You want to back up to an offsite location to a computer that belongs to someone you know. By backing up offsite, you can protect yourself in the event of disasters that might effect your home like theft or fire. If you are able to back up to friends who are very far away, you are further protected against disasters that might affect entire region like hurricanes, floods and wild fires.

Your friend's computer needs to be powered up when you want to restore files. Because backing up and restoring takes place over the Internet, the initial backup and a complete restore could take a while.

1. Download and install CrashPlan.
   The set-up assistant will guide you through the rest of the installation. See Installing CrashPlan.
2. Launch CrashPlan by clicking the CrashPlan icon on your desktop (Windows) or in the task bar (Mac).

1. On the Destinations > Friends page, click Invite.
2. Type your friend's email address.
   Separate multiple addresses with a comma.
3. Click Add.
4. Choose a message template from the list.
   • Yes - offer my computer… to invite your friend to back up to your computer and to request that you be allowed to back up your computer to your friend’s.
   • No - I do not wish to offer my computer to request that you be allowed to back up your computer to your friend’s, without inviting the friend to back up to you.
5. (Optional) Edit the subject line / message.
6. Click Send Invitation.

What Happens After Sending the Invitation Your friend will receive a message asking permission to back up to his or her computer. If your friend accepts, you can start backing up to his/her computer.

• After clicking Accept, your friend clicks the link to the CrashPlan website, downloads and installs the program. When your friend sets up a CrashPlan account, tell your friend to supply the same email address to which you sent the invitation. This will connect you to each other.

After your friend has accepted your invitation and registered using the email address you provided, you friend's computer will appear in the list of backup destinations.

1. Launch CrashPlan by clicking the CrashPlan icon on your desktop (Windows) or in the task bar (Mac).
2. (Optional) If you want to change the files to include in the backup, in the Files to Back Up section of the Backup tab, click Change.
3. Select the friend to whom you want to back up, then Start Backup.

On the Backup tab, you can check on the status of your backup, stop a backup in progress or resume a paused backup.

Your friend can also go directly to the application or be invited through My Account on www.crashplan.com.

If you want to back up to someone who is already using CrashPlan, ask your friend to tell you the Backup Code that appears on the Friends page, then follow these steps.

1. Click the Friends tab.
2. Under Is Your Friend Already Running CrashPlan, enter your friend's Backup Code.
   
   
3. Click Start Backup.