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What is an Online
Backup Service?
An Online Backup Service is an Internet-based service that
allows computer users to routinely backup and recover their
important data using a secure and trusted server on the
Internet.
If you use your
computer to create and save valuable data for business or
personal reasons, you should make some type of backup of your
important data to prevent a total loss in the event of any kind
of system failure or human error. Simple data backup can be done
by saving your data to multiple locations, copying the data from
its original location to removable media, another hard drive, or
another computers hard drive on the network.
To make this task
easier, specialized programs known as Backup Software exist to
aid users in regularly making a backup copy of their data. Since
some users are not interested in managing the tasks necessary
for maintaining their own backups, a new breed of backup
software was created, known as Online Backup Software. Online
Backup software is designed to routinely copy your important
files to a private, secure location on the Internet by securely
transmitting your data over your existing Internet connection.
If you have a
working Internet connection on your computer, you can use BSI's
Online Backup Service to keep your important files safe from
disaster on a daily basis.
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I have a slow Internet connection, does it make sense for me to
use Online Backup?
Depending on the speed of your connection and the size of your
backup, your initial backup over the Internet may take several
hours or even days. Many people with large backup sizes and
slower Internet connections will often run their first backup
over the weekend. Once the first backup is completed, each
subsequent backup is usually a small amount of data that can be
backed up in just minutes over a slower dialup connection.
Our software can
also resume a canceled backup, so you can start the backup
during your slow times and cancel it during your busy times. The
next time you start the backup, it will pick up from where it
was canceled until the entire backup is complete.
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What files should I select?
Since your entire hard drive is likely to be much larger than
the amount of storage you have purchased on the backup server,
you should be selective in the files that you choose for backup.
In general, you can avoid backing up any programs that you can
reinstall from a purchased CD, such as Microsoft Office (Word,
Excel, etc.). Why pay for storage for "stuff" you can easily
re-install? Try to focus your selection on things like your "My
Documents" folder and data files of your important programs like
accounting, income tax, contact management, graphics etc. Your
online backup software comes with predefined filters, which
allow you to automatically select categories of files without
knowing where all the files are located. Check the online help
for Filters to learn how they can be used.
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What happens if I
exceed my quota?
In most cases, your account will allow you to exceed your paid
storage quota on the backup server. If you exceed your quota, it
is likely that a message will pop-up on your screen to notify
you that you have exceeded your quota and you are likely to
incur an additional charge for the additional storage used.
Check your pricing plan to determine the costs for additional
storage. Currently, additional storage costs $9.95 per month for
each additional 250 MB over your paid storage quota.
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How do I
delete files from the Backup server?
In order to control how much data is stored on the online backup
server, your online backup software allows you to view all of
the data stored on the server and selectively remove files from
the server. To view the data stored under your account, run your
online backup software and click on the folder tab labeled
"Restore". In the left windowpane, Right-Click on the Desktop
icon and select "Get Volume List from Server". This will show
you each computer that has been backed up to your account. Now
you can navigate the folders to see what data is stored on the
server. To delete files, click on the button with the Red "X" to
enable the Delete Files mode. Mark any files you wish to delete
by clicking your mouse in the empty box next to the file(s) you
wish to delete. Click the "Delete Files Now" to issue the
command to delete the selected files from the server. WARNING:
Once a file is deleted from the server, it can no longer be
restored.
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Can
I backup more than one computer to my account?
Yes. We allow you to backup any number of computers to your
account. You only pay for the storage space that you use. Your
account should already be setup to allow you to backup several
computers. If you have any problems backing up more computers to
your account, simply call or E-mail (support@connectnc.net)
technical support to request additional computers on your
account.
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Should I also have a local backup in addition to my online
backup?
It's up to you. Users that want an added level of protection may
perform local backups in addition to their online backup. Local
backups can allow you to backup ALL of your files, while the
online backup is a great way to automatically store your
critical files off-site. When it comes to your important data,
you can never be too safe. Since everyone has different needs,
you'll find a wide variety of backup software and services
available to help you find the one that best fits your needs.
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What is the Personal
Recovery CD?
The Personal Recovery CD is a service that we offer which copies
all of your data from our servers onto CD(s). This allows you to
restore the archive of your data from a CD without requiring an
Internet connection. This is great for keeping long-term
archives of your data or restoring large amounts of data without
connecting over a slow Internet connection. When the Personal
Recovery CD is ordered, it includes all of your account data.
Each CD holds approximately 650 MB, so accounts with more that
650 MB of storage will require multiple CDs.
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How do you calculate
my billing?
Monthly Billing Customers - On a monthly basis, we will compare
your pricing plan to your actual storage usage and determine
your costs for that month. If your storage usage is below that
amount of storage provided in your base plan, no additional
charges will be processed. If your storage usage is greater than
your base plan amount, an additional charge is calculated based
on the additional increments of storage space needed to
accommodate for your storage usage for the month. A new
calculation is performed every month to determine the billing
total for that month.
Monthly Billing
Example:
Base Plan: $19.95
per month for up to 500 MB of storage;
Additional Storage: $9.95 per month for each additional 250 MB
Scenario 1 - Actual
Storage Usage = 425 MB
(Cost=$19.95; 425 MB is less than the allowed 500 MB for the
base plan)
Scenario 2 - Actual Storage Usage = 895 MB
(Cost=$37.85; $19.95 for 500 MB, 2 x $9.95 for each additional
increment of 250 MB)
Annual Billing
Customers - When you purchase an annual plan, you purchase a
certain amount of storage for an entire year. For instance, a
customer that purchases a 500MB annual plan can store up to 500
MB on the backup server for an entire year. Each month, your
storage usage is compared to the storage allowed by the annual
plan that was purchased. If any additional storage is being
used, a charge for the additional storage will be processed for
that month. This additional charge only applies for months where
the storage usage exceeds the amount allowed by the base plan
that was purchased.
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How can I get a receipt for the services billed to my credit
card?
You can use your Username & Password to log-in and then view
your account history and print any receipts for charges to your
credit card.
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How do I change
my billing information?
You can use your Username & Password to log-in and then change
your credit card and other billing information on the site.
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How do I
cancel my online backup service?
We never like to see anyone cancel their online service, but in
the event you must cancel your service, please
login in to your account then click on the "Account Status"
link and follow the instructions to cancel your account. You may
also call us at (805) 555 - 9876 and press 0 to speak with
someone regarding the cancellation of your online backup
service. Once an account is canceled, the data may be
permanently deleted, so if you want a copy of your backups,
please consider a Personal Recovery CD prior to cancellation. If
you wish to cancel your account via E-mail, send a message to
info@connectnc.net and please provide your complete
contact information including address, phone & E-mail along with
your Username and Password for the online backup service.
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What do I do if I have trouble connecting to the server or
performing a backup?
During business hours (8am - 8pm PST) you can call our technical
support group for assistance. You can also view the
technical support section of our web site for some helpful
information.
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Can I backup open and locked files with the online backup
software?
A. In the case of many backup software programs, files and
databases that are in use during the backup may not get backed
up successfully because they are locked to prevent any other
program from altering the data. To solve this problem, BSI's
Online Backup can be used with the optional Open File Manager
program to make sure that these open and locked files get backed
up successfully.
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What is a FastBIT backup?
A. The FastBIT patching process is the core technology behind
our speedy backup service. The patching process involves the
comparison of two different versions of the same file and
extracting the differences between the files. When the
differences are extracted from the two files, they are saved
into a new file and compressed into what is known as a Patch.
The patch file is often 85% to 99.9% smaller than the file which
the patch was extracted from originally.
In order to perform
a FastBIT backup, the software has to backup the files 3 times:
the first backup is a full, the next backup will perform an
incremental, and the third performs the first FastBIT backup.
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Do you
have a chart for Bandwidth Requirements?
A. It's very difficult to analyze those requirements because of
all the variables added by FastBIT. However, the basic formula
is pretty simple:
Take the expected
size, in MB's, of the data you might see in a day, divide it by
the amount of seconds in the day and divide that number by 8 to
obtain MB/Sec Bandwidth. This will result in the required
bandwidth (MB/Sec) needed to sustain 100% load throughout the
day.
Example: Let's say
we have 500 users sending us an average of 600MB per month (this
is about what we see at the NovaStor Online Center), then the
formula follows:
600MB * 500Users =
300000MB (300GB) / 30days (per month) = 10000MB Per Day (10GB) /
86400seconds (1 day) = 115.74Kb/sec * 8 (to convert to MB/Sec) =
.93MB/Sec or about 61% of a full T1.
Of course, this
assumes that you have full saturation throughout the day, which
isn't going to happen. It typically gets a bit peaky around
noonish and around midnight, so to accommodate the mean, you
should probably have a 30% overhead, which in the above case,
would translate to just about a full T1 (1.5MB/Sec).
--return to questions
How do I get rid of files taking up space that I don't need
backed up anymore?
A.
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Open the backup client
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Click the restore tab
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Click the red X to toggle
between the restore and delete functions
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Select the unwanted files
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Click the "Delete Files Now"
button
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Click yes when asked if you are
sure you want to delete the files
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Once the files are deleted, you
can see how much server space you're using in the lower
right hand corner
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