MIT Information Systems and Technology (IS&T) offers Code42’s CrashPlan as a backup solution for MIT faculty, staff, and students. They have become aware through Service Desk trend analysis that machines using CrashPlan version 4 or earlier are at increased risk of failed backups. The vendor, Code42, has confirmed this issue.

Recommended action

Code42 and IS&T recommend updating to the latest version of CrashPlan and verifying the backup status of your device(s).

To learn how, visit the Knowledge Base:

• How do I tell what version of CrashPlan I have installed?
• How do I tell if CrashPlan is backing up my device?

Next steps

IS&T will be changing the way MIT users receive CrashPlan software updates to ensure that devices remain current.

• Previously, IS&T has accepted and pushed out updates only when required by the vendor, Code42.
• In the coming weeks, IS&T will shift to accepting and pushing out automatic updates as they are made available.

IS&T is also updating data retention schedules for CrashPlan.

• When a computer stops backing up to CrashPlan, the owner will now have one year (rather than 30 days) to restore the data. After one year, both the data and the CrashPlan node record for that device will be deleted.
• For users that have left MIT, backup data will be removed 60 days after their Kerberos account deactivation.

To learn more about these changes and the plan for implementation, please visit this article in the Knowledge Base: CrashPlan Automatic Update and Policy Changes

If you need assistance updating your CrashPlan version oor have additional questions, please contact BE-IT.