Frequently Asked Questions
What is LifGard™?
LifGard™ is a device that performs automated hourly and daily backups of your company's file shares.
What does LifGard™ backup?
LifGard™ will backup your files, in real time, by connecting to the
share(s) on your fileserver.
Does LifGard™ backup databases?
Yes, but the database must be shut down prior to the backup. As long as the resulting files are placed in your LifGard™ backup profile, they will be backed up.
How many backups does LifGard™ hold?
LifGard™ will store your last 8 hourly backups and your last 14 daily backups. The backups cycle out in a FIFO (first in - first out) manner.
How can I be sure LifGard™ is operating like it should?
You will receive e-mailed and printed (if you have a network printer) reports everyday. These reports will include the status of every backup and any errors it may have encountered. Also included in the report is your disk usage.
Sometimes the backup runs for only a few seconds, is that correct?
Yes, as long as no errors are reported. LifGard™ performs incremental backups, so they happen very quickly.
How can LifGard™ create backups so fast?
It uses a process called deduplication. This means that it is only copies files whose contents have changed since the last backup. If only a few files have changed, the backup can take a few seconds to run.
If the contents of a file have not changed how is it backed up?
lf the file has not changed it only needs to be backed up one time. During each backup a link to the unchanged file is placed in the backup location, providing you with access to the file. As long as links are being created the file will not be removed from LifGard™.
How does LifGard™ store its backups?
LifGard™ uses Disk-Based Backup technology to store the information. As an option we can configure your LifGard™ with a tape drive for long-term storage, or a set of LifPreservers™ so you can take your data offsite to store in a secure area.