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In this Email

Articles and Whitepapers

System State backup and restore.

Exchange mailbox and public folder restore.

Tips and Tricks

Preventing backups from running during holiday periods.

Setting up the ideal user for Exchange Mailbox backups.

What else is new?

Important release: BackupAssist v6.1.2 - upgrade now!

Important information for users running backups with Single Instance Store enabled.

V6 Upgrade Promotion still running!

End of Life (EOL) for BackupAssist v4.

Backup anecdotes

Tell us about an interesting or amusing experience you've had relating to data backup.

eNews survey

Which of the following features would you most like to see in a future release of BackupAssist?

Just for fun

Articles and Whitepapers

System State backup and restore.

With BackupAssist v6 you can schedule local ‘System State only' backups across all modern Windows operating systems, or back up the System State as part of a larger backup including files and applications. From a System State backup you can restore your Windows system settings and Active Directory. This is important for disaster recovery as it prevents you from having to reconfigure Windows back to its original state before the system failure occurred. To read the article, click here.

Exchange mailbox and public folder restore.

With the Restore Console in BackupAssist v6 you can easily restore Exchange mailboxes and public folders either directly back into the Exchange Server or to an alternate Exchange Server of your choosing. Read how to do this here.

Tips and Tricks

Preventing backups from running during holiday periods.

Why run a backup when your business is closed and there's no new data to protect? This Tips and Tricks article shows how to disable your backups on days when you do not need them to run. Click here to read it.

Setting up the ideal user for Exchange mailbox backups.

In this Tips and Tricks article our Helpdesk Team outlines how to configure the ideal Windows user for performing Exchange mailbox backups to PST files. Using a Windows user with the appropriate Exchange permissions helps you avoid permissions issues that can prevent mailbox backups from running. Read the Tips and Tricks article here.

What else is new?

Important release: BackupAssist v6.1.2 maintenance release.

This release is especially important for anyone using the following features of BackupAssist:

• VSS application backup (SQL Server, Exchange Server, Hyper-V Server, etc)
• Windows Imaging Engine backups
• Exchange mailbox backups
• Rsync Internet backups
• The BackupAssist VM Granular Restore Console (for Hyper-V restore)

There are also some other minor fixes and improvements included in v6.1.2. You can view the full release notes on our version history page here: http://www.backupassist.com/BackupAssist/history.html

We strongly recommend that you upgrade now as there has been a lot of work completed since our last maintenance release in October 2010.

To upgrade to v6.1.2 visit http://www.backupassist.com/BackupAssist/download.php#upgrade

Important information for users running backups with
Single Instance Store enabled.

If the hard link count for a file continues to increase (i.e. there are many backup sets on your drive containing the same file that links back to a unique original), it will take longer and longer to replicate these hard links on the backup destination; this affects the time taken to complete a backup. If you notice an increase in backup times and you're running a backup with Single Instance Store enabled (File Replication and Rsync backups), see Stuart's blog post for a simple solution.

For more information about Single Instance Store and hard links visit http://www.backupassist.com/blog/support/single-instance-store-a-guide-to-hard-links/

V6 Upgrade Promotion still running!

The 25% discount offer on upgrades to BackupAssist v6 is still available, so log in to your Reseller Portal now to take advantage of this generous saving.

Remember that there's a special Customer summary page in your Reseller Portal, under the Purchasing and pricing menu, which makes it easy to see which of your clients are due for an upgrade! For instructions on upgrading your client's BackupAssist software to version 6 visit http://www.backupassist.com/upgrade/upgrades.html.

End of Life (EOL) for BackupAssist v4.

Now that BackupAssist v6 has been released, we will be discontinuing all support services for BackupAssist v4 in the near future. Find out more about the EOL for BackupAssist v4 here

Backup anecdotes

Have an interesting or amusing experience you'd like to share with us about data backup? Visit http://www.backupassist.com/surveys/backupanecdotes.php to tell us your story. Below is an example of the type of story we've been told in the past.

Backup tapes on ice.

The System Administrator's worst nightmare: the main server has a virus, which crashes the machine and brings a stop to all business operations; but it's OK: the server has been backed up to tape every night since being installed, and the secretary has been taking the tapes home and storing them in a safe place.

The secretary returns to the office a short while later, the tapes tucked under her arm in what appears to be a cooler bag. The System Administrator is puzzled by the choice of container, but this confusion is replaced by the need to hold those precious backup tapes. He reaches for the first tape: it's ice cold to the touch. Surprised, he reaches for another only to experience the same icy sensation.

All the tapes are frozen solid.

Dumfounded, the System Administrator asks the secretary where she has been storing the backup tapes.
“In the safest place in my house, a place that nobody would look, a place where I keep all my valuable jewellery,” she replies, a self-satisfied smile across her face.
“In the freezer,” she grins proudly after a dramatic pause.
“In the what?” exclaims the System Administrator who shakes his head in disbelief.

The System Administrator quickly comes up with a plan: defrost the tapes and pray for a miracle. After many hours of thawing, winding out each tape reel and hand drying it with great care, he wipes the sweat from his forehead and inserts the first backup tape.

The drive takes a liking to the defrosted tape and happily reads its contents, allowing the System Administrator to restore his entire server. He performs an embarrassing dance of joy and proclaims himself the Prometheus of the backup tape world.

The boss is so impressed that he tells the System Administrator that he'll have to work over-time for the rest of the week to make up for the time spent defrosting tapes.

eNews survey - have your say

Which of the following features would you most like to see in a future
release of BackupAssist?

1. Automatic updates
2. Ability to run multiple jobs at the same time
3. Ability to append to a tape when using the Zip-To-Tape Engine
4. Bare metal backup option for Windows Imaging backups
5. Automatic creation of a valid backup user identity

Just for fun

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