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Backify Gives 512GB of Online Backup Storage for Free

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Backify Gives 512GB of Online Backup Storage for Free
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Lkiwipride on 15/10/2011 - 09:25 backify.com (1660 clicks)
Last edited 15/10/2011 - 10:04

Maybe worth checking out.

From Lifehacker:

A new service called Backify is offering an insane 512GB of online storage for free just for signing up for their service. It's the definition of freemium, with two additional tiers of unlimited backup and unlimited backup + "briefcase", which is space you can use for anything, coming in at $3 and $5 a month, respectively.

This amount of space for free sounds amazing, especially since they let you download software onto your computer to automatically take care of backups for you, thereby minimizing the amount of ads you would have to look at (for them to recoup bandwidth and storage costs). That is, if that's even how they monetize the service. But there are some red flags.

One, the enormous amount of storage given is a red flag in itself.

Two, your password that you set is sent to you in plain text. We called the service and they said the passwords only come in plain text in the email right now, and are stored MD5 hashed. They are going to fix the plain-text email thing later today.

Three, although we were able to get through to the company, from what we heard it sounds more like a start-up, low-scale operation than a properly established business. That may or may not be true—this is just the impression we got from calling them.

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  • ccrap on 15/10/2011 - 09:29
    +2

    Well yes caveats are many but you get a plus for me ROFLing at the photo of the guy on the homepage.. Represents every ozbargainer after finding out there was no $99 laptop :D

  • PVA on 15/10/2011 - 09:40

    So what protection do you have that this or any other back company can access your data.

    • kiwipride on 15/10/2011 - 09:44

      Same as facebook? I wouldn't use this service for anything you wouldn't want 'out there' but seems like it may be worth trying for general back up.

    • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2011 - 10:56

      I'll just use it to upload and back up a large chunk of my FLAC CD backups. If it's unreliable, goes down often, loses data changes terms etc it's no loss to me. If it's good and proves itself, I'll find better uses for the space.

      My money (all $0) is on the former :(

    • surethang on 17/10/2011 - 00:40
      +1

      If in doubt, you can always encrypt whatever you upload.

  • PVA on 15/10/2011 - 09:43

    Just read.

    Your backups are private and secure in the cloud. Your files are encrypted, and can be accessed only by you. Your data is stored in a state-of-the-art datacenter.

    Does that mean the title is wrong?

    • kiwipride on 15/10/2011 - 09:47

      Yeah, I think you are right.

    • ccrap on 15/10/2011 - 09:50

      Yeah, the free service includes (from their description):

      Military grade encryption
      Your backups are private and secure in the cloud. Backify uses military grade encryption, and your files reside in our state-of-the-art data centers.
      Backify is SSL secured, and only you can access your data. Even the employees of Backify can not access your data

      Maybe the "unencrypted" part the OP was referring to was the way they send out plain text passwords?

  • c64 on 15/10/2011 - 10:39

    no linux support :(

  • spare13 on 15/10/2011 - 11:18
    +2

    I would be very wary of this. Although the program you install may seem innocent enough, I wouldn't be so sure. I see no way that they can support so many free accounts that have such high usage limits (512GB). Be very wary with this and how you use it. I'm not going to neg it because it could be a perfectly fine company but I wouldn't trust it myself.

  • HcNguyen111 on 15/10/2011 - 11:26

    Pretty good service, all it's missing is an IOS and Android App with music streaming capabilities like DropBox and it's pretty much all set.

    BTW, the plain text password email system has been fixed. You now only get sent an activation email minus the password right in front of your face.

    Edit: Just realised that they have a mobile site for you to access you files, so that would do right now in place of an IOS/Android App.

    Edit 2: OK this pretty much makes my post redundant as I just realised noobly, yet again that they do have an app for IOS and Android called "Livedrive Mobile"

  • vinella on 15/10/2011 - 11:33

    is there a limit to maximum file size ? (thinking backing up home videos)

    • kiwipride on 15/10/2011 - 19:56

      Don't think so.

  • teyc on 15/10/2011 - 11:51
    +1

    To be honest, I'd rather my backup provider have some kind of long term business survival prospects. The prices are too low to do a good job. That said, it is probably usable as a temporary back up provider.

  • [Deactivated] on 15/10/2011 - 12:55
    +1

    Backify Internet Ltd is a Vancouver, British Columbia based startup company. The company is self-funded by founder Tarandeep Gill, a Georgia Tech graduate.

    and you cant get thru to their service at present

  • DEBONAIR on 15/10/2011 - 13:13

    i would back spark13. you never know what you get into once you allow access to your disks through firewall. the backup program get a free pass to your laptop.

  • mrbombastic on 15/10/2011 - 13:21
    +1

    Is it just me or is the website down?

    • Housecat on 15/10/2011 - 13:26

      down for me too, looks real secure…

  • elcheapo on 15/10/2011 - 13:26

    great service!

    The server at www.backify.com is taking too long to respond.

    • the discombobulated… on 15/10/2011 - 14:02

      Heh. I noticed that another clod service provider was not able to handle the load to their website and got negged for it. :)

      To me it IS somewhat telling if they can't provide a service to themselves that survives. Makes you wonder what it'll be like for the stuff they provide to their customers.

  • hijackerprime on 15/10/2011 - 13:59
    +2

    Backify is simply a Livedrive reseller. According to the Livedrive reseller program, they are able to create unlimited amounts of backup accounts for free and reseller rates are only 59.95/month so in reality, they only need a handful of paying users to break even.

    Considering they are new, it is worth a try but just be wary of what you upload.

    • PVA on 15/10/2011 - 19:12
      +1

      plus $1,099.95/yr for branding - a pretty cheap online business to setup, but I wonder how many will be paying customers. hmm making me think about it - OZbackup.com.au :)

      Livedrive is a UK company, since 2008 and has 500,000 paying customers so I guess should be around for a while - as long as backify can pay their $60 a month it should be fine.maybe.

  • annoynimous on 15/10/2011 - 22:31
    +1

    lol I thought it said 'Blackify'

    • kiwipride on 16/10/2011 - 07:16
      +2

      And once you go there….you can't go back.

  • surethang on 16/11/2011 - 10:50
    +1

    FYI, this was no surprise, but I just received the following email from backify.com:

    Dear *****,

    First of all, we would like to thank you for using Backify. We hope you really liked our service and enjoyed using it.

    We regret to inform you that we can not provide free backup services anymore. All free Backify accounts will be closed on November 22, 2011.

    In order to prevent your account from deletion, please login into your account and update your Billing Details.

    <Update Billing Details>

    Once again, we thank you for using Backify. Please update your billing details before November 22, 2011 to continue using the service.

    Thanks,
    Backify Team

    • maRGas on 16/11/2011 - 10:53

      lol, I just signed up to post the same thing.

      Too bad if you actually got on board and relied on their service.

      • mustkill on 16/11/2011 - 13:52

        i uploaded half my stuff.. and now i get this email. fuckn whores.

  • maRGas on 16/11/2011 - 10:52

    **woops, double post.

  • kiwipride on 16/11/2011 - 12:14

    Craps me off.

  • andy19363 on 16/11/2011 - 15:18

    indeed….. very poor…..

  • MrDad9000 on 16/11/2011 - 22:27

    From livedrive :

    We are writing to you regarding BACKIFY.COM who you recently created an online backup account with.

    BACKIFY.COM was a reseller of Livedrive (http://www.livedrive.com). Livedrive provided the technology and service behind the product offered to you by BACKIFY.COM.

    We are writing to inform you that BACKIFY.COM is no longer a Livedrive reseller and the services that they purchased from our company on your behalf have been terminated. If you are using a service provided by BACKIFY.COM and powered by Livedrive then this service will now have stopped working.

    We would also like to advise you that we have received a number of complaints about BACKIFY.COM from their customers and from industry organizations. We would like to advise you not to provide any credit card information to BACKIFY.COM. If you have provided credit card information to BACKIFY.COM then we would suggest contacting your card provider and informing them that your card may be used fraudulently. If BACKIFY.COM have charged your card for services not provided you should contact your card provider and ask them to initiate a chargeback procedure.

    Please note that this advisory is being sent to you in good faith because we feel you should be informed that BACKIFY.COM is no longer a Livedrive reseller and of the complaints we have become aware of. No contract exists between yourself and Livedrive and we are not able to assist further in any dispute you may have with BACKIFY.COM.

    • matt_will_fix_it on 16/11/2011 - 23:02

      I got the same

    • Chris McMahon on 17/11/2011 - 00:10

      It's get worse and worse. They're gone from bait and switch to credit card fraud. Wow.

  • kiwipride on 17/11/2011 - 07:24

    From Lifehacker:

    However, Backify has posted this note on their site claiming innocence and saying it was only a billing error with Livedrive.

    LiveDrive Account Closures
    As all Backify members know now, LiveDrive has closed all the accounts. We would like to clear the situation up with our customers.

    As many of you know, you were unable to change/reset your password for the last 10 days or so. This was due to an error in the LiveDrive API. We made multiple contacts with LiveDrive through email and phone to get this sorted out. Their tech support kept us saying that their "dev team" is working on it. But the "dev team" could not sort out the issue in 10 days.

    Apart from this, their payment system failed on November 8. What that means is, we could not create any more new accounts, because their payment system kept declining all of our credit cards. Again, we contacted LiveDrive multiple times, but they could not sort out the issue in over 7 days.

    When we contacted them again earlier today and protested with strong words about the delay in providing a solution to our problems, they responded by immediately terminating our reseller account and all the accounts we have created.

    As for the email they sent to our customers, we assure you that you do not have to worry about your credit cards being used fraudulently. We did not store your credit card numbers in our system. And about the payments that you have already made, we will refund all of them over the next few business days. You do not need to file any disputes or chargebacks with PayPal or your bank.

  • the discombobulated… on 17/11/2011 - 08:54

    Let the wow start now.

  • Candour on 17/11/2011 - 09:07

    Dear anony subscribe

    We are writing to you regarding BACKIFY.COM who you recently created an online backup account with.

    BACKIFY.COM was a reseller of Livedrive (http://www.livedrive.com). Livedrive provided the technology and service behind the product offered to you by BACKIFY.COM.

    We are writing to inform you that BACKIFY.COM is no longer a Livedrive reseller and the services that they purchased from our company on your behalf have been terminated. If you are using a service provided by BACKIFY.COM and powered by Livedrive then this service will now have stopped working.

    We would also like to advise you that we have received a number of complaints about BACKIFY.COM from their customers and from industry organizations. We would like to advise you not to provide any credit card information to BACKIFY.COM. If you have provided credit card information to BACKIFY.COM then we would suggest contacting your card provider and informing them that your card may be used fraudulently. If BACKIFY.COM have charged your card for services not provided you should contact your card provider and ask them to initiate a chargeback procedure.

    Please note that this advisory is being sent to you in good faith because we feel you should be informed that BACKIFY.COM is no longer a Livedrive reseller and of the complaints we have become aware of. No contract exists between yourself and Livedrive and we are not able to assist further in any dispute you may have with BACKIFY.COM.

    If you have installed the online backup software provided by BACKIFY.COM we highly recommend you uninstall it from your computer by following the steps below:

    On Windows:
    Go to Start > Settings > Control Panel and select Add/Remove Programs (or ‘Programs and settings’), select Livedrive and select uninstall.

    On Mac:
    Go to Finder > Applications and delete the Livedrive application.

    Please note that any data you backed up using BACKIFY.COM cannot be retrieved and we recommend you establish an alternative backup service immediately.

    Livedrive does provide a very similar online backup service to the one provided by BACKIFY.COM and you can read more details and, if you wish, signup for a trial on our website at http://www.livedrive.com. Please note however that we do not provide a free service as BACKIFY.COM did.

    Other online backup vendors you may wish to consider include:
    Carbonite.com
    iDrive.com
    Mozy.com

    We are sorry for the inconvenience this situation may have caused you.

    Kind Regards

    Livedrive Limited

    • matt_will_fix_it on 18/11/2011 - 12:25

      This is getting interesting! Just got this..

      Dear matt will fix it,

      We are writing to you in regards to the recent action taken by LiveDrive to close your backup/briefcase account.

      Backify used to be a reseller for LiveDrive.com's services. Recently we were having some issues with their serive and they were literally unable to provide a solution to our problems. More information about these issues can be read on our homepage at www.backify.com. Tired of the service provided by LiveDrive, we asked them to close our reseller account. It may be noted that at no point did we ask them to close the accounts of our customers. But they went ahead and shut down the accounts of every Backify customer.

      For every customer's account, we have paid in advance a full year's fee. So, the step taken by LiveDrive to close our customers' accounts without refunding us is totally illegal, and we are considering our legal options at this time. Since your account was already paid fully for one year in advance, we request you to get in touch with LiveDrive and ask them to restore your service. Their customer support email address is [email protected]

      Additionally, we understand that you may have spent considerable time/effort/bandwidth to upload your files to LiveDrive's servers and by deleting your files/data without any notice they may have violated several laws. We also advice you to get legal help in case you suffered losses due to this sudden termination of service by LiveDrive.

      Thanks,
      Backify Team

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