"When I heard that there might be no way to retrieve the
data when my external hard drive died, my stomach just
flip-flopped," says Annie Maines. "I thought, what if I've
lost everything?"

Maines works with her husband in the Law Offices of Gilbert E. Maines, a firm specializing in civil litigation. Since only the two of them are employed there, she tends to be in charge of nearly every task necessary for running the office, including backing up the data. Recently, when an external hard drive suddenly failed, Maines realized that she needed a better solution to ensure that important client data remained secure and available.

Close Call

In the past, Maines had used two forms of backup: an external drive and a computer with a hard drive designated for backup space. One afternoon, she got ready to do a backup and
saw that the external drive icon didn't show up on her
computer menu.

She called the company's IT consultant, who informed her that the drive had died and there was no way to retrieve data from it. If she hadn't been saving info to her hard drive as a "backup to the backup," the company would have lost all of its data. Considering the number of litigation cases that were still in progress, that level of data loss would have been a disaster, she says, particularly because many files were only available in digital format, without a paper-based counterpart.

"Fortunately, we were able to access the data, but it really made me think about putting a better system in place," Maines notes. "I knew there had to be a better way."

Feeling Secure

Maines learned about Carbonite from her sister, who'd heard about the company on a news program. She decided to give it a try, since Carbonite offered a free trial and she liked the ability to see what the service could do before she signed
up officially.

"I didn't want to wait to see what would happen if I just kept storing files on my old computer, and I didn't want something complicated to use," she says. "This is why Carbonite felt like it made sense for us. We could do it ourselves without the expense of bringing in our computer guy, and we could feel secure about our data."

Better Backup

Once the law office went through the free trial, Maines was convinced that it was the right solution for them. She appreciated the way the backups were done "in the background," leaving her free to do other work instead of taking on tiresome backup chores every afternoon.

She also appreciated knowing that the data was secure
and private, since so much of what's stored is privileged
client information.

"We really have to be aware of privacy," she says.

Here are some of her favorite features:

• The automatic backup:

  Maines loves the fact that she doesn't have to do manual backup tasks like she used to, which frees up her time for other work.

• Peace of mind:

  If something happens to a piece of equipment in the office, or a natural disaster strikes, the client files are still safe and sound, Maines notes.

• Frequent backups:

  Maines used to do backups daily, but with Carbonite, files are updated whenever there's a change, meaning that backup is very up-to-date.

Since making the shift to Carbonite, Maines doesn't worry about what might happen if a drive were to fail or the computer system were to sputter. She says, "Carbonite helps me feel that the client files are safe, and if anything ever happens to our computers, we'll be able to access what we need."