Backup Software

One of the major things that we are overhauling for version 4 is the mechanism used for storing backup job information. This includes the backup job name, schedule, and backup file set. Rather than scatter this information across various files, we are streamlining this to allow all backup jobs, and their corresponding information, to be located in one central location. One XML file will contain all of the data needed for backing up your files. The advantages of this approach are quite numerous.

For starters, this will allow an easy way for the new SecureBackup Windows service to detect changes easily. As a matter of fact, as soon as you create or modify a backup job and save it, the XML file is updated. The SecureBackup service “listens” for changes to this file in the background and can then take the appropriate action. The SecureBackup Windows service is responsible for actually running the backup jobs at the scheduled times and backing up the data to the remote server.

Another advantage of this approach is that the service won’t have to stop a backup job that is in progress when a change is made. It also allows changes to be made to a backup job even if it is running.

Converting your existing backup jobs to the new XML format in version 4 will not require any effort on your part. The SecureBackup software is smart enough to determine if updating to the new format is required and will do so automatically.

Backup Software

We have begun working on version 4 of our backup software and this is the first post of a new series I am going to be writing in regards to that. It’s called, “SecureBackup 4.0 - Backup Software Development”. I will not only discuss our goals in terms of the software and how that will benefit you, but also about the technical aspects of the software underneath the hood.

The SecureBackup software currently requires the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework to be installed on the target system. We are planning on continuing to use this platform for version 4.0. On the surface, the new version will be quite similar to what you are used to. This means that much of the user interface will be the same both in form and function. You also won’t have to worry about transforming your current backup jobs to a new format as this will be taken care of automatically. Underneath the hood, however, several things will change. I will cover a lot of these changes in the coming months but for now, I just wanted to outline some of the major goals we have for version 4.0. These include:

• To allow SecureBackup to run as a service.
• To provide additional options such as bandwidth throttling, backup server access options, and more.
• To allow backing up open files.
• To simplify some of the underlying code and other mechanisms to allow us to maintain the software more easily.
• Possibly a .NET to MONO port so that we can also support MAC OS X.

Probably the biggest change will be the first one mentioned. Allowing SecureBackup to run as a service is important for certain IT departments. Currently, a work-around is to simply log in, start the SecureBackup software, and then lock your computer - this still allows you to leave your workstation on for backup purposes but no-one can access your system without your password.

Bandwidth throttling will allow you to limit your upload connection speed. This means that your computer/network Internet access speed will not be bogged down while SecureBackup backs up your files. Currently, you need to use a third party tool such as NetLimiter to do this.

We get many requests for people who want to back up open files. SecureBackup does not currently support this. As a matter of fact, most backup solutions don’t. However, the new version of SecureBackup will backup open files as long as they are not locked, or in-use by the operating system. These files simply can not be backed up.

Some of the underlying code and backup mechanisms will be completely reconstructed from scratch. This will not only make our life easier in terms of maintaining the code, but you will get less false error messages. For example, the newer version of SecureBackup will simply reconnect to the backup server in the event that it was unreachable for a period of time and automatically resume backing up your files. Right now, it displays an error and your backup needs to be manually restarted unless you wait until the next scheduled backup. With the new version of the backup software, this will no longer be an issue. Most of the current “backup server is offline” error messages in the SecureBackup software are not due to our servers being down but are due a networking error somewhere between the client computer and our data center. Our servers are online virtually 100% of the time.

Lastly, we may port the software over to use C# and MONO to target the MAC OS X operating system exclusively but this is still in discussion. Either way, the latest Windows operating systems will always be supported. For now, the only solution for backing up a MAC OS X computer with SecureBackup is to use mapped network connection for your MAC while still running SecureBackup on Windows.

Backup Windows Server 2003

SecureBackup fully supports Windows Server 2003. If you need to be able to back up your data from a Windows 2003 server than SecureBackup may fit the bill. SecureBackup will automatically backup your files and folders to a remote server. What’s more, we offer big discounts on several dedicated RAID redundant solutions as well as support smaller backup space needs. Simply contact us and ask for our price sheet.

SecureBackup offers mapped network drive support so you can backup files right across your network. This means you only need to install SecureBackup on one workstation under a designated Windows account. If you want to run backups at night or while you are busy doing something else, then you would simply press ALT+CTRL+DELETE and select the [LOCK Computer] button. SecureBackup will still run in the background and backup your files automatically.

Over the past year that we have been in business, we have worked with several companies to help them get SecureBackup up and running in their office. Why not give SecureBackup a try? Download SecureBackup here: http://www.securebackup.com/download or find out more at http://www.securebackup.com/pro. We have backup plans starting as low as $24.95 for 50 GB of backup space. Hope to speak with you soon!

SecureBackup Backup Software

Installing the SecureBackup online backup software just got a whole lot easier. We have been searching for the best way to install the dependencies that are required by the backup client software for all of the different operating systems we support. The operating systems supported by SecureBackup are Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7. Although Windows XP is quite old, it is still widely in use today and a lot of our customers are still using it. Since SecureBackup is built upon the .NET 2.0 framework, we needed to ensure that the framework would not only be installed if needed, but that it would be installed correctly. The problem with this is that framework may be not installed by default or it may not be fully patched with the latest service pack from Microsoft. We also wanted to ensure that Service Pack 2 SP2 of the .NET 2.0 Framework was installed.

We have been using Inno Setup with some success but decided to switch to InstallAware which  made our lives a lot easier. We know that this is a robust and mature solution for installing our backup software and are confident that there will be no more sporadic failed installs on some of the older PC’s out there. It’s never been easier to get started with backing up your data online than right now with SecureBackup.

Backup your USB Flash Drive Online

We love customer feedback! As our service continues to grow, we get more and more feature requests. We always have a list of these feature requests on hand so that we know what to work on next. A while back, the most requested feature was for file archiving support. We know that many of you wanted to be able to have multiple, older copies of your files on hand in case you needed to revert back to them later. Shortly after we added that feature, we found that it actually came in handy for us as well! We were modifying a source code file to add a certain functionality to our software but after a couple of days we began to realize that there was a better way to approach this. What we needed to do was revert back to an older copy of that file so that we could implement the newer method. Fortunately, we had an older archive of our source code file on hand and were able to revert back to it. What a great feature request that was.

Until today, our number one feature request has been to add backup support for external drives. Well, we’ve heard you loud and clear!

Our latest release of SecureBackup adds backup support for all drive types, including USB flash drives, external hard drives, floppy drives, RAM disks, CD/DVD/Optical discs, and even unknown drive types. As long as the Windows operating system can see your drive, then you will be able to back it up with SecureBackup.

As I always say, we look forward to providing our customers with the best possible service. The ability to backup your USB drive or other device is the next logical step towards achieving that goal.

Raid Redundant Online Backup Servers

I’m happy to announce, today, that we brought our new RAID redundant backup servers online. It’s been a long time in the making and I’ll be honest, it’s taken much longer than we had originally anticipated. However, we wanted to make sure that everything was not only working correctly, but working well. One of the things that we wanted to be sure about was making sure that we could monitor all aspects of the server from the fan speeds and internal temperatures to the hard drives and making sure that we could be alerted of any problems as early as possible. Most of the time, a potentially failing hard drive can be detected before it actually fails giving us time to replace it. But of course with a RAID redundant server, even a completely failed drive is not an issue and no data would be lost.

I also wanted to mention that all existing SecureBackup customers will be upgraded to the new servers and all of their existing data will be switched over to the new servers as well. This is going to be performed over the next couple of weeks.

We want to provide the best service possible and we know how important it is to provide a safe and secure backup environment for your precious data. We will be releasing a press release shortly regarding our new RAID backup servers.

We hope that with our continued efforts to improve our services that everyone will be happy to recommend SecureBackup.com to their friends, family, and business acquaintances.

With all of the advantages that online backup provides, there are some things to keep in mind when choosing an online backup service:

• Data Security
• Reliability
• Ease-of-Use
• Acquiring a Free Trial

Data Security
Data security is the most important thing to look for in an online backup service. If your data is not secure, then there is really no point in having a backup in the first place. There are two main aspects of security that are important in the world of online backup.

The first is backup server security. Imagine the chaos and worry if a hacker broke into your backup server and deleted your backups. In order to prevent something awful like this from happening, look for an online backup service that provides secure TLS/SSL server connections. This keeps your password secure and also prevents a “man-in-the-middle” attack which allows a hacker to corrupt your data.

The second security issue to be aware of is backup file encryption. Some businesses have highly sensitive data which must be protected. For example, doctor’s offices are required to maintain patient privacy; their main concerns are with HIPAA compliancy. Other businesses, such as software developers, want to protect their trade secrets; they don’t want their source code falling into the wrong hands. AES file encryption provides protection against these risks, so be sure the online backup service offers this important feature. AES encryption is superior to other forms of encryption; it is the new standard adopted and deployed by the U.S. Government to protect classified information. It keeps confidential information, confidential.

Reliability
There are a number of things that can go wrong with backing up your data, especially when it takes place over an Internet connection. For example, an Internet connection could fail in the middle of a backup resulting in a faulty copy of the data stored on the backup server. To avoid this scenario, a good backup service will ensure that the data is verified not only before it is transmitted over the Internet but afterwards as well.

If data is not verified after it has been uploaded to the backup server, you may not know about a problem until you try to restore it. This would defeat the whole point of having a backup in the first place. Ensuring that the backup service provides full file verification will save you time, aggravation, and money in the long term.

In addition to full file verification methods, you want to ensure that your online backup service provides RAID redundancy. A RAID redundant backup server prevents data loss when a hard drive on a particular server fails. Look for a service that provides RAID-1, RAID-5, or RAID-6 redundant servers to help prevent this from happening and to protect your backups.

Ease-of-Use
Ease-of-use is a given when choosing an online backup service. After all, the backup software is your interface to protecting your valuable data and you need to be comfortable using it. If the service offers backup software with a “set-it-and-forget-it” interface, you will be able to run your backups automatically and never have to worry about them again. Typically, you want to be able to schedule your backups to run at night when nobody is in the office.

You don’t want software that automatically chooses the files for your backup set. You also don’t want software that places restrictions on the types of files that you are allowed to backup. Being able to select specific files and folders to backup is important for your business. Selecting these files and folders should not require anything more than clicking on a few checkboxes within the software.

Another important aspect concerning what makes an online backup service easy-to-use has to do with restoring your data in the event of data-loss. Connecting to your backup server and restoring your data should be fast and simple. The last thing anyone wants to deal with is spending time restoring data with a slow and unresponsive server.

Acquiring a Free Trial
No matter which online backup service you choose, you want to take it for a test drive before committing. Often, there is little in common between online backup services; you want to be confident in subscribing to the best online backup service for your particular business needs. When you find a service that meets your requirements, take full advantage of a free trial offer if there is one offered. Keep in mind it is all about ease-of-use and quality of service. An online backup service that provides a free trial indicates that they are confident in their services and that they are willing to prove it to you for free.

Be responsible. Provide your business with a true sense of security. Answer the question “Got protection?” with a confident, resounding “Yes!” When it comes to protecting your business from a data-loss disaster, you need to consider the advantages that a secure online backup service provides.

Backing up your data online is the easiest way to protect your company’s irreplaceable assets. Unfortunately, some businesses don’t realize the importance of backing up their data until it’s too late. The statistics are quite alarming. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and the National Archives in Washington, 60% of companies that lose their data close down within 6 months and 93% close their doors within 5 years.

Fortunately, backing up your data doesn’t have to be as complex as it once was. When you back up your data online, all you need is an Internet connection and backup software. Keeping track of full, differential, or incremental backups is no longer necessary. And, manually storing your backup media offsite to protect against fire, theft, and natural disasters, is no longer a concern.

According to recent surveys, more and more businesses are choosing an online backup solution for their data protection needs for a multitude of reasons! There are several advantages, including:

• Critical business data is automatically stored offsite.
• No need for additional hardware and storage media.
• There are no backup device or media failures to worry about.
• You don’t need to maintain or rotate backups.
• All you need is an Internet connection and backup software.

With an online backup solution, you will be relieved from worrying about purchasing, installing, and maintaining any additional hardware. You won’t need to worry about the shelf-life of your backup media. You may not even need someone from the IT department to help you get started. All you need to do is ensure that your computer or office network has an Internet connection. Then it’s simply a matter of installing the online backup software. After this, you can start backing up your data immediately and confidently.

The inherent beauty of an online backup solution is that your data will be automatically protected from fire, theft, vandalism, flood, and other types of natural disasters. This is due to the fact that your data is already stored on a remote backup server. In the past, businesses hoping to protect their data from physical disasters may have used tape backup devices. They would store their tapes in safe-deposit boxes which are located offsite, typically, at a bank. This does keep data stored offsite but requires the inconvenience of transporting the tapes to that offsite location. In addition, these types of backups must be rotated to replace older backups with new ones. With an online backup service, however, your business will have the convenience of readily available backup data that is already safely stored offsite.

New RAID-5 Backup Servers

We have almost completed development of our new RAID-5 backup servers and plan on deploying them soon. I wanted to touch on a few key points about our new servers and also explain a little bit about how they work and why they are better than most other RAID solutions.

We were originally planning on using RAID-1 for our servers because we liked the idea of having two drives mirroring each other in case one of them failed. However, after further investigation, we found that in order to have a lot of backup space available on each server, it was quite complex to set it up this way. In other words, we found that we needed to have multiple RAID configurations in each server.

The solution we came up with was to use RAID-5 instead but with a hot spare. The hot spare is just an additional drive that remains on standby in case one of the working drives fail.

To help explain the added redundancy, I will first explain what RAID-5 is. A RAID-5 server has an array of hard drives which looks like one giant hard drive. If one of the hard drives fails, no data is lost and the other drives compensate until you replace the drive. But with our hot spare drive, the new drive automatically, and immediately, come online and take over for the failing drive.

The beauty of this solution is that even if the backup server has a drive failure, a new one automatically comes online and takes it place. If then a second hard drive fails before we replace the old one, the backup server still continues to function without data-loss.

We know that we have taken the extra step in protecting your data with our new servers and are confident that it will be as reliable as it gets and probably even more so than our competition.

We are looking forward to deploying our new servers soon!

Windows Mail is included with all versions of Windows Vista and is the successor to Outlook Express which was included with Windows XP. If you are using Windows Mail and want to backup your email autmatically, SecureBackup makes it easy.

The default location of where Vista stores your Windows Mail files is as follows:

C:\Users\{USERNAME}\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Mail

In this case, the {USERNAME} text above would be replaced with your actual Windows username.

If you were to open Windows Explorer and browse to your C:\Users\{USERNAME} folder, you would typically not see the “AppData” folder listed. This is because it is a hidden folder. SecureBackup, however, shows all hidden folders and allows you to browse them with ease.

Backup Windows Mail

As shown in the screenshoot above, you can easily browse to your Windows Mail folder. Simply check the box next to “Windows Mail” to backup all of your important email documents as well as other related information. For example, not only will your email and email folders be backed up, but your email account login information will be backed up as well. Your account login information is what you enter into the “Tools” -> “Accounts…” screen within Windows Mail when you setup your email account.

As you can see, automatically backing up your email with SecureBackup is both fast and painless.