Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. IBackup for Windows uses Delta Blocking technology during data transfer. Delta blocking is an advanced logic that divides all files into equal sized blocks. When a file is detected for changes, the checksum of each block of that file is compared with the checksum for the same block of the same file. Any blocks that are found to be different are pulled out and transmitted. These delta blocks are compressed and encrypted before transfer.

Yes. IBackup for Windows supports character sets of most major languages like English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Japanese, Hebrew, Italian etc.

With the growing need for online backup of several gigabytes, IBackup provides initial backup via physical transfer of data to a temporary storage device shipped by IBackup to you. IBackup typically uses Snapserver 4500 for the purpose to which you need to copy your data and ship it back.

Once your data is transferred from Snapservers to IBackup's primary storage devices, you can continue incremental backups online. This provides an efficient means to establish online backups for datasets with sizes of 100 GB and higher.

The Snapservers are pre-configured with RAID 5 storage of up to 850 GB and DHCP. If you have DHCP servers on your LAN, simply hook up one of the Snapserver ports to the LAN and copy your data. If not, configure the Snapserver networking details to suit your network. IBackup personnel will provide necessary authentication information to configure the Snapserver. Ensure that appropriate packing material is used for proper handling of the device during shipment.

Learn more about Rapid Serve.

When the initial backup is done via the shipped hard disk, the date and time stamp on the files and folders backed up correspond to the date and time of the copy event (backup made via shipped hard disk) and not the original date and time stamp of the data.

When you backup the same files and folders with IBackup for Windows for the first time, the application will perform incremental backup of the files, i.e. update the date and time stamp.

IBackup for Windows does incremental backup (only the modified portion of your files/folders are sent to the IBackup servers). Your quota depends on the most recent file/folder copy backed up to your online account.

Your daily Snapshots* related storage that stores your account status as of the previous days is not charged to your account quota.

*Snapshots are point-in-time copies of your data at a system-defined time. The available daily Snapshots has been set to 10. This may change without notice. Click here for details.

You may opt to upgrade your account to accommodate the extra storage or remove some data in your account to bring it in line with your current quota.

To upgrade your account, login to your IBackup account with your Username and Password via the browser at http://www.ibackup.com. Click 'Upgrade Account' to purchase more storage. Alternately, select the files/folders that you want to delete and click the 'Delete' button.

The 'Quota Used' information is not displayed in real time. It is computed on a periodical basis. For updated information, click the 'Recalculate' button. For accounts with large number of files, the process may take time.

Be selective while backing up C drive. It is possible that files and folders on your hard drive may be more than the storage space purchased. You can optimize your storage space by avoiding backup of programs (like MS office that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint etc.) that can be reinstalled from a purchased CD.

Focus on backing up folders like your 'My Documents', 'Desktop' folders and other important data files like accounting, income tax, contact management etc.

You can backup a file/folder by dragging it from 'My Files' and dropping it on the 'My IBackup' side.

To backup multiple files/folders, follow the steps below:

1. Select the files/folder that you want to backup using the check boxes under 'My Files'.
2. Select a folder under 'My IBackup' to backup your data to it (in case of Relative Path Backup).
3. Click the 'Backup Now' button.

You can take a backup of an already created Backup set using the 'Backup Now' option on the 'IBackup for Windows Monitor' icon (available on the system tray).

Yes. Simply right-click the monitor tray icon and choose 'Backup Now' option. This will immediately execute the backup for the selected Backup set.

By default, the 'Automatic Selection' screen lists the common application types. You can select the ones that you want to backup based on your needs.

You can navigate to the Automatic Selection option from the ‘Backup-Restore’ menu item or from ‘Wizards’ on the application tool bar.

IBackup for Windows transfers only the modified portions after full initial backup. Incremental backup is a default feature.

Follow this tour to understand how to schedule your unattended backups.

By default, all the weekdays are selected for your online data backups. On the ‘Schedule Backup’ screen, clear the check box for the day(s) on which you do not want to backup your files/folders.

No. This is because the remote access connections are disconnected without any prompting to disconnect manually before the computer goes into the ‘Standby’ mode. This applies to any remote access connection including connections to Internet service providers (ISPs) and private networks. This behavior is by design of Windows.

The status of your scheduled backups can be viewed using the IBackup for Windows Monitor, which keeps running in your system tray once you install IBackup for Windows.

You can also view the status of the last 20 scheduled jobs. Click the 'View Log' button to see the recent session-wise log files.

IBackup does not have the conventional concept of full and incremental backups. Every backup is basically a full backup with incremental effect.

Unlike the conventional concept of incremental backups where only the changed data is stored separately from full backup, with IBackup, the changed data is overwritten on the existing backup. In other words, you have 'full backup' results every time.

IBackup uses the advanced patching technology to determine the changed data at source and applies only modified blocks of the changed files on to the data that has been backed up. There is no efficiency lost due to IBackup's methodology of updating full backups directly every time.

To see historical view of data, refer to Snapshots.

Yes. Login to your account via any web browser and click the 'Backup Status Report' icon. By default, a report for the last seven days will be displayed. To view the complete backup report, click the 'More' link at the bottom. This report is available only if you have set the email notification option for the scheduled backups. It is also possible to get fine-grained information about a particular backup.

You can also view a centralized scheduled backup report of all your Sub-Accounts. Click the Sub-Accounts icon. On the Sub-Accounts page, click 'Sub-Accounts Backup Status Report' to view the scheduled backup report of all your accounts. You can also see the scheduled backup and activity log reports for each Sub-Account.

Yes. For this, right-click the 'IBackup for Windows Monitor tray icon' and select the 'Manage all the Scheduled Jobs' option. In the window that is displayed, you can view the list of scheduled backup/restore jobs of all IBackup accounts on the local computer.

The 'Mirror Path Backup' option replicates the file/folder hierarchy present on the local computer to your IBackup account.

To enable it, go to Tools > Preferences > Enable 'Mirror Path'.
Or
Click the 'Mirror Path' button on the Tool Bar.

For example: If you select to backup a file C:\Users\Music with mirroring option, then IBackup for Windows will maintain the same directory structure in your IBackup account as My IBackup/C/Users/Music.

The 'Relative Path Backup' option will not replicate the folder hierarchy of the file as it exists on your local computer but instead would just backup the file to a corresponding selected folder on your IBackup account.

The 'Mirror Path' feature hardwires the destination path to be the exact path of source. In other words, if your source data is in folder C:\My Documents\mydata on your IBackup side, you would have a folder created that would contain the backup data with same folder names with the complete path.

If you backup data from two different computers, there is a possibility that the data could get mixed up if the paths and folder names are the same on the two computers.

By default the IBackup for Windows application support 'Multiple PC backup' feature. This prevents data overlap during more than one computer backup to a single IBackup account.

By default, IBackup for windows creates an unique folder with the name of the computer to backup data from multiple computers into a single IBackup account. This prevents data overlap during multiple computer backup.

The recent versions of IBackup for Windows use the 'Mirror Path' option that maintains the source path in the 'My IBackup' side. This has been made the default option.

However, if you want to set your own destination folder in the ‘My IBackup’ side, you can use the 'Relative Path' option. To enable it, clear the 'Mirror Path' check box from File > Preference > General Tab or on the application tool bar, click the 'Mirror Path' icon and select 'Relative Path'.

IBackup for Windows allows you to exclude files / folders from being backed up during interactive and scheduled backup.

You can exclude files / folders in the following ways:

a) Via Main Window

b) Via Preferences Screen

1. On the main window of IBackup for Windows application, select a file / folder under 'My Files' to exclude.

2. Right click on the folder and click on 'Exclude this folder from Backup'.

3. You can view the excluded files/folders from the Default BackupSet pane. To do this, right click on any file/folder and click on 'View Exclusions'.

4. The 'Excluded files/folders list' window is displayed. Right click to remove files/folders from exclusion.

Exclude files / folders based on full path name

For this, go to Tools > Preferences > click the Exclude Files / Folders tab.

1. Right-click anywhere on the 'Folders with full path names' / 'File with full path names' list box and click the 'Insert' option from the sub-menu.
2. Browse to select a folder/file under 'My Files' and click the 'OK' button.

Exclude files / folders based on full / partial name

1. Right-click anywhere on the 'Folders with partial names' / 'Files with partial names' box and click the 'Insert' option from the sub-menu.
2. In the dialog box that is displayed, enter the full or partial name of the folder/file that you want to exclude from backup and click the 'OK' button.

The above selected folders/files are visible on the Exclude files/folders pane and will not be considered for backup.

Note: To backup an item which is on the exclude list, right-click the corresponding list box and click 'Delete' from the sub-menu.

Folder and files excluded by default by the application cannot be removed from the list.

You may opt to receive email notifications on the status of your scheduled backup and restore jobs. To enable the option, on the main application screen, click the ‘Schedule’ button. The ‘Schedule Backup/Restore’ window is displayed. Here, select the ‘Email notification’ option and enter the email address on which you want to receive the notifications.

Yes. You may opt to receive desktop alert in case your backup has not taken place. By default, it is set to seven days. To enable it, go to Tools > Preferences > General tab and select the 'Alert me if the scheduled backup fails' check box.

Right-click the 'IBackup for Windows Monitor tray icon' and select the 'Manage all the Scheduled Jobs' option. From the backup/restore jobs list, remove the redundant jobs using the 'Delete' button.

To view the transfer log file for the interactive backup/restore jobs, from the menu bar, go to Log > Interactive Log > View option.

Yes. Using the 'Cut-off time for scheduled backup' option, you can stop the scheduled backup at the specific time. The backup is resumed at the next scheduled time from the point it was stopped. To enable it, go to Preferences > General tab and select the 'Cut-off time for scheduled backup' check box.

Yes. IBackup has been tested to transfer files both ways for files of size upto 6 GB.

IBackup for Windows resumes the backups from the file at which interruption occurred. If partial transfers had taken place prior to interruption, it will continue from that partial transfer point.

IBackup for Windows will resume the scheduled backup job(s) at the next transfer time, as per the scheduled time.

Yes. You can manage your Default Backup set, schedule backup jobs and view detailed logs from the IBackup web interface using any web browser.

For this, login to your IBackup account via the web and click the 'Manage Backup set' icon.

This takes you to the 'Backup Manager' page from where you can edit the contents of your Default Backup set.

To edit the day and time of the scheduled backup of the Default Backup set, click the 'Schedule Manager' button. A screen is displayed as shown below.

You can also view the logs of the interactive and scheduled backup jobs performed by the IBackup for Windows application. To know more, click here.

You can locate files backed up to your IBackup account by clicking the 'Search' button on the 'My IBackup' pane of the main application window.

Enter the search term (like the file name or a part of the file name) to locate files/folders.

The Bandwidth Throttle option allows you to adjust the percentage of Internet bandwidth to be used by the IBackup for Windows application. It effectively divides the bandwidth between various Internet-based applications to help maintain their efficiency.

By default, it is set to 100% and can be adjusted as required.

On selecting Auto-Pause, you can set the bandwidth to be used by the IBackup application, when the system is in use and when it is not.

To enable it, go to Tools > Preferences > General tab and select the 'Auto-Pause' check box.

The Bandwidth Throttle can be adjusted during the interactive and scheduled backup process in the Backup Progress screen.

You can also set the bandwidth throttle using the IBackup for Windows Monitor tray icon (that keeps running in your system tray once you install IBackup for Windows), while the scheduled backup job is in progress. Select the 'Open Status Indicator' option from the tray menu and set the bandwidth usage for the application.

Yes. IBackup for Windows supports mapped drive backup, provided the computer is not logged off.

You can backup open files using the Open file Backup feature of IBackup for Windows on Windows 7, Vista, XP and Windows 2003 and 2008 servers. The most common open files that can be backed up include Outlook files (.pst), QuickBooks, Quicken, ACT, MS-Money, MS-Word, MS-Excel, MS-Access, MS FoxPro etc.

To use this feature, go to Tool Bar > Preferences > General Tab and select the 'Enable Open file Backup' (available for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Windows 2003 and 2008 servers)' check box. Ensure that the selected temporary location on the local computer for Open file Backup has sufficient free space to store the open files during backup.

No. Open file backups require at least one drive to be mounted on the New Technology File System (NTFS) file system partition. Also, the file system of at least one of the hard disk drives should be NTFS. (NTFS is one of the file systems the Windows NT operating system uses for storing and retrieving files on a hard disk).

Yes. However, it is recommended that you use the specific MS Exchange/MS SQL backup feature that is available with IBackup for Windows for consistent backup of your MS Exchange or MS SQL Server Server related files.

To disable the Open file Backup feature, go to the Tool Bar > Preferences > General Tab and clear the 'Open file Backup' (available for Windows 7, Vista, XP and Windows 2003 and 2008 servers)' check box.

No. The Open file Backup feature does not support backup of open files in the mapped/network drive(s).

Snapshots are point-in-time copies of your data taken at a particular time, every day.

To enable the feature, click the 'Snapshots' button on the tool bar or go to Tools > Preferences and select the 'Show Snapshots' on the 'General' tab.

On selecting the option, files previously stored in your IBackup account will appear in newly created directories with appropriate names. You can restore any previously backed up file/folder to your local computer.  

To hide the Snapshots, click the icon again.

View the Snapshots page for details.

You can use the ‘Snapshots’ feature to try and recover your file. Snapshots are point-in-time images of your data taken at a particular time everyday.

To enable 'Snapshots', on the Tools Bar, go to ‘Preferences’ and select the 'Show Snapshots’ option in the 'General' tab.

Alternately, click the 'Snapshots' button on the Tool Bar.

Once the Snapshots feature is enabled, you should be able to see Snapshots folders with names like nightly.0, nightly.1, etc, at the top level of your account.

Try to navigate to the file/folder starting from folder nightly.3. This could possibly contain the data that you backed up 4 days ago. If it does not, try nightly.4.

Once you find the right file, simply restore it. (IBackup does not have the concept of separate full and incremental backup files as the modified portions are directly written on top of the full backup).

To share data with associates, select files / folders and click the 'Share' icon on the tool bar. This takes you to the 'Share Files and Folders' window from where you can set the share parameters and enter the email address of the recipient(s).

Click here for details.

Select the files/folders that need to be restored from your IBackup account to your local machine.

On the main application screen, click ‘Restore’ and select the destination to which you want to restore your data.

You can also drag your file/folder from the ‘My IBackup’ pane and drop it on the ‘My Files’ pane.

Yes. You can restore your data to the original destination only if it has been backed up in the 'Mirror Path'.

Steps

1. Select a file/folder present on the right pane (My IBackup).

2. Click the 'Restore' button on the main window. The 'Where to Restore?' wizard is displayed. Alternately, you can click the Backup-Restore menu item or the Wizards Tool Bar button.

3. Click the 'Restore to Original Destination' button to restore your data.

Note: If the file/folder selected for restore is already present on your computer and has been backed in the 'Mirror Path', then the 'Restore to Original Destination' button appears in the 'Where to Restore' wizard.

On restore, the previously backed up files present in the original destination are overwritten.

Yes. You can schedule the restore of backed up data from your IBackup account.

For this, on the Tool Bar, go to ‘Restore Scheduler’ and click the ‘Schedule New Job’ button. Select the file / folder to be restored and its destination on your computer and use the ‘Schedule Backup/ Restore’ window to set the day and time for restore.

Currently IBackup for Windows allows only one restore set named 'Restore ItemSet' for the operation.

IBackup for Windows supports the 'Snapshots' feature, using which you can recover the deleted files/folders from your IBackup account. Click here for details.

The Sync feature in the IBackup for Windows application allows you to match the contents of your local computer with your IBackup account.

To sync your data, on the main window of IBackup for Windows application, select the files and the folders on ‘My IBackup’ pane that you wish to bring in sync with your local computer.

Click the 'Sync' button on the Tool Bar.

Click the 'Continue' button to proceed.

A list of files and folders present in your IBackup account but not on your computer is displayed.

Click the 'Sync' button to remove the files from your account.

Any modifications to existing files and newly added files and folders will also be backed up to your online account, for the selected folder(s)/drive(s) upon confirmation.

IBackup for Windows supports two-way sync in a limited sense.

An interactive or scheduled backup can be considered as a one-way sync process. An interactive or scheduled restore can be considered as a reverse sync process.

The best way to implement this would be to setup one-way sync first. Once one way sync completes successfully, setup restore for reverse sync. It will be tricky to setup both at the same time since some variables including estimated time to complete one-way sync and the selection of files/folders for restore may not be known in advance.

If all the necessary variables are known, you can automate this entire process.

No. The 'Sync' option works only if the data has been transferred in the 'Mirror Path' as it requires the full path of the source to be maintained on the destination side for proper syncing.

This option automatically syncs folders between your PC and IBackup account with a minimum lag of 10-days and a maximum of 30-days (applicable only for scheduled backups). Thus, if data is deleted from your desktop that has already been backed up previously, the corresponding data in your IBackup account would be deleted after the number of days set by you. This helps keep your account size at optimal levels.

You can also set the percentage of files* (minimum of 5% and a maximum of 25%) to be considered for 'Automatic Sync' with reference to the total backed up data in your account.

To access this option, from the application menu, go to Tools > Preferences > General Tab and select the 'Automatic Sync' check box.

Note: Set this option carefully as it may result in automatic deletion of data from your IBackup account.

*The percentage mention refers to files considered for deletion in your account as a percentage of total number of files. The purpose of this percentage based control is to avoid large deletion of files in your account due to some unforeseen event on your PC.

Email notification: You will receive an email intimation once the automatic sync operation is completed if you have opted to receive the same for your scheduled backup job.

Yes. Your data is secured with 128-bit SSL encryption on transfer and optional 256-bit proprietary encryption on storage. You may opt for the encryption key to maximize your data security.

To set your encryption key, go to Tools > Preferences and click the 'Encryption on Storage' tab. Select the 'Enable 256-bit proprietary encryption on storage' check box.

All your encrypted data is stored in a folder 'Encrypted_Data'. Do not edit the folder name or its contents.

IBackup does not store the user-supplied password anywhere on its servers. Without this encryption key you will not be able to retrieve your data.

It is the default folder name used by the IBackup for Windows desktop application to store your encrypted data.

Do not edit the folder name or its contents.

No. Once you have assigned an encryption key to your IBackup account, it cannot be changed. However, you can create a new account and start using it with an encryption key of your choice.

There is a peculiar situation with respect to firewalls, especially if they are not set to start automatically on reboot. If the firewall does not restart automatically on reboot, the necessary permissions provided by firewall to run IBackup for Windows may be lost, however, the firewall controls are still in place even if the firewall is not running and does not let IBackup for Windows to run.

To resolve this, simply start the firewall if it is not running and then attempt to start IBackup for Windows, and provide the required permissions if it prompts.

Yes. IBackup for Windows retains the date and time of the files being backed up to your remote online backup account.

To change the time stamp of the files/folders present in your account, from the Tool Bar, go to the 'Change Time Zone' option and select the desired time zone.

The date and time stamp of files / folders on the 'My IBackup' pane is displayed in Pacific Standard Time (PST), by default.

To change the time zone, on the main application window, go to Tools > Change Time Zone and set the time for the application.

Step 1: Ensure that the ‘Email notification’ check box is selected in the 'Schedule Backup/Restore' window and the email address provided by you is valid.

It is possible that the email notifications from IBackup are reaching the Spam/Bulk folder of your email box.

Step 2: Ensure that your computer does not go to Sleep/Standby mode so that the scheduled backups take place without fail and the email notification is sent to you. For confirmation of the backup process, you can view the log reports.