DOWNLOAD NOW

LATEST NEWS

Support

Glossary

AES

Advanced Encryption Standard. This is modern encryption standard (see encryption) chosen by the US government from a number of candidates for use in encrypting all its data.

It is a modern and powerful encryption standard and is the one used by BuddyBackup to encrypt your backed up files.

Backup

The process of making copies of important digital or computer data to off-site (non local) locations to ensure that the data can be recovered in the event of data loss.

Backup Buddies

These are the people that BuddyBackup will back up your data to. You can ask anyone to be one of your backup buddies, but they have the choice of whether to allow your backups or not. When you add a backup buddy, they are automatically allowed to backup to you.

Broadband

This describes a connection to the internet which is considered to be "fast" - i.e. web pages and content downloads quickly. Broadband connections come in several forms from different suppliers including from cable TV and phone companies.

The speed of broadband connections are often measured in "megabits per second" (mbps) or "kilobits per second" (kbps). A connection of 1 mbps (which is 1000 kbps) is probably suitable for most users. By comparison a telephone modem runs at 56 kbps. A broadband connection is strongly recommended for use with BuddyBackup.

Compression

Term used to describe when a file has been compacted to reduce the amount of space it takes up on a hard drive and reduce the time it takes to send over the internet. BuddyBackup uses a particular type of compression which means that only the changes since the last save are recorded.

Encryption

This is a term used to describe when data is made unreadable to unauthorized people, while still being readable by authorized people. Encryption is also known as encoding. Simply put, if a file is encrypted by you, then only you can read the contents of that file.

BuddyBackup uses the AES encryption standard.

File extension

Describes the end part of a filename which occurs after the full stop. For example the file extension of the file mypicture.jpg is "jpg".

Firewall

A piece of software or hardware which prevents unauthorised access to a local network.

Firewalls often have to setup if users want to do certain things, such as using peer to peer software.

Fully Backed Up

This is a term used by BuddyBackup to describe when your files are backed up as well as they can be.

A file is considered "fully backed up" if there are at least as many copies saved onto your buddies as the number you chose in the "Backup Copies" setting.

For example, if you chose the "Backup copies" value to be "3", then a file is fully backed up if it is stored onto three or more buddies.

The "backup copies" value is chosen when you setup BuddyBackup. See Settings and Options for more details.

See also: Minimally Backup Up.

Minimally backed up

This is a term used by BuddyBackup to describe when your files are slightly backed up but are not backed up as well as they could be.

A file is considered "minimally backed up" if it is backed up to at least one buddy, but is not fully backed up.

See also: Fully backed up

NAT - Network Address Translation

When sending and receiving data on the internet, each computer must have its own address so information knows where to head to. This address is known as the "IP address".

There is usually only one address given to each internet connection. Therefore, when several people want to share a single internet connection there is a problem in that they can't all share the same address.

The solution to this is to use Network Address Translation (NAT). This works by having a single point of contact to the internet which uses a single address. This then forwards on any data to all the people wanting to share it. This is most often seen in small home networks where a single internet connection is shared by several people.

The "magic" of Network Address Translation is often totally hidden from users as it is done in the router of a small office or home network, and for most purposes will not affect the way users work.

The problem with this system is that because the users don't have their own "real" address, but have to rely on a shared one, it makes it more difficult for programs such as BuddyBackup to directly connect into them.

BuddyBackup uses special techniques to handle all this so for most users you will not notice any difference. However, if you receive a message saying that other Buddies may not be able to connect to you, then you might need to do something special to get BuddyBackup working (see here).

Redundancy

This term is used to describe when several copies of a single file are made during backup for more protection (i.e. the extra copies are "redundant").

The idea is that with several identical copies of the data at different locations, the user is much more protected if they suffer from data loss.

Router

A router is a network device which forwards information between two networks. In the context of a home or small office network, it is most often the box which connects the internet connection to the local network.

In the case of home or small office networks, it may actually be a NAT router which means that it can share a single internet connection between several users.

Strong Password

This is a term used to describe a password which is not easily guessed. Choosing passwords which are just made out of everyday words is very bad practice because an attacker will find it easier to guess your password. Stronger passwords will therefore also have some numbers in, and the strongest passwords will be contain no everyday words.

The length of a password will also affect how strong it is; the longer the password the less likely someone is to guess it by "brute force" (trying every possible combination in turn).

For example:

• A weak password: carmen
• A stronger password: Carmen72
• An even stronger password: hs72mSda

Supernode

This is a term used to describe a computer which has more responsibility or duties in a network of computers (a "node" is the term to describe each computer).

In BuddyBackup, the Supernode is the main computer run by the BuddyBackup team which will help you find and connect to your backup buddies.

 Back to Top