How to backup with Digi Storage

What is actually a backup system?

Probably everyone knows that 'backup' means protecting files by saving an additional copy. A complete backup system must respect however the following minimal requirements:

• to run automatically (without manual user intervention after the initial setup)

  • can be configured to run periodically at intervals chosen by the user and with configurable timers (at certain hours/days, etc.)
  • it can be configured to perform full backups as well as incremental/differential backups (that is, to transfer only modified or new files)
  • to be able to restore data fast and easy
  • to be able to offer several restore points (that is, to be able to choose the restore point from several older backups and not just the most recent copy).

  As a backup strategy, the so-called 3-2-1 rule has been used in recent years:

• for each file there must be 3 copies, the first copy being the original file

• the copies must be stored on 2 different storage media (hard disk, tape, external disks, cd/dvd, etc.)

• a copy must be physically located in another location in case of disaster (fires, floods, thefts, etc.)

  Digi Storage is a very convenient option for implementing the 3-2-1 rule because:

• it is a different storage medium than the hard disk of the PC storing the original file

• is physically located in a different location (a datacenter from your country)

• it does not require major investments in the purchase of an additional storage system because it offers a pay-as-you-go subscription (you only pay for the storage capacity that you need and it can be increased/decreased immediately)

  Digi Storage does not offer its own backup application because we chose a different approach. Because there are already a multitude of dedicated backup applications that can be installed for free (or paid apps) and many of the users were already using one of the existing applications, we chose to offer integration with almost all these applications by implementing the WebDav and FTP protocols. Practically, almost any backup application can transfer data to Digi Storage using one of these protocols and we do not force any user to use a specific software.

  Among the existing free backup applications, we can recommend Duplicati, SyncBackFree, AceBackup, etc. We will exemplify below the configuration steps with the Duplicati application.

Backup with Digi Storage using Duplicati app

Duplicati is an open-source backup application that can be used for free for personal use. It is very efficient in making backups because it uses its own algorithm which detects any changes and uploads only the changed blocks and not the entire file, so you can get a substantial saving of storage space. It can be administered both from the command line as well as from a web interface, which can work on any PC running Windows, Linux or Mac OS/X. It can be downloaded from their website at https://www.duplicate.com.

Duplicati allows the upload to several storage systems using standard protocols such as FTP, WebDav or S3 and through their own protocol implemented by various cloud service providers.

For uploading backups to Digi Storage, we recommend using Webdav as a protocol. Configuring the Duplicati application can be done in the following way:

1. Map your Digi Storage account as a network drive on your PC. This can be done either through the webdav protocol that is built into Windows and Linux, or through the rclone application which is integrated with Digi Storage. The simplest way to do it is to use webdav either directly from the operating system (e.g. in Windows you can use 'Map network drive' and enter the authentication data from Digi Storage and the dedicate URL for of your Digi Storage service), either from our Digi Storage PC app where the 'Network Drive' function is activated. For more details, you can consult the Help section dedicated to WebDav configuration. After mapping, the Digi Storage account will appear on your PC as a local disk:

  

2. Install the Duplicat app. After install, you can find it running in the taskbar. Click on the taskbar icon and a browser page with the management interface will automatically open.

  

3. Select 'Add Backup' and then 'Configure new backup' to choose the source and the backup destinations.

  

4. You need to fill the 'Name' field and then enter the name under which the backup job will be identified and choose whether the backup will be stored encrypted or unencrypted. If you choose encrypted, you must choose an encryption key, that is, fill in the 'Passphrase' field with a string of characters. Any upload from this backup job will be encrypted with AES256 using the encryption key that only you know. But be careful - if you lose it later or forget it, you can no longer restore the backups because Duplicati will not know how to decrypt them without this key. For this example only, I chose to make a backup without encryption.

  

5. The next step is to choose where the backups will be saved. We want to save them in the Digi Storage account using the previously mapped virtual disk, so we will choose "Z: (Network) (the letter representing your network drive on your PC may be different, but it is important that 'Network' appears next to the drive). Very important - you must also choose the directory in Digi Storage where the backup will be saved, not just the virtual disk. In my case I chose the Backup directory. For 'Storage Type' we will choose the first option: 'Local folder or drive'. For 'username' and 'password' there is NO need to enter anything because the authentication data were inserted when the disk was mapped. We can then check if the connection is configured correctly by pressing 'Test Connection'. The message which should appear is 'Connection worked!'.

  

6. We then have to choose the source of the backup, that is, to choose which files/directories we want to backup. You can choose multiple directories and exclude files which are only used by your operating system from Filters and Exclude:

  

7. Once the source and destination have been chosen, we will choose when we want this automatic backup to run. You can select the time of day when it will run automatically. Duplicati will first make a full backup which will take longer, then for every other future backup will onlyt transfer the modified blocks.

  

8. The last step is to choose the retention period, that is, for how long you keep the old backups. If you don't know what to choose, the recommendation is to select 'Smart backup retent An important option is the size of the volumes - Duplicati divides the backups into several pieces (archives) of fixed size. The default chunk size is 50MB, but I noticed that on certain Windows systems there is a limitation in Windows registries when reading files close to 50MB via webdav. It is not clear why this limitation exists. To avoid this limitation, you can modify the respective setting in your Windows OS or you can choose a size smaller than 50MB. In this example I chose 30MB.   

9. This was the last step. The backup can be now started manually or you can wait for it to run automatically at the previously chosen time:

  

10. I chose to run it manually for the first time to check if everything works fine. The backup ran successfully and you can see that it already has a restore point:

  

To restore a backup, proceed as follows.

1. Choose 'Restore' and you will see a list similar to the one below:

  

2. Duplicati stores its information about backups in a small database. If you want to restore on the same PC from which you made the backups and you have not reinstalled the operating system or uninstalled Duplicati, then you can also see previously saved restore points. In my case the current backup is called 'MyPhotos' and I can choose it for restore. But if you want to restore on another PC or after reinstalling the operating system, then Duplicati it no longer has local information about old backups and you must select 'Direct restore from backup files'. In this case, Duplicati will regenerate the backup information directly from the Digi Storage backups.

   3. No matter which restore mode you choose, Duplicati will show you the saved files and you can choose if you want a partial restore for certain files only or a full restore with all the files from the backup.