Pricing Plans

Pricing for our service is based on six factors. The most common being 1 and 2 described below. The other factors are special cases and won't apply in most situations but are there in case they are needed. If you have special requirements, we can help you come up with a backup program that meets your needs. Please call our office to discuss the details.

1. The amount of data being backed up (Server Storage Space):

When files are processed by the backup program installed on your computer, they are compressed. This compression typically squeezes the files down to a fraction of their original size. The amount of storage in your plan is in compressed gigabytes. This means that you are actually backing up more than the amount indicated by your plan. For example, Word documents compress quite a bit whereas JPG photos don’t compress at all (they are already highly compressed). If you have a mixture of data types, you’ll get about a 2:1 compression ratio. So if you subscribe to the 1 GB plan, you are actually backing up between 1 GB and 2 GB of your data files. If you need more storage than your Base Plan allows, you can add the additional storage as part of your subscription or simply use more backup space than your Base Plan allows and we will automatically bill you $11 per month ($132 annual) for any excess storage in increments of 1000 MB. We will of course call you if we see your usage go up to confirm that this is what you want to do.

Recurring cost: $29 per PC per month for 1 GB server storage, $11 per additional GB per month

2. The number of separate computers being backed up (Client Licenses):

Typically, our customers want to only back up one computer and it's usually the server or one of their workstations acting as the server. The table below illustrates some usage scenarios requiring from 1 to 4 separate licenses. If you have most of your data on a server, then installing the backup program on it makes the most sense. If your users have a substantial amount of data on their individual workstations, then it might make sense to consolidate these files on the server where they can all be backed up using only one license. We can help you achieve this through some network redesign. Our standard labor rate would apply to this network service (see item 4 below).

1-Time fixed cost: $115 per license (See table below)

3. The number of previous versions of files you wish to store (Restore Window Size, Optional):

When you run the backup for the first time, all the files you have selected are sent to our backup server. Think of this as the 'base layer" of the backup. The next time a backup is performed (typically on the next evening), files that have changed since the last backup are sent as another layer, a "patch layer". So now you have the base files and the changed files, all on their separate layers. Both versions are available to you. If we continue this process through the month, for example, we have a new layer being saved for each day the backup runs. At the end of the month, you have 30 layers of files and you can restore any file from any layer from the restore tab in the backup client program. Why do we do this? Lets say you find a file that has been damaged or altered in some undesirable way. You don't know who or when the file was changed. You go to the most recent backup and find the file still in the same undesirable state. With our service you can go back to each day within 30 days to see when the file was changed and recover the good copy. This is called the restore window and is the time interval where previous versions of files that were backed up can still be recovered. By default, our restore window is set to 30 days but can be extended to any length of time. You may want to have an extended restore window of a full calendar quarter for example. Pricing for this service is $5 added to your monthly subscription for each month you want to extend the restore window. For example, if you want a restore window of one calendar quarter (3 months) we will add $5 x 2 (additional months) or $10 to your monthly service fee.

Optional Recurring cost: $5 per month, per month extension

4. On-site service for initial setup or data capture (Optional):

A properly functioning backup strategy is critical to your business! Sometimes, to get the most of our service, we have to help the customer configure or rearrange some things in their computing environment. Maybe files are scattered across all computers or the customer does not know exactly where their files are. They just click an icon to open their applications without being aware of where the files are stored. A good example of this is with programs such as QuickBooks and Outlook where the files are stored in obscure and sometimes invisible directories. In cases like these, it is best to have us come to your location and help you with the initial setup. If you have a large amount of data and a relatively slow DSL connection, it might take more than 24 hrs to do the initial backup of your data. In these cases we can bring the backup server to you and perform a full backup directly on your network! The next time your backup runs, it will be through your internet connection and only file changes will be transferred thus tremendously decreasing the amount of time required for a backup. This optional service is not part of the free 15-day trial. Our standard labor rate of $95/hr would apply. Of course you can use our service free for 15 days once things have been set up. If you decide to not keep the service after the trial period, the labor would not be refundable. As an alternative, you may want to configure the backup program yourself using our detailed instructions for the trial period and if you decide to keep the service, have us come to your location to fine-tune things.

Optional Service Hourly Rate: $95 per hour

5. Recovery CD (Optional):

Up to 640 MB of your data can reside on one CD and 4.7 GB on one DVD. Get your entire backup account delivered to you on permanent optical media. Great for maintaining long term archives or accessing files when off-line. You may want to consider adding this service to your subscription plan once per month or per quarter for maintaining records indefinitely. A restore incident is considered a scenario where you request data to be mailed to you on optical media whether it is the entire backup or a portion thereof. Data residing on this optical media is fully encrypted. You must still use your backup program in restore more to recover the data. If you have set a secret private key (described elsewhere on this website) and have forgotten it. This will not allow you to recover your files!

Optional Data Restore CD or DVD: $25 per CD, $35 per DVD, per restore incident

6. Post Service Cancellation Data Retrieval (Optional):

If you decide to cancel our service, we will retain your data indefinitely unless we need to recover our server storage space or you request for us to purge your data. If at a future date, you wish to recover your data, we will bill you for the number of months since service cancellation at the same rate as the plan in effect at the time of cancellation, plus any media and delivery costs (see item 5 above).

Optional Service Cost: Number of months since plan cancellation x rate at cancellation + Media + Delivery

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