Cucku Blog

Proxy Server Support in Cucku Backup

2009-07-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

From v2.0 Cucku Backup can now connect to the Internet via a proxy server. If an attempt to connect fails you'll see the Internet Connection Failed window. You'll also see this if your firewall or Internet security software is blocking access (this is likely to happen the first time you install Cucku, or after upgrading to a later version).

Click Proxy Settings to expand the window:

You can now enter your proxy server host (or IP address) and port. If your proxy server requires credentials then you can enter your username and password as well.

If you need to change your proxy server settings you can also access them in Settings -> Advanced -> Connection. You'll also be prompted with the Internet Connection Failed the next time Cucku needs to access the Internet.

Need for Speed

2009-07-10T16:49:00.000-07:00

Akamai released their Q1 2009 State of the Internet report yesterday (PDF, registration and CAPTCHA required - it's an adventure). It's a fascinating read.

Unique IPs observed by the Akamai network are up 27% year on year to over 419 million. Of course many of those IPs represent many users connected through a NAT. The global average Internet speed is up 29% year on year to 1.7 Mbps. South Korea leads the pack at 11 Mbps with the United States coming in eighteenth at 4.2. That's the average though - the US ranks thirty third for the percentage of the population with more than 2 Mbps - 63%, compared with 92% for the leader, Switzerland.

Unfortunately the report doesn't track upload speed. For most people this is around 20% of download speed which suggests that over a third of the US uploads at less than 400 Kbps.

Broadband access is increasingly a need rather than a luxury. It's embarrassing to see the US so far behind the rest of the world in both availability and diffusion.

There is hope - VP Biden said "Getting broadband to every American is a priority for this administration" last week while unveiling a $4.7 Bn program to bring high speed connections to underseved and unserved areas. We've blogged previously on President Obama's intention to start "laying broadband lines to every corner of America".

Feeds and Search

2009-07-07T10:38:00.000-07:00

I've just added some more feeds to the Cucku Blog.

In the sidebar under Labels you can now click the feed link to subscribe to posts with that label. This is useful if you just want to subscribe to tips, or release notifications.

Each individual post now has a Comment Feed so you can subscribe to comments for the post. See Backup and System Performance for example.

We also recently added search to the site - you'll notice the search box at the top right of every page. Lots of people have asked for this and it makes it much easier to find older blog posts and topics in the User Guide.

Is there anything else we could do to make it easier to find and subscribe to the information you need? Let me know.

We Love Feedback

2009-07-02T15:08:00.000-07:00

We gather feedback from a lot of sources: Cucku Support, Twitter, Facebook, our new LinkedIn Group, this blog and a survey sent out to everyone who creates a Cucku Account and allows us to send email.

One thing that's been missing is the ability for Cucku Backup customers to share ideas with each other as well as with us directly. To correct this we've just launched a feedback forum for Cucku:

The forum is powered by the excellent UserVoice - you may well be familiar with how this works from other sites. You get ten votes which you can use to either add new suggestions or vote on existing ones.

Cucku staff will be active in the forums - as well as voting you can discuss the suggestions and we'll be there to provide feedback and clarify requirements before we accept and implement new features.

The forum isn't designed for reporting problems and bugs - if you're having trouble with Cucku Backup or Cucku Backup Pro you should still open a support ticket.

I've added a few items to get the discussion started. Visit feedback.cucku.com to join in.

When did you first "get" backup?

2009-06-30T15:22:00.000-07:00

It was a dark and stormy night...

Actually it was a sunny day in Virginia. I was twelve years old and committed to writing a novel using Paperback Writer on a Commodore 64:

There was no auto-save, no quick Ctrl-S, just waiting to write the file to the lumbering 5¼ inch floppy drive. Inevitably five hours after the last save the computer crashed and everything was lost.

Tears before bedtime, lesson learned about backup and I don't think I ever ran Paperback Writer again.

I think everyone who really "gets" backup has a similar tale. Let me know your story - what was your first or worst case of data loss?

Backup and System Performance

2009-06-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

The default settings in Cucku Backup are designed to balance protection and performance. You can tune these settings to get the right mix for your needs.

The first thing to look at is the Backup Schedule:

The default is to backup your computer every day when the computer is idle. After the local backup completes Cucku will send new and changed files to each of your backup partners. You can change the schedule to run a local backup weekly rather than daily which will reduce the load of both local and remote backup.

With Don't backup while I'm using my computer checked Cucku will wait until your computer has been idle for ten minutes before starting a local backup. If you start using your computer again while the local backup is running Cucku will automatically pause the backup until the computer is idle again (you can change the ten minute idle timeout in Advanced -> Performance).

By default Cucku will run remote backup while you're using your computer. It will also accept backup connection from your partners. You can change this in Partner Settings - check Don't send or receive files while I'm using my computer and remote backup will behave the same way as the local backup default.

If you need even more control then you can decide when to run Cucku, or even run a command line backup.

In Advanced -> Performance uncheck Run Cucku Backup at startup to prevent Cucku from running when you log in to Windows. We really don't recommend this as you need to remember to run Cucku manually and your partners can't connect when Cucku isn't running.

If you don't want Cucku running all the time then a better option is to schedule the command line version of Cucku to run daily, weekly or on whatever schedule works best for you. The command line is capable of running local, remote and partner backups.

Is there anything else we should be doing to help you get the right balance between protection and performance?

Is my Hard Drive About to Fail?

2009-06-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yes.

Longer answer - all drives fail eventually. I'm starting to get a little nervous because my main system hard drive is nearly five years old. It's had a good run, but the odds are starting to stack up against it.

Google published Failure Trends in a Large Disk Drive Population a couple of years ago. The (possibly) surprising conclusion of the paper was that drive temperature and activity are less important factors in predicting a drive failure than the presence of any errors.

The chart below (from the Google paper) shows the average failure rate for drives with no scan errors and drives reporting one more more scan errors (hard drives scan their surface in the background and report any errors found):

The paper goes on to say:

The critical threshold analysis confirms what the charts visually imply: the critical threshold for scan errors is one. After the first scan error, drives are 39 times more likely to fail within 60 days than drives without scan errors.

It's interesting to note the much higher failure rate in the first six months. Google attributes this to an "infant mortality phenomenon" - some drives are lemons.

The same pattern repeats itself for several other factors including reallocation, where the contents of a bad sector are moved to a new, good sector and probation, when the drive suspects that a sector might be a troublemaker in the future.

All this suggests that you should take action at the very first sign of trouble with your hard drive. Counter-intuitively this advice is even more important if your drive is brand new. I'm going to buy a new drive for my system and use my five year old for less important data.

Why do I need a Local Backup?

2009-06-18T11:11:00.000-07:00

With your files safely backed up offsite you might wonder if local backup is about to become extinct. A few Cucku Backup customers have event asked us to provide an option to have remote backup without local backup - in some cases because of low disk space and in others because they lack an external hard drive.

Most online backup companies work this way. You wait weeks or months while your backup trickles into the cloud and then hope that your provider doesn't go bust or lose your data.

We believe in a belt and braces approach. A full local backup protects you from everyday data loss and a remote backup is there in case of a true disaster. Right now you can pick up a 500GB external drive for less than $100. Add Cucku Backup, free for a single backup partner and you're fully covered.

File Backup vs. Disk Image Backup

2009-06-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

There are two main approaches to backing up your computer - selectively backing up files and folders or imaging your entire hard drive. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

File level backup lets you focus on saving irreplaceable data and reduces the space needed to store the backup. In the event of a disaster you'll need to reinstall your operating system before you can restore data. You also need to be careful to ensure that all of your data is included in the backup.

A disk image includes everything on your hard drive - the operating system, applications and your data. You know that you're fully covered but at the expense of space and time. You can also run into trouble if you need to restore to a new computer as a disk image will also restore drivers and settings for the original computer.

Like all online backup software Cucku takes the first approach - we backup the files that you can't replace. You can always reinstall Windows and your applications and if necessary you can buy a new computer. Your personal data is different and you need both local and remote backup - belt and braces - to ensure that it's protected.

Personally I relish the chance to reinstall my computer. Over time you build up Windows cruft, applications you no longer run, setting and registry errors and other problems that slow your computer down. When I buy a new computer I start by reinstalling the OS to get rid of the various bundled applications (and to make sure I know how to get it up and running in case I need to recover the system later).

Which backup philosophy do you prefer? Do you think there's a place for disk images in online backup?

(Updated June 17, 2009: Join the discussion on Facebook.)

Windows 7 Backup - How Microsoft Should Improve the Action Center

2009-06-09T10:00:00.000-07:00

Windows Security Center has nagged you about anti-virus, firewalls and automatic updates since Windows XP SP2. I've always been puzzled that backup wasn't included on the list - you can have a happy green shield while remaining vulnerable to data loss.

Windows 7 takes a baby step forward with the new Action Center. This includes both security and maintenance tasks and I was happy to see a prompt to configure backup:

Disappointingly though the backup item isn't flagged as important and the only option is Microsoft's backup tool. This is much improved over the default Vista backup but it's still a simple local backup tool.

Backup is a critical security component and Microsoft should take the following steps to ensure that users find and use the right backup product for their needs:

Backup should be a first class citizen in the Action Center. If backup isn't configured or a backup hasn't occurred recently this should be treated as an important security warning.

As with other security components Action Center should include a Find a program online button to guide the user to a selection of backup products from reputable vendors.

Microsoft should extend the Security Center/Action Center API to allow third party backup products to report their status to Windows.

Removing Unwanted Files from your Local and Remote Backup

2009-06-05T11:40:00.000-07:00

A common backup frustration is realizing that your backup drive is full and then discovering that to free up some space you need to start your backup again from scratch.

Cucku Backup 2.0 now includes the Remove Files Wizard. This makes it easy to save space by purging unwanted files from both your local and remote backups. Of course you could always buy a larger external drive and then move the backup location instead.

Run the wizard by clicking Settings and then Remove Old Files. You can choose between removing files that are no longer included in your backup set or deleted files that are in the backup but no longer on your computer.

If you need to remove some files from your backup to save space then edit the backup set first and then run the Remove Files Wizard.

After you click next you'll be presented with a list of each file that will be removed. Click on the Preview Items tab to see a summary view which shows the size and number of files that will be removed from each backup item (i.e. Documents, Photos, etc).

The final step is to decide if you also want to remove these files from you remote backup. Check each partner that you want to remove the files from.

Full instructions for the Remove Files Wizard can be found in the Cucku Backup User Guide.

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Take a full tour of new features in Cucku Backup 2.0 on Facebook.

Join the Cucku Backup Group on LinkedIn

2009-06-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Do you use LinkedIn? If so you can now join the new Cucku Backup Group for news, discussions and a nice Cucku Backup profile badge:

If you're not into LinkedIn you can keep in touch by becoming a Cucku Backup Fan on Facebook, following Cucku Backup on Twitter or Subscribing to this blog.

Setting Drive Permissions for Restore

2009-06-01T09:13:00.000-07:00

Imagine you are happily working on your XP machine and dutifully performing Cucku backups to an external hard drive. Then the worst happens and your main XP hard drive fails.

Safe in the knowledge that your precious data is stored on an external hard drive, you purchase a new Vista laptop and begin the restore process.

You begin by installing Cucku Backup on the new machine.

Then run the setup wizard and use the SAME Cucku account that you originally used to backup the files. This is important otherwise you won't be able to restore the data. [If you have been managing your own keys you will need to import your saved key].

After following the on screen instructions you find that the Backup Index on the external hard drive cannot be opened.
In Cucku Settings/Backup and clicking BackupLocations shows that the drive in not accessible.

The reason for this may be as follows:

When you created the backup under your Windows XP account e.g. YouOnXP, the file system will have set permissions for the backup folder to only allow YouOnXP access to the folder. This is a security feature to stop other users on the same machine accessing or deleting your backup.

However, when you create your new account on Windows Vista e.g. YouOnVista you will not immediately have permission to access the backup folder of the external hard drive.

To remedy this...

Log into the new machine with an administrator account.

In Explorer, right click the external hard drive and select "Properties".

Select the "Security" tab.

Click the "Edit" button under the "Group or User names" list.

When Windows asks "Windows needs your permission..." select "Continue".

Click the "Add" Button to add a new user.

Type "Everyone" (without the quotes) into the box provided and click "Check Names".

Click OK.

Now select "Everyone" in the list of "Group or User names".

Then click the "Full Control" check box under the "Allow" column and click OK.

This may take a while to complete.

You should now be able to restore from the backup.

Obama on Network Neutrality, Broadband Access

2009-05-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

President Obama spoke this morning about both our increasing reliance on cyberspace and the increasing threat to our data, identity and ultimately national security:

But make no mistake: This world -- cyberspace -- is a world that we depend on every single day. It's our hardware and our software, our desktops and laptops and cell phones and Blackberries that have become woven into every aspect of our lives.
...
It's the great irony of our Information Age -- the very technologies that empower us to create and to build also empower those who would disrupt and destroy. And this paradox -- seen and unseen -- is something that we experience every day.

Secure, offsite backup is a critical component of cyber-security and requires a fast Internet connection to be effective. Obama confirmed his commitment to expanding broadband access in the US:

And that's why my administration is making major investments in our information infrastructure: laying broadband lines to every corner of America

Innovative, peer-to-peer solutions like Cucku Backup depend on maintaining network neutrality. Consumers and businesses should be free to choose the applications that are important to them without interference from telcos and internet service providers. The Cyberspace Policy Review (PDF) released today reaffirms Obama's commitment to network neutrality and recognizes the importance of securing personal data (emphasis added):

The decentralized nature of the current Internet model allows individuals and entrepreneurs to develop and deploy innovative applications at the edges of the network without obtaining permission. Innovation has sparked new multi-billion dollar businesses that have revolutionized the way users interact with the network and each other. As technology becomes more critical to the United States, maintaining confidence and trust in this constantly evolving infrastructure is essential. The President has called for the federal government to work with industry on the development of "next-generation secure computers and networking for national security applications," "tough new standards for cybersecurity and physical resilience," and "standards for securing personal data."

Calling all Backup Heroes

2009-05-26T18:08:00.000-07:00

Cucku Backup Pro just introduced support for multiple backup partners. This means that you can run the online backup service for your friends, family or business. You can also send your remote backup to more than one partner. Don't forget to use the new Backup Export capability to seed those backups quickly!

Once you've added partners the main Cucku window shows you the status of each partner - just click the left and right icons to scroll through the partner list. (Click any of the screenshots below for a high quality version)

To add a new backup partner click Settings, go to the partners page and click Add. We don't limit the number of partners you can add in Cucku Backup Pro. Remote backup runs one partner at a time. Cucku will allow up to five partners to backup to your computer simultaneously.

To change the settings for a partner click on the partner in the list and click Edit.

For each partner you can control if you want to receive backups or send backups or both. You get the chance to choose when you invite a new partner and can easily change the settings later. You can also control how much space each partner is allowed to use on your computer by changing the backup quota.

Amazon takes the Online out of Online Backup with S3 Import

2009-05-22T14:17:00.000-07:00

Amazon just launched a beta import/export AWS service aimed at getting data into their S3 cloud storage platform. This follows our launch of import/export for fast remote backup and restore in Cucku Backup 2.0 last week.

Amazon has a table showing when you should consider the postal service instead of the Internet. For a T1 connection this is just 100GB, and this is the slowest connection they list. For a typical ADSL line the threshold would be closer to 20GB.

This speed problem is the largest barrier to adoption of online backup for both consumers and businesses. The rate of data growth far outstrips any advances in broadband speed. Some form of out-of-band seeding is the only way to make online backup tolerable for many.

Amazon's service costs $80 per device and $2.49 per hour of data loading. This is before you start racking up S3 storage and transfer fees. The same new feature in Cucku is free - you just need a willing friend, family member or a second PC.

Remote Backup from the Command Line

2009-05-20T15:15:00.000-07:00

Cucku Backup 2.0 includes command line support for local, remote and partner backup.

(Click image for larger view)

Command line backup is ideal if you'd prefer to have full control over when Cucku runs. You and your backup partners can schedule the command line to run local and remote backup at the same time every day.

If you're using Cucku Backup Pro to run a dedicated backup server for your family or business then you can leave the command line running to accept incoming backup connections.

See Cucku Backup Command Line in the User Guide for instructions. Command line support is only available in Cucku Backup Pro.

Frugal Friday Interview

2009-05-15T17:13:00.000-07:00

I just finished my interview with Ken Hess and Jason Perlow on Frugal Friday. You can listen to the show below - it's an hour long and I join about half way through:

If you have trouble with the flash player above you can listen to the show at Frugal Friday.

Fast Remote Backup with Backup Export

2009-05-15T09:53:00.000-07:00

One of the main problems with online backup is speed. Let's say that you have 80GB of data to backup and a typical ADSL connection offering 1.5Mbps download / 384 Kbps upload. If you can upload continuously and use the full rated upload speed it's going to take you twenty days to upload the backup.

Of course you'll never use the full capacity of the connection. It's going to take longer than the theoretical time above - maybe twice as long, maybe even four times as long.

Cucku Backup has always allowed you to directly connect to your partner's computer (via LAN or WiFi) so that you can complete your first backup at high speed. In 2.0 we now allow you to export your backup so you don't have to be on the same network as your partner.

Once you complete a local backup click Settings and then Export Backup. All you need to do is pick a folder where the export will be stored. You can export directly to an external hard drive or flash memory drive. You could also burn the export files to one or more recordable DVDs.

(Click the screen shots for a larger view.)

Once you've sent or given your export to your partner they just need to click Settings and then Import Backup. It doesn't matter if you've already started a remote backup, the import will correctly merge the export with the files that have already been sent via the Internet.

If you have more than one backup partner then the same export can be sent to each of them to kick start several remote backups.

Export also works for restore. If you need to restore from your partner, ask them to export by selecting you from the list above in the Export Screen. They can then click export and send (give) you the exported files. You can then import the backup on your own machine and restore one or more files as required.

When you first start using Cucku you and your partner could both buy an external hard drive, export your first backup and then swap drives. You both have an immediate remote backup of your critical data, and you only need to send new and changed files over the Internet.

For more instructions see Export Backup Locations and Import Backup Locations in the Cucku Backup User Guide.

Backup Export/Import is available in both the Free and Pro editions of Cucku Backup.

Cucku Backup v2.0 Reviews

2009-05-13T15:20:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share some of the great coverage we received for the Cucku Backup v2.0 launch yesterday.

Jason Perlow from ZDNet talks about the new support for multiple backup partners in Cucku Backup Pro:

For example, this is ideal for families with who have several children in college, where the PC at home is the "mothership" which contains the backups for the remote students. If Junior accidentally crashes his hard drive away at school and needs a copy of his graduate thesis that he's been working on for several months, no problem - he can get it from dad's PC at home, because CUCKU runs transparently in the background.

- Cucku 2.0: Be your own Internet backup service

Over at GigaOm Janko Roettgers likes our "sneakernet" backup seeding. This is the ability to send your first backup on an external hard drive and then only send new and changed files over the Internet:

I must admit that I was skeptical when I first heard about Cucku. However, I love the idea of an easy way to combine online with sneakernet backups, and I liked what I saw when I played a little with the new Cucku version over the last few days.

- Cucku Uses Skype to Back Up Your Family's Data

Dong Ngo at C|Net mentions Cucku for small businesses. Small companies can backup their critical data to a founder's PC at home. Larger businesses can benefit from backing up between sites. The new command line online backup capability of Cucku Backup Pro even allows you to run Cucku as a backup server for all your laptop users:

With these new features, Cucku's Backup Pro is intended for home users and those who need their backup replicated to multiple computers for better protection against disasters. Also, this makes Cucku a viable backup solution for small businesses

- Cucku online backup goes pro

At InternetNews.com Alex Goldman discusses the huge time saving of using the backup export feature. This works both ways - you can also export files from a partner for restore:

The second advantage is time: it can take advantage of the full speed of the local network which likely exceeds any connection to the Internet, especially the meager upstream that most home users and many small businesses deal with.

- Cucku uses Skype for encrypted backup

Cucku Backup v2.0

2009-05-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cucku Backup v2.0 is now available for download.

From v2.0 there are two editions available. Cucku Backup continues to provide free remote backup to a single backup partner. Cucku Backup Pro introduces support for multiple backup partners. Both editions are contained in the download - you can upgrade from Cucku Backup to Cucku Backup Pro at any time.

Multiple partner support lets you be the backup hero for your family or group of friends. Pro lets you add as many partners as you like and supports up to five simultaneous backups from partners. You can also use Pro to send your backup to several partners.

Cucku Backup Pro costs just $49.95, and one license entitles you to install Pro on three computers using the same Cucku Account. Special upgrade pricing is available for existing customers for a limited time - sign in to your account to see if you qualify.

Version 2.0 also adds support for backup export and import. It's always been possible to connect to your backup partner over a local network or WiFi connection for fast remote backup and restore but this isn't always convenient. Backup export lets you securely place a copy of your backup on a USB memory drive or external hard drive. You can then give or post the export to your backup partner. After your partner imports the backup you only need to send new and changed files over the Internet. You can also export a partner's backup to use for speedy restore if they lose their local backup.

Backup export and import is available in both the Free and Pro editions of Cucku Backup.

I'll be blogging more about these and other new features in v2.0. Subscribe to the blog or check back often for tips on getting the most out of Cucku Backup v2.0.

How secure is my backup data?

2009-05-06T02:33:00.000-07:00

One of the primary concerns when backing up to a remote location is how secure your files are against prying eyes. Those eyes may be on your own computer; on your partner's computer; or while the data is in transit between the two.

Of course, Cucku assumes that you will choose a trusted backup partner who will not delete your backed up files and who will provide you with regular access to their PC for backups and restores. However, it is still of primary importance that even your backup partner cannot access your file data.

Cucku uses the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 256 bit key size to protect all of your files from the moment they are backed up locally. This level of protection makes it infeasible to decrypt your data without possession of the encryption key.

Your random encryption key is generated by the Cucku Server when you first create your Cucku account and is stored along with your other account details. When you run Cucku Backup for the first time on your PC you must provide your login credentials (username and password) and if they are deemed correct, your unique encryption key will be delivered to your machine. Delivery of the key to your machine is performed using HTTPS which is essentially HTTP over a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) - the standard for secure communications with a server over the internet.

Once on your machine, the key itself is encrypted using the Microsoft Windows Data Protection Application Programming Interface (DPAPI) that utilises your Windows User account credentials to protect the data from other Windows Users on the same machine.
For those users who wish to manage their own key, Cucku provides a means for you to generate, export and import keys of your own. These keys will never be sent to or stored by the Cucku Server but are instead maintained in secure storage on your PC using the DPAPI interface. If you choose to manage your own keys then it is imperative that you export the key to a file and store this separate from your PC in case of hard disk failure. Without your key you will not be able to restore from your backups.

Cucku uses Skype "Application to Application Streams" to transfer files to your partner. A connection is first established to your partner and then the data is transmitted. Skype's proprietary encryption is used during data transmission in addition to the AES encryption of your data. If, by some means, your file data was intercepted during transmission; and the hacker was able to break the Skype protection; then the data would still be useless without your private AES key. Your private encryption key is never transmitted to your partner.

When your file data reaches your partner's machine it will be stored in the same encrypted form as in your local backup. Your partner has no way to retrieve your private encryption key and therefore has no way to retrieve the contents of your files. When restoring files from your partner, the encrypted files are transferred to your local machine and only decrypted once they have been safely received.

Cucku Backup is Secure Backup.

Frugal Friday with Robert Ellison, CEO, Cucku

2009-05-04T17:02:00.000-07:00

I'll be on Frugal Friday with Ken Hess on Friday, May 15. The program starts at 3:30pm PST with Jason Perlow. I'm on at 4pm PST. If you miss the live version you can download the podcast from Frugal Friday.

Lifehacker on Cucku

2009-04-27T14:28:00.000-07:00

Jason Fitzpatrick at lifehacker says:

If you've considered using remote backup to keep your data safe from disaster but you're wary of putting your backups on a third-party server, Cucku Backup is for you.

The lifehacker post follows Cucku being included in The 10 Best Windows Backup Software Programs at gHacks.

Green Your Backup

2009-04-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

Traditional online backup involves uploading your files to at least one datacenter. Gartner estimates that the global information and communications industry is responsible for around 2% of CO₂ emissions - comparable to aviation - and that about a quarter of that CO₂ originates from data centers. If you're using a traditional online backup service then plan on planting a few trees.

Cucku Backup is different. You're storing your backup on a friend or family member's PC, often taking advantage of existing free disk space. There's no network of data centers to power and cool which massively reduces the carbon footprint required to run the service.

Gartner also says that PCs and monitors contribute 40% of information and communications CO₂. This is a huge problem with backup in general and online backup in particular - many people end up leaving their computer running overnight just to run backup.

By default Cucku will prevent your computer from sleeping while backing up to a partner. This means you can set your computer to sleep when inactive. Cucku will keep the computer awake while your remote backup is running and then allow it to sleep again as soon as the backup completes.

Now that you don't need to leave your computer on 24/7 for backup invest in a Smart Strip. This can cut power to all your peripherals when your computer goes to sleep. For me, this reduces consumption from over 300 watts to under 3 - a huge saving.

(By the way, if you're still backing up to recordable CDs or DVDs then read Write Once Read Never and then remember to recycle your coasters.)

(Updated April 26, 2009: A science teacher (who I'm related to) pointed out that it's CO₂, not CO2. Corrected above. If you click through to the Gartner reports they have it wrong in two different ways!)