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TrueSafe User Guide > Using TrueSafe

This section describes the 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 Taskbar

The Taskbar (also known as the tray) is the area usually located on the lower right corner of your windows desktop. In it you will the find TrueSafe icon. 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 the status of your backups and whether you are Signed In.

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 Performed

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.

Versions

The commercial editions of TrueSafe support Versioning. This allows you archive and save previous copies of your files. You can specify the number of versions to retain, so you can keep previous copies from weeks, or months back in time. With Versioning, you can restore any previous version of a file.

Edit a Profile

You edit an existing backup profile to change how you want the backup to be performed. Choose the Edit Profile toolbar button. Change the settings in any of the steps as you did when you created the profile.

Options

Click the Options button to set other options, including your archive type, notification settings, and more.

Running Your Backup

You run a backup profile at any time by choosing the profile on the Console, and then clicking the Run Backup toolbar button.

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.

You can specify a different folder to place the restored files in by choosing Advanced.

Once you've selected all the files to restore, click OK.

Disabling Backups

Disabling backups prevents all scheduled backups from running. 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 computer.

Editing the Settings

There are a number of settings you can adjust to tailor TrueSafe to your preferences. Click the Settings toolbar button.

General Settings

Account

This screen contains your Sign In information. Sign In is needed for many TrueSafe features, including:
Email notifications
Encrypted Archives
Remote backup
Automatic software updates
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.

System

Automatically start when I start up my computer Check this box if you want TrueSafe to start when you start or reboot your computer.

Hide when minimized Check this box if you want TrueSafe to minimize to the Taskbar (tray).

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. If you are using a laptop and you're on the go frequently, setting this option is not advised.

Keep awake while running Check this box if you want TrueSafe to keep your computer awake until it is done with the backup. Most computer are set to go to sleep/standby after a certain amount of time of inactivity. If this box is not checked, once awakened, your machine may go back to sleep based on it's power settings, regardless of whether TrueSafe has finished running the backup or not.

Log

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.

Sounds

You can associate sounds with various TrueSafe operations, to provide you with audible feedback.

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. Backing up your data to a remote offsite computer can provide you with a much greater level of protection from loss. As a host, another computer running TrueSafe can backup to your host computer.

Note- advanced settings may be required to utilize this feature. Refer to Host Computer Setup for more details.

Hosting

Enable Host Mode Check this box if you want to host backups from other users on your computer. Later you will choose who can can backup their data on your computer.

Test Click this button to test the availability of your host over the internet. You must be Signed In to use this feature.

Location Specify the location for the hosted archives.

Total Storage Quota Specifies the maximum amount of space to allocate for Hosted Backups.

Hosted Users

Edit Click this button to specify which users can backup to your computer. This will launch your web browser. All administration is done via the online Account Management application. Once Signed In, you can choose your computer, and choose Add User. Enter the email address of the user in the User Name field and choose Save.

Advanced

Data Transfer Speed Move the slider to adjust the amount of bandwidth to allocate to TrueSafe. Unless you are performing Remote Backups, you can set this at its maximum value.

Purging an Archive

Purging removes files from your archive that are no longer present in the Profile. These are called Orphaned items. Removal of a file is based upon its Age. Files which are older than your Age settings will be removed during a purge operation. Choose Archive, Purge to perform a purge operation.

The Purge Dialog

Profile Select the Profile to identify the archive to purge.

Purge Files Older Than Sets the Age criteria. For example, if you set it to 90 days, then only orphaned items at least 90 days old will be purged.

Prompt for purge confirmation Check this box if you want TrueSafe to prompt you before purging a file.

Note that if you have more than one profile specifying the same destination, purging will not be allowed for those profiles. Purging is currently not available for zip format archives.