How your backup system works

1. A copy of your current data is taken throughout the day from your computer network. This can be a workstation or a server depending upon your systems setup. The backup times are determined during installation, which are designed around your needs.

2. The copied data is stored on the local backup server known as the "Business Continuity Device". Depending upon the model, this device is very powerful and can temporarily replace your server should it be needed. Any restores will be performed using this device first, then from the data center second if required.

3. One very cool feature of this system is restores can be performed from multiple points. If today you find you need a file restored from yesterday, two days ago, or two weeks ago we can do that with ease. Maybe you need a file from four hours ago. Depending upon your scheduled backup times, we can restore that too!

4. Once the data is copied to the local device, you have began to be protected however there is always a chance something can go wrong locally. Fire, building damage from storms, you get the picture, so we send copies of your data "offsite" to the data center located multiple states away. Once your system is fully copied to this data center, we take it one further step and push a copy of that data to another data center located multiple states away from THAT data center.

5. Sometimes when a new fresh change is needed, meaning the backup taken is a "Full Backup", this requires that the entire backup needs to be pushed to the data center. Depending upon your Internet Connection, this can take hours to days for this to be accomplished.

This is where the "Round Trip" comes in. This round trip is a portable storage device (hard drive) that is plugged into your local backup server, copies the data, then is shipped to the data center to be copied to their servers. Depending upon the amount of data, this can save days but more important enable you to be protected faster in the event of storms and other catastrophes.

If our tech team knows your at a weak point in ways of being fully compliant with a offsite backup and there are heavy storm potentials, you will find that we can be very pushy to get this accomplished.

6. In the event that a restore is needed, we will login to the local backup server and search for the requested data to be restored. Should the requested data is "extremely old" we can login to the datacenter and search for an achieved copy. Your retention rate is determined by your current subscription. If you feel you need longer or you are not sure what your current retention is, please call our office and we'll be happy to discuss this with you.

7. Your server has crashed, now what? Depending upon the subscription plan and device purchased, we can "spin up" your server on the local backup server, from the data center, or copy it off to a temporary or new server totally dependant upon the situation. In short, we have you covered!

How the Round Trip Process Works

1. Tech Team determines a Round Trip is required
2. Round Trip is ordered - Either is Drop Shipped or Sent to PITG
3. Round Trip device is plugged into the local backup server
4. Sync or data copy is started, copies from local server to RT drive
5. Tech Team is notified the Sync is completed
6. Round Trip device is unplugged and boxed up to be shipped to Data Center
7. Round Trip device is received at the Data Center
8. Round trip device is plugged in and sync started to Data Center Servers
9. Sync is completed. Round Trip process is completed