We're 13 years old now and we're going through some big changes. We're growing up in ways we could never predict. We earned some serious gold, we're beta than ever, we've made some helpful new Rsync videos for you, our friend Dave has left off steam and we've got the best stories from the world of backup.

There might even be a new website on the horizon but that would be telling wouldn’t it?

We’ve won Gold (and we’re going on vacation)!

That’s right, BackupAssist just attained the revered Microsoft Gold Partner status and to celebrate we’ve decided to take some time off. We’ll be closed down from 24 December 2012 until 1 January 2013, inclusive. It just so happens that our little vacation coincides with Christmas and New Year!

Getting Gold Partner status wasn’t easy and we hope that it will help us grow so that we can assist you even more with your Windows Server backups.

If you use BackupAssist, you are using an application written by the highest level of programmers in the top tier of the software industry and we have the certificate to prove it.

Updates for BackupAssist v7 Beta

We have just added an update to the BackupAssist v7 beta release, with a raft of great new features that make backups easier and more reliable for you. These include: A new user interface Remote central administration Support for Windows Server 2012 Support for Windows 8
If you’re a bit slow and haven’t got v7 Beta yet then download it here for free, play around with it and let us know what you think. Congratulations to David from EXECAid! He has won a FREE 12 month BackupAssist license for his extremely helpful feedback regarding Hyper-V and Server 2012 in the first round of beta testing.

Rsync can be overwhelming…

… so we made some videos to help you out. Our five short new videos show how easy it can be to backup via Rsync. As well as giving some background information on the Rsync protocol, the videos take you step-by-step through the process of setting up Rsync with BackupAssist. The series includes:

Rsync Backup Overview Installing CopSSH and cwRsyncServer Activate a User Within CopSSH Setup Rsync Client Seeding your Rsyncserver Watch the series here.

From Dave’s Desk - Incremental Backups for
Windows Server 2012

"Incremental backups are the surgical way to protect your files. They search and copy only things that have changed, rather than the sledgehammer approach of duplicating an entire system for each backup. Incremental backups note changes in data and when a backup is scheduled to run they copy the altered files, ignoring information that has not changed." Read More.

Backup news

What happens to your backup tapes after you’re finished with them? After reading this article about finding tapes discarded in the trash I’m sure you’ll be looking into it.

Losing hundreds or even thousands of customers’ details is not only going to make your customers angry, it could easily drop you in legal hot water. Just ask O2 and IBM in Ireland who recently admitted to losing a backup tape way back in 2011.

Ever hear of the Rule of Three? Blogger Scott Hanselman discusses the finer points of backup strategy, and we think it’s appropriate whether it’s your personal laptop or three servers at your business.

Want another reason to keep good backups? How about Russian hackers encrypting your customer data files and then demanding a ransom to unencrypt. It just happened to an Australian doctor’s office.

We could tell you more stories about backing up but we’d rather hear from you. Send us your best backup anecdotes here.

We hope you have enjoyed this newsletter and our other newsletters throughout the year, and as the year draws to a close we’d like to say have a happy and safe holiday season! We are really looking forward to meeting, talking and working with you in 2013.

BackupAssist is software designed to help you easily backup, restore and recover information from your Windows Servers. Visit www.backupassist.com to learn more.

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