Online backups are great, but that first backup can be painful to get done. When you are backing up a large amount of data online your initial backup can take along time to complete. How long your initial backup will take depends on the upload speed of your Internet service provider. Internet services vary and they are always quick to point out how fast their download speed is, but they often hide in the fine print their upload speed. While their is no way to speed up your initial upload, other than to find a fast Internet service provider, here is a way to make it less painful and to give you an opportunity to learn the Mozy interface.
Instead of selecting all of the folders and files you want to backup at once when you configure your backup. Prioritize the order of your backup. For example, select your My Documents folder but leave out your My Pictures, My Music and other large folders. By prioritizing your initial backup you can make sure your most important files are backed up first.
The order you choose to backup your files is up to you but the order I often use for new Mozy installs is: office documents, photos, music then videos. By doing the initial upload in this order the office documents that people rely on are uploaded first. I can then check and make sure the files are uploaded correctly and try a test restore on important databases and financial documents. If you have a large amount of photos, music and videos you might want to break those uploads up in smaller parts as well. If you are a photographer you might choose a different order, but this works well for many home backup situations.
While this process might seem tedious to some, it will help you to learn the Mozy configuration interface. It will also allow you to double check to make sure that all of the file syou want backed up are actually included in the backup. There is nothing worse than having a hard drive fail and then discovering that your selection of office documents did not include open office documents that you routinely use. Once you have all of the folders and files that you want backed up your backups will not take very long, since Mozy only backs up changed and new files after that point.