Many people may have already heard about Jungle Disc, but not all know that it has a unique aspect - instead of being a "full-service" operation, Jungle Disc is the "middle-man". It offers consumers the desktop software, doesn't actually store the data for you. Instead, the data is stored with either Amazon S3 or Rackspace. A closer look at Jungle Disc reveals some of its advantages and downsides to help you in determining if Jungle Disc is right for you.

Basic Features

Jungle Disc comes with the basic features that people have come to know and love about online backup services. With this solution you can schedule automatic backups, access files remotely, share files, retrieve past file versions, and sync data across multiple devices. More importantly, restoring data, a key aspect of any backup tool, is also easy with Jungle Disc.

The available options make it possible to create a user-specific backup service. There are various choices for what, when, and where to backup, as well as other settings. However, all of these options can be overwhelming for someone that is a newbie to online backup services.

Another feature that makes Jungle Disc unique is its capability to provide status reports via RSS feed. Using a private RSS feed that provides details for the backup, subscribers can keep track of the activity. The feed is updated anytime a backup is completed or once a day. This is a convenient feature for anyone that leaves a backup service to "do its thing" but still wants to know exactly what it did.

The Pros and Cons

Jungle Disc, like any other online backup service, comes with the good and the bad. Its benefits include support for Windows, Mac, and Linux, partnership with reliable storage services Amazon and Rackspace, robust features, and high grade security. What makes the service less-than-ideal is the complicated pricing scheme, lack of phone/live chat support, and sophisticated options.

Pricing

The pricing of Jungle Disc is different from other online backup services. Instead of having one payment a month, you have two. The reason is because you pay Jungle Disc for using their program to backup your data and you pay Amazon of Rackspace for storing your data. When you add up both amounts however, it should more or less equal the cost of other backup services, so it's really more a matter of how you are billed.

Jungle Disc offers personal plans for $2 and $3 per month, along with business plans for $4 and $5 per month. Combined with Amazon and Rackspace's storage fees of about $0.15 per gigabyte, you can get a substantial amount of space combined with a full-featured backup program for an affordable price. It's also worth mentioning that there is no limit to the storage you can use, although you only pay for the actual space utilized.

Should You Use Jungle Disc?

Jungle Disc is designed for someone that has an understanding of how online backup services work. You have a lot of options for customizing your backup so that it fits your needs exactly. For average users, particularly newbies in online backup however, a simpler and more straightforward backup solution may be a better choice.