May
27
2009
Carbonite Answers Qustion: What Do You Backup?
Author: SamThe answer is simple. By default, Carbonite backs up everything in your Documents and Settings folder (called Users in Windows Vista), including documents, photos, email and data files from applications, such as Quicken, Money, etc. Once a subscription is purchased, music is also added to the list. The default backup does not include programs, system files, temporary files, videos, or individual files greater than 4GB. You can, however, manually add any of these to your Carbonite backup.
Carbonite’s Online Backup is designed to backup all of the unique and irreplaceable files on your computer – your text documents, spreadsheets, financial documents, photos, music, etc.
By default, Carbonite does not back up system files, executable files, or temporary files and folders, in order to avoid causing problems in the event that you need to restore all your files to a new computer. Carbonite also does not back up video files by default. However, you can easily back up any file you want to by control-clicking on the file, selecting “More” and selecting ‘Back this up’ from the Carbonite menu.
Technical Details
Your Carbonite subscription is associated with a ‘backup policy’ which determines whether a file is, by default, included or excluded from backup. Carbonite backs up all files except for:
1. Operating System files
2. Applications
3. Files which are over 4GB in size (however, you can add large files to your backup explicitly by control-clicking on them and selecting <b>More; Carbonite; Back this up</b>)
4. Video files (but you can add video files to your backup just like any other file through the control-click menu)
5. Files on non-permanent disk drives (e.g., network and removable USB drives
In other Carbonite products, only certain file types are backed up. All other components of the policy described above apply.
Carbonite offers data protection with a 15 Petabyte, providing internet and computer users an indispensable service, at the bargain rate of mere pennies a day — an extremely small price to pay for guaranteed data protection. They also offer a 15-day free trial, which will give you a nice introduction to their services.
Once Carbonite data backup is setup on your computer, it requires little ongoing work on behalf of the user. It reads and stores your data as long as you’re on the internet, and users can also log on to the Carbonite site and access their files.