Mozy Helps Beth Lutz Recover From a House Fire

“We had a devastating fire that totally demolished our house. I tell all my friends, ‘You really need to make sure that your data is backed up.’ I can’t imagine not having all of those picture and files…. I absolutely recommend Mozy.”

Beth Lutz had a lot to worry about when fire consumed her home in October 2010. Everyone got out safely, but her records, photos, documents and computers were a loss. Fortunately, as a MozyHome user since 2007, all her records and images were ready and waiting for her to restore, making it easier to recover from the tragedy and get on with life. “I just couldn’t take the risk that something might happen to client work I was doing,” Lutz says.

Lutz had been maintaining regular backups for years but hadn’t needed to call on the service. For a time, she used a conventional, on-premise backup system, but the process was complicated and offered little peace of mind. “What is so fantastic about the Mozy product is that it is so easy to use — with just a few clicks I was able to set up an automatic backup of my important documents, files, music and photo. I could also quickly check online to see that my data was actually being backed up,” she says. “With an external hard drive, it was harder to verify that the files I wanted to back up were actually being saved. It didn’t give me the same kind of confidence.”

Lutz actually got a hint about the unreliable nature of conventional, on-premise backup when a flood hit her home office the year before the fire. “It made me realize that if the external hard drive fried, I would have a problem.”

After the fire, Mozy’s comprehensive backup ensured that Lutz had all of her vital documents intact. The cloud service also safeguarded and restored the family’s photo and music collection.

The extensive photo backups proved invaluable for dealing with her insurance company, thoroughly documenting all her possessions and enabling her to push back against lowball estimates of replacement prices. More important, though, were the personal memories. “I can’t imagine not having photos of my kids growing up. It would have been horrible,” she says.

Lutz has become an activist for cloud backup since her unfortunate fire. “I keep telling all my friends: you’ve got to do it, you’ve got to have backup you can rely on,” she says. “Hopefully you don’t need it—I never thought my house would burn down!—but if something does happen, you’re protected.”

(http://mozy.com/product/testimonials/beth-lutz)