Important Things to Know About Carbonite Safe Backup Pro as You Get Started

There are some aspects of Carbonite that you may not be aware of when first installing the software. The most important of them are listed below.

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Deleting or Removing Files

If you delete a file from your computer, it will be removed from our servers within 60 days.
If you remove a file from your backup, it will be removed from Carbonite within 72 hours.

Program Specific Data Files

Certain files need specific programs to open. Carbonite Safe Backup Pro does not back up programs. In the event of a hardware failure, previously installed programs must be manually reinstalled. After a restore, Carbonite does not automatically import data files back into the programs that once used them (e.g. Outlook, Outlook Express, Roboform, Entourage, etc). You will need to import your restored files manually after Carbonite has restored them to your computer.

What is Selected for Backup By Default

For Windows computers, C:\Users is selected for backup by default on Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10.
- To add other files and folders to your PC backup, right-click on them and select Carbonite; Back this up.
For Mac computers, /Volume/Users is selected for backup by default. These locations are where most user data is usually saved. Currently, we do not scan your computer for user-created data outside of these locations.
- To add other files and folders to your Mac backup, select them for backup.

External Drives and NAS Devices

By default, Carbonite only selects your user folder for backup on your internal hard drive. However, you can add as many files and folders from more than two external drives to your online backup. To add files on Windows, right-click on the file(s), folder(s), you wish to include and select Carbonite; Back this up. If you have a Mac, you can also add files to your backup.
With a Carbonite Safe Backup Pro plan, you can add a NAS device to your backup on a Windows PC. Using Carbonite's NAS backup feature to back up shared folders is not supported.

Shortcuts

Shortcuts are not programs or folders. They do not contain data files; they simply point to another location where the actual data exists. Selecting shortcuts for backup may give you the false impression you are backing up your data. To ensure the data files for these programs are selected for backup, first find out where the program's data files are saved on the computer and then add them to your backup.

Selecting Folders in Program Files or Applications

Selecting folders for a particular program in the Program Files folder or Applications folder does not necessarily back up the data files for that program or application. To ensure the data files for these programs or applications are selected for backup, you need to find out where they are saved on the computer and add them to your backup.

Recent Files Lists (in programs)

Certain programs like Microsoft Word have an area where you can see which documents were recently opened. This list is based off the files you have opened while running the program on your computer. We cannot restore this list for you. It will be automatically recreated as you access the documents on your computer.

Anytime Anywhere File Access

Anytime, Anywhere Access is not intended to be used as a file syncing program or a screen sharing program. It is intended to be used to download individual files from your backup that you need when you are not at your computer. This service can be accessed from any Internet capable computer.

Your Carbonite Account

After you have created a Carbonite account, you need to click the Sign In button on our website to access your account. To sign in, please use the information you typed in when you created the account.

Turning Off Your Computer

Turning off your computer during a backup or restore will not require your backup to start over from the beginning. If you turn off your computer while a backup or restore is taking place, Carbonite will resume from where it left off after an internet connection has been made.
- Note: Carbonite requires a constant internet connection for your files to be completely backed up onto our servers. If you are in the middle of backing up a large file and your internet connection is interrupted, you will have to restart the backup of the file in question.

Additional Computers

Only Administrators can add computers to or remove them from their Carbonite account through the Dashboard. While there is no additional cost for adding computers to your account, it could potentially increase the amount of data that is being backed up by Carbonite. You can add computers to your account through the Backup Dashboard page.