BackupAssist FAQ

See below for a list of common asked questions about BackupAssist.

Licensing and installation

Can I run BackupAssist with other backup products (eg. ArcServe, BackupExec) on the same computer?

Generally, no. Products such as ArcServe and BackupExec™ can take control of your backup device (especially tape drives) by installing their own drivers for the device; and this means that they cannot be used by other applications, such as Windows Backup (NTBackup) or BackupAssist.

While we recommend uninstalling other backup software products from your system before installing BackupAssist, if this is not possible, we suggest that you install the latest Windows drivers for your backup hardware device. We also recommend that you temporarily stop any services associated with other backup software applications, as they may interfere with BackupAssist.
How many licenses of BackupAssist do I need, and what can I do with one license?
The number of licenses you need depends on your network environment and the resources you need to backup. Below is a list of what a single licensed installation of BackupAssist can and cannot backup. If you have a more complex environment, and need advice on how to best utilize BackupAssist, email us at sales@zensoftware.co.uk

A single licensed installation of BackupAssist can back up the following:
- Any number of remote or local Exchange Servers
  Exchange Mailbox Backup: add-on required for individual mailbox backup
  
  Exchange 2000, 2003, 2007 Information Store backup is included free with the BackupAssist license
- Any number of remote or local SQL Servers (requires the SQL Server Addon)
- Any number of remote or local files and program files
- Open files on the local machine (dependant on the Operating System; for more information see our Open Files White Paper)
- The local system state (includes Windows registry, COM+ database, boot files, Active Directory, system files, etc)
A single licensed installation of BackupAssist cannot back up:
- The system state of a remote machine
  
  To backup the system state of a remote machine you need to either install and license BackupAssist on each machine that you need to backup the system state of, or manually schedule NTBackup or Wbadmin (Windows Server 2008 Backup) to backup the system state of the machine to a local file, and use BackupAssist to backup this file to your intended backup device.
  
  For disaster recovery you do need a backup of your machine's system state. If you are running either Windows XP or Server 2003, we recommend that you perform regular ASR backups of your server, which allows for easy disaster recovery and system restoration. For more information read our Bare Metal ASR white paper. If you are running Vista or Windows Server 2008, a drive image backup of your system volume where Windows is installed will include the system state information and allow for disaster recovery.
- Open files (with exclusive locks) residing on remote machines
  
  Open file snapshot managers, like Microsoft VSS and the BackupAssist Open Files Add-on, cannot perform snapshots of network volumes, and therefore cannot be used to backup open files residing on a remote machine where BackupAssist is not installed.
  
  BackupAssist does offer Conventional File Copy to work around this limitation, but this will only backup open files without exclusive locks. For more information see our Open Files White Paper
Will my version 4 license work with version 5 of BackupAssist?

No. Version 4 licenses will not activate on version 5 of BackupAssist. To activate version 5 of BackupAssist you will need to purchase an upgrade to a version 5 license. To purchase an upgrade visit our upgrades page.
I don't have an Internet connection on my server. Can I activate my BackupAssist license?
Yes. For machines without an internet connection you can export an activation file from BackupAssist, which can be copied to a machine that does have an internet connection. The activation file is uploaded to our website, and a return license key file will be issued that can be used on the machine running BackupAssist to activate your license key(s).

This process acts to ensure that a license key cannot be activated on multiple machines at the same time. To carry out the manual activation:
1. Click Help > Licensing from the top menu
2. Click Activate and input the license keys that you have purchased
3. Click Manual. You will then be asked where to save the activation file.
4. Copy the activation file from this path to a machine that has Internet access.
5. Visit http://www.backupassist.com/activatev5 on a machine with Internet access.
6. Browse for the activation file and then click Activate.
7. Right-click the link provided for the return license key and click Save Target As. Save the return license key file to a disk location that the machine running BackupAssist can access.
8. On the machine running BackupAssist, browse for the return license key file in the Load path field. If the window asking for the load path is no longer visible click Help > Licensing > Continue to manual activation.
9. Click Activate. The licensing screen will indicate which components of the software have been activated.

Features and functionality

What advantages does BackupAssist have over other backup software products?

BackupAssist has been specifically designed to meet the needs of small to medium organizations. Our philosophy was, and still is, to make the software as simple to use as possible (for novices and system administrators alike), and provide the essential features for comprehensive server backup, while leaving out the unnecessary bells and whistles that make other backup software more complex and more expensive. Many backup packages are designed for large enterprises and contain complex processes, excess features and come with a big price tag. BackupAssist is simple to use, affordable and "just works".

We've incorporated a range of features - such as super-fast setup and scheduling, user-friendly interfaces, daily email reminders and email notifications - that are designed to significantly reduce the amount of time you spend worrying about backups.

The major difference between BackupAssist and competing solutions (that typically cost 2-4 times as much), is the ease of use of our software and its affordability for small and medium sized businesses. Typically many of our customers choose our software simply because it is far easier to drive, while still offering the features that are necessary for small and medium businesses.

You may like to read our feature comparison document that compares BackupAssist v4 and BackupExec v12 as well as some of our customer testimonials to see what our users have to say.
What advantages does BackupAssist have over built-in Windows backup applications (NTBackup, wbadmin, etc) and scheduled tasks?
There are a number of benefits and advantages that BackupAssist offers over the standard Windows Backup, including the following:
- No need to write scripts or batch files: this saves you time, effort, and reduces the possibility of errors.
- Implement an industry-standard backup scheme automatically using BackupAssist. We put the hard work in, so you won't have to devise a media rotation strategy yourself.
- If a backup fails, you'll know about it. The backup status emails mean that you have the results of each backup delivered to your inbox, so you can at once see if anything went wrong with the backup. Scheduled jobs may be used to schedule a backup, but if it fails you are often given no warning at all.
- Minimize human error. The sending of reminder emails to your secretary / office assistant will minimize the chances of human error in your backup strategy.
- Open file backup support automatically using BackupAssist.
- Additional backup engines and add-ons, such as File Replication for data mirroring and file history, BackupAssist for Rsync for bandwidth efficient Internet backup, the SQL Server add-on for SQL database backup and restore, and the Exchange mailbox add-on for individual mailbox backup.
For more information about the advantages of using BackupAssist over Windows Backup and Windows Server Backup see our NTBackup and Windows Imaging product tour pages.
Does BackupAssist support different types of backup (full, incremental, differential, etc)?
Yes. While the default setting for pre-defined media rotation schemes in BackupAssist is for full backups, you can customize your schedule to perform different types of backup, such as incremental and differential, on any given day within your backup schedule.

The different backup types available depend on the backup engine that the job was created with. Some engines, such as Windows Imaging, File Replication, Rsync and Exchange Mailbox have their own built-in "automatic" type of backup that cannot be modified. For example, Windows Imaging jobs start with a full backup, and then incremental backups from then on, with changes being merged into the original image; past versions of the images will appear as shadow copies within the main backup, and as the backup hard drive fills up, old versions will be automatically deleted.

To customize the backup schedule of a job:
1. From the top menu click Edit and select your job from the list.
2. Click Scheduling from the left menu.
3. Click Customize schedule near the top-right side of the window.
4. For help with any of the settings click the help icon at the top-right of the window.
I noticed that Windows Backup (NTBackup) launches when a backup runs. Why is that?

BackupAssist includes in-built integration with the Microsoft Windows Backup Utility (NTBackup) for backups to both disk-based and tape drive hardware devices. NTBackup is pre-installed with most versions of Windows (2000, XP, and 2003) and is a proven and tested backup method that millions of computer owners use with great success. With NTBackup, your backups will be stored in non-proprietary formats, and your data can restored on any Windows-based machine (2000, XP, and 2003) without needing additional software.

By integrating our services with infrastructure that is already built into Windows we are able to deliver features that are useful for small and medium organizations at a fraction of the cost of similar commercialized software products. Paying for research and development is a large part of why some backup software is so expensive; but BackupAssist doesn't just give you the right settings to make Windows Backup reliable, it actually adds features that turn BackupAssist into a full industry standard backup solution. To read more about the benefits BackupAssist adds to NTBackup, visit our NTBackup Product Tour page.

Please note: NTBackup is just one of the many backup engines that BackupAssist offers. BackupAssist also integrates with the Windows Server Backup (wbadmin) application on Windows Vista and Server 2008, and has its own unique backup engines such as File Replication and Rsync Internet Backup.

How you restore depends on what backup engine was used to backup your data. Depending on what format your backup data is stored in, you will need to follow a different procedure for restoration. See below for a list of the common backup formats, and procedures for restore.

Backup Engine	Backup Format	Data Available For Restore	Restore Procedure
NTBackup	.BKF file or tape	- System state, files and folders - Exchange information store	Use Windows Backup (Start Menu > Run > NTBackup). Refer to the BackupAssist help file for more details.
SQL	.BAK database backup file	- Individual SQL databases - SQL disaster recovery	Use the SQL Restore Wizard built in to BackupAssist (click Restore in the BackupAssist menu). Refer to our SQL Addon white paper for more details.
Exchange Mailbox	.PST file	- Exchange mailboxes - Individual mailbox items (calendar, messages, etc)	Use ExMerge to restore your Exchange mailboxes directly, or simply open your mailbox PST file with Outlook and drag-and-drop the relevant items to copy them back. Refer to our Exchange Mailbox Backups white paper for more details.
Windows Imaging *	.VHD file	- Files and folders - Drive volumes - Bare-metal restore - Exchange information store - System state*	Use the Windows Server Backup/Restore application (wbadmin.exe). Refer to the BackupAssist help file for more details.
File Replication	Exact replica of your selected files and folders.	- Files and folders	Simply copy the files back from your backup device to their original location.

* You cannot recover backups created with Ntbackup.exe using Windows Server Backup. A version of Ntbackup.exe is, however, available as a download for Windows Server 2008 should you want to recover data from backups created using Ntbackup.exe. The downloadable version of Ntbackup.exe is only for performing recoveries. To download this limited version of Ntbackup.exe, see http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=82917
** You can only restore individual files and folders using Windows Server 2008; to do this the backup must also reside on either an external disk or in a remote shared folder (NAS device).
*** You can only restore the system state if you have a drive image backup of the disk where Windows was installed.

Please note: restoration should be performed by qualified technical personnel.

What level of open file backup is provided?

The level of open file support (OFS) provided in BackupAssist varies based on your operating system:

Operating system	Open files on local disks	Open files on network disks
Windows XP, 2003, Vista, Server 2008	Full support via shadow copy (VSS)	Basic support for network disks
Windows 2000	Full Support via Advanced Open File Manager (add-on product)	Basic support for network disks

Full support - complete backup of open files, including all locked files, maintaining data consistency.

Basic support - open files locked with a shared lock or no lock are copied and backed up after the main backup. Files with an exclusive lock cannot be copied or backed up. Exclusively locked files are typically SQL Server or Exchange data files. Exchange Server (2000, 2003, 2007) backup is standard with BackupAssist. SQL Server can be backed up using our optional SQL Add-on module.

For more information about open file backups in BackupAssist see our Open Files Backup white paper.

What format will my backups be in?

The backup format depends on what backup engine was used to backup your data. BackupAssist provides a number of different backup engines. See the list below for the common backup formats associated with each backup engine.

Backup Engine	Backup Format
NTBackup	.BKF file or tape (standard Windows Backup, NTBackup format)
SQL	.BAK database backup file (standard Microsoft SQL database backup format)
Exchange Mailbox	.PST file (standard Microsoft Outlook format - can be opened with Outlook or imported with Microsoft ExMerge)
Windows Imaging	.VHD file (standard Windows Server Backup drive image format)
File Replication	Exact replica of your selected files and folders (can search for files within your backups, just like a normal file system).

Can I use backup media that has been previously used by other backup programs?

Yes. During the last step of the backup job creation process you can prepare your backup media for use with BackupAssist (and you can also do this any time after installation within the BackupAssist console). You only need to prepare each backup media once.

Backup strategy and media rotation

What are the advantages of full backups, and why do you recommend them?

The idea of a backup is being able to restore all your data while minimizing the possibility of data loss. When restoring from incremental or differential backups, you'll often require multiple tapes or disks as some backups will store only differences in files since the last backup. For example, to restore Wednesday's data, you may require Monday's backup, together with Tuesday's and Wednesday's backup. If Tuesday's backup is missing or destroyed, you'll be missing some data.

With full backups, each backup contains all the necessary data, so you can perform a complete restore from any tape or disk.
How many backup tapes, disk, drives, CD/DVDs should I use, and what's the best rotation strategy?

The best backup plan and rotation strategy depends on how much money you invest in backup media. The more tapes, external hdds, CD/DVDs, etc you have to rotate and backup to, the better protected you are against data loss. It is also best to perform Full backups daily of your data, rather than Incremental or Differential backups. Running Full backups ensures that you have a complete set of data on each backup tape, disk, drive, DVD, etc. This means that when it comes time to restore, even if some of your tapes or disks are lost or unreadable, you can still retrieve all of your data from the most recent working backup. If, on the other hand, you performed Incremental backups from Tuesday to Friday, you would need all 5 backup tapes or disks from the week to restore all of your data; and if the Full backup from the Monday was corrupt or unreadable you would only be able to restore files that had changed since Monday, and consequently not be able to retrieve much of your data.

All good rotation schemes should allow you to restore from the previous working day. It is sometimes the case, however, that data loss may not be detected for days or weeks. An effective rotation scheme should therefore also allow for restore of data that is weeks, or even months old. This is best achieved by archiving data to some of your backup media. Archived data is stored permanently and not overwritten. This means that at least once a month you should take one of your backup tapes, drives, DVDs, etc offsite and store it in a secure location for permanent archiving. That way, data will be available for many years to come.

Typically, the better protection a scheme provides the more backup media it requires. You can choose from a variety of backup schemes, depending on your requirements and the backup media you have available. The Grandfather-father-son scheme, for example, provides the best protection, but requires 20 separate backup tapes or disks, and as such, is the most costly to implement.

You may also even like to consider combining different backup strategies and backup media for an extra level of protection by scheduling multiple backup jobs that backup to different hardware devices. See our Common Usage Scenarios white paper for information about best backup practices.
What media rotation schemes does BackupAssist support?

In BackupAssist, each hardware media type has a different group of tailored rotation strategies, including a number of industry standard backup strategies that can be selected from and configured.

While the pre-defined rotation schemes cover the majority of backup scenarios and strategies, each scheme can be customized should you need to perform incremental or differential backups, and so on. The ability to customize each scheme gives you the flexibility of designing your own backup schedule and rotation strategy. Also see our Common Usage Scenarios white paper for information about best backup practices.

Troubleshooting

Can I run a backup manually?
Yes. You can either run a job manually from within the BackupAssist console itself, or you can choose to create a desktop shortcut that can be double-clicked to start a backup.

To run a job manually from within the BackupAssist console:
1. From the top menu click Edit and select your job from the list.
2. Click Quick actions from the top menu and select Run now...
To create a desktop shortcut to run a job manually:
1. From the top menu click Edit and select your job from the list.
2. Click Quick actions from the top menu and select Add desktop shortcut. A BackupAssist job shortcut (eg. "Run JobName") should now be available on your desktop. Double-click the shortcut to run your backup job.
3. You can also suspend your job to prevent it from running automatically by going to Edit > select your job > click Overview on the left > and then Suspend under Job status.
The backup stopped running after backing up only 4GB of data. How can I fix this?

This often indicates that the drive you are backing up to is formatted with a FAT file system. FAT has a limitation of a 4GB maximum file size. This means that if your backup file goes beyond this 4GB limit, no more data can be backed up and the backup terminates with an error (usually "End of media encountered").

To rectify this issue, you need to format your backup drive with the NTFS filesystem instead of FAT. NTFS does not have the 4GB file size limitation.

More details on NTFS vs FAT can be found here: http://www.theeldergeek.com/ntfs_or_fat32_file_system.htm

You can convert a filesystem from FAT to NTFS using the convert command. From a Windows command prompt (Start Menu > Run > cmd) type the following:

convert e: /FS:NTFS

Where e: is the drive letter of your backup device. You can also type convert /? for further help.
I didn't install the open files add-on when I first installed BackupAssist. Can I install it now?
Yes. If you need to install the Advanced Open Files Addon after installing BackupAssist, carry out the following:
1. Go to Start Menu > Control Panel > Add / Remove Programs > select BackupAssist and click Change
2. Click Next, select Modify and then click Next.
3. You should now be able to choose to install the advanced open files addon.
Please note: once the advanced open files addon has been installed you will need to restart your machine.
BackupAssist fails to detect my tape drive. What should I do?
If the tape drive detection process carried out by BackupAssist times-out before the Removable Storage Manager in Windows can connect to your tape drive, BackupAssist will fail to find your drive. If this is what is causing your issue you may find that running the detect sequence (click the Detect button when setting up your tape drive destination) twice will give the device enough time to be ready to communicate.

If this does not resolve the issue you can manually enter the device name and media pool of your tape drive into the available fields in BackupAssist. For instructions on where to find the values for your device and media pool settings visit http://www.backupassist.com/HTMLHelp/Tips_TapeSettings2000.htm

Basically, the following is all that is required to set up your drive:
1. Right-click My Computer > go to Manage
2. Removable Storage and then expand Libraries
3. Copy the name of the tape drive listed here into the Device name field in BackupAssist.
4. Copy the name of the media pool for the tape drive into the Media pool field.
You should now have no problems backing up to the tape drive in BackupAssist. If you still have issues, however, please contact us as follows:
1. Click the Contact support link at the bottom-left corner of the BackupAssist window and select Contact support.
2. Fill out the available form, ensuring that diagnostics check-box is enabled.
My tape backups keep failing. What should I do?
Often failed backups to a tape device can be caused by faulty or damaged tape drive hardware or tape media. If your tape backups continue to fail, we recommend trying the following:
1. Run a cleaning tape through the tape drive 3 to 5 times.
2. Run any tape drive diagnostic tools you may have - these should be available from the tape drive manufacturer - to test the validity of the drive.
3. Ensure that you have the latest drivers/firmware for your tape drive and controller devices (eg. SCSI card)
4. Check the cabling, SCSI termination, etc
5. Try a brand new tape if none of the above helps
6. Try either replacing the SCSI controller or have the tape drive serviced.

Software compatibility

Can I backup the system state and active directory of my machine?

Yes. BackupAssist gives you the option of backing up your machine's system state, which is a backup of the Windows Registry, COM+ Class Registration database, Boot files, including system files, Certificate Services database, Active Directory, SYSVOL directory, Cluster service information, IIS Metadirectory, and System files under Windows File Protection.

The exact system components that make up your machine's system state data depend on the machine's operating system and configuration. Once the system state has been backed up, you can use this information to restore your system settings in the event of system failure or corruption. For this reason, it is always recommended that you have a backup of your system state, particularly for disaster recovery purposes.

Please note: BackupAssist cannot backup the system state of a remote machine. This is mainly a limitation of the Windows NTBackup engine. You can, however, follow the steps documented in the following MS knowledge base article for a suitable work around: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315412

What operating systems and server types does BackupAssist work with?

Type of Operating System	Supported Operating Systems
Desktop operating systems	- Windows XP Professional - Windows Vista (Business, Enterprise or Ultimate required for imaging)
Windows Server 2000 family	- Windows Server 2000 and all variants (Advanced Server)
Windows Server 2003 family	- Windows Server 2003 (all variants) - Small Business Server 2003 (all variants)
Windows Server 2008 family	- Windows Server 2008 (all variants) - Windows Server Core 2008 (all variants) - Small Business Server 2008 (all variants) - Essential Business Server 2008 (all variants)
Virtualization platforms	Host machines: - Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V services - Hyper-V Server Guest machines: - As per the listings above

See our Compatibility Data Sheet for more information.

What Exchange Server backup does BackupAssist provide?

Exchange Server Support

Exchange 2000/2003 running on Windows 2000/2003:

Information Store Backup

- Local backup using the NTBackup engine.
- Remote backup from another machine¹ using the NTBackup engine.

Mailbox Backup (requires add-on)

- Local backup using the Exchange Mailbox engine.
- Remote backup from another machine² using the Exchange Mailbox engine.

Exchange 2003 running on Windows 2008:

Information Store Backup

- Remote backup from another machine¹ using the NTBackup engine

Mailbox Backup (requires add-on)

- Remote backup from another machine² using the Exchange Mailbox engine.

Exchange 2007 running on Windows 2003:

Information Store Backup

- Local backup using the NTBackup engine.
- Remote backup from another machine¹ using the NTBackup engine.

Mailbox Backup (requires add-on)

- Local backup using the Exchange Mailbox engine
- Remote backup from another machine² using the Exchange Mailbox engine.

Exchange 2007 running on Windows 2008:

Information Store Backup

- Local backup using the Windows Imaging engine.
- Remote backup from another machine³ using the NTBackup engine.

Mailbox Backup (requires add-on)

- Local backup using the Exchange Mailbox engine (coming soon).
- Remote backup from another machine³ using the Exchange Mailbox engine.

¹The machine running BackupAssist must have NTBackup installed (Windows 2000, XP, 2003) to perform a remote backup of the Exchange Information store.
²The machine running BackupAssist must have ExMerge installed (Windows 2000, XP, 2003), and a license of the Exchange Mailbox Add-on to perform a remote backup of Exchange mailboxes.
³You must perform the remote backup of your Exchange 2007 Information Store and mailboxes from a machine running a 32-bit Operating System, and with the Exchange Server Management tools installed - see our blog entry for more details.

An Exchange Information Store backup is a full backup of the entire Storage Group to disk. This full backup can be used to fully restore your Exchange Server in the event of a disaster or system corruption. You may like read our Exchange Backup/Restore white paper for more details.

An Exchange Mailbox backup is an export of a user's entire Exchange mailbox to a PST file and includes individual mailbox items (eg. emails, calendar, etc). You may like read our Exchange Mailbox white paper for more details.

Also see our Exchange Product Tour page for more about BackupAssist's Exchange backup capabilities.

What SQL Server backup does BackupAssist provide?

SQL Server	Type of Support
SQL Server 2000, 2005	Backup: - Full database backup - Transaction log backup for point-in-time restore Restore: - Individual database restore using the BackupAssist SQL Restore Wizard. - SQL disaster recovery using the BackupAssist SQL Restore Wizard.
SQL Server 2008	Backup: - Full database backup - Transaction log backup for point-in-time restore Restore: - Individual database restore using the BackupAssist SQL Restore Wizard.

For more information about how the SQL Add-on works in BackupAssist see our SQL Product Tour page and SQL Add-on White Paper

Hardware compatibility

What hardware devices does BackupAssist back up to?

BackupAssist is designed to back up to Tape^*, external hard drive, REV^TM drive, QuikStor, CD/DVD, Blu-ray, FTP, NAS and file. BackupAssist includes tailored support for each backup hardware device, including specially designed rotation strategies and a variety of unique hardware options for each device type.

^*It should be noted that due to the lack of support for tape devices in Windows Server 2008, Windows 7 and Vista, you will require the BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on to backup to a standalone tape drive on these operating systems. Autoloaders or tape changers are not supported by BackupAssist at this time.

Known compatibility issue - USB hard drives that use a minimum 4k sector size such as the Iomega Ego 1TB units are not supported as Windows imaging jobs cannot be performed to these drives.
Do you provide tape drive support for Server 2008?

Yes, we do! BackupAssist v5 and the BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on form a very effective replacement for NTBackup on Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista and SBS 2008. Our tape drive solution utilizes our very own ZIP Engine that allows users to backup to a standalone tape drive and offers the added advantage of password protection using 256-bit AES encryption and real-time data compression to save data storage space and fit more backups on each tape.

The BackupAssist Zip Engine is based on the ZIP64 standard, meaning you can now backup to tape using the trusted and proven ZIP file format. As long as your tape drive ships with drivers (which all drives do), it will work with BackupAssist v5 and the BackupAssist Zip-To-Tape Add-on.

We developed this new and improved method of supporting tape drives because NTBackup (formerly the only method BackupAssist utilized for tape drive backups), has been discontinued and is not included in Windows Server 2008. It has been replaced with a block-level backup system that effectively images your drives and allows for bare-metal restores to dissimilar hardware.
What level of hardware compression will I have with my tape drive backups?

Generally you will only get a 1.4:1 compression ratio on your tape drive with hardware compression enabled in BackupAssist. Please note that the higher figure listed by tape drive manufacturers (eg. the 40Gb on a 20Gb/40Gb tape) is a best case scenario and is rarely achievable in practice. The compression ratio is highly dependent on the types of files you are backing up - JPEG images and MP3 files for example, will not benefit greatly from hardware compression as they are already greatly compressed. If you run out of space on your tape we suggest that you either reduce the amount of data you are backing up, create a second backup job with data selections that fit on a single tape, or exclude unnecessary file types from the backup (in BackupAssist, go to Edit >select your job > Files and folders > Exclusions).

For further information about tape drive compression refer to the following: FujiFilm Tape Drive Data Compression Q & A
What tape drives is BackupAssist compatible with?

BackupAssist is compatible with any standalone tape drive supported under Windows (2000, XP, 2003) that functions with Windows Backup , NTBackup (Start Menu > Run > NTBackup). It is only autoloaders and tape libraries that we do not support.

If you find that both BackupAssist and NTbackup cannot communicate with your tape drive you should first ensure that no additional third party backup software products are installed on your system. We've found that certain other backup software products can overwrite the drivers for your tape drive device when first installed. Even when these programs are removed from the system, the drivers may still remain. BackupAssist and NTBackup utilize the Windows drivers for communication with your tape drive. You need to ensure that the Windows drivers are installed for your tape drive device in order for BackupAssist to be able to communicate with it.