My Experience with JetBackup: A Warning for Others

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amator

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As an IT professional managing sensitive data for clients, I relied on JetBackup to ensure the integrity and recovery of my systems in case of disaster. Unfortunately, when the moment came to test its reliability during a real crisis, the software failed catastrophically, causing irreparable damage to my business and reputation.

Here’s what happened:

  1. Restoration Failures: When disaster struck, JetBackup was completely unable to restore my data. Although backups were visible and the recovery keys were valid, every attempt to restore resulted in errors. After wasting critical time troubleshooting, I was forced to rely on outdated backups created three months earlier using DirectAdmin’s native backup system.
  2. Data Loss During Recovery: Even after recovering the older backups, restoring the “full recovery” from JetBackup caused further problems. Existing configurations, including email forwarders critical to one of my key clients, were overwritten with blank data. The client had to recreate their entire email system from scratch, leading to significant operational downtime and dissatisfaction.
  3. Loss of Business: One of my long-term clients, who had been with me for seven years, suffered heavily due to these failures. Their losses included missed business opportunities and added operational costs, prompting them to terminate our partnership. This was not just a technical failure—it was a direct financial loss for my business.
  4. Inadequate Support and Accountability: I contacted JetBackup’s support team with detailed accounts of the failures. While they acknowledged issues within their software, they repeatedly cited their User Agreement, stating their liability is limited to the cost of the software license. My requests for meaningful compensation to cover the financial damage were dismissed. Their offer to schedule technical calls after the fact felt like too little, too late.
  5. Eroded Trust: JetBackup’s inability to deliver on its core promise of reliable backups, coupled with their unwillingness to accept accountability, has left me unable to trust their software for critical operations. While I may use it as a secondary option, I can no longer rely on it as the backbone of my disaster recovery plan.
A Warning to Others

JetBackup markets itself as a robust solution for backup and disaster recovery, but my experience shows otherwise. When it mattered most, the software failed, and the company’s response was to deflect responsibility rather than make amends.

If you’re considering JetBackup, think carefully. Your business and reputation might be at risk if their software fails you during a critical moment. Invest in solutions you can trust, and don’t make the mistake I did by relying solely on JetBackup.
 
Pity to hear that ,
We are using from day one DA build in backup system and never failed (till today) still doing full backups of the last 7 days and it works flawless

Its really a shame that Jetbackup only wants to cover the money of the software
An the other hand you have to make regular test with your backup restores to ensure an reliable backup system

Again sorry for your loss and thank you for sharing your experience
 
Thank you for your response and kind words.

We have been using DirectAdmin's built-in backup system for almost 20 years, and it has always proven to be reliable. A few years ago, we introduced JetBackup to make file and database recovery easier for clients, eliminating the need for support intervention.

I completely agree with you—backup systems need to be tested regularly. Unfortunately, this time, despite our precautions, things went wrong.

Unfortunately, JetBackup cannot be trusted 100%. This entire incident has revealed just how problematic JetBackup is as software. I have no complaints about their support team—they assisted me and fixed issues as they arose during the data recovery process. However, the situation itself should never have occurred in the first place. If it hadn’t been for my old (3-month-old) backups from DirectAdmin’s native system, I would have been in an even worse position.

What I still cannot understand is how a company providing such services does not carry insurance for such eventualities. That is simply unacceptable.

Thank you again for your understanding and for emphasizing the importance of thorough testing.

Best regards,
Krystian
 
Hello Krystian,

At JetBackup, we value transparency and accountability in addressing any concerns raised by our customers. This case was brought to our attention on October 8th regarding restoration challenges you encountered while performing a Disaster Recovery. Throughout this process, we’ve remained communicative and committed to resolving your issues, despite limited access to your server (approximately 36 hours). Unfortunately, as we continued our efforts to troubleshoot and resolve issues, you became less responsive and cooperative, which impacted our ability to provide a complete resolution.

We’d like to take this opportunity to share some context, outline the actions we’ve taken, and reinforce our commitment to improving our software and customer support.

Key Challenges and Actions Taken:

Investigation and Issue Identification - Our team conducted an in-depth investigation into the reported issues, resolving 5 issues and advised on 5 others that we were unable to reproduce or were unverified.

As a summary, we have compiled a list of notable technical issues that we identified and advised on.

Server Configuration Issues:
* Unable to Load/Stat File On Hetzner Destination: Unable to replicate
* PHP/SSL/Domain Settings: In-Progress (Case Opened) - Reseller configuration problem could cause invalid user settings when using the "admin" account as an override, instead of fixing the reseller settings which apply to their owned users.

JetBackup-Related Issues
* Email Forwarders Not Backed Up: In-Progress {Case Opened} - Workaround proposed to setup a Directories backup job to backup `/etc/virtual` directory

Inability to Provide Server Access - We provided detailed instructions on allowing access to your server in order for us to investigate the issues reported. However, through multiple attempts, we were unable to make a connection. In response, we provided additional steps in order to troubleshoot the reported concerns as well as the matter of connecting to the server. Our attempts to reach a solution were ignored for several days, up to a week, indicating an unwillingness to proceed towards a resolution.

Unproductive Dialogue - We understand that there were technical issues involving DirectAdmin and JetBackup, and our team is dedicated to resolving any issues within our scope of support. With this in mind, we always try to include steps to progress towards a solution in each of our responses. As mentioned earlier, they were ignored and instead met with a demand for financial compensation. For a more clear and direct form of communication, we offered to schedule a voice call which was quickly dismissed in your subsequent responses. Our efforts to refocus on the technical issues were derailed by further demands for "five lifetime licenses" (exceeding the number of currently active licenses).

As with any backup solution, it is considered best practice to verify that your backups contain all essential data. We take full responsibility for issues within our control and are actively working on solutions to prevent similar challenges in the future. However, some contributing factors were outside of our scope as detailed above, including environment-specific configurations and third-party API behaviors.

Our focus remains on resolving issues and implementing changes that improves the reliability of JetBackup across multiple platforms and environments. We encourage open communication and invite anyone with similar concerns to reach out to our support team for assistance.

Thank you for your continued trust in JetBackup.
 
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Hello Kevin,

Thank you for your detailed response. While I appreciate your willingness to address the issues, there are several points in your statement that require clarification and context from my side.

First and foremost, I must emphasize that my primary concern is not merely about technical troubleshooting or specific errors but the broader failure of trust that has occurred. JetBackup is a product that promotes itself as a reliable backup and disaster recovery solution. In this case, it did not live up to those promises.

Major Failures During Disaster Recovery​

Let’s address the most critical issue first. During a disaster recovery attempt, only 20 accounts (with errors) were restored out of more than 300 accounts. Is this some kind of joke? Such an abysmal performance from a product designed for backup and recovery is unacceptable.

Had I not retained old native backups from DirectAdmin, my company might have ceased to exist, simply because I trusted your software. This isn’t just a technical failure—it’s a failure that directly endangered my business's survival.

Responsibility for the Problems​

Most of the issues during the recovery process were due to JetBackup's shortcomings. While I understand there were some external factors, they pale in comparison to the failures stemming directly from your software.

Questioning the Value of JetBackup​

Why should I pay for software that doesn’t work? These funds could be better spent on something meaningful—like my child’s education or other valuable necessities. From my perspective, JetBackup appears to be focused solely on taking payments (“give, give, pay, pay”) without ensuring the product delivers what it promises.

Your Compensation Proposal​

While your support team made efforts to help during the crisis, let’s be honest—it was also in your interest, knowing that your reputation was at stake. However, when you suggested that the only compensation would be limited to the license cost, it left me utterly shocked.

Not only is this approach unthinkable, but the clause limiting liability to the license cost is also contrary to EU law(unfair contractual terms) and does not apply to EU citizens. Ignoring this fact demonstrates a lack of respect for your European customers.

Server Access and Communication​

You mentioned limited access to my server as a factor, but let’s not shift the focus. The core problem was your software's inability to handle the disaster recovery as advertised. Even with server access, there’s no guarantee the issues would have been resolved, given the fundamental flaws that were uncovered.

Trust and Future Use​

As you stated, verifying backups is a best practice. I agree entirely. But customers have every right to expect that a backup solution will perform as advertised without requiring excessive oversight or workarounds. My experience has proven that JetBackup falls far short of this expectation.

I will be sharing my experience with other hosting professionals and businesses to ensure they understand the risks associated with JetBackup. This is not about defamation but about transparency, so others can make informed decisions.

Final Thoughts​

Thank you for your efforts to explain the situation, but as a customer, I remain deeply dissatisfied with the overall handling of this case and the reliability of JetBackup as a solution. Trust is earned through performance, not words, and JetBackup has failed to earn mine.

Sincerely,
Krystian
 
Hello Krystian,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and concerns and for continuing to engage with us. We are truly gutted by the experience you’ve had, as it is never our intention for any of our users to feel this level of dissatisfaction. We genuinely value all our customers, including you, and we have strived to ensure a personal touch in all our communications. Every response from our team are human generated to demonstrate our commitment to assisting you. That said, we have noticed a recurring reliance on GPT-generated elements in your responses, both in our helpdesk and on public forums. This observation raises concerns about your true intent—whether you are genuinely seeking a resolution to the issues or attempting to coerce a handout:

My proposal remains:
21,000 PLN (approximately 5,000 USD) to cover the financial loss from losing the client.
Five lifetime licenses as a gesture of goodwill to restore confidence in your product and ensure I can continue to rely on it as a backup solution.
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Again, we would like to emphasize that we believe we have made every reasonable effort to address your issues and concerns, conducting a detailed investigation into the challenges you faced, providing actionable steps and technical guidance to resolve the issues, remaining communicative, transparent, and willing to assist despite the limited access to your server—and continuing our investigation even when we noticed reduced responsiveness and cooperation from your side on the days following.

While it is unfortunate that we were unable to meet your expectations, we respect your decision to proceed as you see fit. At this point, we also recognize that a software product, no matter how well-designed, might not be the right fit for you. With this in mind, we have proactively refunded the 3 licenses you had active with us for the entire period they were last active (~2+ months) and, respectfully, to part ways with our product and services. This ensures you can explore other solutions that may better meet your expectations and operational needs.

We sincerely hope that this approach reflects our professionalism and commitment to a resolution, even if it means parting ways. Should you wish to revisit a productive dialogue in the future, we remain open.

Best Regards,
The JetApps Team
 
JetAppsAnton said:
Hello Krystian,

Thank you for sharing your feedback and concerns and for continuing to engage with us. We are truly gutted by the experience you’ve had, as it is never our intention for any of our users to feel this level of dissatisfaction. We genuinely value all our customers, including you, and we have strived to ensure a personal touch in all our communications. Every response from our team are human generated to demonstrate our commitment to assisting you. That said, we have noticed a recurring reliance on GPT-generated elements in your responses, both in our helpdesk and on public forums. This observation raises concerns about your true intent—whether you are genuinely seeking a resolution to the issues or attempting to coerce a handout:



Again, we would like to emphasize that we believe we have made every reasonable effort to address your issues and concerns, conducting a detailed investigation into the challenges you faced, providing actionable steps and technical guidance to resolve the issues, remaining communicative, transparent, and willing to assist despite the limited access to your server—and continuing our investigation even when we noticed reduced responsiveness and cooperation from your side on the days following.

While it is unfortunate that we were unable to meet your expectations, we respect your decision to proceed as you see fit. At this point, we also recognize that a software product, no matter how well-designed, might not be the right fit for you. With this in mind, we have proactively refunded the 3 licenses you had active with us for the entire period they were last active (~2+ months) and, respectfully, to part ways with our product and services. This ensures you can explore other solutions that may better meet your expectations and operational needs.

We sincerely hope that this approach reflects our professionalism and commitment to a resolution, even if it means parting ways. Should you wish to revisit a productive dialogue in the future, we remain open.

Best Regards,
The JetApps Team
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I won’t even bother commenting on the circus you’re making around this situation. As it turns out, I’m not the only one who has suffered because of your poorly functioning software.

The losses I’ve incurred can be easily proven, so your attempts to dismiss them won’t work. It’s honestly quite disappointing to see you stoop to this level. But then again, what can one expect from a company offering critical software that doesn’t even have appropriate insurance policies or safeguards in place? This is simply unacceptable and only highlights how unprofessional your organization is.

It’s great that you’ve refunded my licenses for the last two months, but are you even aware that I’ve been using your software for several years?
 
I unfortunately have to share the same opinion about the software too. I used to use it but last time I had to do a full recovery it was a bit messy. It used to be such a great program but the more update they keep on doing more things keeps geetting broken. They are breaking what was working 100% fine. Missing JB4 and 3 days.
 
amator said:
As an IT professional managing sensitive data for clients, I relied on JetBackup to ensure the integrity and recovery of my systems in case of disaster. Unfortunately, when the moment came to test its reliability during a real crisis, the software failed catastrophically, causing irreparable damage to my business and reputation.
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your experiences. Personally though, I would never relied on a single backup method for any data of importance. Especially if it's critical to your business and/or clients.

Native control panel backups can fail, web host backups can fail and 3rd party software backups can fail. I've experienced all 3 at one point time but never all 3 at the same time. I also additionally write my own backup scripts as an additional source for backup restorations - that so far has never failed me when needed. So ideally, you would need at least 2-3 sources of frequent backups if the data is important to you. Relying on a single backup source is not recommended.
 
So, we can sum this up, on:

you were not able to provide server access for them to help you?
and you just want $5K as compensation for the lack of backup testing??

thanks for your feedback.
 
Zhenmue said:
So, we can sum this up, on:

you were not able to provide server access for them to help you?
and you just want $5K as compensation for the lack of backup testing??

thanks for your feedback.
Click to expand...

I see you're struggling to understand, so let me explain it to you again, this time more clearly:

  1. JetBackup failed during the attempt to restore backups. Therefore, using this software is entirely at your own risk, as even its developers do not guarantee its proper functioning.
  2. When I realized that JetBackup was incapable of restoring backups created with it, I decided to recover older backups from the native DirectAdmin backup system. In the meantime, I informed JetBackup support about the issue. They were granted immediate access to the server and had it for at least 3-4 days. So, I don't quite understand why you're writing this nonsense. Did JetBackup ask you to say that?
  3. The entire situation occurred on October 7th. Let those JetBackup colleagues tell you when I initiated discussions about what happened. It was about 1.5 months after the incident, once the dust had settled and I fully understood the exact consequences of the damage caused.
Do you think $5,000 is a lot for such a loss? Because to me, it's laughable that a company providing critical software for businesses doesn't even have insurance for such incidents. But then again, what else can you expect from them? If you're paying, just pay and don't expect anything. It's JetBackup policy.
 
Backup's are NEVER a guarantee, all backup software tools ALWAYS tell you to test the backups once every while when you use it.
This because the software works in theoretics, but it can always fail on certain soft / hardware configs.

I do not think (Yes this is an opinion) that Jetbackup should pay you 5k because it did not work.
Do i think they should investigate how and what? yes, because maybe they can pinpoint out what went wrong and maybe fix it for the feature.

With that said, i use the build in backup tool from Directadmin, does it work, yes... is it as usefull as Jetbackup *if it works* no.
 
JB4 was excellent. I had a few issues, but they were always something I could work with

JB5 is a trainwreck, still. Years later, the same issues, it seems. I had one remaining client with them and when we did a server migration this week, I told them to bail, because it wasn't worth the hassle. The deflection, the denial, stories like this are not uncommon at all.

At the end of the day, yes, you need to test your own backup system. However, you should be able to rely on paid software to work. I still go in and test my own systems, even when I'm using proprietary stuff, because, stuff happens.

So sorry you had to find out the hard way, JB isn't to be trusted, at all.
 
You should never rely on a single backup no matter what.
No software takes responsibility in case of software failure or backup restoration failure as it is always mentioned in their TOS.
 
Zhenmue said:
wow, no, no affiliation here, just seeing someone trying trough different forums to get some $
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Maybe you should actually understand what the person wrote then, instead of trolling them. I know, it's hard to understand when adults are discussing things, but you, literally contribute nothing to this thread but trolling.

No, the OP did not create this thread trying to obtain $$$. They created this thread trying to warn people about the dangers of using Jetbackup. Something I've been trying to do for years , now. Compensation is secondary.

HAD JB done their job, this wouldn't have been an issue.
If JB was anything more than an amateur level piece of software, this wouldn't be an issue.
IF JB actually hired proper developers, this wouldn't be an issue

If I advertised a piece of software to do a job, and it only did said job less than 10% of the time properly, then I'd expect to be roasted. Yet, here we are seeing the fanboys stick up for this pile of manure that can't even put out a proper release.
 
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