What equipment and software do you use?

Our desire is to sleep well at night, and in IT that means buying quality. We’ve invested in top-line hardware from Lenovo and IBM, and software from Carbonite, IBM and Veeam. Quite simply we believe they're the best. We’ve sold them for years, and we know they will stand up to the rigours of a heavily used production environment. The warranty and service are second to none, and their support is world class.

Where is my data hosted?

We host in quality data centres in Australia, and only Australia.  We lease our own racks and the equipment owned by our sister company OneTeam IT (also 100% Australian Owned).

How secure is Team Backup?

In a word, very. Firstly, the software uses 256-bit AES encryption, which it has been calculated would take a billion super computers more than 600,000 times the age of the universe to crack by brute force. Nothing is perfect and the nasty folks out there are improving all the time, and we will continue to upgrade encryption as better methods become available.

Secondly, the connection to our clients can be via a VPN tunnel, further increasing the security of the solution. Talk to us if you’d like to explore this option, as it does mean some additional charges.

OK, but can I trust Team backup to keep my data confidential?

Of course, but if you choose to, you can keep your encryption key to yourself (in fact we recommend it), ensuring that you and only you can decrypt your data. All we see, if we could be bothered to look, are 1s and 0s.

How often can I backup my data?

As often as you like. We set the backup as daily by default, but you can choose a more frequent (or less frequent if you wish) backup interval. Our prices go up a little if you choose to backup more frequently, to cover increased bandwidth and load on our servers. Bear in mind that the more frequently you backup, the more load will also be on your server and bandwidth.

Can I have the system backup my files as I change them?

Yes, this is called Continuous Data Protection and we offer this as one of our services, for an additional charge. It’s not recommended for large or very dynamic files due to the space it takes and the burden on bandwidth, but is great for important files for which you must have up to the minute copies.

Can you backup databases?

Yes, the software recognises most popular database structures and performs the same incremental backups on database as it does on a collection of files

What about my email server?

We can backup Exchange and Domino servers using the same software, again with the same incremental regime.

Will I ever NOT have access to my backups?

No, your data is your data – period. Even if you choose to no longer use the service we will allow you to restore your data for up to one month after you leave, and will always be happy to offer one of our managed restore options. If you DO leave we delete your old backups only after that month is up.

How long are my backups kept?

Up to you. We store copies of files for 180 days as standard, but you can choose less or more. Because our charges are based on the quantity of data you are storing, we don’t mind how you adjust these policies in your backup subscription.

How many versions of a file do you keep?

Your choice, but we store two versions minimum. You can increase or decrease this if you like.

How often can I make changes to my backup subscription?

You can make one change (or group of changes) per month free of charge. Our staff will be happy to assist you get the most out of TBU. If you need to change more often than this we just charge for the time it takes to make the changes.

Can I keep a “monthly” copy of my data?

Yes. Because of the unique “incremental forever” technology we use, we can configure a full weekly or monthly save pattern. Our software is smart enough to be able to restore to those points in time if you ask for the service to be configured this way. We will work with you during installation to determine the pattern that suits you.

What happens if my bills keep going up?

In the interests of complete honesty – they will.  We haven’t seen a site yet that experiences data shrinkage. We all accumulate data daily, and it needs to be backed up.  In some cases we work with our clients on “data cleansing” exercises to reduce their data at that point in time and we can also work with you to construct a viable archival policy.  If your data usage exceeds a reasonable rate of growth we will be in touch to talk to you about ways to mitigate the increase.  Our larger plans are cheaper per GB per month, but our policy of openness means we have to prepare you for a slowly rising bill over the longer term.

Does it cost me anything to restore my files?

Online restores are free up to 50Gb per month, and are then charged at your excess data rate, unless you have arranged a custom package with us.  You can do the restores yourself through your software, but if you need our help we are always here and only charge for the time it takes for us to get you underway.

We can restore and send your data to you on a USB stick, CD or hard drive if you wish. We charge for the media, our time and shipping.

If you have large amounts of data to restore we offer the ability to bring one of our servers to you to perform the restores right on your network.

Finally, we can restore your data to a VM in our data centre, and allow you access in the event you do not have sufficient capacity or your infrastructure is damaged.

What happens if a backup fails?

A backup can fail, be interrupted or just not start for a variety of reasons, with the two most common being that the machine was not on, or was disconnected from the internet. If this occurs, TBU tries again in an hour, for up to 4 hours from the initial scheduled time, but you can alter these parameters if you wish.