Online Backup FAQs
Why to backup online?
Everybody needs to backup his/her computer on a regular basis. Today, you have very important files on your computer’s hard disk. Those files include your family photos and videos, you personal or business financial data, your customer data or research materials, etc. On average your computer or hard disk crashes every 4 years. Your files are also subject to virus attack, accidental deletion, or any major disasters, such as fire, theft, flood, earthquake, etc.
What is (data) backup?
Performing a backup means making copies of the data that can be restored later on, even after a data loss. Backups are useful primarily for two purposes. The first is to perform a complete disaster recovery. The second is to restore single files after their accidental deletion or corruption. Our data deduplication technology is able to reduce the required storage capacity since only the unique data is stored.
How long does a backup take?
The time of your backup depends on the amount of your files and the speed of the Internet connection. The first backup may take up to several hours if the size of the files selected is quite big. All the subsequent backups will take less time because IASO backup software recognizes the changes made in your files/folders and backs up only the modified parts. Please note that making a backup of a picture, depends on your internet connection, and takes about 30 seconds. Backing up of 20 pictures will take approximately 10 minutes.
What is online backup?
Online backup mechanism is similar to a regular backup mechanism but with one important difference. Instead of sending backups to a device attached to the computer, during online backup your data is sent encrypted over the Internet to a remote data center and it's completely automatic unlike a tape backup.
Online backups can be very useful as they allow the users to access their backups from any location using the Internet. For home users, online backups are also more secure because they are physically separated from the original data.
How secure are online backups?
Sending your data is always protected with our advanced technology. When installing the backup solution you get a screen to a login name, password and security code. Only you have access to your data files because IASO Backup software encrypts your data prior to the transfer to our remote data center. IASO encryption mechanism and a security code ensure that nobody else (even our employees) cannot access your data.
Why is it necessary to remember the security code/encryption key?
All your data is always encrypted with the unique security code/encryption key (known only to you). It is also stored encrypted in our world-class data centers. Thus your personal encryption key requires special attention. The key can be any word or sentence that will be used in the encryption algorithm to keep your data confidential. Without the key, no one can access your data. So the challenge is to use a key word that you can remember, but that no one else knows or can guess. The maximum length is 30, and the minimum is 6.
Note: Keep your encryption key safe. If you lose your key, your data gets lost. Not even the developers of the software can access your data without that key!
Can I backup my emails or database files that are always open?
Yes, IASO Backup 2010 supports email, database and open files backup. You don't need to quit your email / database application to backup your files. IASO Backup 2010 can backup files being used.
What Is Volume Shadow Copy? How Does It Work?
Microsoft's Windows XP and Windows Vista include a technology called Volume Shadow Copy or VSS. Volume Shadow Copy allows backing up files that are in use or open. IASO backup 2010 uses Volume Shadow Copy to create a virtual copy of your files before the backup starts, it allows open files to be still used while a backup is running. After backup is completed the virtual copy is removed and the original file stays intact.
How do I get my files back?
If you want to get your files back to your computer, open our backup software and click the "Restore" button, then the selected files will be automatically replaced on your computer
What is delta backup and dynamic slicing?
Delta Backup is the ability to perform the second and subsequent backup operations (these take much less time than the first backup). The software uses an advanced, proprietary delta-blocking technology, which significantly reduces the amount of data to be sent between client and server to perform the daily backup routine. This data reduction has favorable effects on the amount of bandwidth necessary for the client – server communication and also on the volume of disk space required to hold the desired amount of backup instances.
Dynamic slicing is a smarter analog of delta slicing that uses knowledge about data structure of files being backed up for cutting them onto non-fixed size slices to achieve more efficiency in delta-backup.
Backup Terms Glossary
This glossary contains most of the backup terms that you may come across when you deal with online backup and recovery software. Here you can find definitions of backup terms used on this website and in IASO Backup software solutions.
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Backup Software – it is computer software applications that are used for performing the backing up of data.
Backup Server - A computer in a network designed to store copies of files from users' machines or other servers. It is generally RAID based with a large number of disk drives. Backup process to backup server called Offsite backup or Internet backup.
Backup Storage - a storage device used to store copies of data for backup & recovery. Tape drives and tape libraries have been the traditional backup storage device; however, magneto-optic (MO) disks and other optical disks as well as ordinary magnetic disks are also be used.
IP Backup/Backup over IP – IASO Backup presents innovative Backup over IP technology that allows online data backup and restore from any Internet connection. Broadband Internet has become available at a bargain and is now widespread with consumers and small businesses. As the perfect backup should be stored in a remote location, it would be ideal to be able to use the ubiquitous Internet to connect to such a location and transport the backup data to it. The bandwidth gap between the LAN and Internet bandwidth requires the backup data to be reduced to an amount that can be transported within a reasonable time frame. That is exactly what IASOs data reduction technology delivers.
Backup to Disk - with the availability of larger and larger disks at ever decreasing prices, disk becomes a viable alternative for tape as a backup medium. Using disk for backup purposes can have significant advantages over tape. Most vendors of so-called backup to disk solutions however deploy a technique called "tape emulation", where they write a single, sequential file containing the backup data to disk, as if it were a tape streamer. Although this approach has some merit, as it requires only minor changes to the existing storage and backup infrastructure, virtual tape or tape emulation is a compromise that sacrifices many of the advantages that backup to disk could deliver, if implemented in its native mode.
Movable (offline) Backup - the possibility to perform first backup without sending whole data to remote server through the Internet (perform backup to local disk -> give backed up data to BSP -> BSP applies it to the server -> continue with delta-backup).
Full/total Backup - A full backup is a copy of all selected files (sometimes most of hard disk files), kept on a different storage media, for use in emergencies. It usually takes longer to perform a full backup than any other type of backup.
File/Folder Backup - a file/folder backup is a backup operation in which any files, mostly data files, are backed up.
Automatic Backup (on schedule) - the opportunity to backup data automatically according to desired schedule. Scheduler allows performing an operation when the user is away from the computer, which sometimes is very convenient. Usually schedulers allow running an operation repeatedly, on week days, on month days and allow customizing the scheduling plan.
Manual Backup – the possibility to launch backup process manually.
Backup on Shutdown - the possibility to backup data automatically on system shutdown.
System State Backup - the opportunity to perform a system state backup. Windows System State backup creates a backup file for critical system related components. This backup file can be used to recover the critical system components after a crash. The System State contains the Registry, boot files, as well as important system files.
MS SQL backup - the possibility to backup MS SQL database. The solution supports the Microsoft SQL 7.0 and higher hot backup and restore mechanism. This means backups and restores can be done, while the database is running. A backup client can make backups of both local and remote MsSQL servers; for every server a license is needed. An MS SQL server can be connected to by providing username and password (SQL authentication) and Windows authentication. For every server both inclusive and exclusive selections can be made. It is not possible to make a hot backup of the Master database, caused by Microsoft limitations. For MS SQL backups the system needs extra space on the windows temp location. The size of the temporary file is comparable to the total size of the data and log file of MS SQL.
Exchange Backup (BLEC) - the possibility to do a brick level backup of Exchange. For all Exchange Servers 2000 and higher, running on Windows 2000 and higher, and patched to the current Service Packs, the optional Exchange BrickLevel Backup Application Support Module is available. The BLEC makes it possible to make daily, hourly or even continuous backups of all items in an Exchange server. The solution supports e-mails, contacts, calendar items, journals, tasks and notes. Since every item is separately backed up, it is also possible to restore a single user, folder or item. This feature makes it possible to have a current backup of an Exchange database at any given time.The solutions supports backup of Public folders and Private Folders.
Exchange VSS Backup - the ability to backup Exchange on database level. For Exchange databases backup, VSS is necessary. Therefore this feature is only available on Windows servers running Windows 2003. With the EDB all complete files used by Exchange are added to the backup, including all log files. With this type of backup a full Exchange setup can easily be restored. It is not possible to restore single users, folders or messages. The backup is run once every day. The Exchange log files are not purged by the backup.
Backup of Shared Folders - the possibility to backup shared data.
Open Files Backup (VSS) - the opportunity to backup open files with VSS. The IASO Backup client software supports the Volume Shadow Copy Service from Microsoft to enable backups of open files. VSS is available on Windows XP, 2003 and Vista.
Image Backup - an image backup is a backup of an entire hard drive by means of creating its image and its probable consequential backup. It allows, in case of a disaster, by restoring a disk image to have the exactly same system state as on the moment of the initial image backup. This method is gaining its popularity now.
Exclusion Backup Filters - the possibility to select certain file types to exclude them from the backup. With the File Exclusion Filters you can limit the amount of backup data by automatically filtering certain types of data, such as multi-media files and temporary files. The Filters option under the "My Computer – Preferences" function enables you to create far more advanced filters than the ones you can set during installation, using the Setup Wizard. Filters are not available for restore.
Disaster Recovery - is the process of recovering after a business disaster and restoring or recreating data. One of the main purposes of creating backups is to facilitate a successful disaster recovery.
Restore - the possibility to perform the restore of the backed up data stored on a remote server. The restore function works largely similar to the backup function. It is possible to first select the date and time of the backup session from which the restore needs to be taken. The restore selection can be made through a tree-like interface. The tree will contain only folders and files that were present at the time of the backup session (snapshot). Selections can be made granularly, on file and folder levels, where multiple files and folders can be selected to be retrieved in one single recovery operation. A restore can be done to the original location, in which case the existing data will be overwritten, or on any other location accessible from the machine on which the restore is being performed. In the latter case, the software will create a folder-tree structure on that location, which is identical to the original folder tree, as far as relevant for the selected files and folders.
Delta Restore - an extraordinary powerful feature of the IASO Backup solution is the Delta Restore capability. In many situations a recovery operation, necessary to reinstate a previous situation, if performed on file or folder level, would retrieve many data blocks that are already present at the original location. The IASO Backup solution performs recoveries on the block level and will try to find each required data block first in its original location and only when it is not found there, will retrieve it from the (remote) backup server. Since the average backup delta ranges between 0,1% and 1% per day, delta restores will generally show the same efficiencies, meaning that recovering the state of the previous day would only require the download of 0,1% to 1% of the total data volume.
Graphical User Interface - a Graphical User Interface, abbreviated GUI (pronounced GOO-ee), is a program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages. On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command language.
Encryption is the most effective way to make data secure. Access to the appropriate password or secret key is necessary to read an encrypted file. IASO has made a deliberate choice never to have the encryption key available on the backup server. We believe that this is the safest choice, from the client point of view and particularly valuable in service provider applications.
Simple scheduling (license-dependent) - setting up a daily backup time and backup on system shutdown. You can either schedule the backup to start on a fixed time of the day, or start the backup when you shut your system down. The last option is not available in Windows Vista. You can also select both options, but this could mean that you would make multiple backups per day.
Dashboard scheduling - the opportunity to specify the frequency with which you want to receive reports by selecting one of the available options from the drop-down list: "Daily", "Wednesday and Saturday", "Saturday or Never".
Directory hashing - delta backup technique which allows to skip unchanged directories without testing the contents. While searching for changes in the file system, the IASO solution uses an advanced stacked directory hashing technology. This finds the new, changed or deleted files at the highest possible speed. It makes the solution also feasible for file structures with millions of files. The system calculates the hash using the filename, file-size, file attributes, date last modified and the user-rights (where it says ‘file’, ‘directory’ could also be applicable). If none of these attributes is changed, the whole file is considered to be unchanged and will not be taken further into the backup process.
Data compression means storing data in a format that requires less space than usual. Allowing a device to store the same amount of data in less space, or fewer bits. Compression reduces the storage size of digital data by encoding repeatable patterns of binary 0's and 1's. Compression depends entirely on the type of file and compression algorithm.
(Data) replication is a process of copying data from a one site to one or more sites for increased security or performance. This can be done instead of a backup, however sometimes data backup can be used instead.