Online backup (aka Offsite backup, Remote backup, Internet backup) is a backup of local files (files from hard disk, CD/DVD, local network, etc.) placed to a remote FTP server. The FTP server can be either in the internet, or in your local network (intranet).


Setting up an online backup with the Active Backup Expert software is as simple as backing up to a local device with one additional step - entering your FTP server info into the Active Backup Expert.

It means that to make online backups of your data you have to have access for writing to some remote FTP server. If you don't have one, you'll find a lot of offers for "FTP hosting" in any search engine (Try to search for FTP hosting at google.com). We suggest you to use an FTP server that is as far from your computer(s) as possible. Let's say, if you're in Australia, send your online backups to an FTP server in the United Kingdom.

To set up your FTP account within the Active Backup Expert software please open the "FTP Accounts" window (Tools->FTP Accounts) and enter the following information:

Host the URL of your FTP server, e.g. "orionsoftlab.com";  
Port the default "21" value must work fine;
User Name/Password your authentification data;
Use Proxy Server optional, use it only if you're using proxy;
Passive Mode some servers require it to be checked;

As soon as you've entered your FTP server data, you can select a  folder on your FTP account as the Storage Folder for any backup project. Now just press the Backup button in the main window to make your first online backup. All further backups of this project will be "online backups", directed to your offsite storage. You can switch between remote and local Storage Folder any time you wish.

If you add more FTP accounts, you'll be able to select different offsite storage for each of your backup projects.

Even for your local backups, please consider using the "Export by FTP" feature for the most important backups to have an online copy as well