If there's one lesson in life I've learned the hard way, it is that you should ALWAYS have your digital data (photos, documents, etc.) stored in AT LEAST two places at one time.  I've had pretty good luck with computers so far and have never had a dud...until almost three years ago.

We had just purchased a new desktop computer and I had ALL of my valuable memories, music, etc. stored on it and it alone.  Suddenly, with no warning and for no reason, the hard drive in my brand new desktop failed!  Riley was only 5 months old at the time and I was devastated!  Everything was gone!

We even sent our hard drive away to the "experts" who were going to try and recover all of our information off of it, but they said that the failure was so bad, that it would cost at least $900 to fix it and even then, they couldn't guarantee what they could retrieve!  Luckily, by the time I pieced together what things I had burned to CDs and still had stored on digital cameras and camcorders, it seems that I only lost about 2 weeks worth of pictures.

I cried and cried and was crushed for months after that, but at least I hadn't lost EVERYTHING!  So now, I take backing up all of my data very seriously and was thrilled to discover a super easy unlimited online backup solution for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris with CrashPlan.

Keep reading to learn more about the automatic online backup plans and features offered by CrashPlan!

CrashPlan+ allows you to automatically backup your data to the computers of your friends and family AND to a secure, online backup destination (CrashPlan Central) – so you can set your backup preferences and never worry about it again.  CrashPlan+ is simple to use and it’s the only data backup software that is compatible with all operating systems (Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris).

In addition, CrashPlan+ offers multiple backup sets—meaning you can save your digital photos and music to your sister’s computer and the tax returns on your husband’s laptop.  With the recent launch of the mobile apps (iOS and Android), CrashPlan has made it possible to have constant access to your backed up data.

Getting started with CrashPlan is very simple.  Download their software and install it to your computer.  The free version will allow you to create onsite and offsite backups of your data automatically.  You are even allowed to create multiple backup sets so that your personal files could be stored on another desktop computer, while your non-personal files could be stored on a family member's computer cross country.

If you subscribe to one of the low cost CrashPlan+ plans, you'll get automatic access to the CrashPlan Cloud, known as CrashPlan Central, which will provide online storage for your personal files in secure data centers located around the world.  It is instantly available as a backup destination after you install, and is available 24/7 for backing up and restoring files.  The great thing is, CrashPlan is constantly watching for changes to your files and flags changes for backup.  Flagged changes can be set to back up as frequently as once a minute, continuously protecting your files without slowing you down.

Now, if you download a bunch of photos from your digital camera and then your computer's hard drive crashes soon thereafter, chances are your pics will already be saved onto the cloud, thanks to the CrashPlan+ program!

This level of digital protection is also extremely affordable.  If you don't have a lot of files to backup, you can receive a CrashPlan+ for just $1.50 per month.  If, on the other hand, you're like me and have a whole slew of photos, video files and the like which take up a ton of space, opt for the CrashPlan+ Unlimited plan and keep ALL of your files safe and sound for only $3.00 per month.  Having peace of mind that my items are safely and securely stored in several places around the world for immediate access any time I need them, is well worth that price!

The only downside to using CrashPlan is that your initial file backup will take a LONG time!  After downloading the software, I began the download of just the files on my laptop, which believe me is only the tip of the iceberg, and the backup took 3.5 days.  I still have my hard drive to add and I know for a fact that this drive contains about 10X the amount of information stored on my laptop.  After this work is done though, using CrashPlan should be quick and easy and I'll rest easier knowing that I will never lose valuable digital data again!

Disclosure:  I received a 1-year subscription to the CrashPlan+ Unlimited Online Storage Plan from CrashPlan in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. This product review is based on my own personal experiences with this item and is completely honest and objective.