Backups can occur in one of two ways:
The Elephant will first build up a list of files that need to be backed up. It will then compare the time and dates of these files against those that were last sent to the server. This means that only files which have been changed will be sent to the server.
Now that The Elephant has selected the files to be backed up, it now compresses and encrypts the files. This reduces the size of the files and stops unwanted eyes from seeing your files.
The Elephant will then attempt to connect to The Elephant server, if the user has selected a LAN based connection then it will connect via the LAN, otherwise it will attempt to dial the Elephant server.
If connection is successful then it will log you on to The Elephant server. It will send a list of files, which you no longer want to backup (those removed from the backup profile), this will be removed and this will free up space for your account on the server. It will then start sending the files to the server. This operation could take a few seconds to a few hours depending upon the size and quantity of files to be sent.
Once all the files have been sent the connection will be terminated. The Elephant may generate a warning log if any minor problems occurred. For every backup The Elephant will generate a log file which lists all the files sent to the server and will contain details of any problems if the backup could not be completed properly. It will also, if successful, show how much space you have available on The Elephant server.