Backup Sevice FAQ

Depending on the speed of your connection and the size of your backup, your initial backup over the Internet may take several hours. 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.

Which files should you select to Backup?

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, 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.

Can you backup other platforms with my Client software?

Our Client software will only run natively on Windows 98, Me, NT 4.0, 2000, 2003 (.NET) and XP. If you want to backup computers with other operating systems, it is possible. Here's how... Since the backup client supports mapped network drives and the Network Neighborhood, it can backup data from any computer that is accessible via the network. A single Client can backup the local computer and any number of local or remote network computers using the client softwares, powerful user interface.

Should you also have a local backup in addition to online backup?

It's up to you. We encourage people to do both local and remote backup for absolute protection. Users that want an added level of protection will 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.

What is the Recovery CD?

The Recovery CD is a service that offers 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 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.

What you need to use the service.

An internet connection and a computer to run the client software. The backup client software can be installed on any Windows 98se, Me, NT, 2000, 2003 (.NET) or XP computer. The client software communicates to the Silverleaf Server using the TCP/IP protocol.