Business backup solution Data Deposit Box attracts thanks to the fact that a single subscription can be used to backup unlimited devices, including computers, smartphones and servers. However, when it comes down to bottom line, the service isn’t quite as affordable as some of the other options we’ve checked out.

That, as it turns out, is just one of many reasons to look elsewhere. During this Data Deposit Box review, we’ll introduce you to a service that we haven’t spent much time writing about here at Cloudwards.net and with good reason, as it turns out. A muddled user experience and limited backup, restore and security features are all points against.

If you’re still feeling the urge to give Data Deposit Box a chance after we’re finished, take advantage of a 30-day free trial before signing up for service just to be sure.

If you think you’re better off looking elsewhere, our best online backup for business roundup has plenty of better options. For home backup solutions rather than business ones, have a look at our more general best online backup guide.

Alternatives for Data Deposit Box

Strengths & Weaknesses

Features

Data Deposit Box provides online backup primarily aimed at SMBs. Device support is one of the services few points of attraction, as it is able to backup computers, mobile devices and servers under one subscription.

Supported computer operating systems include Windows and MacOS, but not Linux, so look to our best online backup for Linux guide if that’s a priority. Smartphone apps are available for Android and iOS. File server backup is offered for Windows.

External hard drive and NAS support is also supported, although due to some ease of use issues, among other things, we certainly don’t rank Data Deposit Box among the best online backup for NAS options out there.  

Data Deposit Box also isn’t capable of disk-image backup, only backup by file type. We have a roundup of top image-based backup options if that’s a need. We especially recommend CloudBerry Backup for this task (read our Cloudberry Backup review).

One thing we do like is that Data Deposit Box offers customizable file versioning, which stores past file copies that you can rollback to in case of accidental changes or file corruptions, including those cause by malware.

From the same settings panel, you can also throttle your backup to reduce impact on system resources.

Overall, the features offered by Data Deposit Box are a bit of a mixed bag. The biggest issue with the service, we found, is that it doesn’t make use of desktop client to manage backup processes. We’ll address that issue more when we discuss ease of use, below.

Pricing

Subscriptions plans for Data Deposit Box are built around a set of tiered options starting at 60GB and going up to 1TB. If you need more than 1TB, you can contact sales for terms.

Plan One

• 60GB

1-month plan

$7.99/month

Plan Two

• 100GB

1-month plan

$12.99/month

Plan Three

• 250GB

1-month plan

$32.99/month

More plans

Plan Four

• 500GB

1-month plan

$64.96/month

159.99

• 1TB

1-month plan

$159.99/month

Payments are month-to-month, meaning you can cancel whenever you want. There aren’t any discounts for signing up longterm like you get with many other online backup services.

The rates are more than most other providers, too. For example, with CrashPlan (read our CrashPlan review), you can get unlimited backup for one business computer for just $10 a month.

True, you need to take into account that Data Deposit Box can be used to backup unlimited computers, and servers and mobile devices, too. That makes IDrive (read our IDrive for Business review) a better comparison, a service that lets you backup unlimited devices and prices 1.25TB at around $50 a month.

Meaning, Data Deposit Box still doesn’t come out looking particularly cheap. Before you settle on Data Deposit Box as a backup solution, you should definitely take advantage of the 30-day free trial to figure out if it really meets your needs.

Ease of Use

Signing up for Data Deposit Box only takes a few minutes, after which you’ll need to download a desktop client.

However, the process of creating a backup plan and later restoring files is run entirely through a web GUI. That goes against the norm followed by most online backup tools today.

While we don’t mind the use of a web GUI over a desktop GUI, the design feels old-fashioned, with small font, and it makes poor use of available space. That makes it hard to get your bearings at first.

Switching between tabs in the browser tool also resulted in longer load times than we’d expect, a problem that would be nonexistent with a desktop GUI.  

Not to pile on, but we also didn’t much like the fact that Data Deposit Box immediately started backing up our computer without prompting. While long admirers of Backblaze’s set-and-forget approach, that service at least tells you what it’s going to do before it starts doing it, while with Data Deposit Box we weren’t clear what was being backed up.   

Backup & Restore

As mentioned, Data Deposit Box immediately starts backing up your hard drive after you install the desktop client. That process is managed through a browser, but if you close the browser it will keep backing up in the background.

Included for immediate backup are the desktop folder, plus the documents and pictures subfolders in your user folder. Of course, you can change that if you’d like, subtracting and adding folders and even tagging specific files for backup.

Go to the “settings” tab and click “backup selections” to see and make alterations to your backup plan.

Backup runs continuously by default, which gives you the best amount of protection. However, most online backup tools also give you the option of creating scheduled backups; Data Deposit Box does not.

There is, on the other hand, a block-out option, where you can schedule blocks of time during which your back doesn’t run. That’s not quite as good as schedule, but almost.

You can restore files by clicking the “restore” button in the web GUI. When choosing files, you can indicate a past backup date to restore previous file versions.

Once you’ve made your file selections, click the “download button.” You’re not given a choice restore files to their original location. Instead, Data Deposit Box will prepare a .zip file for you.

Overall, we just weren’t that impressed with the backup and restore process. It’s not nearly as flexible and feature-rich as some of the other back services available, whether that’s a high-end solution like Acronis Backup (read our Acronis Backup review) or a budget-friendly pick like CrashPlan (read our CrashPlan review).

Speed

One area where Data Deposit Box doesn’t falter is speed. We tested the service using a 1GB test folder, the same we’ve used to gauge its competition.

Here are numbers we got:

Our tests were conducted over a WiFi network with 25 Mbps download and 10 Mbps upload speeds, and our test location was in Southeast Asia. You should expect better results if you’re closer to the Data Deposit Box data center, which is in Canada, and you have a better internet connection.

However, even from our faraway location, the times aren’t bad. Some of the competition, for example, like Carbonite, took several hours to upload the same content.

While you might reasonably expect a 1GB file transfer to take about 15 to 20 minutes, that’s not usually the case with online backup tools, we’ve found, unless working with more advanced infrastructure like that of Amazon S3 or Acronis Backup (read our Acronis Backup review).   

Security

Data Deposit Box doesn’t reveal much about its security setup online, which is usually a bad sign. We contacted support to find out that files are, in fact, encrypted prior to leaving your computer and remain encrypted until restoration, meaning encryption is end-to-end.

The level of encryption used is 448-bit Blowfish. While less common than AES, that should still keep your files safe.  

However, there’s no option for private encryption like you’ll find with most respectable online backup services today. That means that Data Deposit Box manages your encryption key and can decrypt your files at any time.

There’s no option for two-factor authentication with Data Deposit Box, either, like there is with IDrive, Backblaze and many other online backup services.

Data Deposit Box also doesn’t give any details about what steps it takes to secure its data centers against virtual attacks, trespassers and natural disasters. Given that, we would err on side of caution and assume it’s not very secure.

Support

Data Deposit Box provides support via telephone and email. We fired off a few emails to test the efficiency of the support network. While we were happy to receive responses within a business day, the answers we got didn’t fully address the questions we asked.

For example, we asked for details on the encryption protocol used and whether it was private, and were only advised that files were, in fact, encrypted, without any of the other details we asked for.

While Data Deposit Box also has a nice looking knowledge-base online, we found that most answers to questions we had weren’t contained within. That included questions about encryption and versioning.  

The support site does have a few nice looking video tutorials, but they’ll only help with the most basic of questions.  

Final Thoughts

The bottom line is that, aside from respectable upload speeds relative to the competition, there’s not much to love about Data Deposit Box. The user experience, especially, feels like a mess. The web GUI is slow, with hard to read font and not as many options as you’ll find with more modern online backup solutions, like CloudBerry Backup.

For example, you can’t restore files to their original location, you can only download a zip file. And, without an option for private encryption or two-factor authentication, Data Deposit Box just doesn’t feel very safe.

You’ll be better off taking a look at some of the other solutions in our best online backup for business guide. While there’s really no one service that outperforms all the rest, you can do a fair bit better than Data Deposit Box.