I've always wanted to have online backup for my Quicken data files. But the Quicken Online Backup
Secondly, it ran on scheduled times, or the first time after the scheduled time that I used my computer. I never leave my computer logged on - I always suspend it, hence the online backup always ran when I needed to get to my mail, the web or some other online activity, slowing other things down considerably.
Thirdly, the integration with Quicken was horrible. I hated it. It was hard to select backups to my hard drive or other local backups. When I uninstalled it, Quicken still thought it was installed and I got error messages that even uninstalling Quicken didn't fix. I had to uninstall both Quicken online backup and Quicken, and then spend considerable time cleaning out registry entries and other stuff before a clean install of Quicken had a backup dialog without Quicken online backup.
The fourth and least significant reason I didn't like Quicken Online Backup was the slow speed of my internet connection at the time - 56k dial-up. The large file sizes certainly didn't help.
Well, I recently installed broadband internet access, and was looking around on the net for online backup for all my data files when I came across IBackup
The 15 days' free trial didn't hurt, so I signed up to check out the offering. It has been a few days now and I'm pleasantly surprised with it.
IBackup installed a small application that starts up during startup of my computer and runs as a background process. This application seems to actively monitor my Quicken files. Shortly after I exit from Quicken, the application kicks in and backs up the changed Quicken files to the online site.
Caveat: Even when it runs the first time, it only backs up those files that have changed, so make sure you update prices or do something to security quotes that will affect the Quicken price file so the .QPH file gets backed up. I also had to run the Tax Planner to get my .QTX file backed up. The backup size seems smaller than what Quicken online backup did and the fact that I'm on broadband now also didn't hurt performance, but at least it is not at startup when I need my internet connection most, it is when I'm done with Quicken updates.
There was no mention of storage space limitation on the IBackup site, whereas Quicken Online Backup (Connected.com) had a size limitation of
50MB for the $35 plan - if you need more storage you had to upgrade to the $85 plan for 200MB or the 4GB plan for $215 per year. It seems that IBackup will backup any/all quicken files on your computer up to a limit of 4GB. What they do is to store generations (cycles) of backups, so you can have multiple backups going back in time, in the event that you need to fall back to an older position. If your 4GB of space is exhausted, they delete the oldest backups they have on site.There is no direct interaction with Quicken, it merely backs up the Quicken data files, so uninstalling it will not require messing with Quicken at all, but as things look now, I may not be uninstalling it at all.
Up to now, I have been recommending USB flash drives for Quicken backup. I may now change that recommendation to IBackup for Quicken/QuickBooks for those users that have broadband access (and perhaps for dial-up users too). It looks like the ultimate no-fuss always-on backup system.
I asked their tech support and they said it will also back up Quicken Medical Expense Manager and Quicken Rental Property Manager files, which is great as I'm considering getting QMEM sometime in the near future.
Oh, and PS, I have no other interest in IBackup other than that I use and pay for (once my trial period ends) this service.