Archiving Data

Monitor Users

As recording of Clients continues over time, the Data Vault folders will use up more and more disk space. It is possible to backup, archive, and delete selected data using Data Vault Archiving.

Data Vault Archiving

Data Vault Archiving is available from Control Center Properties or from the Monitor Users view.

To access Data Vault Archiving:

1. Open the Control Center.

2. Right-click on the Control Center icon, select Properties and the click on the Data Vault tab. Click the Archiving button near the bottom of the panel.

-or-

Right-click on Monitor Users, select All Tasks and Archive Properties.

3. The Data Vault Archiving box appears.

Make selections on the Data Vault Archiving box. For specific instructions, see the sections below.

• Archive Data - Check this option to turn on archiving, either scheduled or "Archive Now." Clear to turn off any scheduled archiving

• Archive to Unique Folders - Check this option to create a date and time-stamped folder for each archive within your "Archive To" directory. This is useful when you wish to maintain multiple backups of the data.  Each archive folder takes the name [mmddyyyy]-[hhmm]. Clear this option to copy the data to the archive location as it is stored in the Data Vault.

• Purge Original Data - Check this option to delete the data from the active Data Vault after copying to the archive location. Clear this option to create backups without removing data.

• Frequency - Choose one of the following:

None - Select this option if you do NOT want to set an archive schedule and are interested only in the "Archive Now" feature.

Daily - Select to run a daily backup or archive. Activates the Time of Day field.

Weekly - Select to run a weekly backup or archive. Activates the Time of Day and Day of Week fields.

Monthly - Select to run a monthly backup or archive. Activates the Time of Day and Day of Month fields.

• Time of Day - Active only if you have selected a Daily, Weekly, or Monthly archive schedule. Click in the time box and use the up/down arrows (or type) to set hour, minutes, and AM/PM values.

• Day of Week - Active only if you have selected a Weekly archive schedule. Select a day of the week for the archive, Sunday through Saturday.

• Day of Month - Active only if you have selected a Monthly archive schedule. Select 1-31 to set the day of the month for the archive. Keep in mind that months may be skipped if you select a day number greater than 28.

• Archive data more than n days old - Enter a number days to limit the data to archive. If you enter 30, any archive (scheduled or "Archive Now") will affect only the data in the Data Vault more than 30 days old. If you leave the value at 0 (zero), all data will be archived.

• Archive to / Browse - Set the destination directory for your archives.  Use the Browse button to navigate to a location. If you choose a location that is not on the local (Data Vault) computer, you are prompted to change the Data Vault credentials to allow access for archiving on the remote computer.

• Archive Now - Click this button to perform the archive right now. You are prompted to confirm the archive. The archive uses your current "Purge" and/or "Archive data more than n days old" settings, but ignores the scheduled time. Scheduled archives will continue after you use the "Archive Now" function.

Archive Now

To backup or archive immediately:

1. Make sure users aren't trying to access the Data Vault.

2. Open the Data Vault Archiving box.

3. Select Archive Data.

4. Click Archive Now. A message appears reminding you that the current archive destination settings will be used, and asking you to confirm the archive.

5. Click OK.

Scheduling Regular Backups

When you "back up" data, you copy data (without deleting) and move the copy to a safe location.  Data Vault Archiving lets you copy data to a specified location at regular intervals.

Note: It's a good idea to maintain one or two current backups in case a system failure makes the current Data Vault unusable. It's a bad idea, however, to store all backups on the same computer, since a backup takes the same amount of space as the Data Vault itself.

To schedule archives:

1. On the Data Vault Archiving box, click to check Archive Data.

2. Because you will be creating more than one archive, select Archive to Unique Folders to place each archive in a date/time-stamped folder. Select the "Archive to" location where the unique folders will be stored.

3. Leave Purge Original Data clear so that you can continue to use the Spector CNE data.

4. Set a regular schedule for backups. Choose a time period when interruption to access of the Data Vault will not be a problem, such as Sunday nights.

5. Click OK to set the schedule.  

6. Make plans to move the backup folder(s) off the Data Vault computer and onto media or a remote hard drive so that you don't compromise your Data Vault disk space.

Freeing up Disk Space

If you maintain regular backups you can easily restore data you choose to "purge" from the current Data Vault.  This constitutes a true "archive," where you remove the data you are backing up.

To free up disk space on the Data Vault:

Take one or more of the following steps:

• Check the Purge Original Data option and set the archive to affect data older than a certain number of days. For example, if you archive monthly, set the time limit to be more than 30 days, and purge the data that you archive.

• For your Archive To location, select a CD-RW drive, a USB device, or a remote disk drive (see below) for regular backups. This keeps redundant data off of the Data Vault hard drive. You can always move archive folders off the Data Vault computer using the Windows file system.

• If you don't purge data with your regular backups,  select Purge Original Data and click the Archive Now button to immediately clean old (or all) data from the Data Vault computer.

Archiving to a Remote Destination

You can send your archives to a remote location if you supply proper credentials for that location.

To select a remote "Archive To" location:

1. When you select a remote location you are prompted to change the Data Vault credentials.
   By default, the Data Vault is installed with local account credentials, which allow archiving only to local storage devices. To archive to a storage device on a remote computer, the Data Vault must be configured with account credentials with Administrator access to BOTH the Data Vault computer and the remote computer.
   
   

2. If you click Yes, an Account Information box appears and you can change the Data Vault credentials. Once you change the default Data Vault credentials, the system tray icon for the Data Vault will no longer appear.  Click OK to change the credentials.
   
   

3. As long as the Data Vault has Administrator level access to both the Data Vault computer and the archive folder destination, and as long as both computers are up and running at the time the archive is scheduled, the archive will be delivered to the specified remote location. Click OK on the Data Vault Archiving box to set the change.
   
   

Restoring Archived Data

If you need to restore an archive, simply copy the folders back into the Spector CNE Data Vault. Keep in mind that when you copy entire folders back into the Data Vault, folders with the same name are overwritten.

To restore an archive:

1. Open the archive folder. You should see a Computers folder, a Users folder, and an apps.sdf file. Copy all elements.
   
   
   Copy Archive Data from the Backup Location  

2. Paste the folders and file into your root C:\SpectorData or whichever folder you have designated as the Data Vault directory. You are prompted to confirm the copy. Remember that you will lose any data that was gathered after the archive and before the restore.
   
   
   Paste into SpectorData folder will Overwrite Computers
   and Users Folders and Any Matching File