Can I backup external/USB hard drives?

You can use CloudLive Backup with external USB drives as long as they retain the same drive letter (on Windows PCs) or mount point (on Mac computers).

As CloudLive Backup is a live copy of data that exists on a physical drive, it is possible for external HDD to be backed up and the data retained after the drive has been detached. However if this is not done correctly or the drive is replaced then it is possible that the data could be removed from our servers.

• In some cases it is possible for a drive to remain mounted and still appear as attached after being unplugged from your computer. In this situation, our software recognises that the drive now contains no folders and hence the deletion starts. When removing an external Hard drive always be sure to follow the correct procedure for detaching that device based on you Operating system
• Ensure also that you let the scan totally complete before unplugging the device. If you unplug during a scan then it will start the deleting.
• If plugging in a different external HDD you need to ensure that the drive letter or mount point is not re-assigned otherwise CloudLive will see this as the same drive but with all data removed and will begin deleting the data from the Backup set stored on the servers.  

Users may therefore wish to instead copy their files to their CloudLive using the ProDrive add-on and then work from ProDrive instead.

Please note that there is a limit of 5TB (5000GB) per external USB drive.