Set up CrashPlan for Small Business

With your CrashPlan for Small Business free trial or subscription, you can add as many users as you need. Add a CrashPlan for Small Business user for each person in your organization. If you are the only person in your small business, skip to Step 2. 

The CrashPlan for Small Business CrashPlan console offers a few different ways to add users, giving you flexibility to quickly add one user or add multiple users at once. See Add users from the CrashPlan console for CrashPlan for Small Business for details. 

User types

CrashPlan for Small Business offers the following user types:

• Administrators can manage users and organization-wide settings. See our tutorial on adding users for more information about administrator privileges and how to make a user an administrator. 
• Subscription administrator can manage your CrashPlan for Small Business subscription, including billing. See Change your CrashPlan for Small Business subscription administrator for more information about subscription administrators, including how to change your subscription administrator.
• Non-administrator users only have access to devices on their user account and cannot manage other users or subscription information. 

To protect all of your data, it's important to back up all your devices. First, ensure your devices meet our system requirements.

CrashPlan for Small Business is $10 USD per month, per device on your account. Once you add a device to your account, you'll be billed automatically on your monthly renewal date.

Download and install

After confirming your hardware and software meet our system requirements, add devices as follows:

1. Sign in to the CrashPlan console. 
2. Go to App Downloads.
3. Download and install the CrashPlan app.

For detailed instructions, see Download and install CrashPlan for Small Business.

Sign in and complete setup

Once you've installed the CrashPlan app, sign in and complete setup to start backing up your data. 

1. Enter your account's Email address and Password, then click Continue.
   The device appears in the CrashPlan console on the Active Devices page.
2. Click Add destinations.
   
3. To back up to CrashPlan cloud, select CrashPlan PRO Online. 
4. To back up to a local destination: 
   1. Select Add Local Destination.
   2. Select the device or folder to which you want to back up, and click Open.  
5. Click Save.
   
6. Click Done. 
   Your backup starts automatically.

Now that you've set up your users and devices, make sure you're backing up your most important data. Consider backing up the following: 

• User files: CrashPlan for Small Business is designed to back up the files that matter to you, not system and application files. To be sure you are backing up the right files, see What should you back up with CrashPlan for Small Business? 
• External drives: To back up an external drive, see Back up external hard drives using CrashPlan for Small Business. 
• NAS: You can use CrashPlan for Small Business to back up network attached storage (NAS) on Mac and Linux. For details, see Back up networked storage or NAS devices with CrashPlan for Small Business. 

Now that you've set up your account, users, and devices, test out restoring one or more files so that you're familiar with the process before disaster strikes. You can restore files from the CrashPlan app or CrashPlan console. 

Restore from the CrashPlan app

Restore from the CrashPlan app when possible, as it offers you the most flexibility. See Restore files with CrashPlan for Small Business for details. 

Restore from the CrashPlan console

The CrashPlan console provides an option for restoring files when you are not near one of your devices. However, when you restore from the CrashPlan console, you can only download 250 MB per session. See Download files from the web using CrashPlan for Small Business for details. 

Replace your device

If you recently reformatted or replaced a device or hard drive, follow the steps in Replace your device using CrashPlan for Small Business to use the CrashPlan app to transfer files, move your backup, and update settings from a previous device. 

Using the default settings, the CrashPlan app usually works quietly in the background. However, you can check the status of your backup, to make sure things are working as expected, from the following locations:

• The CrashPlan app
• Your device's notification area (Windows) or menu bar (Mac)
• The CrashPlan console 

Backup status reports

CrashPlan for Small Business backup status reports are sent via email and keep you informed about the health of your devices' backups.

Report types

• Backup Status Reports: These reports are sent to each individual user. They provide information about the device or devices under that individual user account. For more information, see Your CrashPlan for Small Business backup status report. 
• Backup Status Reports for administrators: These reports provide information about any device in your organization that has a backup warning or alert, for all users and all devices. See CrashPlan for Small Business Backup Status Report for administrators for more information. 

Configuring reports

From the CrashPlan console, you can configure how often you receive these reports. You can also configure who receives the backup status report for administrators. 

• Configure your status report
• Configure the administrator report 

Troubleshooting backup

If your backup status reports indicate an issue with your backup, see What to do after receiving a backup alert for CrashPlan for Small Business to determine the cause and how to resolve it.

Use the CrashPlan console to manage your subscription, including: 

• Update your billing information
• View your receipts 
• Change your subscription administrator. Your subscription administrator is the user in your organization authorized to manage your CrashPlan for Small Business subscription.  

Your subscription renews automatically each month and you are charged for each active device in your organization. For more information, see CrashPlan for Small Business subscription overview.