Guides

Step-by-step instructions for everything from your first backup to changing your plan. Can't find what you need? Contact us.

Getting started

  1. Go to the pricing page and choose your vault region. Your backups will be stored there.
  2. Choose Personal or Business, then click Deploy Vault on the plan you want.
  3. Review your cart and continue to checkout.
  4. Enter your details and choose a password for your client portal, then click Continue to Payment.
  5. Pay by card or Apple Pay. Your card is saved securely by our payment provider so renewals are charged automatically.

Your vault is set up automatically as soon as payment goes through, and you're signed in to your client portal ready for the next step.

The region is fixed for that vault. To store backups somewhere else as well, add an additional vault later.
  1. Sign in to your client portal.
  2. Open your plan and go to Manage Vault.
  3. Click Download Agent and choose your operating system.

Windows: download the installer.
macOS: choose Apple Silicon or Intel. To check which you have, open the Apple menu and select About This Mac.
Linux: choose .deb for Ubuntu and Debian, .rpm for Fedora and Red Hat, or .tar.gz for other distributions.

  1. In Manage Vault, reveal your Vault Key and copy it. You'll need it twice.
  2. Run the installer you downloaded and follow the prompts. When it finishes, click Sign in.
  3. Enter your email address as the username and your Vault Key as the password. The server address is already filled in. Click Sign in.
  4. When asked, give the device a name you'll recognise, such as "Office laptop".
  5. The agent then opens and asks you to sign in once more. Your email is already filled in — enter your Vault Key again and click Sign in.

That's it. Your first backup starts on the built-in schedule.

Your Vault Key is not your portal password. Signing in to the agent with your portal password will fail.
If you later change your Vault Key, the agent can no longer sign in with the old one. On the agent's sign-in screen, click Configure… and sign in again with your email and new Vault Key.

A default backup is set up when you first sign in. Check it covers what matters to you.

  1. Open the agent and go to Protected Items.
  2. Open the backup and review the files and folders it includes.
  3. Add anything missing, and exclude anything you don't need, such as large download folders.
  4. Check the Schedule tab to see when backups run.
  5. Save, then run Backup now to confirm everything works.
On Windows, your backup covers the C: drive only. If you keep anything on a second drive — D:, E: or similar — add it yourself: open Protected Items, click + under Items, choose Include, and enter the drive, for example D:\. External and network drives are not included either.
Temporary files, caches and the recycle bin are skipped automatically. Your storage allocation covers everything in your vault, so excluding what you don't need leaves more room.

Backup and restore

From the agent, on any device on your plan:

  1. Open the agent and select the backup you want to restore from.
  2. Click Restore and choose a point in time from the last 30 days.
  3. Select the files or folders you need.
  4. Choose where to put them, then start the restore.

From a browser, with nothing to install:

  1. In your client portal console, click Restore Files, or go straight to backup.endlockvault.com.
  2. Sign in with your email address and Vault Key.
  3. Browse your backups, select what you need and download it.
Restoring is included in your plan — there are no download or egress charges.
Restore to a new folder first rather than over the original. You can compare before replacing anything. We also recommend a test restore every 90 days.

An additional vault starts empty. Nothing is sent to it until you set up a backup pointing at it.

To mirror your existing backup for geo-redundancy:

  1. Open the agent and go to Protected Items.
  2. Open your existing backup and go to the Schedule tab.
  3. Add a new schedule and choose your additional vault as the Storage Vault.
  4. Set how often it runs, then save.

To back up something different, such as another machine or an archive, create a new protected item instead, and choose your additional vault as its destination.

Each vault has its own storage allocation. Mirroring your backup uses space in both.

Your backup covers your whole machine apart from a fixed list of paths we exclude on every device. You can change what it picks up at any time.

Cloud-synced folders are not backed up. OneDrive on Windows, and iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox mounted through Finder on macOS, are excluded. Those files live in your provider's cloud rather than on your disk, and your provider already keeps a copy. If you want EndLock Vault to protect them as well, move or copy them into an ordinary folder outside the sync area and add that folder as an include.
  1. Open the agent and go to Protected Items.
  2. Open your backup and go to Items.
  3. Click + to add a rule, or select an existing one to edit it.
  4. Save, then run Backup now to check the result.

The five rule types

  • Include — a folder or file to back up.
  • Exclude — a folder, file or pattern to skip.
  • Include pattern — back up only what matches, beneath a folder you choose.
  • Include regex / Exclude regex — the same idea using regular expressions, if you know them.

Wildcards

  • * — any part of a file or folder name. *.mp4 skips every MP4 file.
  • ** — any number of folders in between. C:\Users\**\Downloads matches Downloads in every user account.
  • ? — exactly one character.
  • [0-9] — any one character from the set.

Examples

  • Skip all videos: exclude *.mp4
  • Skip one folder: exclude C:\Users\Jane\Downloads
  • Skip downloads for everyone: exclude C:\Users\**\Downloads
  • Back up only documents: include pattern */Documents with a top folder of C:\Users\
An invalid pattern stops the whole backup from running — it does not simply ignore the rule. After changing anything here, run a backup and confirm it completes.
Exclude rules are matched against the full path, so a partial pattern like *.tmp works anywhere on the machine. Include patterns are matched beneath the top folder you choose, so set that first.
Some things are always skipped, whatever you set: temporary files, page and swap files, the recycle bin and system folders such as /proc and /dev. There is no benefit to backing these up — they are rebuilt automatically. If something you expect to see is missing from a restore, contact us and we will check it.
You cannot override an exclusion. If you add an include rule pointing at an excluded path, the agent accepts the rule, shows a warning, and still skips the files. That is deliberate — it keeps backups small and restores predictable. If you need something on this list protected for a genuine reason, get in touch and we will look at it for your account.

What is excluded

  • Every platform — *.tmp, *.temp, pagefile.sys, hiberfil.sys, swapfile.sys
  • Windows — C:\Windows\, C:\$Recycle.Bin, C:\System Volume Information, C:\MSOCache, Windows Error Reporting, Windows Defender, C:\Users\*\OneDrive*, AppData temp folders, and the Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Internet Explorer caches
  • macOS — /tmp, /private/var/vm/, /private/var/tmp/, /private/var/log/, /Library/CloudStorage, /Users/*/Library/Caches, app container caches, .AppleDouble, .AppleDB, .Trashes
  • Linux — /proc, /sys, /dev, /run, /tmp

Managing your plan

  • On your console, click Manage Subscriptions.
  • Click Upgrade / Downgrade next to your plan and select the larger one.
  • Confirm. You'll be invoiced for the difference, prorated for the rest of your billing cycle.
  • Pay using your saved card or a new one.

Your vault is resized as soon as payment goes through. Existing backups are unaffected.

  • On your console, click Manage Subscriptions.
  • Click Upgrade / Downgrade next to your plan and select the smaller one.
  • Confirm.

The change takes effect straight away with no charge and no credit. Your new rate applies from your next billing date.

Two things must fit the new plan. Your registered devices can't exceed its device limit, so revoke any you no longer use first. And the data already in your vault must fit its storage. Backups are locked for 30 days and can't be deleted early, so a plan smaller than your current usage won't be available to select.
  • On your console, click Manage Subscriptions, then click Upgrade / Downgrade next to your main plan.
  • Scroll down to Additional Vault and choose a region and a storage size.
  • Click Add Additional Vault, then check out and pay.

The vault is created automatically and appears in your agent as a new storage vault. It starts empty — follow Back up to an additional vault to start using it.

Regions you already use aren't offered. To get more space in one of those, upgrade that vault instead.
  • Restore or download anything you want to keep from that vault.
  • On your console, click Manage Subscriptions.
  • Click the red terminate button at the end of the additional vault's row.
  • Under Decommissioning Schedule, choose to end it immediately or at the end of the billing period.
  • Click Yes, Terminate My Vault.

Your main plan and its vault carry on as normal.

Once the vault is removed you lose access to its backups, and they can't be recovered.
  • Restore or download everything you want to keep, from every vault.
  • On your console, click Manage Subscriptions.
  • Click the red terminate button at the end of your main plan's row.
  • Under Decommissioning Schedule, choose to end it immediately or at the end of the billing period.
  • Click Yes, Terminate My Vault.
Cancelling your main plan also cancels every additional vault on your account. Your backup account is closed and all backups become inaccessible. Starting a new plan later gives you a new, empty vault.

Devices and security

  • Open your plan and go to Manage Vault.
  • Under Registered Devices, find the device.
  • Click Revoke and confirm.

The device stops backing up and its slot is freed for another. Its backups stay in your vault and can still be restored from any other device or the web portal.

  • Revoke the device so it can no longer back up.
  • Change your Vault Key, since the device may have it saved.
  • On your other devices, open the agent, click Configure… and sign in with the new key.
  • Install the agent on your replacement, sign in, and restore what you need. Or restore straight away from the web portal.

Your backups are untouched throughout. Changing the Vault Key doesn't affect them.

  • Open your plan and go to Manage Vault.
  • Find Change Vault Key.
  • In Current Password, enter your current Vault Key. You can copy it from Access Credentials just above.
  • Enter your new key in New Password and again in Confirm Password.
  • Click Update Vault Credentials.
  • On each of your devices, open the agent, click Configure… on the sign-in screen, and sign in with your email and new Vault Key.

Your existing backups remain fully restorable. If you forget your Vault Key, you can always view it in Manage Vault.

Your Vault Key and your portal password are separate. To change your portal password, click Change Password on your console.

Your Vault Key can be viewed from your portal, so protecting your portal account protects your backups.

  • On your console, click Enable / Disable 2FA.
  • Choose to enable two-factor authentication.
  • Scan the QR code with an authenticator app, then enter the code it shows.
  • Save your backup codes somewhere safe, away from your computer.
Turn on two-factor authentication for your email account as well. Password resets are sent there, so it's the other way into your portal.

Billing

  • In your client portal console, click Payment Methods.
  • Click Add New and enter your card details.
  • Set the new card as your default.
  • Remove the old card if you no longer need it.
Keeping a second card on file means renewals still go through if one expires.
  • On your console, click View Invoices.
  • Select the invoice you want.
  • Click Print Invoice, or download it as a PDF.

A copy of every invoice is also emailed to you when it's issued.

To fix it, update your card, then click View Invoices on your console and pay the outstanding invoice. Access is restored straight away.

If it isn't resolved, this is what happens:

  • Days 1 and 3: we email you. Backups and restores carry on as normal.
  • Day 7: your service is suspended and a 10% late fee is added. We retry your card.
  • Day 14: we retry your card again and send a final notice.
  • Day 30: your account is closed and your vault removed.
Suspension stops restores as well as backups. If you might need your files, resolve payment before day 7.

Full details are in our Billing Policy.