| What are the advantages of Online Backup? |
Online Backup with SafetyNets™ offers several advantages over backing up files to tape, cd, portable disk, or any other local media. Here are a few:
- No hardware or software costs - There is no need to purchase any hardware such as tape or disk drives. In addition SafetyNets™ provides the software free of charge.
- Simple to setup - SafetyNets™' online backup system does not require as much setup and configuration as other systems that require hardware and backup media.
- Automated execution - SafetyNets™' online backup systems run automatically, requiring no user intervention in most cases.
- Offsite Storage - SafetyNets™' online backup systems store your data safely in a remote location. If a disaster strikes where your computer is located, your data remains safe in an off-site location.
- Backup Catalog - SafetyNets™' online backup systems automatically keep track of which files are backed up, making them much easier to restore when needed.
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| Is Online Backup Safe and Secure? |
| Yes, in most cases Online Backup is safer than traditional backup. This is particularly true with SafetyNets™ secure online data backup . The data is encrypted using advanced encryption and your data cannot be read by anyone who does not have your encryption key, including SafetyNets™ personnel. |
| Can I use SafetyNets™ to backup databases? |
Yes, The SafetyNets™ Business Subscription Plan provides the functionality to backup the following databases:
- Microsoft SQL Server
- Oracle
- MySQL
- Lotus Notes
- Lotus Domino
- Microsoft Exchange Server
SafetyNets™ supports both full and incremental (log backups) of Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle, and Lotus Notes/Domino. |
| How often do my files get backed up? |
| By default, SafetyNets™ will backup your data once a day between 9:00PM and 6:00AM. However, you can change the schedule to backup more or less frequently and you can also set the exact times that you want your files to be backed up. |
 Does every file get backed up? |
| No, only the files which have changed since the last backup are sent to the SafetyNets™ datacenter. This allows the backups to run much faster. There is no need to transmit files to the datacenter if an exact copy is already backed up. You also have control over which folders on your computer are backed up. By default SafetyNets™ will backup your documents and settings. |
| How much technical know-how does it take to setup SafetyNets™? |
| Almost none; you are already computer savvy enough to connect to the internet and browse this site, it doesn't take much more than that to setup SafetyNets™. To setup your account, go to the account page and fill in the form. You wil receive an email with your password and a link to the setup program. SafetyNets™ installs in minutes and automatically configures itself to back up your documents every night. |
| How much time will I have to spend learning to use SafetyNets™? |
| The setup will take about 5 minutes, after that SafetyNets™ will run automatically. You are not required to do anything if you don't want to. Your documents and settings will be backed up everyday without any action on your part. If you want to customize the schedule or options, that can usually be done in a few minutes. |
| Where will my data be stored? |
| Your data is stored in a world-class datacenter located near Jackson, Mississippi, USA. See description of the secure SafetyNets™ datacenter facilities. |
| What happens if the SafetyNets™ facility is destroyed by a disaster? |
The SafetyNets™ servers are located in a very secure data center that was designed to withstand most disasters. The data-center has multiple power sources and its own power generation facilities to backup the utility power. Advanced alarms, environmental control and fire containment and suppression are designed into the facility. The SafetyNets™ data is stored on redundant disk arrays to protect against common hardware problems.
In addition to all of the protection of primary facility, the SafetyNets™ system replicates all data to mirror site that is located in a second secure data center that is in a different geographic location. The replication occurs immediately as data arrives at the primary location. The data is replicated on a block by block basis so that when large files are backed up, the secondary data center is receiving the file at the same time. If the primary SafetyNets™ data-center facility suffers a major disaster, the SafetyNets™ system will continue to operate from the secondary location. |
| Can anyone else access my data? |
| No, your data is encrypted with a key of your choosing. Your data never leaves your computer in unencrypted form. Your data cannot be read without the encryption key, which only you will know. Your encryption key is never transmitted to the datacenter. Even SafetyNets™ employees, including datacenter technicians, cannot access your data. |
| Should I stop using my tape backup system? |
| That is completely up to you. You can continue to use your tape backups if you desire, but your important documents and settings will be securly stored offsite with SafetyNets™. |
| I am currently copying my data to CD's for backup, why should I use SafetyNets™? |
| Your CD backups are succeptable to loss along with your computer unless you are moving the backup CDs to another location on regular basis. CD backups also require manual effort everyday to copy the data and secure the CDs in a safe location. SafetyNets™ will perform your backups automatically and store your data offsite without any manual effort on your part. And you will not miss any backups because you forgot to change the CD! |
| How hard is it to restore my data if it gets lost? |
| Your data can be easily restored using the same SafetyNets™ software that is installed on your system to perform the backups. If you lost they system that the software was installed, you can install it by loging into your adminsitrative page. You can also restore your data from our website without any additional software on your system. |
| How long does a typical hard drive last? |
| There are several factors that have to be considered to get an idea of how long a drive should be expected to last. The quality of the drive and the operating conditions have the biggest influence on the life of the drive. Bottom line is that most drives last between 2 and 5 years, but they can fail at anytime. See " How Long Should A Hard Drive Last " |
| Can I backup my Outlook personal folders file (.PST) with SafetyNets™? |
| Yes, absolutely. Outlook .PST files can grow quite large which makes them difficult to backup to CD's or other media. In addition, they usually contain valuable documents and information that should be backed up frequently and retained. The first time you you backup a large file, like your PST file, it will take some time. After the initial backup, only the new data and changed areas of the file will be backed up. If you ever lose your PST file, you can easily restore the entire file. |
| My hard drive has SMART technology that gives early warning before a disk failure. |
| SMART technology is very good if your computer has software that monitors it. SMART will report conditions that may lead to drive failure before the drive fails. However, SMART does not predict all failures and cannot predict some of the common causes of disk failure, i.e. voltage surges, shock, mechanical failure... Valuable data should be backed up frequently and stored in a secure location regardless of the type of disk drive or monitoring technology in use. |
| How long are my files retained on SafetyNets™? |
| SafetyNets™ retains your files for as long as you keep the account. The current versions of the files you backup are retained indefinitely. Files that you delete from your computer, or older versions of files that you have modified are retained according to a retention policy that you set. By default SafetyNets™ keeps files that you have deleted for 7 days. If you deleted a file by mistake then you have 7 days to recover it before SafetyNets™ will release the space. You can increase the number of days that deleted and old versions of files will be retained, but it will increase your space requirements on the SafetyNets™ storage systems. |
| SafetyNets™'s price seems low compared to other online backup service providers, what's the catch? |
| There is no catch. We control our costs so that we can offer you a superior service at a lower cost. SafetyNets™ depends on having good referenceable customers to help us spread the word and we do not spend much on marketing and advertising. Our servers, storage systems, software, and datacenter are top quality, offering the best reliability and security possible. |
| How do you know that a file didn't lose some bits during transmission? |
| The SafetyNets™ system uses modern error detection techniques to verify the integrity of each block of data transmitted. If an error is detected the block is retransmitted. As a precaution SafetyNets™ support staff also sends an e-mail if an error occurs. |
| What if a hard disk fails on the SafetyNets™ servers? |
| SafetyNets™ uses fault tolerant disk arrays for storing customer data. The failure of a single disk will not result in loss of customer data. In addition the entire storage array is replicated to an additonal storage facility in a secondary data-center to ensure that your data will not be lost if a catastrophic event occurs at the primary data center. |
| Does SafetyNets™ require a contract? |
| SafetyNets™ does not require a contract. You can cancel your account at anytime on our website in the account section. When your account is cancelled, the billing will stop immediately. See our payment policy. |
| If I cancel my SafetyNets™ account, what happens to my data? |
| When you cancel your SafetyNets™ account an email will be sent to the registered email address giving you notice that your account will be terminated in 5 business days. The email and grace period are for your protection in case of a mistake or unauthorized cancellation request. During this period of time, you may restore any files that you want to retain. After the 5 day grace period, your data that resides on the SafetyNets™ storage system will be permanently destroyed. |
| My auditors require that I keep 5 years of backup data, do I need to set the retention policy to 1825 days? |
| Not necessarily, it depends on your backup requirements. If you need to be able to restore any of the snapshots for those 1825 days, then yes, you need to set a simple 1825-day retention policy. On the other hand, if say for each of the 5 years, your auditor only needs the snapshots on December 31 of each year, then you can make use of the "Advanced Retention Policy" feature, where you have options to keep yearly, quarterly, monthly, or daily snapshots. With this flexibility, you should be able to configure your required backup policy. |
| What is incremental backup and how does In-File Delta work? |
In an incremental backup, only modified files will be uploaded to the Backup Server.
On the other hand, In-File Delta is applicable to the physical files to be uploaded to the Backup Server, does not matter whether it is a MS SQL database file, MS Exchange transaction log file or any normal file in a FileBackupSet. Specifically, only the changed blocks in comparison the original file on the Backup Server (delta file) will be uploaded.
For each modified file, SafetyNets™ Manager would determine whether the entire file or only a delta file should be uploaded. If the entire file is to be uploaded, the old version of the file will be moved to the Retention area. Else if only the delta file is to be uploaded, the previous delta files will be moved to the Retention area and the Data area should contain the original full backup file, checksum file and the latest delta file of this file. |
| What are Off-line backup, Logout backup reminder and Local backup features? |
Off-line backup is basically designed for notebook users who are off-line most of the time and cannot rely on backup schedule to backup regularly. The backup interval allows notebook users to specify the interval that they would like their data to backup. If this interval has elapsed, backup will run automatically once this machine is online.
Logout backup reminder asks user if they would like to backup if they logout of the computer or shutdown their computer.
Local backup allows an extra copy of backup file to be kept on local hard disk when running backup. |
