When your account gets to within 95% of the maximum of your current size, you will start getting warning emails.

To upgrade your account, simply drop us an email, and we will upgrade your account imeadiatly.

You will be invoiced for the difference in fees between your previous monthly amount and the new, upgraded monthly amount.

When you use the GBData online backup software to protect your PC data, Once a backup is complete, you will, within minutes, receive an e-mail notification that tells you if your backup was successful or not.

If your backup failed, this email will also provide the reason for the failure.

Additionally, this notification gives you further information on the number of files that have been transferred, updated, deleted and moved.

Also the time taken to backup, and errors that may have occurred.

The trial software for remote backup is identical to the paid version, the only difference is that you are restricted to the total amount of data that you can store on our servers during the trial.

In a word, no.

When you sign up for the GBData online backup free trial, all we ask  for is your name and email address.  That is all, then just click on the proceed button to accept our terms and conditions, and proceed to the download page.

From here you can choose the correct version, and download it.  Once installed you are free to use it as often as you want, with a data size limit of 80G, for 30 days.  After t his, if you want to subscribe to a paid service, simply contact us to get this set up.  If not then you are free to continue using the service with a reduced data limit of 500M for as long as you want.

The GBData online backup or remote backup software operate under most operating systems.  The technical details follow:

Operating Systems

Do you often have files open on your computer whilst the GBData remote backup software is running a backup?
With GBData the backup software is able to successfully backup all open files located on the PC on which the software is running.
The software utilises a Windows process called “shadow Copy” to take a copy of the open files, so that you may continue to work on them, while the backup runs in the background.

GBData online backup software can be installed on multple PC’s without a problem.  For instance how about a couple of PC’s, a server, a couple of laptops, all needing backup?
With the GBData online backup software and one backup account you can safely protect them all, you just install the service, and create a new backup set. If you want assistance on how to do this, drop us a line and we will happily call you and walk you through the process.

No problem. At the end of the online backup trial, your data storage limit will automatically be reset to 500M, and you are free to use this for as long as you wish. (Yes you can get something for nothing!).  The only criteria is that you must actually continue to use the service.
If you do not, after 60 days the account is automatically deleted. If at any point you wish to upgrade to a paid account with a higher limit, then simply drop us an email and we can arrange this immediately.

GBData remote backup servers send you an email progress report at the completion of each remote backup. This lets you know that your online backup was completed.

If our online backup software experiences any problem with the backup, the log files attached to the progress report email will identify the files that have not been archived or other trouble found.

Absolutely, Yes, this is one of the major benefits of using our service, as you can protect as many computers as you wish, and pay only for the total storage used.

If you occasionally forget to leave your computer on, this is not a problem. The GBData software will simply resume your backup schedule when you power back up your system.

Files that have changed since your last backup will be identified and properly archived when it is time for the next scheduled backup.

If a transmission is interrupted in the middle of a backup, the GBData online backup software client will attempt to re-establish a connection and resume the backup from where it was interrupted. It will continue to do this several times, during which your internet connect connection will normally re-establish itself.

For the ultimate protection, you can also plug in an inexpensive external hard drive, so that your files are backed up locally, as well as off site.

Unfortunately, encryption keys cannot be recovered. Unlike some companies that offer to be able to recover your password, we also call this a security leak or back door. GBData does not have such a weakness, you can rest in the knowledge that your data is encrypted ans unreadable to anyone but you. However this does mean that if you loose your password, your data will really be completely unreadable and unrecoverable.

GBData remote backup recommends keeping a record of your encryption key offsite in a safe location.

Very. You — and you alone — have access to your data files because GBData online backup software encrypts your data prior to transmission to our offsite backup storage vault. Military-grade encryption technology and a user-defined password (encryption key) ensure that nobody, including employees of GBData, can access your data. Compare this to the total lack of security on most tape, zip and CD/DVD drives.

Connection
To establish the secure online backup internet connection GBData remote backup software uses a SSL connection (Secure Socket Layer). This protocol is similar to the one that banks use for online banking. Despite the fact that your data is transmitted via the internet it is impossible for people to intercept and read the content.

* Point-to-point SSL communication between server and client.
* Supports HTTP/HTTPS Proxy and Socks v4/v5 firewall.
* The data is 128-bit encrypted and stored.
* Choice of different encryption algorithms, e.g. TwoFish, Triple DES, Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
* Choice of different encryption modes, e.g. Electronic Cook Book (ECB) en Cipher Block Chaining (CBC).
* A random initialisation vector and iteration counter are generated automatically during encryption.
* Each backup user can restrict online access to his files to a pre-defined list of IP addresses.

Encryption key
When the online backup software is first installed, an encryption key is generated, that is used to encrypt all of your data. If you lose your encryption key your backup will be lost forever! The content of your online backup is absolutely unreadable to GBData remote backup staff despite the fact that we have access to the encrypted files stored at our online storage facilities. (Always keep your encryption key in a save place!)

Encrypting key are well protected The key which is used to encrypt your your business data is held only on your computer and is only ever known only to you and authorized members of staff. For obvious security reasons it is never transmitted anywhere across your network or the internet, therefore, even GBData online backup system administrators and support staff will not be able to decrypt and view the content of your files stored on the backup server without your permission. Please bear in mind, this means if the encrypting key is lost, you will never be able to recover your backup files.

Always use the Best encryption algorithm Available
Currently, the algorithm that we are using to encrypt your files is 256-bit. As already mentioned, this technology is currently being used by national banks and the military. It is a block cipher designed by Counterpane Labs. It was also one of the five Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) finalists chosen by National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST). It subjects to frequent public reviews but no known attack against this algorithm has been reported.

Require 8.77 x 1017 years to crack the 128-bit encryption
A 128-bit key size has 2128 or around 3.4 x 1038 possible combination. Even if you have the world best super computer, ASCI White, SP Power3 375 MHz manufactured by IBM as of November 2000, it would take 8.77 x 1017years to test all combinations. Assuming your have the super computer, ASCI White, SP Power3 375 MHz has 8192 processors which totals a capability of 12.3 teraflops (trillions of operations/second), available to you. Also it just needs one computer operation to test a possible combination (which is already faster than what it can do). To use brute force attack (checking all combinations) on this encryption algorithm. It would take 876,530,835,323,573,935 years or 8.77 x 1017 years to successfully try all combinations. Let alone ASCI White cannot process as fast as what described here. You can be sure that your data stored on our server is 100% secured.

Online backup Account Access
Restrict access to data by IP addresses You can also restrict access to your backup files from the set of IP addresses you defined. If someone tries to access your data from an IP address not on your defined list, their access will be denied. This additional security ensures backup files are not open to all location, even if the username and password are known.

GBData Remote Backup Storage Facility
The Remote Backup servers are owned and managed by ourselves. They are protected from both power surges and outages, and can run indefinably without an external supply. All client data is duplicated to a second server on a continuous basis, and this second server is configured to be able to replace the first should the primary server fail.
The site employees access control with off site monitoring, and fire detection. Only authorised GBData online backup employees have access to the data, though data remains un-readable to everyone but the client with the encryption key.

Our GBData online backup service can be installed on as many PC’s as you want, and run from anywhere in the World, all that is needed is a good internet connection.

So install the software on those laptops, create a new backup set, and away you go, safe in the knowledge that should the laptop get dropped (yep they often are!) or stolen or crash, the data is safe, even though the operator has not themselves performed any actions’!

The online backup software will even remind the laptop users every so often, so that if they are often used without an internet connection, they will get reminded to connect and run a backup.

Absolutely, Yes. There is no limit to the data transfers or the number of offsite backups you can make per day, when you use the GBData online backup service. Create multiple schedules for different PC’s on your network, so that your internet connection is not congested. Backup several times a day to protect more important files too.

In fact using our new Continuous Data Protection (CDP) the transfers happen all day long.

The easiest way to answer this is to download our GBData online backup software and trial the remote backup service for the next 30 days.

during this trial you will get emails each time a backup succeeds, including showing you how much storage you are using.

During the trial you are limited to a massive 80G, and after the trial, there are no limits!

Raid drives are a useful tool in loosing data, and indeed complete operating systems, however, there are plenty of situations that do not involve a hardware failure, that result in a data loss.

This could be a virus, and accidental deletion, or a malicious act from a disgruntled employee. What ever the reason, the hardware is still intact, but your precious data is gone. Enter online backup from GBData. Out software will backup your data either continuously, or at pre-determined times, to ensure that should a data loss occur, you are still protected.

Absolutely. In most situations, firewall changes are NOT required.

Our software is designed to be easy to install and operate. Providing you have an internet connection, the software should happily install and operate without a problem, or further modification to your hardware, such as a router or firewall.

Yes. Many GBData online backup clients continue to run their tape backups, but no longer transport their tapes off site.

Redundancy is the key to data security, so you can never have too many backups.

There are only two things that affect the cost of the service to you; the size of the total amount of storage required, and if you require backup to individual email & contact level.  Se view our pricing scheme please see here:

In short, no.

GBData invoice monthly in advance, and only require one month’s notice if you wish to cancel the service.  It is worth noting that we loose less that 0.001% of our clients annually.

Two Levels of Service

There are two levels of service provided by Remote Backup Services – Business Class and Consumer grade. The cheap £5/month services offer Consumer grade backup services. They almost always exclude computers used for business.

Business Class Service: GBData offers Business Class service, with advanced features designed for businesses. Most of the cheap services will not allow installation on business computers, and are not capable of properly protecting business data. They say so in their Terms of Service.

Customizable Features: GBData has many times the number of features the cheap services have. GBData can be individually configured for the exact needs of each customer. The cheap services are a one-size-fits-all solution that works only for personal computers, not businesses.

Servers: GBData backs up Windows servers. Cheap services cannot.

Regulatory Compliance: Many businesses are required by law to comply with data privacy and security regulations. GBData complies with all data privacy regulations like HIPAA, GLB, SOX, the data protection act and EU regulations. The cheap services do not.

Open Files: GBData backs up files that are open and locked by other applications, even while in heavy use. Cheap services often do not. As an example, GBData will back up Outlook files while Outlook is open.

Service Level Agreement: The cheap services do not offer an SLA. At £5/month, they can’t. Many businesses will pay for an SLA that contains guarantees of bandwidth, uptime, recovery time, security, and other important assurances.

Professional Service: A professional Remote Backup Service Provider working closely with their customers can provide a much higher level of service than the cheap services can offer.

Local Support: Business owners like to know there is someone local who they can call when they have problems. The cheap services use call centers staffed by drones who don’t know their customers, who can’t come out to fix a problem (at any price), and who need to move on to their next call within 5.5 minutes.

On-Site Installation and Setup: GBData suppliers can offer on-site installation and setup. The cheap services cannot.

File Retention Policy: GBData allows setting different (and powerful) file retention policies for different groups of files. The cheap services do not. GBData can be set to keep files from seven days to more than ten years, and has many controls for when and how files are rotated out of storage. The cheap services do not.

MS Exchange: GBData backs up MS Exchange Server at the brick level. The cheap services will not back up MS Exchange.

SQL Server: GBData backs up and restores MS SQL Server at the table level, differentially. The cheap services do not.

Outlook: GBData’s built-in open files agent backs up Outlook while it is open. Many of the cheap services do not.

System State: GBData backs up and restores System State. Many of the cheap services do not.

Scheduling: GBData’s scheduling features are very robust – much more robust than those of the cheap services. GBData can schedule backups by day of week, day of month, calendar day, daily, on demand, and several times a day.  In addition GBData offers continuous backup of key files, the moment they are changed, they are automatically backed up.

Failsafe: GBData’s built in failsafe features make sure that files are properly backed up and restored through multiple redundancy checks, digital signing, and many other features unavailable in the cheap services.

Data Center Redundancy: With GBData you can offer your customers data center redundancy. The cheap services do not offer that level of data assurance, and have lost their customers’ data because of it.

Redundant Local Backups: With GBData you can offer your customers added safety and VERY quick recovery times by maintaining a mirror of their online backups on a local hard drive. GBData will automatically restore from the local drive if it is available, and the online backup if it is not. The cheap services have nothing close to this level of service.

Recovery Time Objectives: When businesses lose data they lose money. The faster they can get their data back and resume business, the better. With GBData you can assure your customers quick recovery time objectives. The cheap services cannot.

Restore from Disk: GBData allows you to offer your customers a very quick restore from a portable disk drive. GBData can simply copy your customers’ encrypted data to a USB drive, and send it to your customer. Files on the hard drive are 100% encrypted, secure, and regulatory compliant.

Secure Web Portal: GBData’s Web portal offers full management of all aspects of their backups.  In addition they can access and therefore restore to a pc anywhere in the World.  The cheap services are not.

First Full Backup Onsite: Often the first backups are big – really big, because if done right, they back up all selected files. It can take weeks or months to do a first backup with the cheap services. With GBData you can offer your customers the added service of performing a quick first full backup onsite using a portable hard drive. Subsequent backups are all incremental, online.

Security: GBData is 100% secure and regulatory compliant. Files are encrypted with encryption keys known only to the customers to 256Bit, and are never sent to the Server. File names are encrypted. Folder structures are encrypted. The cheap services are not secure and are not private.

Remote Backup or Online Backup is the service that GBData offers for the protection of your computer data.

You can read more about how it works here.

Currently backing up by tape?  Read the table below to see for yourself the advantages of offsite backups against traditional tape drives.

Microsoft SQL is a  full-featured relational database management system (RDBMS) that offers a variety of administrative tools to ease the burdens of database development, maintenance and administration.

Can GBData back this up?, the short answer is yes we can, and we will not charge you any more for this facility either!

A pdf description of how it all works can be found here:

An interesting question, and of course we are biased!  But that is only because we firmly believe in the quality of our service.

Have a look at the page that can be found here, which will show you a table of the main features that we offer, try using it to compare us against the competition that you are considering. I think you will find that we compare very well indeed, but if we do fall down any where, let us know via our online contact form so that we can continue to improve our service offering.

A remote backup service, online backup service or managed backup service is a service that provides users with an online system for backing up and storing computer files.

Online backup has been in use by large corporations for quite some time. Recently however, online backup systems have been released at price points that make them usable by the average consumer and/or small business.

Online backup involves your data being compressed, and encrypted, before utilising your internet connection, to transfer the data off site. Typically the remote backup software will run automatically in the background, at predetermined times, usually chosen when the internet connection is least used.

A file or files may be required to be restored for many reasons, including accidental deletion, virus attached, computer hardware crash, theft (common in laptops) and disasters such as the recent floods and Buncefield oil storage depot. Online backup services allow the user to restore in several ways; by simply opening the software, and choosing the file(s) to be restored, by installing the remote backup software on a new machine, and then choosing files to be restored. You can also gain access to your files via the internet, via our online backup secure web portal, so that you can restore files anywhere in the World, to any PC.