opportunity to hire a really great engineer, for example. But often it’s a different story when it comes to senior management, the people who report directly to the CEO. Really smart and competent people in these positions can be threatening to some CEOs, and rightly so. Nearly anyone in a senior management position thinks about where they go next in their careers, and the answer often is “I’d like to be a CEO myself someday. Most CEOs came up through the management ranks themselves and were once VPs of Marketing, Engineering, Finance, etc., so they know what it’s like. CEOs with even the slightest insecurity (and most of us have some) may be uncomfortable hiring someone who could potentially turn out to be smarter and more competent than they are.

So sometimes a really great hire is passed over with the rationalization that “s/he’s too aggressive, won’t fit in, will threaten other members of the team, has too many opinions, is arrogant, etc. Often these rationalizations are simply the result of the CEO’s own insecurities. My solution to banishing such rationalizations is to try to honestly work myself out of a job. It probably won’t come to that, of course, because in reality CEOs rarely get fired for hiring great teams.

I’d like to think that most of my VPs are smart enough that they could step into my job if necessary, and do a pretty good job of it. In fact, this helps make my job gets easier and more fun. I can tell you that it’s great to be able to go away for a couple of weeks knowing that the company will run just as well without me as it does when I am there. To use a baseball analogy, the coach doesn’t need to be able to play shortstop, or first base, or outfield. He just needs a strategy for the team and know how to hire the players who can execute on that strategy.

When you have a team that knows more than your do, every day can be a great learning experience. My VPs know more about marketing, engineering, operations, finance, and so forth, than I do, and consequently every day I learn from them. Strategy discussions among my team are as intense and exhausting as a late night college debate. This makes coming to work fun and exhilarating and we are stronger together as a team.

If you’re a CEO or aspire to be one, you’ll never stop needing to learn. How will you learn unless every member of your team knows more than you do?

-Dave Friend, Carbonite CEO

10 Rules for Entrepreneurs: Be transparent - The more people know, the better

ashli — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:42:01 GMT

In November I posted 10 Rules for Entrepreneurs, my list of the top 10 lessons I’ve learned in business. I’ve since began exploring each of my rules a bit further, sharing with you the experiences behind the rules. This week I’d like to share a story about Rule #7, “Be transparent. The more people know, the better.”

When I was in my 20s, I had a short stint working as an arms control researcher at the Pentagon. It was all top-secret stuff requiring many levels of security clearances. One aspect of top-secret security is the so-called “need to know” rule. Regardless of someone’s security clearance level, if they don’t need to know something, you don’t tell them; and the fewer people who know anything, the better.

In such an environment, the first thing you think of when you meet someone is, “what does he know that I don’t know and he’s not telling?” Information quickly becomes a currency that buys you favors, power, and prestige. The pervasive secrecy makes for an excruciating working experience. At least that’s the way I felt about it, being near the bottom of the totem pole. I resolved that if I were ever in a situation where I could set the rules for transparency, it would be the opposite of my experience in the government.

In business, the idea of “need to know,” exists only in the narrowest circumstances, such as compensation and personnel records. Otherwise, my recommendation is always to be completely open with people about what’s going on. That doesn’t mean cc’ing the entire company on emails or holding large meetings, though. If employees have enough on their plates, they won’t seek out unnecessary information because they simply won’t have the time. If I am on the cc list for something that I don’t have time for, I simply ask politely to be removed from future communication. That’s better than just deleting the mail, or blocking it, because it also sends a not-so-subtle message about too much email. On the other hand, if someone requests to be copied on email, I’m generally happy to oblige, but if I don’t see the relevance, I’ll wonder if the individual needs to have their deliverables tightened up.

The only exception to my “open book” policy is where information could leak out and be damaging to the company. For example, my company is now public and if our financial results leaked out before our quarterly earnings release, we could be in big trouble. Similarly, I’m sure that our competitors would love to see our strategic plan and product roadmap, so the fewer people who have their hands on such documents; the less likely they are to leak out. But as far as people inside the company knowing what is going on and what our plans are, we discuss those things openly all the time.

-Dave Friend, Carbonite CEO