Setup CareDrive on customer computer. To be completed by a Remote Tech. Most of the instructions herein will refer to the CareDrive dashboard: https://mspbackups.com/Admin/Login.aspx

Procedure

Create Encryption Key

Each backup will be encrypted with a key (password) to protect from unwanted access. All backups for a single customer should use the same encryption key (but each backup user should have its own account password).

Create a new credentials object for the group or asset in PCRT
Name: CareDrive Encryption Key
Username: blank
Password: Generate random
Save the encryption key

During setup, be sure to enable compression and encryption when prompted. Use a strong randomly generated password (which can be made via PCRT) and double check that it is entered correctly in the CareDrive program and that it is saved in PCRT. If this encryption key is lost then the backup data is effectively non-existent. Do not lose the encryption key. Pay particular attention to the encryption key creation and usage.

Create company

Only create companies in the CareDrive Dashboard if the backup plan is for a business. Personal Care Plans will only have a user associated.

Login to CareDrive Dashboard.
On the header, click on Users ⇒ Companies
Click “Create Company”
Name the company and check the option to “Use storage limit”. Set the storage limit according to the CareDrive plan that is being setup (default: 1000GB per workstation).
Click “Save”.

Create customer

Login to CareDrive Dashboard
On the header, click on Users ⇒ Users
Click “Create User”
Choose a unique username. For companies, use the company name (ex Fashion Traders would have a username of fashiontraders) and for individual user use their name (ex John Doe would be jdoe).
Take note of the initial password or set a custom password. Save the password in PCRT for the asset or group.
Choose the Company created from the previous section, if applicable.
Choose the appropriate “Bucket” for the type of account: BizCare customers use the BizCareBackup bucket, etc.
Choose the appropriate Storage Limit based on the plan and number of plans being setup.
Uncheck “Send email with instructions…”
Click “Save”

Assign Licenses

Each device that will be backed up to CareDrive needs to be assigned a license. If licenses are not available yet, the backup client will be installed on a trial basis.

Company Licenses

On the Edit Company page, change the “Licenses” option to “Company Pool” and specify the number and type of licenses they should be assigned. Basic CareDrive plans include 1x “Desktop/Server” per covered device.

Individual User Licenses

If a user is not part of a company, they will need to have individual license(s) assigned. On the Edit User page, change the “Licenses” option to “User Pool” and specify the number and type of licenses they should be assigned.

Purchase Licenses

If no licenses are available, new installations will be configured on a trial basis. After purchasing a license and assigning it to the user or company, the license will be automatically converted from the trial license to a paid license. To purchase new licenses:

Login to the CareDrive dashboard
Click “Buy” in the top right
Choose the number and types of licenses to purchase
Click Buy
License to: purchasing@universitypccare.com
Recipient: delivery to you as a reseller
Card Info: Use Corporate card
Confirm total amount is correct, with no sales tax since we are a reseller.
Order licenses.
The licenses will automatically be applied to our CareDrive dashboard if the correct email was chosen in step 7, ready to be assigned.

Install

Login to CareDrive dashboard
On the homepage of the dashboard, scroll down to the Downloads section and choose the appropriate Backup client.
Transfer the client to the customer’s computer. Alternatively you can copy the download link URL from step 2 and paste it into a browser on the customer’s computer to download it directly to their computer.
Run the installer, use default options
Launch CareDrive program
Login with the username and password created in the previous section.

Configure Backup

After the user is setup in CareDrive Dashboard and the program is installed, you can now configure the backup on the client computer.

For CareDrive Basic plans, use the File Backup creation wizard.
For CareDrive Plus plans, use the Image Backup creation wizard and optionally the File Backup creation wizard if they wish to have both types of backups. Individual files can be pulled from the Image Backup, however, so having both is not strictly necessary unless the customer has specific needs.

All Backups

Enable ransomware protection: checked
Force VSS: checked
Enable encryption: checked
- Use the encryption key created in the first step of CareDrive setup
Enable compression: checked
Scheduled nightly backup by default, or real-time backup if the customer chooses (this closely emulates how Carbonite works)
Set the following retention policy:
- If using the Delete Files that have been Deleted Locally option, set a delay of 30 days to ensure files that get renamed by ransomware don’t get erased.
- Keep 3 versions of files to ensure files encrypted in place by ransomware don’t get their backups overwritten.
- If using the Delete Versions Older Than option, set the Delay Purge for 7 days to ensure time to restore after a ransomware infection.

File Backup

Do not backup system and hidden files unless the customer specifies otherwise

Image Backup

Backup all partitions on the OS drive. Usually this will be the System Reserved partition and the primary OS partition on Windows.
Backup any external drives the customer specifies.
- Note: Drives are backed up through their drive letter, so it is best practice to only backup drives that are permanently plugged in (whose drive letter should not change).
Schedule a full backup to happen at least once a month. Backups will be incremental between full backups.

Real-time backup interaction with QuickBooks

If the folder containing QuickBooks company files is scheduled for a real-time backup, a race condition may surface where CareDrive and QuickBooks compete for a file handle on the company file (meaning they’re both trying to open the file at the same time, but can’t). This most notably results in QuickBooks errors -6189, 816 when trying to open a company file.

It is best to exclude the Company Files folder from real-time backups and schedule them on a separate backup with a fixed schedule.