We provide services that will protect your systems and data.

1. Data Loss Risk Evaluation (FREE)
2. Disaster Recovery Planning
3. Remote Backup Service (FREE Trial)
4. Virus Detection & Removal
5. Internet Security (Firewalls)
6. PC/Network Troubleshooting, Installation and Consulting Services

We operate an off-site storage facility for client's data. At the facility, an account is maintained for each Client. Each client's account is protected by an encryption key known only to the client!

The electronic vault system is set up so that at a preset time, usually late at night the clients computer automatically wakes up and prepares its data for backup, it determines which files have been modified since the last backup, compresses them, encrypts them for security. When the data is ready the computer uses its modem or Internet connection to contact our Servers and transmit the data.

Our Servers verify and store the data. Each week the backup is transferred to a CD-ROM and placed in a fireproof safe for safe keeping. They can rest assured that their data is safe, because it is stored off-site.

Why

5-Star Solutions, Ltd believes the SOHO, small and medium business needs the same protection for their data as the large business but without the additional overhead of equipment, personnel and expenses. For example:

The consulting company, Newell & Associates had a disk drive crash six months after it began operations. And, even with a fully backed up system on a tape drive, it took over five days to get a critical computer system restored. Newell & Associates spend several months investigating all the alternatives to manual backup systems. And, finally decided that the best backup system is the one used by Fortune 500 companies. Companies like IBM, GE, and Amoco.

Most fortune 500 companies use the same basic techniques to protect their data:

1. All their systems are completely automated
2. The data is copied to a central location
3. Highly skilled technicians implement and monitor the process

Newell & Associates then spend several months searching for the right hardware and software to enable this backup system to work for a typical company. Without the high overhead.

In the middle of 1999, Quantum Tech, a leading backup software company, released a remote online backup system that would allow Newell & Associates to set up a centralized backup server so that its customers could lease a highly effective backup system with no overhead.

The advantages to a typical business are enormous:

1. All files are protected by state of the art encryption, only the customer can retrieve their files
2. Completely automated off-site protection
3. Fast online recovery of any version of any protected file
4. Easy installation and setup
5. Only an internet connection is required, eliminating the need for expensive backup equipment and media
6. The backup server is monitored by highly skilled technicians whose only job is to make sure the backups are performed properly
7. Clients get big business data storage at affordable prices

Backup Methods

Types of backups:

• Full includes files whether they have been changed or not;
• Differential includes all files changed since the last full backup, whether they have been changed since the last backup operation or not;
• Incremental includes only those files that have changed since the last backup operation of any kind.

Each of these methods uses a special "archive" bit included when any file is created. With the archive bit "set" or "on" the file is marked to be "archived" or "backed up".  After a file has been backed up the archive bit is turned "off". Backup software uses this information primarily for the Differential or Incremental backups, the Full backup will back up all files selected and turn the archive bit "off" if it is "on".

Backup Procedures

The most common backup rotation procedure is called the Grandfather, Father, Son. This is the method used by 5-Star Solutions, Ltd to archive Client's data. The procedure is: The grandfather backup is a monthly full backup that is stored in a fire-proof safe, the father is a weekly full backup done by the Client then it is kept on the server and a weekly backup is done of the Clients data and stored in a fire-proof safe. The son is the Client's daily incremental (or differential) backup that is kept on the server. We maintain the Grandfather backups for 30 days (or longer depending on the clients contract when archival service is requested beyond 30 days). Our Calendar shows how a client's data is backed up to our servers, then we (RDB) perform backups of the clients data to CD weekly and monthly, providing clients with a redundant protection to their data. Your data remains encrypted until unencrypted with your encryption key by you!