Frequently Asked Questions

Dropbox is a registered trademark of Dropbox, Inc. IDrive is a third-party service and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Dropbox.

If your question is not addressed below, please contact us through our support form and we'll get back to you shortly.

General

Backup

Seat Management

Recovery

Activity Logs

Does IDrive meet the HIPAA compliance requirements?

Yes IDrive uses IDrive^® e2 technology to secure the data stored in your Dropbox cloud storage. IDrive^® e2 ensures the following and assists users to meet HIPAA compliance:

• Physical security of the data centers
• Strong authentication and authorization controls for cloud, storage, and networking infrastructure
• Encrypts data at rest and in transit to safeguard confidential patient information

Why is the size of my backed up Dropbox files in IDrive larger than the size in Dropbox Drive?

When backing up Dropbox files (such as Docs, Sheets, etc.) to IDrive, the files cannot be downloaded in their original Dropbox Drive format. Instead, they are exported to a standard format, which typically results in larger file sizes. Additionally, the previous and deleted versions of the files are also considered in the size calculation, contributing to the increased overall size.

How does IDrive run backups for the data in my Dropbox storage?

Once configured with Dropbox, IDrive runs a full automated backup of your data for all users.
IDrive enables automated data synchronization, so that after the full initial backup, all the subsequent changes in your Dropbox data are incrementally backed up.

How are the backups scheduled in IDrive?

IDrive runs up to three automated backups every day for all the users of your Dropbox cloud storage service. These system backups run on a predefined schedule for the entire organization.

Will the subsequent changes in my backed-up files be transferred incrementally to IDrive?

Yes, IDrive enables automated data synchronization. After the full initial backup, all subsequent changes in your Dropbox data are incrementally backed up.

How do I backup Dropbox Drive data for a specific user?

To perform Drive backup for a specific user,

1. Click Recovery.
2. Select Drive.
3. Click the user account for which you want to backup data.
4. Click Backup Now.
   

The backup progress will be displayed. You can view the backup details under Backups.

Note:

• When backing up a user for the first time, you can check the current backup size by clicking .
• Running a manual backup does not affect the auto-scheduled backups.
  

How do I backup Team Folders data for a specific user?

To perform Team Folders backup for any specific user,

1. Go to the Recovery tab.
2. Select Team Folders.
3. Click the team folder for which you want to backup data.
4. Click Backup now.
   

The backup progress will be displayed in real time. The backup details can be viewed under Backups.

Note:

• When backing up a user for the first time, you can check the current backup size by clicking .
• Running a manual backup does not affect the auto-scheduled backups.
  

How does snapshot and versioning work in IDrive Backup for Dropbox cloud storage?

IDrive retains previous versions of the backed-up data as point-in-time snapshots, enabling you to run point-in-time restores of your data to the exact state it was in at the time of your backup.

The snapshots are retained and consolidated in the following manner:

• IDrive runs automated backups daily 3 times, that are retained for 30 days
• After 30 days, IDrive saves one of the 3 daily backups per user
• After 90 days, IDrive saves one weekly backup per user
• After 365 days, IDrive saves one monthly backup per user

What information can I view from the Overview tab on my dashboard?

The Overview tab gives you a quick glance of your users along with their restores, exports, and backups.

You can view the summary of the following information across Drive and Team Folders:

• Total users: The total number of users across Dropbox account.
• Users protected: The number of active Dropbox users added to the backup list who have at least one snapshot.
• Users not protected: Number of active Dropbox users with no snapshots.
• Last backup activity: This displays the last date when every module in the application successfully completed a backup within a 24-hour period.
• Last 10 days backup: This displays the status of the last 10 days, represented by the following icons:
  • - Backup failure
  • - Backup was 100% successful
  • - Backup has not yet commenced
  • - Backup was partially successful
• Backup in progress: Total number of ongoing backup operations.
• Exports in progress: Total number of ongoing export operations.
• Restore in progress: Total number of ongoing restore operations.
  

Additionally, you can view a summary of the total data backed up, number of users, and account registration details.

If you have team folders added to your account, you can view similar information related to them.

What is a Seat?

A seat refers to a user account connected for backup from your Dropbox environment. Each seat added to the account is billed as per the subscribed plan.

What user management tools can I access under seat management?

You can access records of all the users under Seat Management in the web console, regardless of their backup status.

Navigate to Users or Team Folders under Seat Management to access the following management tools:

• Auto-add: Automatically syncs all the new users/team folders added to your Dropbox account.
• Activate all users/Activate all: Activate backup for all unprotected/paused users and team folders.
• Filter users/team folders: Filter records of users or team folders according to their backup status — active, paused, and unprotected.
• Search users/team folders: Look up specific users and team folders among the records.
• Download CSV: Download a list of all the selected users and team folders in CSV format.
• Manage Drive and Team Folder data: Manage specific Drive and Team Folder data for a user by clicking on the respective icons - or
• Backup status: Hover over View details to view the summary of backup status, or click the button to view a detailed backup status summary.
• Backup actions: Pause, add, or remove users and team folders from the backup set. For details, refer How do I change seat status for users and team folders?
• Refresh seats: You can refresh the seats by clicking this button . Depending on the Auto-add status, new seats will be added with the corresponding backup status. If auto-add is enabled, the newly discovered seats are automatically protected, if not, they remain unprotected until the user manually changes it.
• Unprotect all: You can unprotect all the seats using this option. The unprotected seats will be excluded from the daily backups and will not be accessible in the Recovery module.
• Backup all: This feature allows you to initiate a backup for all active seats at once.
  

How do I change seat status for users?

You can add and remove the users from the backup set, or pause backups by changing their seat status.

To change the seat status for users,

1. Go to Seat Management.
2. Go to Users.
3. Under the Backup actions column corresponding to the user, set the seat status as required:
• Pause: Pause the backup for the user
• Unprotect: Remove the user from the backup set
• Protect: Resume/start backup for unprotected/paused users

The status of a user added to the backup set will be displayed as Active.

Note: On changing the seat status to Unprotect for a user, all backups associated with the user will be deleted.

How do I add Dropbox users to the backup set?

Users in your Dropbox account are automatically detected and added to the backup set once you configure your Dropbox account with IDrive. Auto-add will be enabled by default to protect new Dropbox user accounts.
Depending on the Auto-add status, new seats will be added with the corresponding backup status. If auto-add is enabled, the newly discovered seats are automatically protected, if not, they remain unprotected until the user manually changes it.

To manually add new seats, you can click to refresh the data.

To enable auto-add,

1. Go to Seat Management.
2. Navigate to the Users tab.
3. Enable the toggle switch next to Auto-add.
   

How do I re-add users to the backup set?

You can re-add users to the active backup set by changing their seat status to Protect.

To activate backup for users not included in the backup set,

1. Go to Seat Management.
2. Navigate to the Users tab.
3. Under the Backup actions column next to the paused/unprotected user, select Protect from the dropdown menu.
   

To activate all the unprotected users, click Activate all.

How do I view the backup status of the users/team folders?

The Backup status next to each user or team folder provides an overview of their backup results for each module within the past 24 hours. Click View details to view the following backup status parameters for each module:

• Backup status: Success/failure status of the backup in the past 24 hours, denoted by Completed / Failed
• Storage used: Total space occupied by the backup
• Last backup: Timestamp of the last backup
  

To view the summarized backup status for each module, hover over View details.

Why am I asked to trust my IP Address while trying to export or restore data?

When using a new IP address to export or restore data you must authorize the IP address by entering a verification code sent to the email address of the account administrator. This is a one-time process to ensure your identity.

1. Trust this IP address screen will appear while performing a restore or export operation from the Restore or Export page.
2. You will be prompted to enter a one-time verification code sent to your registered email address. The code can be used only once and will expire after 5 minutes.
3. Enter the code.

   Note: In case the code expires or you have not received the email, click Resend code to get a new verification code.

   
4. Click Verify and Restore.

Once an IP address is added as a trusted IP, users will not be asked to enter one-time verification code during any subsequent export/restore operations.

Note:

• Users can get this one-time verification code via registered email address only.
• If you are unable to receive email with one-time verification code, contact support.
• This one-time IP address verification is applicable for restore and export operations.

How do I restore the backed-up Dropbox Drive data for a specific user from my IDrive account?

To restore the backed-up drive data,

1. Go to Recovery.
2. Click Drive.
3. Click the user account from which you want to restore data.
4. Select the appropriate recovery point under Snapshots if you want to perform a point-in-time restore. To restore a specific file or folder, select the item from the list of backed-up items. You can also search for a specific file or folder.
5. Click Restore. A popup window will appear.
   
6. Select Snapshot or Selected Items as required.

   Note: The Selected Item option will be enabled only if you have selected items for restore. If nothing is selected, Snapshot is selected by default.

7. Select the user account from the Restore to drop-down menu to which you want to restore the snapshot or the selected item. You can restore the data to the same user account, or a different user account. The data will be restored to the Drive module irrespective of where it is being restored from.
8. Choose a non-destructive or destructive restore method to manage existing files:
   • New folder (Non-destructive): This method restores the files in a new folder to avoid overwrites.
   • Skip existing data (Destructive): This method skips restoring files that already exist in the account.
   • Override always (Destructive): This method always replaces all of the existing files with the selected version.
9. Click Restore.
   
10. Click Proceed in the confirmation popup, if you have selected Override always.

On completion, a folder named after the restore mode and date will be auto-created on the restore location. Here are example folders that will be created as per the mode of restore:

Drive

For snapshot restore: (IDrive Restore <TimeStamp in UTC>)

For selected item restore: (IDrive Restore selection <TimeStamp in UTC>)

For search-based restore: (IDrive Restore search:Search_Term <TimeStamp in UTC>)

How do I restore the backed-up Dropbox Team Folders data for a specific user from my IDrive account?

To restore the backed-up team folders data,

1. Go to Recovery.
2. Click Team Folders.
3. Click the team folder from which you want to restore data.
4. Select the appropriate recovery point under Snapshots if you want to perform a point-in-time restore. To restore a specific file or folder, select the item from the list of backed-up items. You can also search for a specific file or folder.
5. Click Restore. A popup window will appear.
   
6. Select Snapshot or Selected Items as required.

   Note: The Selected Item option will be enabled only if you have selected items for restore. If nothing is selected, Snapshot is selected by default.

7. Select the user account from the Restore to drop-down menu to which you want to restore the snapshot or the selected item. The data will be restored to the Drive module irrespective of where it is being restored from.
8. Choose the non-destructive restore option to restore files to a new folder without overwriting existing data.
9. Click Restore.
   

On completion, a folder named after the restore mode and date will be auto-created on the restore location. Here are example folders that will be created as per the mode of restore:

Team Folders

For snapshot restore: (IDrive Restore TEAM_FOLDER_NAME <Timestamp in UTC>)

For selected item restore: (IDrive Restore TEAM_FOLDER_NAME selection <Timestamp in UTC>)

For search-based restore: (IDrive Restore search:Search_Term <Timestamp in UTC>)

Can I search for a specific item for restore?

Yes, you can search and recover specific files, entire folders, images, and videos at a granular level.

Note: Global search only supports new folder restore.

How do I search a specific file or folder in IDrive Backup for Dropbox cloud storage?

You can perform both point-in-time and file-level searches across multiple search parameters to perform a granular restore for a specific item.

To perform a point-in-time search for restoring a specific version of the backed-up data from a user account or a team folder,

1. Go to Recovery.
2. Select the required application from which you want to restore data.
3. Click the user account or team folder for which you want to perform the search.
4. To search for all the snapshots for a specific data, select the date on the calendar. A list of all the recent snapshots will be displayed on the screen. Select the required snapshot. Click Latest Snapshot to find the latest snapshot.
   

A file-level search enables you to locate specific backed-up files and folders from a user account or a team folder.

To perform file-level restore,

1. Go to Recovery.
2. Select the required application for which you want to restore data.
3. Go to the Search tab.
4. Enter a valid search term, set the required date and time for snapshots, select single or multiple users from the dropdown menu. Refer to this FAQ for search terms.

   Note: The snapshot closest to the selected timestamp will be displayed.

5. Click Search.
   

How do I export the backed-up Dropbox data?

To export the backed-up data,

1. Go to Recovery.
2. Select the required application for which you want to export data.
3. Select the appropriate snapshot under Snapshots if you want to perform point-in-time export. To export a specific file or folder, select the item from the list of backed-up items. You can also search for a specific file or folder.
4. Click Export. A popup window will appear.
5. Select Snapshot or Selected Items as required.

   Note: The Selected Item option will be enabled only if you have selected items for restore. If nothing is selected, Snapshot is selected by default.

6. Click Export.
   

You can download the generated export files in the Exports tab by clicking next to successful exports. Alternatively, click to delete the export.

Note: Exports will be downloaded as zip files.

What search terms are supported for export and restore?

IDrive supports specific search terms for each Dropbox module, as listed below:

Is it possible to restore corrupted files and folders from my IDrive^® account?

Yes, you can restore deleted or corrupted files and folders directly from the user account or team folder. The data restored from Team Folders will be displayed under the Drive module. You can also download them on your device while retaining their exact folder structure.

Where can I view the activity logs for my backup for Dropbox?

You can generate the activity log reports of scheduled System Events and initiate Admin Actions like backup, restore, search, and web operations from the Activity Logs tab.

How can I view the system activity log reports for my backup for Dropbox?

To view activity log reports for system-generated automatic backups,

1. Go to Activity Logs.
2. Click System Events.
3. Select Date range. To set a custom start and end date, select Custom range.
4. Next, specify the following parameters:
   • Event Type: By default, it will be set as Scheduled.
   • Module: Choose the backed-up service (Drive, Team Folders).
   • Status: Generate log for all activities or completed, pending, in progress and failed events.
   • Seat: Generate log for specific or all users/Team Folders.
5. Click View Event Logs.
   

A list of all the scheduled backup activities including timestamp, seat, backup status, destination (for restore), performed by, will be displayed on the screen. You can also view the summary of the hourly and daily events (backup).

To generate a detailed summary report of the activities, click Generate Summary.

You can also download the activity log reports on your system in CSV format by clicking Download CSV.

How can I view the admin activity log reports for my backups?

To view activity log reports for admin-initiated actions,

1. Go to Activity Logs.
2. Click Admin Actions.
3. Select Date range. To set a custom start and end date, select Custom range.
4. Next, specify the following parameters:
   • Event Type: Select the type of operation (All, backup, export, restore, and search)
   • Status: Generate log for all activities or completed, pending, in progress and failed events.
   • Module: Choose the backed-up service (All, Drive, Team Folders).
   • Seat: Generate log for specific or all users/Team Folders.
5. Click View Event Logs.
   

A list of all the manual backup activities including timestamp, seat, module, backup status, event (backup), destination (for restore), performed by, will be displayed on the screen.

To generate a detailed summary report of the activities, click Generate Summary. You can also download the activity log reports on your system in CSV format by clicking Download CSV.

How can I view all event activity log reports?

To view activity log reports for all events,

1. Go to Activity Logs.
2. Click All Event Logs.
3. Select Date range. To set a custom start and end date, select Custom range.
4. Next, specify the following parameters:
   • Event Type: Select the type of operation (All, backup, export, restore, and search)
   • Status: Generate log for all activities or completed, pending, in progress and failed events.
   • Module: Choose All as the backup module.
   • Seat: Generate log for specific or all users/Team Folders.
5. Click View Event Logs.

A list of all the scheduled and manual system as well as admin backup activities including timestamp, seat, backup status, event (backup), destination (for restore), performed by, will be displayed on the screen.

To generate a detailed summary report of the activities, click Generate Summary. You can also download the activity log reports on your system in CSV format by clicking Download CSV.