What is Continuous Data Protection (CDP)?

The 'Continuous Data Protection' (CDP) feature in IDrive automatically recognizes the changes made to the files and folders (up to 50 MB in size) in the backupset and backs them up every 10 minutes.

CDP is executed only for smaller files as frequently modified data tends to be small. Also, it avoids slowing down your machine while you work on it, as large files (eg. Outlook emails) are backed up during the scheduled backup event.

The temporary files, system files and mapped drives are exempted from the operation. CDP is not a replacement for the traditional schedule backup feature; it works along with traditional scheduled backup to provide timely protection for your data.

How to apply Continuous Data Protection?

Login to the IDrive application, open the IDrive Classic interface and select the files/folders of your choice (Backupset). Click the ‘Enable Continuous Backup’ button to enable the Continuous Data Protection operation. Clicking the same button again will disable the Continuous Data Protection operation. The enabling/disabling of the Continuous Backup can also be done from the IDrive Tray menu. The Continuous Data Protection operation applies to the files and folders that have been modified after enabling the operation.

What are the advantages of Continuous Data Protection?

1. Prevents loss of data as the changed contents of the file are backed up automatically at almost real-time (every 10 minutes).

2. Frequently modified data is backed up at almost real time, hence enabling you to restore an earlier version created on the same day with pinpoint accuracy! You can go back up to 30 recent versions to restore.

Why all my files in the backupset are not backed up during Continuous Data Protection even though they were modified?

There are some default rules including size and other parameters that decide which files to be considered for the Continuous Data Protection operation. To minimize impact of CDP on user’s PC functioning during regular hours, CDP is only executed for files less than 50MB in size. This usually covers most office and other documents that users work on during the day. Files (in the Backupset) not considered for CDP will be considered during the normal Scheduled/Interactive backups. The temporary files, system files and mapped drives are exempted from the Continuous Data Protection operation. Scheduled backup is always necessary in addition to CDP to execute successful backups.

Will the scheduled backups happen even when the Continuous Data Protection is enabled?

Yes, the scheduled backup will run even if you have enabled Continuous Data Protection. The Continuous Data Protection will be stopped during the scheduled backup and will resume on completion of the scheduled backup.

Are scheduled backups required when the Continuous Data Protection is enabled?

Yes. The Continuous Data Protection is an additional feature, which is designed to backup files that are less than 50MB at almost real-time (every 10 minutes). This is not a replacement for the traditional Schedule Backup feature. You would require the Schedule Backup feature to backup all the files in your Backupset.