Backup Software

[Boomer]

There are many good solutions out there. The bottom line is: BACKUP - BACKUP - BACKUP!

 

[DavidL]

Well, I just realized the OP requested that this thread Not become a discussion of HomeServer. So, If you have questions, start another thread on Windows Home Server.

 

[johnnynine]

I use Acronis and have had errors occur, but it didn't hang. It logged it and notified me.

 

[roussell]

On Windows, I use the plain old built-in backup (ntbackup.exe), not too sexy, but it's never let me down. In Linux I typically either just copy the files, or do a disk dump (dd) of the entire partition - both scheduled with a cron job.

Terry

 

[electron]

I used to rely on NTbackup, until it stopped creating backups one day, without notifying me. Of course, within a week, I find out the hard way that this happened, so I decided to get some real software.

 

[wuench]

Acronis didn't exactly hang for me, it just wouldn't run any more jobs until I cleared the notification. So I have a few jobs, one was to backup my laptop which may or may not be up when the job runs. If the laptop was off, the other jobs wouldn't run.

Genie is working for me like a champ. I went ahead and made the purchase.

 

[damage]

mozy ( http://www.mozy.com ) is another online service. 2 GB of storage free.

mozy has been acquired by emc. what a nice cash out for the mozy guys.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/09/23/break...for-76-million/

 

[gatchel]

i just run xcopy.exe once a month to a removable HD that get stored in a fire safe...so far so good.

 

[bfisher]

Syncback - been very happy with it.

 

[huggy59]

I just picked up 3 LaCie 500GB Ethernet drives (NAS, if you will) to use with backups ($200 ea). Gigabit Ethernet, USB, etc. Using the scheduler and NTBackup on Windows Server 2003, with some decent scripting and proper network permissions, I am now backing up 8 systems automatically, with reports, including a Linux machine and two Exchange servers, to the unit each night. I intend to swap them out weekly and send them off-site for safe keeping. They make 1TB systems, as well...

http://www.cdw.com/shop/products/default.aspx?EDC=1182141

 

[Chakara]

Huggy - did write a script that notifies you of failures or do you have to regularly review the logs? I know I can e-mail the logs to myself but find I don't look at them regularly enough. Such a script would be very useful....

 

[huggy59]

I have not written event failure notificaton as yet*. I check logs weekly if not daily as part of my admin duties. Most notifications are emailed to me for all kinds of things - more critical stuff (major network outages, etc) is also sent to my cellphone. I'll continue to refine the total system I use, of course. I'll probably get something like a disk to disk to tape situation going eventually.

* The problem is that NTBackup doesn't always set the proper return code: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/260327 IF they ever get this fixed, it would be easy to script success vs. failure. Leave it to MS to screw up such a critical piece of software. But it is included in the price of the OS and it does work on Exchange and MSSQL systems, etc.

 

[elcano]

I started recently running rsync in an Linksys NSLU2 (upgraded via Unslung - http://www.nslu2-linux.org/wiki/Unslung/HomePage ) as the backup server, and using DeltaCopy on the Windows client side ( http://www.aboutmyip.com/AboutMyXApp/DeltaCopy.jsp ). I'm still learning how to use it (logs, etc), but the backups are very fast. The best thing is that I dont need any special program to restore it.