Boost your backups with a powerful cloud client

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CloudBerry cloud backup
Sometimes, iCloud isn't enough.
Image: CloudBerry

This post is presented by CloudBerry.

Extending your backup from a local drive to the cloud is a good idea. But if you’re using iCloud, your options are limited to approved apps, and absent useful features like file version history.

You can enhance the power of Time Machine backups with CloudBerry Backup. The third-party macOS app gives you more control over backups and more efficient transfers. Additionally, it offers an additional layer of protection for your precious files, because it gives you an extra backup for your local backups to restore from if disaster strikes.

CloudBerry also offers a lot more flexibility than simply backing up straight to iCloud. For example, after installing CloudBerry, you can copy Time Machine backups to other services like Amazon S3 or OneDrive. Whether you’re looking for longer-term archiving or immediate access, you can connect with the storage plan that works best.

Reduced footprint and transfer times

When you use Time Machine to back up your Mac, it uses clever tricks to make the most of drive space. One is to do incremental backups at the file level. So if part of a file gets altered, the whole file gets resaved on the next backup. That makes for a lot less disk writing than saving the entire state of a drive for each backup. It also allows for recovering older versions of files.

It also means less data moving back and forth in general. That’s especially relevant for backups in the cloud, where each bit of sent data costs bandwidth and time.

A different method, called block-level backups, also can help keep your backups quick and lean. With block-level backups, only the parts of files that actually changed get backed up.

CloudBerry Backup makes the most of both block-level and incremental backup techniques for cloud storage. It acts as an interface with storage services like Amazon S3, Amazon Glacier, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and others. This allows you to avoid vendor lock-in, so you can choose a storage service that fits your needs and budget.

Whatever the architecture of your data, whether it’s for personal use or it forms the basis of a business, CloudBerry keeps it safe and secure.

Only the modified parts of previous files go across, along with any new files. This opens the option to purge extraneous blocks, so files disappear after a set expiration period or after they’ve exceeded a certain number of versions. That means more control and less storage space.

CloudBerry: Reliable and flexible cloud backup

Other features make CloudBerry worth adding to your backup scheme, too. You can run health checks on backups, for example, to make sure recoveries go smoothly.

It’s also super-secure, backed by 256-bit AES Encryption in the Pro version. The Pro version also supports compression options that reduce data overhead, storage costs and bandwidth use. In all versions of CloudBerry, data moves straight from the source to the storage account you authorize, never onto additional third-party servers. That’s an important layer of security,

Scheduled backups mean you can set flexible timelines for managing files and folders, with the option to make them incremental or block-level. It’s easy to choose which and how much data is transferred versus stored locally, with the option to get email notifications whenever backups are performed. There’s even a command-line interface, so you can work your backup into other platforms and tools.

CloudBerry also backs up network locations, network shares, NAS devices, mapped drives and more, giving you powerful integration options.

CloudBerry Backup is available in Free and Pro versions. The Free version is for personal use, so you get the flexible scheduler, retention policies and other features of the Pro version. With a CloudBerry Pro account, you get compression options, encryption, unlimited storage and other useful extras for $29.99 for a single perpetual license.

If you’re looking for a more flexible, more powerful Mac backup that makes the most of the cloud, give CloudBerry a try.

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