CrashPlan for University Computers General Information

CrashPlan is a backup solution configured to periodically backup the contents of the primary user’s home folder (Desktop, Documents, Downloads, etc.) on their University-owned, primary device (designated by a computer name beginning in A).  

CrashPlan is not used to store and open files that are being actively worked on like a file share, OneDrive, or SharePoint but rather is used to restore accidentally deleted files or recover data in the event of a hard drive failure.

CrashPlan is not configured to backup your entire hard drive.  ITS suggests using OneDrive for file storage as it is accessible from anywhere and has one terabyte storage space. 

CrashPlan does not require the computer to be on-campus or connected to VPN to function.  As long has the computer has an Internet connection it will backup.  If the computer loses Internet connection any changes will backup once a connection is restored.  

Note:  CrashPlan does not backup specific file types.  For a detailed list, see tab below. 

CrashPlan is installed on all faculty/staff primary, University-owned devices and backs up the folders in the primary user's Home Directory. This includes the following folders:

Windows

• Desktop
• Documents
• Downloads
• Pictures
• Music
• Videos

MacOS

• Desktop
• Documents
• Downloads
• Movies
• Pictures
• Music
• Public

Files with the following extensions (these are viewable through the application by selecting Settings, choosing the Backup tab, and selecting the Filename exclusions button) are not backed up:

Also, files associated with virtual machines, folders related to Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive sync, and some miscellaneous system folders and hidden items.

CrashPlan is a continuous backup solution. Once the initial backup has occurred and provided the computer is connected to the Internet, incremental backups will occur every 1 hour. This means any files saved within a given 1-hour window will attempt to back up. If the computer is disconnected from the Internet, the backup will resume once a connection has been established. 

While connected to the Internet, one copy for every 1 hour period of the last 24 hours, one copy for the past 7 days, and 1 copy every week for the past 3 months. Backups older than 3 months are not maintained.

Files deleted by the user are maintained and can be recovered for 90 days. Deleted files older than 90 days are no longer recoverable.