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How do I initially backup my data to a USB disk?

Overview

If you have a large amount of data to backup initially you may want to perform your initial backup to a USB hard disk. Once the initial backup has been loaded onto the USB disk, the disk is shipped to our data center and copied to your storage server. At this point, your online backups will resume, and only changes to files will be uploaded.

Please see this article for more information on estimating how long the initial backup will take.

Instructions to Backup to USB Disk

Please follow these steps to perform your initial backup to a USB disk (or other location, such as a file server or SAN).

1. First, the account you will be backing up data to must be put into "maintenance mode." When an account is in maintenance mode online backups are not allowed to proceed. This is important, because until we receive the USB disk and load the data onto your storage server that account should not try to upload incremental changes to your data.
   
   Users with access to the advanced management console can put an account into maintenance mode by using the Account List page. In the "# X Logins" column click the [M] link on the row of the account you want to put into maintenance mode. It will display a confirmation that the account is now in maintenance mode.
   
   If you do not have access to the advanced management console, please contact your customer service representative for assistance.
   
   
2. Now, within the backup software, setup the "My Account", "Folders", "Schedule", and "Options" pages as you normally would.
   
   
3. Then, choose File menu -> Backup to disk. It will prompt you for the location of the USB disk. For example, if the USB disk was located at G:\, then you would want to use the location G:\Backup (note that you cannot backup to G:\ -- you must backup to an empty subdirectory on the USB disk),
   
   
4. When you press OK, it will warn you that you are about to begin a backup to disk process. Choose yes, and it will begin the backup process. You can monitor the status of the backup like normal backups (using the system status page).
   
   
5. When it has completely successfully you should mail the USB disk to the data center. Be sure to indicate the return shipping address for the USB disk in the package that is sent.
   

Important: You should not take the account out of maintenance mode after you have completed the backup to disk job. The account must be left in maintenance mode until the data has been loaded on the server by a server technician. The server technician will automatically take the account out of maintenance mode once the data has been copied.