IBackup allows historical view of your data through use of its Snapshots technology. You can consider snapshots as something that allows you to retain changed data history for a period of time. Available daily snapshots have been set to 10. This may change without notice.

Please note that the additional storage requirements for Snapshots will have no impact on your data usage and is free for Enhanced backup and Workgroup accounts.

Once you select Show Snapshots view, you should be able to see the files stored in your IBackup account during the previous days under the newly created directories with appropriate names. The backup directories will have meaningful names with date extensions or nightly.* or weekly.* extensions.

nightly.0 extension refers to the most recent snapshot.
nightly.1 extension refers to a day older snapshot in relation to the most recent snapshot.
nightly.2 extension refers to 2 days older snapshot in relation to the most recent snapshot.

You can restore the files which you need from these directories just as you would, for any file or directory.

Please note:

a. Show Snapshots view can be selected for the Main IBackup accounts and NOT for sub-accounts.
b. You should Hide Snapshots view once you are done with them, else it will clutter your IBackup account unnecessarily.

To view the Snapshots, login to your IBackup account using any standard browser. On the Web-Manager main page that appears, click on the ‘Show Snapshots’ icon.

To hide the Snapshots, click on the ‘Hide Snapshots’ icon on the main page of your IBackup account. Note that the ‘Hide Snapshots’ icon will be visible immediately after you have selected Show Snapshots for your data. Also note that Hide Snapshots view will be selected on logout.

To Show Snapshots

1. Click on the 'Snapshots' icon available on the toolbar

Or

1. Tools -> Preferences

2.Check the option 'Show Snapshots view' under the 'General' tab.

To Hide Snapshots

1. Click on the 'Snapshots' icon available on the toolbar again

2. Uncheck the option "Show Snapshots View".

Do I need to specifically select ‘Show Snapshots' to preserve and view the previously stored data?

Snapshots are maintained on the IBackup side for every user except for subscribers of Economy Plans. You do not need to take any specific action. However, to view the snapshots, you need to just click on the ‘Show Snapshots’ icon on your IBackup for Windows or on the Web-Manager client.

Snapshot view will automatically change to ‘Hide Snapshots’ on exiting out of the IBackup for Windows and Web-Manager clients, as otherwise it would clutter the screen with displays of snapshots directories for subsequent logins.

Does snapshot data (previously stored data) increase my stored data and reduce available quota?

Your available quota is dependent on the storage requirements of the most recent view of your data. Snapshots certainly do require additional space, however, the additional space is not charged to your usage. In otherwords, snapshots do not increase your storage requirements. It is free.

How do I use the snapshots feature to restore from a previously stored data file using rsync on Linux?

While IBackup for Windows and Web-Manager provide you in-built mechanisms to view previously stored data with 'Show snapshot view' feature, for rsync on linux and other platforms, you have to do the following:

1. Login to your IBackup via a standard browser, and click on the ‘Show Snapshots’ icon on the main page.

2. After selecting Show Snapshots view, keep your browser session open. Note down the directories from which you would like to restore. Then, using rsync and with the directories noted, apply necessary rsync commands to restore the data from snapshots.

Close the Web-Manager session when you are done with the restore.

I lost a file, which was probably backed up four days ago from my desktop. How do I restore it?

You can restore files that were backed up earlier using the Snapshots feature available with IBackup. Snapshots are point in time images of your data.

First you will need to select Show Snapshot view (To view snapshots, Go to 'Tools' -> 'Preferences' section of the application and check the option 'Show Snapshots' under the 'General' tab.). Once Show Snapshots is selected, you should be able to see snapshot folders with names like nightly.0, nightly.1 etc. at the top level of your account.

Then, if you know the folder where the file existed, try to navigate to the file/folder starting from folder nightly.3 . This could possibly contain the data that you backed up 4 days ago. If it does not, try nightly.4.

Once you find the right file, simply restore it. (IBackup does not have the concept of separate full and incremental backup files as incrementals are directly written on top of full backup).