Frequently Asked Questions

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General

Backup

Seat Management

Recovery

Activity Logs

How does IDrive^® Google Workspace backup secure my data?

IDrive^® Google Workspace prioritizes data security in the following ways:

Automated data backup
Your data is automatically backed up three times a day, providing regular and reliable protection for critical business data.

Multi-layered data security

• IDrive^® Google Workspace backup stores your data across top-notch data centers and secures with industry-standard 256-bit AES encryption on both transfer and storage.
• Each authenticated data transmission and user interaction from Google Workspace are processed through TLS 1.2 encrypted connections.
• IDrive uses 0Auth-based authentication to verify your Google Workspace user accounts without requiring their passwords.

Business compliance

IDrive implements data control measures across operations, software, and infrastructure to assist companies in adhering to various regulatory standards such as HIPAA, SOX, GLBA, SEC/FINRA, and PCI DSS.

How does IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup meet the HIPAA compliance requirements?

IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup uses IDrive^® e2 technology. 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 am I asked to trust 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 provides an additional layer of security for your data.

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

When backing up Google Workspace files (such as Docs, Sheets, etc.) to IDrive, the files cannot be downloaded in their original Google 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.

Can I backup users under Google Workspace Business Plus/Enterprise - Archive User Licence?

Backup of users under Google Workspace Business Plus/Enterprise - Archive User Licence is not supported. However, once a Google Workspace account has been backed up using IDrive, you can always restore or export its data, even if the account is suspended, archived, or deleted in the Google Admin Console.

You can also use IDrive to affordably retain and preserve the data for user accounts that have not been actively backed up.

You will need to reactivate the archived account in the Google Admin Console before IDrive can back up the data. After the backup is completed, you can archive the account again, or even remove it from your Google Workspace domain, without worrying about data loss or paying high charges for Archived User Licenses.

How does IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup run backups?

Once configured with Google Workspace, IDrive Google Workspace Backup runs a full automated backup of your Gmail, Google Drive, Google Shared Drives, Google Contacts, and Google Calendar for all users.

IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup enables automated data synchronization, so that after the full initial backup, all the subsequent changes are incrementally backed up.

How are the IDrive^® Google Workspace Backups scheduled?

IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup runs up to three automated backups everyday for all the users of your organization. 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^® Google Workspace Backup?

Yes, IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup enables automated data synchronization. After the full initial backup, all subsequent changes are incrementally backed up.

How do I backup Drive, Gmail, Calendar, and Contacts data for a specific user from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To perform backup for any specific user,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Select the required application from which you want to backup data for the user:
   • Drive - To backup the user’s drive data.
   • Gmail - To backup the user’s Emails and Folders data.
   • Calendar - To backup the user’s calendar schedules and events.
   • Contacts - To backup the user’s contact cards.
3. Click the user account 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 do I backup Shared Drives data for a specific user from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To perform Shared Drives backup for any specific user,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Select Shared Drives.
3. Click the shared drive 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^® Google Workspace backup?

IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup 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, Gmail, Shared Drives, Calendar, and Contacts:

• Total users: The total number of active users across the Workspace.
• Backed up users: The number of active Workspace users added to the backup list and who have completed backup within the last 24 hours.
• Users never backed up: Number of active Workspace users not included in the backup list.
• 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 shared drives added to your account, you can view similar information related to them.

What is Seat?

A seat refers to a Google Workspace user. 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 the Seat Management tab in your IDrive Google Workspace Backup web console, regardless of their backup status.

Navigate to the Users or Shared Drives tab under Seat Management to access the following management tools:

• Auto-add: Automatically syncs all the new users/shared drives added to your Google Workspace account.
• Activate all users/Activate all: Activate backup for all unprotected users and shared drives.
• Filter users/shared drives: Filter records of users or shared drives according to their backup status — active, paused, and unprotected.
• Search users/shared drives: Look up specific users and shared drives among the records.
• Download CSV: Download a list of all the selected users and shared drives in CSV format.
• Manage Drive, Gmail, Contact, and Calendar data: Manage specific Drive, Mail, Contact, and Calendar data for a user by clicking on the respective icons - or or 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 shared drives from backup set. For details, refer How do I change seat status for users?
• 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.
  

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 the Seat Management tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup dashboard.
2. Go to the Users tab.
3. Under the Backup actions column corresponding to the user, set the seat status as required:
   
• Pause: Pause the backup for the user or shared drive
• Unprotect: Remove the user from the IDrive^® Workspace 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 users to the IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup set?

Users in your Google Workspace are automatically detected and added to the backup set once you configure your Google account with IDrive. Auto-add will be enabled by default to protect new users in your Google Workspace. 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 the Seat Management tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Navigate to the Users tab.
3. Enable the toggle switch next to Auto-add.
   

How do I re-add users to the IDrive^® Google Workspace 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 the Seat Management tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup dashboard.
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/shared drives?

The Backup status next to each user or shared drive 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.

How do I restore the backed-up Drive and Shared Drives data for a specific user from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To restore the backed-up drive and shared drive data,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Click Drive or Shared Drives.
3. Click the user account or shared drive 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.
8. Click Restore.
   

On completion, a folder named after the restore mode and date will be auto-created on the restore location. A folder (IDrive Restore selection <TimeStamp>) will be created when restoring selected items. Similarly, a folder (IDrive Restore <TimeStamp>) will be created for snapshot restore, and (IDrive Restore search:Search_Term <TimeStamp>) folder will be created for search-based restore.

How do I restore the backed-up Gmail data for a specific user from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To restore the backed-up email data,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Click Gmail.
3. Click the user account from which you want to restore gmail data.
4. Select Folders to restore email attachments or All Mail to restore email messages.
   
5. 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 mail or label.
6. Select Snapshot or Selected Items as required.
7. Click Restore. A popup window will appear.
   
8. 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.

9. 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.
10. Click Restore.
    

On completion, a label named after the restore mode and date will be auto-created on the restore location. A label (IDrive Restore selection <TimeStamp>) will be created when restoring selected items. Similarly, a label (IDrive Restore <TimeStamp>) will be created for snapshot restore, and (IDrive Restore search:Search_Term <TimeStamp>) folder will be created for search-based restore.

How do I restore the backed-up Contacts for a specific user from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To restore the backed-up contacts,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Click Contacts.
3. Click the user account from which you want to restore contacts.
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 contact or label.
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.
8. Click Restore.
   

On completion, a label named after the restore mode and date will be auto-created on the restore location. A label (IDrive Restore selection <TimeStamp>) will be created when restoring selected items. Similarly, a label (IDrive Restore <TimeStamp>) will be created for snapshot restore, and (IDrive Restore search:Search_Term <TimeStamp>) folder will be created for search-based restore.

Can I search for a specific item from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account during restore?

Yes, IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup enables you to search and recover specific files, entire folders, images, videos, emails, and even contacts and calendars at a granular level.

How do I search and restore a specific file or folder in IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup?

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 shared drive,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Select the required application from which you want to restore data.
3. Click the user account or shared drive 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 shared drive.

To perform file-level restore,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
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/shared drives from the dropdown menu.

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

5. Click Search.
   

To restore the file(s)/folder(s), refer to this FAQ.

How do I export the backed-up Google Workspace data from my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

To export the backed-up data,

1. Go to the Recovery tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
2. Select the required application for which you want to export data.
3. Select the appropriate snapshot under Snapshots if you want to perform a 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.
   
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.

To cancel an ongoing data export, click and click Yes in the confirmation popup.

Can I preview the content of a backed up email?

Yes, you can preview the content of any backed up email. Go to Recovery > Gmail and click on the required email. The content of the email will be displayed in a preview pane. You can download any attachments to your computer.

Is it possible to restore corrupted files and folders from my IDrive Google Workspace backups?

Yes, you can restore deleted or corrupted files and folders directly to the user account or shared drive. You can also download them on your device while retaining their exact folder structure.

Where can I view the activity logs for my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup account?

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

How can I view the system activity log reports for my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup?

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

1. Go to the Activity Logs tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
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 (All, Gmail, Google Drive, Shared Drives, Contacts, Calendar).
   • Status: Generate log for all activities or completed, pending, in progress and failed events.
   • Seat: Generate log for specific user(s)/shared drive(s), or all users/shared drives.
5. Click View Event Logs.
   

A list of all the scheduled backup activities including timestamp, seat, module, backup status, event (backup), 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 IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup?

To view activity log reports for admin-initiated actions,

1. Go to the Activity Logs tab on your IDrive^® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
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, Gmail, Google Drive, Shared Drives, Contacts, Calendar).
   • Seat: Generate log for specific user(s)/shared drive(s), or all users/shared drives.
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 for my IDrive^® Google Workspace Backup?

To view activity log reports for all events,

1. Go to the Activity Logs tab on your IDrive® Google Workspace backup dashboard.
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 the backed-up service (All, Gmail, Google Drive, Shared Drives, Contacts, Calendar).
   • Seat: Generate log for specific user(s)/shared drive(s), or all users/shared drives.
5. Click View Event Logs.
   

A list of all the scheduled and manual system as well as admin 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.