Data Backup Digest

If you are in the market for a traditional, no-frills form of cloud-based data backup, look no further than SquirrelSave. While it may be the most basic cloud backup offering we've seen to date, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is a lesser service by any means. In fact, SquirrelSave still offers a highly customizable, flexible and efficient means of cloud-based storage and backup for consumers.

SquirrelSave in a Nutshell

To put it simply, SquirrelSave offers a low-cost means of backing up your data onto a cloud server. Without extra features and services such as mobile accessibility or web browsing, the development team at SquirrelSave is able to cut time and costs at their end, which ultimately translates to lower service fees than most of their competition. Moreover, they're able to offer unlimited storage to every single customer for a low monthly fee.

Desktop Access

While SquirrelSave's desktop application is nothing fancy, and it may even be lacking in some areas, it certainly does its job. Backing up or restoring files from the cloud is quick, easy and painless, and scheduling an automatic backup schedule is just as simple.

Remote Access

Because the development team decided to forego the use of mobile access, there is no straightforward means of accessing SquirrelSave's cloud servers from a remote location. While it can be accomplished, typically through an FTP client with SSH encryption support, the process is anything but user friendly.

Usage

Using SquirrelSave to manually backup and restore files from their cloud servers is a rather streamlined process. Simply choose the files or files you want to backup, exclude the ones you don't and hit the "back up" button. SquirrelSave's fully automated backup process then steps in to take over, and it will notify you when complete.

Restoring your saved files from the cloud is also a simple process. From the SquirrelSave desktop application, all you have to do is click the "retrieve" button to see a full listing of your files. This chronological listing will show you all of the backups you've completed starting with those within the past 12 hours. It continues on incrementally from there.

Files that have been deleted from SquirrelSave's cloud servers are recoverable for a period of 32 days, so you won't have to worry about losing data due to an accidental erasure. Moreover, all of the files contained within your very first backup will be stored on SquirrelSave's servers for the life of the service.

Drawbacks

There are some minor drawbacks associated with SquirrelSave, however. For starters, the software's default setting is to ignore all files over 1 gigabyte in size. Luckily this is customizable in the application's options, so you'll still be able to backup and restore your larger files.
Another drawback is the default upload speed. With the upload cap set at a mere 57kbit/s, larger files could take several days - or longer - to complete. Again however, this option is customizable to your needs. Setting the options to accept unlimited upload speeds is a rather simple process, but the default setting is a bit low.