Configure hybrid protection

Go to the Protect tab. If you do not see this tab, you cannot control which files are and are not protected because your administrator has that control. In this case, this section is not applicable to you.

On the Protect tab, if you see a table with checkboxes at the left side of each table row, you have a self-manged configuration. See Configure self-managed protection for details. If you have the Protect tab and the table does not have checkboxes at the left side of each table row, you have a hybrid configuration. Use this section to help configure your hybrid protection. Keep in mind that this section is for the optional process of including or excluding additional files, beyond what your administrator has configured. If you do not make any modifications, you will still be protected using your administrator defined rules.

The Protect tab is divided into two sections.

• What would you like to protect—This section contains backup rules that define what files to include in your backup.
• What would you like to exclude—This section contains exclusion rules that define what files to exclude from the backup.

The include and exclude sections are defined by a file type and a location. The file type can be pre-defined (all files, documents, email files, music and audio files, photos and images, or videos), or it can be a custom file type that you create. The location can be one specific location or multiple locations.

If you do not see the table of available items in either the protection or exclusions sections, click See file types.

 

1. You may be able to see what your administrator has already configured by hovering over a File Type or Location in a row in the protect or exclude table. The tooltip will show you the kinds of files that are included or excluded and the location the inclusion or exclusion is applied to. Keep in mind the following for the hover text.
   • User created rules, if any, are displayed first.
   • Administrator created rules are displayed after user rules.
   • At most three rules are displayed in the hover text.
   • If you see an ellipsis (...), there are additional rules that are not displayed in the hover text.
2. If you want to view all of the rules for a file type or add additional locations to a file type, click Edit. At the bottom of the edit page, you will see the defined Administrator Rules.
   1. Identify the location.

      • Add a specific location—Click Add a specific location, select a volume or folder, and click OK. The location will be included or excluded recursively, which means the rule is automatically applied to the subfolders of the specified path (unless another rule exists for a subfolder). Keep in mind the following when adding rules.

        • If your administrator has already defined a rule, there is no need for you to define the same rule.
        • If your rule conflicts with an administrator rule, you may or may not be able to save your rule, depending on if your administrator allows overrides of the administrator rule. See the Allow Override column in the Administrator rules table. If overrides are allowed, your rule will take precedence over administrator rules. If overrides are not allowed, you will not be able to create a rule that conflicts with an administrator rule.

        

        Repeat this step to add multiple locations. Review the caveats below to understand how multiple rules interact with each other.

      • All internal hard drives—Click All internal hard drives to quickly select all hard drives without having to enter them individually. Keep in mind that any custom locations you may have already specified will be removed if you select all hard drives. This option is not available if the File type is All Files.
   2. If you need to remove one of the locations you defined, click Remove.
   3. Click Save to save the modified rule.
3. If you want to create your own file types to include or exclude, click Add a file type and location. (If you do not see that link, click See file types to expand the table and view the link to add a file type and location.)

   1. Specify the details for the rule.

      

      • File type—Specify a unique and descriptive name for the types of files you want to include or exclude.
      • File extension details—Specify the file extensions you want to include or exclude. If you are specifying more than one extension, separate them with a space. Do not use periods, commas, asterisks, or any other characters specified in the console as invalid.
      • File type location—Specify the location to look for these types of files. The location will be included or excluded recursively, which means the rule is automatically applied to the subfolders of the specified path (unless another rule exists for a subfolder).
        • Add a specific location—Click Add a specific location, select a volume or folder, and click OK. Repeat this step to add multiple locations. Review the caveats below to understand how multiple rules interact with each other.
        • All internal hard drives—Click All internal hard drives to quickly select all hard drives without having to enter them individually. Keep in mind that any custom locations you may have already specified will be removed if you select all hard drives.
   2. If you need to remove a location, click Remove.
   3. Click Save to save your rule.

   If you later want to delete a custom rule, go back to Edit and click Delete set.

    

Keep in mind the following when defining and selecting your rules.

• A rule for a file type will take precedence over a rule for All Files.

• In the case of multiple rules, files use the rule that is closest in the folder structure to them. In the following example, all files and folders under My Documents (which is C:\Users\UserName) will be backed up (the first rule). However, video files will be excluded from C:\Users\UserName and its subfolders (the third rule), except the videos located in C:\Users\UserName\Folder1\Folder2 and its subfolders will be included (the second rule).

  

• There are some default exclusions which cannot be overridden. For example, on Windows, system files and files and folders marked with an offline attribute will not be backed up. On MacOS, block devices will not be backed up. On both operating systems, .tmp files will not be backed up. Contact your administrator for a full list of excluded files.
• Your administrator will limit large files from being backed up. For example, if the administrator sets the maximum file size to 10 GB, then files included in a backup rule that are larger than 10 GB will not be backed up.

Once you have configured your protection, you can wait until the next scheduled scan or you can click Scan files now on the Protect page or on the Home page. If you manually scan, the timing of your next scheduled scan will be reset.

Starting with MacOS 10.14 Mojave, the operating system includes a security feature called Full Disk Access (FDA) which blocks applications from accessing specific locations. This may prevent Data Protection from backing up and restoring files, such as Apple Mail, Photos, Calendar, and so on. In order to back up and restore these files, you must grant Data Protection access within Full Disk Access. Make sure you make the following change on a MacOS 10.14 or later device.

1. Under the Apple icon, click System Preferences, Security & Privacy, and on the Privacy tab, select Full Disk Access.
2. If the padlock icon is locked, click the icon and enter your MacOS credentials. Do not use your Apple ID or Data Protection credentials.
3. Click Add an application (the plus icon), highlight Applications on the left, select Data Protection from the list, and click Open.
4. If desired, click the padlock icon again to lock Full Disk Access.
5. Restart the device.