Divinsa - Secure Online Backup and Recovery

Questions About Online Backup

• Why does my business need to backup its data?
• What are the advantages of Divinsa's online Backup?
• Is my computer secure when running your software?
• Can my encrypted files be infected with viruses on your servers?
• Can I calculate how long my backup will take?
• Can I backup a networked Macintosh or Unix machine using your Windows service?
• What happens if I'm using a file while a backup is taking place?
• What happens if I miss or cancel a backup?
• Can I cancel a backup in progress or prevent it from starting?
• Why should I use Divinsa's backup service?

Q: Why does my business need to backup its data?

A: If your business is like most businesses, your data is crucial to the everyday operations of your company. Moreover, the data on your computers is vulnerable to human error, accidental deletion, computer and hard drive failure, viruses, theft and natural disasters such as fires and floods. Ask yourself these questions: If your business did lose its data, how long would it take to recreate? Could your business survive without its customer records, emails, financial data and other documents? Because data is so important and because data is so vulnerable, every business needs a proper method of backing up.

Nearly half of small companies that lose business critical data in a disaster do not reopen after the loss, and 90% are out of business within two years, according to a University of Texas study. Furthermore, "6% of all PC's will suffer an episode of data loss in any given year” according to a recent study by Pepperdine University. The statistics of data loss are as follows:

44% - Hardware Failure Hard drives crash, tape drives fail, laptops fall, and warranties don’t cover your data.
30% - Personnel Error Accidental file overwrite and/or deletion; disgruntled employees, and even spilt drinks.
12% - Software Error Compatibility issues, programming errors, improper application termination.
7% - Viruses and hackers Can you be fully protected from the constant introduction of new viruses?
7% - Disasters - terrorism, theft, fire, flood, storm, etc. Top

Q: What are the advantages of Divinsa's online backup?

A: While backing up your data to tapes, CDs, DVD's, ZIP disks or other removable storage devices is certainly better than not backing up at all, these methods are inferior to online backup. First, there is the inconvenience of having to store these types of storage devices offsite. Otherwise, your backups may be destroyed along with your computers in the event of a fire, flood or theft. In today's world, onsite backup really is not considered backing up. Second, if you back up only to removable storage devices, you run the risk of losing your data because tapes, hard drives, even CDs and DVD's all eventually fail. Third, recovering files can be a tedious and difficult process.

Online backup, on the other hand, eliminates the hassles and the worries of traditional onsite backup. Online backup is easy to use, automatic, secure, scalable and affordable. Moreover, online backup requires nothing more than a computer and an Internet connection. Top

Q: Is my computer secure when running your software?

A: Divinsa’s software is very secure, it communicates using encrypted TCP packets, on its own port which is registered with IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) as a “Well Known Port” . Most firewalls, antivirus, and anti-spybot software can be easily configured to pass through our secure backup communication protocol. Top

Q: Can my encrypted files be infected with viruses on your servers?

A: The short answer is that the content of your files are safe (assuming they were virus free when you backed them up) and the risk of your PCs being contaminated by a virus as a result of Divinsa’s service is very low. The files which you backup are first compressed and encrypted on your PC. They are stored on Divinsa’s servers in this compressed and encrypted form. There is no known virus which can decrypt your files, insert itself, and then re-encrypt your files so that when you transmit them back to your computer (on a restore) and un-encrypt and un-compress them, the virus can then infect your computer. Rest assured that we do use the latest virus protection software on servers. Top

Q: Can I calculate how long my backup will take?

A: The time it takes to do a backup is a function of a number of factors, including the speed of your computer’s CPU (for doing compression and encryption), the amount of data you are backing up, whether a full file is being backed up or just changes to it from the last backed up version, and the speed of your internet connection. As such, it’s extremely difficult to give a general formula for time. Our experience shows that full backups (i.e. your first backup) takes the longest, and then all incremental backups (using our sophisticated file change detection system) are extremely quick (on the order of just a few minutes for most users).

To help you in estimating how long a full backup will take, the table below shows the estimated time required to send one megabyte of data through the Internet using various modem types and speeds. When calculating the amount of data you will send over an Internet connection, remember that before documents are transmitted, our software compresses them to about 20% normal size. So, five megabytes of your data on your computer becomes approximately 1 megabyte when initially transmitted and stored on Divinsa’s servers.

Connection	Time
56k Baud	3 minutes
ISDN (128k)	1.5 minutes
DSL (512k)	20 seconds
Cable (1,500k)	6 seconds

To calculate the time in minutes required to transmit a compete document, divide its size by the connection speed, then divide the result by 6: Transmit time = (File size / connection speed) / 6 Top

Q: Can I backup a networked Macintosh or UNIX machine using your Windows service?

A: If you have a network where the files on your computer(s) running non-Microsoft operating systems are accessible from a PC running Microsoft Windows, then you should be able to backup these files from that PC, but please note that you will require a valid license for each computer on which files are to be backed up. You may want to consider using our Online Backup for UNIX product. Top

Q: What happens if I am using a file while a backup is taking place?

A: We recommend that you close down all applications while a backup is taking place so that all files maybe backed up. Some applications will not allow our software to copy the file while it is in use. Divinsa's software will skip over files which are "locked" and give you a warning message to let you know it did so. Divinsa sells optional software which allows locked files to be backed up. Please contact us for more information. Top

Q: What happens if I miss or cancel a backup?

A: The software will remind you after you miss or cancel a backup and offer to reschedule or perform the backup then. Top

Q: Can I cancel a backup in progress or prevent it from starting?

A: Yes. Top

Q: Why should I use Divinsa's online backup service?

A: Many factors differentiate Divinsa from other online backup services. Our service was created to satisfy the need for an easy to use, automatic and secure method of backing up data offsite. The goal was to design a cost-effective backup service that could be used by anyone with even the most limited computer expertise, yet with the features of backup systems used by our government and Fortune 500 companies. Customers nationwide have come to recognize that Divinsa provides them with a backup solution that is simple to setup, easy to use, completely automatic and most importantly, secure and completely reliable. However, software features and usability are only part of what makes Divinsa stand out. We provide personal customer service and technical support. We view backing up as insuring the valuable assets of a business or an individual. Top