[Windows] File Types Included By Default

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Carbonite is designed to back up all the unique and irreplaceable files on your computer. Included in your backup are your text documents, spreadsheets, financial documents, photos, music, etc. During your free trial period, Carbonite does not automatically select your music or video files. When you upgrade to the paid subscription your music and short video files are added to the backup (if they were previously selected).

How to Tell What is Backed Up Adding Files and Folders to Your Backup

Note: If the instructions below do not match what you are seeing on your computer, we ask that you reinstall Carbonite on your computer to upgrade to the latest version.

What is Included in Your Backup

When you first install Carbonite, you are given two options for backup:

• Automatic setup (Recommended) - this option selects the data files located in C:\Documents and Settings (or C:\Users for Windows Vista and Windows 7). This includes files located in your My Documents and Desktop folders.
  
• Custom Setup - this option lets you decide what can be included in the backup, choose if you would like to manage your private encryption key and set up a backup schedule.

By default Carbonite does not back up system files, executable files or temporary files and folders. This is to avoid causing problems in the event you need to restore all your files to a new computer. These outdated files could overwrite the new files that are managing the operation of your computer.

You can easily back up most files you want by right-clicking on the file and selecting Carbonite; Back this up.

Technical Details

Your Carbonite subscription is associated with a backup policy, which determines whether a file is, by default, included or excluded from your backup.

Carbonite backs up all files except for:

• System files such as .EXE and .DLL files (an exhaustive list of these extensions is available upon request).
• Files in known system and temporary folders such as the C:\Windows folder (These files cannot be added to your backup for your protection).
• Files contained in hidden system folders (a.k.a. super-hidden folders).
• Individual files that are over 4GB in size (you can individually add large files to your backup by right-clicking on them and selecting Back this up from the Carbonite menu).
• Video files (you can add video files to your backup by right-clicking on a video file and selecting Carbonite; Properties. Under the Carbonite tab select Back up files of this type (within folders selected for backup). This will select all video files under 4GB in size that are currently within folders selected for backup).
• Files on non-permanent disk drives (e.g., network and removable USB drives) unless otherwise noted as a feature in your Carbonite product.

Some Carbonite products, such as Microsoft Money Backup (limited products), back up only certain file types and may not give you the option to select other file types for backup. These products also exclude files based on the policy described above. Carbonite also offers products that have limited storage. These products, due either to restrictions on files that can be backed up or to storage limitations, may not be able to back up all of your important files. For more information about what files and/or folders are backed up with these limited products, consult the specific product offer.