Offsite backup is the way to go if you want your data to survive a fire, but it usually requires costly monthly subscription fees and bandwidth usage. Datto’s Box2Box does not.
The Gadget: An updated version of Datto’s previous backup system, which still has the offsite network backup, but adds Gigabit Ethernet, RAID and ZFS (among a few other things). It’s targeted towards home businesses, professionals and small offices where they need a convenient internet backup service that’s automated and easy to use, and can deliver their files back to them quickly when their drives fail.
We liked Datto’s previous Network Storage device with offsite mirroring, but we had some issues with their slow 10/100 Ethernet and loud fan. Good news for us, since Datto’s latest Z Series solves these two problems with standard dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, a fan that only spools up when needed, 1TB local and offsite storage, RAID 1, Active Directory support, free customer support and a five-year warranty.
The Gadget: Datto’s Backup NAS, a 100/500GB network storage device that automatically uploads whatever is on it to Datto’s servers, giving you an off-site copy of your important information in case of a catastrophic loss.
Although this 500GB Datto NAS backup seems to be targeted towards small businesses, most of us on Giz have enough data lying around our computers for it to be worthwhile to us as well. The Datto comes in two models, 100 and 500GB, and both automatically back up whatever data’s on it to the Datto servers in case your house gets destroyed by Godzilla and the Cloverfield monster playing footsies.
