Backup to Amazon S3

Summary

This article explains how to use an Amazon S3 storage account as backup destination in Backup4all. The idea is to use a third party application (such as WebDrive) to map the Amazon S3 account as a local drive. This way, Backup4all will recognize the mapped drive as a valid destination for backups and you'll be able to perform an online backup of your data.

On this page:

Details

Amazon S3 is an web service that can be used to store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the web. If you're looking to backup your data not only on local/network/external drives, but also to an online source, Amazon S3 can be a solution. The idea behind this is mapping Amazon S3 as a network drive by using a 3rd party application (WebDrive). Backup4all can back up to a network drive, so this way through WebDrive your data will be backed up online to Amazon S3. Of course that Backup4all can restore data from the Amazon S3 account too (via Webdrive) if needed.

Install and configure WebDrive

To download and install WebDrive go to webdrive.com/download/index.html. The application can be used free of charge for a trial period of 20 days. The product can be found in two versions: 32-bit and 64-bit. Choose the appropriate setup file (depending on your operating system).

After installing WebDrive, follow these steps to map as a network drive the Amazon S3 storage account.

1. Open WebDrive and press New Site button.
2. Enter a name for the Amazon S3 site and choose a drive letter. Press Next
3. Select Amazon S3 as server type. Press Next.
4. Enter the URL for the Server. 
   • The first option is to use the URL http://s3.amazonaws.com that should show all buckets you have access to in the root folder; you can then navigate to the buckets and treat them as folders.
     
   • The second option is to root your drive in a bucket by using the following syntax: http://s3.amazonaws.com/mybucket where mybucket is the name of the bucket you wish to use.
   Note: For European buckets, use the syntax: http://<euro-bucket-name>.s3.amazonaws.com.
5. Copy and paste your Access Key ID in username field
   
6. Copy and paste your Secret Access Key in the password field. 
7. Press Finish and connect to the Amazon S3 account.

Backup to Amazon S3

1. Open Backup4all and select File->New Backup (Ctrl+N).
2. On the first page, enter a name for the backup in the Backup Name field.
3. In the Where do you want to save the backup? section, select the Amazon S3 mapped drive as backup destination. Press Next.
4. On the What do you want to backup page, add the backup sources. Press Next.
5. On the third page, you can choose the backup type and the encryption.
6. Press Save and run.

When you want to restore your data files from the Amazon S3 backup, you can do it in the same way as from any other backup destination.

Steps to follow:

1. Press the Restore (F7) button. This will open the Restore Wizard.
2. In the Restore in section, select the location where your data will be restored.
3. Press Finish.

Applies to:

Backup4all 4.x or later.