Every file in Pop Vault is encrypted with your business recovery key on your own computer before it goes up. Only that key opens the files. Pop Vault holds sealed bytes and has no way to read them or to recover the key. Pop Vault is free for the first year, then $29 a year per licence. It keeps 1 to 3 copies.
You will learn what you can still do after losing the key.
If the server still runs #
The running server holds your data and can make a new recovery key.
- On the server, run
dispatch-server new-recovery-key. Write the new key down and keep it away from the server computer. - Back up now: open Settings, then Backups, and on the Pop Vault card select Back up now. The new file opens with the new key.
- Lower Copies to keep to 1 once the new copy is listed. This removes the older copies that only the lost key could open.
A file opens with the recovery key that was current on the day it was made. Copies made before the change still need the old key.
If the computer is gone and the key is lost #
The copies in Pop Vault cannot be opened without the key. Nobody at Pop Vault or The Pop Street can open them or reset the key. You can start a new business on a new computer and add your customers again from your own records, for example from a customer export or from paper.
Protect yourself next time #
- Write the key on paper and keep it somewhere other than the server computer.
- Keep a second copy with a person you trust or in a safe place.
- Check the key works: run
dispatch-server verify-backupon a file and type the key.