Data Only Plans:

The Data Backup Service plans will automatically detect and backup data files that are located anywhere on your hard disk. Data files are files that you create, such as documents and spreadsheets, and preferences that you defined in software that you use. Files that change, dynamic files, are data files. (Files that never change, static files, do not need to be backed up because they can be restored from their original disk or CD.) You can fine-tune your backup set by adding and deselecting files and folders.

There is also an alternative to automatic file selection, which is user-selectable: manual file selection. With this method, no files are selected for you: you build your own backup set from scratch. This option is set from the menu bar by clicking Options | Advanced Backup Rules | File Selection.

Full System Backup Plan:

The Full System Service plan will automatically select all files on your computer, including data, programs and operating system files. Non-essential files such as temp, recycle bin, windows swap file, etc., will be automatically excluded from the backup. This full system backup allows the use of the Heal function to restore your applications and operating system back to a previous backup time. In the case of a total system failure, the Heal function can also be used to restore the entire computer, including data, back to a backup time.

Initial Backup:

After the file selection is made, you can initiate the backup process at any time. The initial backup will be the most time consuming, since you must transfer all of your files to the data center. The software has features such as Send-Once technology and file compression to perform this transfer as efficiently as possible. Depending on the backup size and the upload speed of your connection, this transfer can take several hours to complete.

Subsequent Backups:

After the initial backup, subsequent backups should be very quick and efficient. The software scans your computer for new and changed files to send to the data center. For files which have changed since the last backup, the software uses Delta block technology to determine the bytes within the file which need to be sent to the data centers. Using this technology, large files can be backed up in a matter of seconds.

Typical daily backup times for our clients are under 10 minutes, with many running in 2 -5 minutes on a daily basis.