s carbonite development status active operating system microsoft windows mac os type remote backup service website www.carbonite.com carbonite is an online backup service available to windows and mac users that backs up documents e mails music photos and settings . 1 it is named after carbonite the fictional substance used to freeze han solo in star wars the empire strikes back . 2 it was the first such service to offer unlimited backup space for a fixed price . 3 previously all online backup services were priced by the gigabyte ; many other vendors which have since changed to an unlimited model . carbonite offers two separate lines of products carbonite home and home office for individuals families and one or two person businesses ; and carbonite small business for businesses with three or more computers . 4 carbonite was named best windows backup tool by lifehacker 5 labs winner by pc pro editor s choice by nextadvisor 6 hottest boston company by lead411 7 but received only two mice in a macworld review putting it second to last . 8 contents 1 product details 2 company profile 3 history 4 funding 5 amazon review controversy 6 misleading advertising controversy 7 releases 8 see also 9 notes 10 references 11 external links product details edit carbonite online backup installs a client software program windows and mac operating systems only linux based systems are not supported on the user s computer that operates continuously in the background . this client software automatically seeks out new and changed files on the user s computer and backs them up using incremental backup . 9 each file is compressed and encrypted using a 128 bit blowfish encryption before it is sent to remote servers at the company s data centers via the internet . this of course requires that the user s computer be continually connected to the internet and the speed of the internet connection will impact system performance . data is transmitted to the servers using a secure ssl link . 10 the encrypted files are stored on 15 drive raid 6 storage arrays . 11 the client software also provides de duplication at the bit level only . thus files moved to a new drive will be backed up twice . the program is designed to automatically back up user generated content including text documents spreadsheets financial documents photos music etc. specifically on a windows pc carbonite backs up everything in the documents and settings folder including the desktop favorites and all other files except for temporary log and video files . any file or folder can be added to the default backup 12 if it is on a local internal drive formatted with the fat32 or ntfs file systems . according to the carbonite website the home version will only backup internal drives whereas the homeplus and homepremium versions will also backup external drives . the backup software integrates with windows explorer adding green dots to the file icons of any backed up file . 13 adding or removing files from the backup is done using the right mouse button and the windows context menus . the windows version of carbonite will keep multiple versions of backed up files . 14 carbonite can recover from some forms of ransomware 15 but this requires contacting carbonite customer service . for intel based macs running mac os x 10.4 tiger or 10.5 leopard 16 carbonite is controlled through system preferences and using the contextual menu . file systems supported by default on mac os x are supported by the mac client with the exception of fat . note that carbonite is not fully compatible with lion consuming around 100 % cpu during backup . the program also includes a remote access application that allows individual files to be downloaded to any computer using a web browser . 17 company profile edit ceo david friend and cto jeff flowers founded carbonite in 2005 the fifth joint venture for the pair who also together founded computer pictures pilot software faxnet and sonexis . 18 friend had also been an executive at arp instruments inc. a pioneering electronic music synthesizer manufacturer in the 1970s . since its launch in 2006 carbonite has backed up more than 100 billion files and has restored more than 7 billion lost files for its customers . 19 carbonite introduced their macintosh version for intel based macs with os 10.4 or 10.5 in march 2009 . 20 history edit the product debuted at staples in 2006 when it focused on photo backup and offered a free six month subscription with all camera purchases . 21 it partnered with microsoft in 2006 to include the program with purchase of microsoft money 2007 . 22 and renewed the following year for the 2008 23 in 2007 it was named top private company by alwayson in 2007 . 24 it has partnered with several other backup storage and file transfer companies with ipswitch inc. in 2007 to provide the service to purchasers of their ftp client 25 olbex in 2007 to offer the service to u.s. cable companies 26 sonic solutions in 2008 to provide core technologies for their digital media storage solution 27 and with tds telecom in 2008 to provide core technologies for their online backup service 28 and with lacie in 2008 to power their online backup . 29 it partnered 30 with lifeboat distribution in 2008 to enhance distribution coverage within north america . 31 it partnered with packard bell in 2008 the first partnership between an independent online backup company and major pc manufacturer providing all purchasers of their desktop and notepad computers in europe a free four month subscription . 30 it subsequently partnered also with lenovo in 2008 to have the service pre loaded on their pcs 32 and with acer to have their online backup service pre installed on select pcs . acer 33 signed on for a similar arrangement in 2009 . in 2009 it admitted loss of backups of over 7 500 customers in a lawsuit filed against promise technology a hardware provider . 34 on june 6 2011 carbonite acquired phanfare . carbonite declined to honor phanfare lifetime memberships instead granting lifetime members 299 in phanfare credit which would expire after three years if unused . 35 two days later phanfare founder and ceo andrew erlichson notified lifetime subscribers that customers requesting a refund will be paid not by carbonite but what remains of phanfare inc. 36 funding edit in 2006 it secured 2.5 million in series a financing from 3i and commonangels ; 37 in 2007 it completed 15 million series b financing led by menlo ventures . 38 in 2008 it secured additional 5 million in series b 2 funding 26 and completed c round financing with approximately 20 million of new capital led by performance equity of stamford connecticut ; 39 in 2010 it closed a mezzanine round of funding with the total financing raised to 67 million . 40 carbonite made its ipo in august 2011 raising 62.5 million in its offering . 41 on 4 feb 2013 carbonite announced that its net loss for the full year 2012 was 18.9 million compared to 23.5 million in 2011 . since its inception in 2005 nasdaq carb has lost in excess of 120 000 000 of public and private investment . the company s sec financial reports state we do not expect to be profitable for the foreseeable future . amazon review controversy edit carbonite reviews on amazon were a subject of controversy in early 2009 . apparently employees of the company posted favorable testimonial style ads on amazon in 2006 including those by senior members of the management team . 42 additionally the new york times reported that the ceo was made aware of the situation in september 2008 but did nothing to remove the false postings until the ny times blog appeared in january 2009 . 43 misleading advertising controversy edit the advertising standards authority asa in the united kingdom ruled on august 1 2012 that carbonite had misled consumers by describing its online backup as unlimited . 44 45 following a complaint the asa investigated and found that due to bandwidth restrictions for uploading data which limit upload to 2 mbit s for the first 200 gb but then to only 100 kbit s once 200 gb had been exceeded the backup was not unlimited . therefore the advert was likely to mislead consumers . additionally carbonite breached rule 1.7 of the cap code for failing to respond to the asa s charges . 46 carbonite states they have eliminated bandwidth throttling for all of their customers . 47 releases edit version 1.4 late 2005 of carbonite photo backup 48 version 2.0 may 2006 carbonite unlimited backup 49 version 2.1 february 2007 with added support for windows vista 50 version 2.3 june 2007 with added block level incremental backup launch 2007 of online backup service in french and german 51 version 3.0 august 2007 with added online backup simplification processes 52 version 3.5 january 2008 with enhanced user controls and saving up to three months of previous file versions 53 launches 2008 dutch portuguese spanish 54 and japanese versions 51 version 3.6 june 2008 with improved backup speed for large files and other performance enhancements version 3.7 march 2009 with user requested enhancements 55 adds remote file access 2009 56 launches 2009 carbonite online backup for intel based macs with os 10.4 or 10.5 in march 2009 16 version 4.0 september 2010 releases ipad app and updates for iphone and blackberry apps 57 launches 2011 carbonite small business offering 58 see also edit comparison of online backup services list of backup software includes managed backup providers notes edit carbonite boston ma inc 500 fastest growing companies 2011 . inc. 2011 . retrieved 2011 10 25 . muchmore michael 2008 04 04 . carbonite online pcbackup . pc magazine . retrieved 2009 04 23 . carbonite review . revuezzle . retrieved 2013 02 01 . home & home office or small business which is right for you . carbonite . 2011 06 29 . retrieved 2011 10 19 . pash adam 2008 09 21 . best of the best the hive five winners . lifehacker . retrieved 2009 04 23 . online backup service reviews . nextadvisor.com . retrieved 2009 04 23 . lead411 hottest boston companies awards . lead411.com . retrieved 2010 06 07 . fleishman glenn 2009 09 07 . online backup services . macworld . retrieved 2009 09 07 . it s time to move from a disk to tape to a disk to cloud backup strategy . itcloudworks . 2015 06 24 . retrieved 2015 06 24 . carbonite online backup . pc authority . 2009 01 20 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . storage tip a simple backup for single drives . it world . 2007 05 25 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . carbonite 3.5 online backup review . pc advisor . 2008 02 13 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . test and review of carbonite online backup . pc backup review . retrieved 2009 04 23 . restoring previous file versions . carbonite . retrieved 2015 01 28 . cryptolocker crypto virus . carbonite . retrieved 2016 03 01 . a b online backup providers add mac support . byte and switch . 2008 05 01 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . carbonite integrates remote access to online backup solution . it backbones . 2009 03 30 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . mit world speakers . mit world . 2006 06 07 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . mclaughlin tim 2011 05 12 . carbonite calls for backup files 100m ipo . boston business journal . retrieved 2011 10 17 . online backup providers add mac support . pc magazine . 2008 05 01 . retrieved 2009 04 23 . startup gains 2.5 m backup . red herring .