Cool Tool Review: FastMule

Todd Hoskins chooses and uses tools and products that could belong in an entrepreneurial business toolkit. He’ll be checking out how useful they are to folks who would be their customers in a form that’s consistent and relevant.

Cool Tool Review: FastMule
A Review by Todd Hoskins

Most of us have our fail-to-backup stories. For me, it was three years worth of financial records. At the time, I was backing up my music collection, but not my expenses, transactions, and bills. What does that say about me?

Cloud storage has changed the way we think about carrying around portable hard drives. No more need to worry about mysterious noises originating from hardware, or floods, or thieves, or Johnny discovering the poetry you are secretly writing. As long as you trust whomever is managing “the cloud” and are rigorous about your passwords, all your vital stuff can be safely stored in cyberspace.

Fastmule has a funny name, but a valuable service. While cloud storage has been accessible for awhile (measured in interweb time), Fastmule gives you up to 2 GB of storage for free, or unlimited storage for $50 a year.

So, employee and customer records, bookkeeping, taxes, anything prefer to keep rather than shred. Think of how clean you can now keep your desktop. Think about how you can sleep at night knowing every piece of valuable data is locked away.

Using Fastmule is very simple. After the install, a folder is set up on your desktop. Simply move the files and documents you want to backup into the folder, and then they are magically copied into your little vault in the sky. (Actually they’re on a server somewhere, but thinking literally about locked clouds is fun). The data transfer is encrypted – no one is going to steal your valuable data in transit.

Summing Up – Is it worth it?

Enterprise Value: 1/5 – Lack of administering permissions make Fastmule better suited for small companies

Entrepreneur Value: 4/5 – Cheap. Encrypted. Easy. U/X and support could be improved

Personal Value: 4/5 – Pictures, video, music, journals, love notes – make your own cybertreasure chest

Let me know what you think!

Image courtesy of Jackiem552 on Flickr

Todd Hoskins helps small and medium sized businesses plan for the future, and execute in the present. With a background in sales, marketing, and technology, he works with executives to help create thriving organizations through developing and clarifying values, strategies, and tactics. You can learn more at VisualCV, or contact him on Twitter.