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Configuring Backups

Learn how to select which files and folders to back up, configure exclusions, and understand how DataRunsClouds protects your data.

Backup Paths

Backup paths tell the agent which folders on your computer to protect. You can configure paths for each agent individually.

Adding Backup Paths

  1. Open the backup agent on your computer
  2. Go to Settings or Backup Configuration
  3. Click Add Path
  4. Browse to select the folder you want to back up
  5. Click Save

Common Backup Paths

Platform Common Paths
Windows C:\Users\YourName\Documents
C:\Users\YourName\Desktop
C:\Users\YourName\Pictures
macOS /Users/YourName/Documents
/Users/YourName/Desktop
/Users/YourName/Pictures
Linux /home/YourName/Documents
/home/YourName
/var/www

Include Subfolders

When you add a folder to backup, all subfolders are automatically included. You don't need to add each subfolder separately.

Exclusions

Exclusions let you skip certain files or folders from backup. This is useful for:

Adding Exclusions

  1. Open the backup agent settings
  2. Navigate to Exclusions
  3. Click Add Exclusion
  4. Choose exclusion type (path or pattern)
  5. Enter the path or pattern
  6. Click Save

Exclusion Patterns

You can use patterns to exclude files by type:

Pattern What It Excludes
*.tmp All temporary files
*.log All log files
node_modules Node.js dependency folders
.git Git repository data
*.iso ISO disk images
Thumbs.db Windows thumbnail cache

Default Exclusions

DataRunsClouds automatically excludes certain files:

Starting a Backup

Manual Backup

To start a backup immediately:

  1. Open the backup agent
  2. Click Backup Now
  3. The backup will start immediately
  4. Progress is shown in the agent window

Scheduled Backups

For automatic protection, set up a backup schedule. See Setting Up Schedules for details.

Backup Process

When a backup runs, here's what happens:

  1. Scan - The agent scans configured paths for new or changed files
  2. Deduplicate - Files are checked against existing backups to avoid duplicates
  3. Compress - Data is compressed to reduce storage and transfer time
  4. Encrypt - Files are encrypted with AES-256 before leaving your computer
  5. Upload - Encrypted data is uploaded to secure cloud storage
  6. Verify - The backup is verified for integrity

Incremental Backups

After your first full backup, subsequent backups are incremental - only new and changed files are uploaded. This makes backups much faster and uses less bandwidth.

Backup Status

Each backup can have one of these statuses:

Status Meaning
Completed Backup finished successfully
In Progress Backup is currently running
Partial Some files backed up, but errors occurred
Failed Backup could not complete

Viewing Backup History

To see your backup history:

  1. Log in to your dashboard
  2. Click on the agent you want to view
  3. Select the Backups tab
  4. View list of all backups with details

For each backup, you can see:

Encryption

All backups are encrypted with AES-256 encryption:

Storage Usage

Monitor your storage usage from the dashboard:

Storage is counted after compression and deduplication, so you may use less storage than the raw file sizes would suggest.

Troubleshooting Backups

Backup Taking Too Long

Backup Failed

Files Not Being Backed Up

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