Frequently Asked Questions

• What is GateVault?
• How does GateVault work?
• Do I need to install anything to use GateVault?
• Is GateVault secure?
• Will GateVault work with music, pictures and video?
• Will GateVault slow my PC down?
• Will GateVault work with a dial-up Internet connection?
• Will GateVault work on a Mac?
• What happens if I lose my data to a hard drive crash?
• What is continuous data protection and how is it different from sequentially scheduled backup?
• Some of my files are huge. Is there a size limit for files?

What is GateVault?

GateVault is an online backup solution that combines a software utility and off-site data storage to continuously and securely protect your files from accidental deletion, hard drive crashes and other data loss events.

Protected files are encrypted during transmission to and from secure storage space at the data center and can be synchronized among multiple computers using the same account.

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How does GateVault work?

GateVault operates in the background, monitoring your protected files for any saved changes and looking for any new files in a protected folder. When it finds changes, it automatically encrypts, transmits and stores those changes or files without interrupting your workflow.

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Do I need to install anything to use GateVault?

You will need to install the GateVault software client in order to use the product. It takes a minute or less to install, and the setup is just as fast.

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Is GateVault secure?

GateVault is a secure solution that encrypts your data before sending it over the Internet and again while it's stored in the data center. Only the owner of your unique encryption key (you) can access your data. GateVault treats every piece of data with the same care, ensuring your privacy and the safety of your files. The system is so secure that not even GateVault personnel can access your data; they can only help you retrieve it.

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Will GateVault work with music, pictures and video?

Yes. Any file you create or collect can be protected by GateVault your music and video collection included.

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Will GateVault slow my PC down?

GateVault does not slow your system down. It works in the background and politely waits for any CPU intensive operations to finish before performing its data work.

Even though backup "put" transfers happen immediately as changes to your local data occur, our delta versioning technology only sends file changes so transmissions are usually small and quick.

With sync "get" operations you have complete control of the GateVault performance settings and can minimize the impact of automatic downloads to an unnoticeable level. But chances are you'll be working alone on one computer at a time, so any sync operations that do happen will usually be at the beginning of a session on one machine as GateVault automatically retrieves the newest state of synced folders from the computer you were last working on.

If you keep your computers on and connected when not in use, GateVault will keep them in sync according to your performance settings.

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Will GateVault work with a dial-up Internet connection?

Yes. GateVault contains settings to help you optimize performance through your dial-up connection.

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Will GateVault work on a Mac?

Automated CDP (continuous data protection) and sync features are only available through the use of the of GateVault desktop software, which currently can only be installed on Microsoft Windows Vista, Windows XP and Windows 2000.

While you cannot use GateVault's CDP and sync on a Mac, you can use any Web browser to manually download and upload files to and from your personal remote storage space and access version history storage.

When uploading from a Mac, any changes saved to a file are written as a new version and stored in the history section when the file is manually saved in GateVault. The new version becomes the latest saved, with the most recent version saved along with it in history.

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What happens if I lose my data to a hard drive crash?

Your data is safely stored on our remote servers, so once you've bought a new computer, or as soon as your old computer hard drive has been fixed or replaced, simply download and install your GateVault software and log into your account.

Our friendly customer service representatives can assist you in securely retrieving files from your storage account at our data center. All of your protected files are available to you as long as your account is in good standing.

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What is continuous data protection and how is it different from sequentially scheduled backup?

Continuous data protection, which is what GateVault provides, automatically writes multiple versions of your protected files to your remote storage account as you save. You get all versions, not just the most recently saved.

Sequentially scheduled backup saves your files at set intervals, leaving work you do in the interim vulnerable to data loss.

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Some of my files are huge. Is there a size limit for files?

GateVault can upload any file up to 2 GB in size at one time. Continuous protection from that point forward, in the form of file changes as they're saved, will be much smaller.

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