SOS Online Backup is a tech company based in El Segundo, California. Yes, the same El Segundo mentioned in the Tribe Called Quest song, of the same name. Like the old-school classic, SOS Online Backup has been providing backing up user data since 2001. Okay, maybe their shared city is all the song and SOS Online Backup have in common. But SOS is one of the old-school classic providers on the market. But don’t let that sway you. SOS is sure to wow with its impressive backup and recovery speeds. A global network of servers based in the U.S., Australia, India, and Ukraine allow for full use of your internet bandwidth with no interruption. This wide network helps avoid some serious server congestion that tends to hinders speeds of its competitors.
With SOS Backup you can backup unlimited mobile devices, but a single subscription limits you to five computers. That’s more than enough however for most home users. Supported computer operating systems include Windows and Mac, but not Linux. Smartphone backup is available for Android and iOS. But more than a few of SOS’s competitors allow both unlimited phones and computers backup. And for a fraction of the cost.
On the brighter side, SOS Online Backup does support backup of unlimited external drives and NAS (network-attached storage) devices. SOS Online Backup doesn’t impose restrictions on file size, type or number of files, but it doesn’t offer full continuous backup. SOS Online Backup also allows for private encryption — meaning you get to keep your encryption key so nobody else can read your files. You can also pick one of two ultra-security choices: Standard UltraSafe and UltraSafe Max. With both of options, not even SOS staff has access to your encryption key.
SOS Online Backup provides unlimited file versioning. You may notice some increment backup usage but not at any alarming rates. That’s because backups run at the block level. This process ensures an archive of only areas changed on the file.
Mirror-image backup isn’t an option with SOS Online Backup for Home. That feature is only available for Business users.
Like many other backup solutions, SOS Online Backup does let you share files saved to the cloud, but only from your mobile device or desktop client. Unfortunately, you can’t access files you’ve backed up from the browser interface either.
SOS’s recovery tool is one of its best features. The desktop app allows you to search for specific files, browse a folder tree, or restore your entire backup. You can recover all versions of a file by selecting a simple checkbox or use a calendar to get files back from a particular day.
Pricing:
SOS is one of the most expensive online backup options. For $4.99 per month or $44.99 per year, you get 50GB of storage for up to five computers and unlimited mobile devices. Pay $7.99 per month or $79.99 per year to raise the limit up to 100GB. Plans are available to support 10TB of storage but for $299.99 per month or $2,999.99 per year.
Pros:
SOS Backup is amongst the fastest, it saves all previous versions of files, and it offers unmatched security options. The desktop client is easy to use and makes finding files easy.
Cons:
Customer Service at SOS Online Backup seems to be lacking. Many users have made public gripes regarding support on review forums. You’d think with such a high price there’d be white glove service. With that said, SOS Online Backup is an expensive option with only decent features. “Continuous” protection is limited only to individual files you manually choose. There are no free or unlimited accounts.
Conclusion:
SOS Personal is a good fit for your backup needs if you want a service that’ll let you permanently back up any deleted files on your computer, and fast. But they’re not the only one and definitely not the cheapest. If you can get over the sticker shock and are super impressed by it’s speed then be my guest. Buy it. If price and anywhere, everywhere access is a make or break for you, then leave it.