Abaxio's Continuous Data Protection

Continuous Data Protection (CDP) feature enables files to be backed automatically at the time when there are changes to files on local hard disks. The benefits of using CDP are:

1.       All intra-day interim changes are backed up automatically. Even if the computer breaks down completely before users had the change to backup their data at the end of the day in logout backup reminder, all changes within the day have been backed up safely by CDP and no data are lost.

2.       Sometimes users do not save their data in the folders designated as backup source path and thus results in data not being backed up even when backup runs. Since CDP tracks all changes of files on local hard disk automatically for users, all files changed by the users are automatically backed up no matter whether the files are located in the backup source paths or not. This makes defining a backup set a much easier task for both administrators and users.

Although CDP is a very helpful feature, it does have some drawbacks. For example, a memory resident program, which tracks file changes to the file system and backs up files continuously in background, consumes both a computer’s CPU and memory resources. It can potentially slow down a computer considerably. For application servers, e.g. Microsoft Exchange Server or Microsoft SQL Server, that does not require CDP features (you can use transaction log backup interval of as frequent as every 1 minute to mimic a continuous backup strategy instead), please turn off CDP by changing the startup method of [Control Panel] -> [Administrative Tools] -> [Services] -> [Continuous Data Protection (Az-techs OBM)] -> [General] -> [Startup type] to “manual”.

The following table explains all CDP parameters available within a backup set.

Parameter

Description

Enable Continuous Data Protection (local disk only)

It defines whether CDP is enabled in this backup set. Please note that CDP will only backup files on local hard disks, not files on floppy drives, removable drives and network mapped drives.

Time Mark Interval

It defines the interval of point-in-time views generated by CDP. For example, if this setting is set to “60 minutes”, the point-in-time views selectable under Az-techs OBM / Az-techs ACB restore wizard and Az-techs OBS File Explorer will be “00:00”, “01:00”, “02:00” etc, for each day.

Minimum Update Interval

It defines the minimum interval that repeatedly updated files are backed up again. For example, if a file is updated every minute and the [Minimum Update Interval] is set to “10 minutes”, CDP backs up this file every 10 minutes instead of every minute. If you want all changes to be backed up instead, please change this setting to “Always”. However, since Az-techs OBS keeps only 1 snapshot of file within a single point-in-time view (“Time Mark Interval”), only the last backup file within each point-in-time view is restorable from Az-techs OBS, all other interim backup files are overwritten automatically without notice.

 

Please note that this applies to all full file backup only, but not for files that are backed up incrementally by in-file delta. To maintain a valid in-file delta chain for incremental delta files, Az-techs OBS will not delete incremental delta files automatically. If you are interested in restoring any of these snapshots backed up, you can use the [Show all files] view to display all interim incremental backup files.

Type

[Backup file(s) selected by backup sources and filters] – when this option is selected, CDP will only back up all changed files selected by backup set sources and filters settings

[Backup all files]            – when this option is selected, CDP will only back up all changed files

[Custom] – when this option is selected, CDP will only back up changed files selected by CDP backup sources and CDP backup filters settings

Do not backup files defined as system files

If this option is enabled, CDP will exclude the following files from its backup:

 

1.       '[WINDOWS_DIR]' (e.g. C:\WINDOWS\*)

2.       '[PROGRAM_DIR]' (e.g. C:\Program Files\*)

3.       '[RECYCLE_BIN_DIR]' (e.g. C:\RECYCLER, D:\$Recycle.Bin)

4.       '[ALL_LOCAL_DRIVE]:\Pagefile.sys' (e.g. C:\Pagefile.sys, D:\Pagefile.sys)

5.       '[ALL_LOCAL_DRIVE]:\hiberfil.sys' (e.g. C:\hiberfil.sys, D:\hiberfil.sys)

6.       '[ALL_LOCAL_DRIVE]:\***\*.tmp' (e.g. C:\xxx\abc.tmp, D:\yyy\abc.tmp)

7.       '[ALL_LOCAL_DRIVE]:\System Volume Information' (e.g. C:\System Volume Information, D:\System Volume Information)

8.       '[APP_DATA]\Microsoft'

9.       '[APP_DATA]\Kaspersky Lab'

10.   '[APP_DATA]\Symantec'

11.   '[APP_DATA]\Avg7'

12.   '[APP_DATA]\Avg8'

13.   '[APP_DATA]\McAfee'

14.   '[APP_DATA]\McAfee.com'

15.   '[APP_DATA]\Sophos'

16.   '*\ntuser.dat'

17.   '*\Application Data\Mozilla\*'

18.   '*\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\*'

19.   '*\Application Data\Macromedia\*'

20.   '~$*.(doc|dot|ppt|xls|DOC|DOT|PPT|XLS)'

21.   '*\Local Settings\(Temp|Temporary Internet Files|History)\*'

22.   '*\LOCALS~1\(Temp|Tempor~1|History)\*'

 

where              

[APP_DATA] = "C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\" (XP) or "C:\ProgramData" (Vista)

 

If you are interested in contributing to the maintenance of this by adding your suggestions, please contact us.

Backup Source

This option is only available when [Custom] CDP type is selected. When this option is used, CDP will only backup the files under the paths defined and all other files are ignored.

Backup Filter

This defines whether any file will be backed up by CDP. When CDP type is [Backup all files], it is only possible to exclude files from CDP backup. CDP backup filter is similar to backup set filter, please refer to Backup Filter section for more information.