TrueSafe User Guide > Using TrueSafe
This section describes the various features of the application
and provides instructions for using the various commands.
Key Concepts
The Console
The Console or main window shows you your defined profiles,
and the status of your backups. Key commands are shown on
the left side of the window. All commands are also available
from the menu at the top.
The Tray The
tray is the area located on the lower right corner of your
windows desktop. In it you will see an icon for the TrueSafe
application. If you right click on the icon, you will see
a menu of the most common commands. The icon will also change
appearance based on whether your backup is current and whether
a backup is running.
Backup Profile
A Backup Profile specifies:
The
source- what files and folders to backup
The
destination- where you would like to store the backed up files
and folders
The
schedule- when you would like the backup to be performed.
The Archive
The term "Archive" refers to the set of files you
have backed up.
How Backups are Done
TrueSafe backs up all files that have changed since the last
time the backup was completed. As a result, when you first
run a backup, depending on the size and number of files you've
specified in the profile, it will take longer before that
first backup is completed. This is because it must backup
every file to the archive. Once the backup has been fully
completed the first time, only changed files will be updated,
allowing the backup to complete in a much shorter amount of
time.
Edit a Profile
You edit an existing backup profile to change how you want
the backup to be performed. Choose the menu
File, Edit
Backup Profile or click
Edit on the Console.
Change the settings in any of the steps as you did when you
created the profile.
Run a Profile Now
You run an backup profile at any time by choosing the menu
File, Run Backup Profile Now or click
Run Backup
Profile Now on the Console. Change the settings in any
of the steps as you did when you created the profile.
Viewing Your Archive
Choose
View, Archive from the menu or
View
from the Console to view the contents of your archive. You
are presented with a view of your archive in which you can
browse the folders and view the contents of individual folders.
Restoring Files
You use the Restore command to retrieve one or more files
or folders from your archive. Choose the menu
File, Restore
or click
Select Files To Restore on the Console.
You are presented with a view of your archive. Browse the
folders and select the files you want to restore by dragging
and dropping to the restore window on the bottom, or by clicking
Add on the dialog.
Once you've selected all the files to restore, click
OK.
You can specify a different folder to place the restored files
in by choosing
Advanced.
Disabling Backups
Disabling backups prevents stops all scheduled backups from
running. Normally you wouldn't need to do this but it is provided
for your convenience. From the tray menu choose
Disable.
To enable backups again choose
Enable from the tray
menu. Note that backups will always be re-enabled if you restart
your machine.
Changing the Settings
There are a number of settings you can adjust to tailor TrueSafe
to your preferences. Choose the menu
Tools, Settings.
General Settings
Wake up my computer if on Standby
Check this box if you want TrueSafe to wake up your machine
if it is sleeping and it is time to run a scheduled backup.
We do not advise you set this option if you are using a laptop
and you're on the go frequently.
Keep awake while running
Check this box if you want TrueSafe to keep your machine awake
until it is done with the backup. Most machines are set to
go to sleep/standby after a certain amount of time of inactivity.
When this box is not checked, once awakened, your machine
will go back to sleep based on it's power settings, regardless
of whether TrueSafe has finished running the backup or not.
Hide when minimized
Check this box if you want TrueSafe to minimize to the system
tray.
Log File These
settings specify the location and maximum size of the log
file. The log file contains a history of operations that have
been performed, complete with timestamp, as well as a summary
of any errors that have occurred.
Advanced Settings
Bandwidth Allocation
This setting controls the speed at which operations are performed.
TrueSafe is by designed to run in the background without disturbing
or slowing down other activity that you may be doing on your
machine (e.g. web surfing, reading email, etc). You can increase
this setting to have backups performed more quickly, but at
the expense of potential degradation of machine performance
for other activities.
Hosted Backups
Hosted Backups are backups from others that you store on your
computer. Hosted Backups are one of the most powerful features
of TrueSafe as it provides you with true disaster level protection
by getting your data offsite. To use Hosted Backups, there
must be at least two computers running TrueSafe.
Note- you must have port forwarding enabled and appropriate
firewall settings in order to utilize this feature. Read the
Advanced chapter for more details.
Hosting Enable
host mode if you want to host backups from other users on
your machine. Note that you get to choose which of your friends
can can backup their data on your computer. Specify the location
for the hosted archive and the maximum amount of space you
wish to allocated for Hosted Backups.
Hosted Users
This screen specifies which users can backup their
data to your computer.
Click
Edit to add a user to the list or edit an existing hosted user's settings. You will be taken to your account web page. Log in, choose your computer, and then choose
Add User. Enter the email
address of the user in the User Name field and choose Save.
Account This
screen contains your account settings. The User Name is the email
address you have registered for use with TrueSafe. If you
don't yet have an account, click on
Get Account.
Sign on is required in order to host backups as well as use other features of TrueSafe.
