Carbonite Automated Backup

Most Australian users of Carbonite, are small businesses that are looking for an simple and cost effective automated backup solution. In most cases, they are using an external hard drive or have never been diligent in backing up before and have decided that they should start.

Hard drives fail. It’s a fact of computing life. It’s not a matter of whether or not your computer’s disk will fry, it’s a matter of when. The question is how much it will it cost you to restore it all again, not just in IT costs but yours and your employee’s time.

You can’t expect to remember to back up your data. This should be an automated process. Why? Because computers and software are here to make our lives easier, not messier. So how does Carbonite offer automated backup?

Once a file has been selected to be backed up with Carbonite, Carbonite will perform an initial backup of that entire file and then it will constantly (automatically) look for changes in that file to back them up for you (only the changes not the entire file again). So if you have an excel spreadsheet that you are constantly maintaining and can’t afford to lose, Carbonite will back it up and all of the changes you make to that file on a regular basis, automatically for you.

Most hard drives these days come with software to “automatically backup your files” but you still have to remember to plug the hard drive in. With an automated backup solution such as Carbonite, once the file has been selected, the backup process is automatic forever. Carbonite will also keep versions of that file for you. A daily version for a week, a weekly version for a month and a monthly version for 3 months.

With Carbonite you can also create a Backup Schedule. The options available include:

• Backup automatically – meaning it will backup up all changes throughout the course of the day.
• Backup at a certain time of the day eg 11pm at night, or set it to not backup during certain times of the day eg between 9am – 5pm (ie whilst I am working).
• You can also set your automated backup schedule to run on certain days and at certain times of the day. Eg backup only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 5am and 8am.

By using the Carbonite automated backup schedule, you can take control of when Carbonite goes to work. This can be particularly useful if your ISP plan enables you to upload unlimited amounts of files in “off peak” times.

In a more constricted economic environment such as what we are experiencing today, all businesses need to look for ways to be more efficient. That means doing more of the things that generate business and improve client relations and reducing the time spent on processes that are manual, time consuming and don’t generate revenue. Small businesses around are Australia are looking at automated backup solutions such as Carbonite as a way to eliminate what is in most cases a manual process of transferring files from the PC to a hard drive each night and placing the hard drive in the boot of your car or putting it in the safe.