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| | Author | Messages | |
The Local Inspector
Posts:62
 | | 10/14/2007 9:13 AM |
 Alert | I have been reading about backup methods and had some questions.
We are about to organize my office again, and I want to ensure I have all the backups going that are needed. I have been reading about different utilites, but I wanted to see what others are doing.
I am going to have a server computer, where all my business files are access, from the laptops.
On the server computer I want to have an external harddrive and printer connected.
What I need to do is have a utility installed, on ther server computer, or all of the computers, that takes selected folders and files, moves them to a section of the server computer, and periodically puts them on the external harddrive.
What are the best methods to accomplish this? I have seen freeware and paid utilities. Any suggestions?
Thank you for your time. | |
Shannon Amos
National Property Inspections (NPI)
Office: 520-208-2590 / Cell: 480-459-0655
Call me if you are building, or before your warranty expires! See my website and coupon in the business section, under Home Inspection.
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/14/2007 10:02 AM |
Alert | One thing I can tell you not to use is Windows Vista's backup and restore functionality. I thought it would be great for the job but it has a fatal flaw: If you have a file on your desktop, then your computer gets backed up, the file gets stored, no problem. Then if you move the file to your documents folder and it gets backed up again, you'll end up having the same file in two locations in the backup. It gets better. If you delete the file entirely from your computer, both copies still remain in the backup.
What I'm using at the moment is Microsoft's SyncToy, but it's not automated. I too am looking for a better solution.
You might try Windows Home Server. I used that during the beta and it's pretty slick. It allows you to keep throwing hard drives into your server over time and they become part of one large storage pool. For backup it comes with client software (up to 10 computers) that will do daily, full incremental backups (not just your documents but the whole drive) and it incorporates technology that stores only one copy of a file that it finds in your entire network. So if you have 5 Windows XP computers, you only end up storing one copy of every file for Windows, but if one of the hard drives crash, you put in a new drive, pop in the recovery disk and it will restore the computer to the last backup, OS, programs, data and all. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | | The Local Inspector
Posts:62
| | 10/14/2007 12:31 PM |
Alert | Jason,
Can you tell me what you think of this product:
http://www.2brightsparks.com/syncback/sbse.html
I found it in this article:
http://lifehacker.com/software/geek-to-live/geek-to-live-automatically-back-up-your-hard-drive-147855.php
It appears to be very flexible.
Thanks. | |
Shannon Amos
National Property Inspections (NPI)
Office: 520-208-2590 / Cell: 480-459-0655
Call me if you are building, or before your warranty expires! See my website and coupon in the business section, under Home Inspection.
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| | The Local Inspector
Posts:62
| | 10/14/2007 12:33 PM |
Alert | | It can be set to different times of the day for automatic backups, and to different levels of detail. It will also E-mail you the results of the backup, send backups to FTP servers or other drives, multiple machines, etc. Once $30 license appears to cover 5 machines... | |
Shannon Amos
National Property Inspections (NPI)
Office: 520-208-2590 / Cell: 480-459-0655
Call me if you are building, or before your warranty expires! See my website and coupon in the business section, under Home Inspection.
| |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 10/17/2007 6:32 PM |
Alert | | It definitely looks good, I'm going to have to give that a shot. Certainly sounds better than SyncToy. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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|  | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 12/06/2007 4:19 PM |
Alert | | Finally gave SyncBack SE a try and it works great. Thanks! | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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| | azv
Posts:20
| | 12/07/2007 2:51 PM |
Alert | Perhaps the most important consideration to be made before deciding upon a software package to do your backup is to figure out what you're going to do with this external hard drive. If you're just planning on leaving it attached at all times then your backup isn't worth much. Sure if your drive fails on the server then you have a backup, but what about fire, water, burglary, etc? All your files backed up on an easily mobile device is an easy target for any thief - and if fire, water, etc damage the server they are most likely going to damage your external hard drive and you will be without anything. Finally there is always a chance that the external hard drive fails or is damaged - your backup fails and you never know it until the server drives fail and leave you with nothing.
What kind of server are you going to be running? Multiple drives in the server hopefully with some level of RAID on them? I obviously don't know much about you or your business, but I manage a network for a Phoenix area school district and know how important backups are. You're better off spending a little extra and doing it right so that you're protected.
Let me know if you have questions or need help with your implementation, I'd be glad to help. | | | |
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| | azv
Posts:20
| | 12/07/2007 2:52 PM |
Alert | | Wow ... I just saw how old the original posting was. My advice is probably way too late. Good luck. | | | |
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| | Jason
Posts:3378
| | 12/07/2007 7:26 PM |
Alert | | Those are all great points. For the possibility of the external drive being stolen, you can use TrueCrypt and then have SyncBackSE copy data to the TrueCrypt volume. If the drive is stolen, there's no worry. | |
Joined: Jul 2005 | |
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| | azv
Posts:20
| | 12/08/2007 1:21 PM |
Alert | | Depending on the data stored/encrypted on the external drive you would still have to disclose to your customers that their information may have been compromised which could end up costing you business. The external hd backup method just isn't a good idea for business related data that could cost you money if lost. | | | |
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| | grokdesigns
Posts:22
| | 12/10/2007 11:05 AM |
Alert | I'll second the thoughts about what to do with the external drive. A drive stored in the same location as the server is useless against fire, flood, burglary, etc. I use Mozy Online Backup (mozy.com) for my personal backup needs. They also offer business services.
It's automated and encrypted. You can generate your own encryption key, so that even Mozy employees cannot view your data. Their backup specs comply with all HIPPA requirements. Should you have some disaster where you lose all of your data, Mozy will overnight you DVDs containing all of your data (for a fee), so you don't have to download all of your data again.
So far I'm very happy with Mozy.
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