It's been quite a while since we've posted any news here, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy working on LiveTimer. In fact, we've re-architected the entire site in the past couple months to support both a developers' API and full account backups and restores. We're still putting the finishing touches on the developers' API, but we're ready to release the account backup and restore feature right now.

Your account - Your data

We appreciate the trust you place in us by keeping your valuable data on our site, and we make every reasonable effort to keep your data secure and confidential. In fact, we currently make full backups of every account's data and we copy those backups offsite on a daily basis. However, we recognize that your data is your own, and we're now giving you more direct control of it.

You may now backup your account once every 24 hours. Backup files are in XML format, which is plain text and easily readable, and include almost all of your account's data. Notably missing are user passwords, user preferences, and memorized reports (all of these settings will be preserved if possible during a restore).

You may download your latest backup file at any time. Backup files are zipped along with a signature file that verifies the authenticity of the backup.

Disaster recovery on your terms

While it's nice to be able to extract your account's data in a backup file, it really is only one half of the safety net for your data. We've decided to also provide the other half: the ability to restore your full account from one of your backups.

We always keep your latest backup file on our servers, which makes it especially easy to restore your account from this file. However, we also allow you to restore your account from a backup file that you've downloaded in the past.

Peace of mind

In order to access these new features, account administrators should click on the Account tab, and then Backup / Restore Account.

We hope that you enjoy the peace of mind that comes from having more control over your account and direct access to your data.