Back That Data Up
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How it stacks up
Mac backup is crowded. Here's the honest version of where Back That Data Up fits.
| Back That Data Up | Time Machine | Carbon Copy Cloner | Arq | Backblaze | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $29.99 one-time | Free | ~$49.99 one-time | ~$49.99 one-time | ~$99/yr |
| No subscription | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✕ |
| Point-in-time snapshots | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Ransomware detection | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ~ |
| Encrypted, key held by you | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Cloud backup to your storage | ✓ | ✕ | ~ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Cross-version file search | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Multiple backup jobs | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ✕ |
| Custom / per-job schedules | ✓ | ✕ | ✓ | ✓ | ~ |
| Exclude files, folders & types | ✓ | ~ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Continuous / on-change cloud | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ~ | ✓ |
| Hardware-key (FIDO) encryption | ✓ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ | ✕ |
| Friendly for non-experts | ✓ | ✓ | ~ | ~ | ✓ |
Competitor prices & features are approximate and may change, check each vendor before deciding. ✓ yes · ~ partial · ✕ no.
The honest answer
“But my Mac backs up for free.”
It does and Time Machine is genuinely good. Keep it on. But it was built for one job: a spare copy on a drive next to your Mac. Here's where that leaves you exposed.
It's all in one place
Time Machine: Backs up to a drive sitting right next to your Mac. One fire, theft, or flood takes both at once.
Back That Data Up: Adds an encrypted copy in your own cloud — offsite and safe even if the Mac and the drive are both gone.
It can't spot an attack
Time Machine: Faithfully copies files that ransomware just encrypted, quietly burying the good versions you'd restore from.
Back That Data Up: Watches each backup for the signs of an attack and pauses before it can overwrite your clean snapshots.
It can fail quietly
Time Machine: Backups can stall or corrupt with no fanfare — and you tend to find out the day you actually need them.
Back That Data Up: Verifies what it writes and tells you your backup is healthy, so there's no nasty surprise waiting.
It's one-size-fits-all
Time Machine: One whole-disk job on a fixed hourly schedule with a basic exclude list — and that's about the extent of it.
Back That Data Up: Run multiple jobs on their own schedules, exclude by file type, and lock your cloud vault with a hardware key.
More than Time Machine. Friendlier than the pro tools. No subscription like the cloud services.
Time Machine is great until you want ransomware protection or your files in the cloud. Carbon Copy Cloner and Arq are powerful but built for pros. Backblaze is simple, but it's a monthly bill, forever. Back That Data Up gives you the protection, keeps it friendly, and asks you to pay exactly once.