Back-up Solution

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ingoloid
  • Start date Start date
I

Ingoloid

I'm looking for a cheap or free back up app. 3 computers on a home network,
and I'd like to back up all data to a central computer thats not really used
for anything.
 
Ingoloid said:
I'm looking for a cheap or free back up app. 3 computers on a home
network, and I'd like to back up all data to a central computer thats not
really used for anything.
Click to expand...

If you don't mind a bit of scripting then xcopy.exe or robocopy.exe could do
the job very nicely.
 
ty for reaponse. have tried that in the past, just seems like to much work.
I just discovered "Acebackup." Wanted something that automated the whole
process in a gui form. Did the first back-up from another comp. just now,
seems to be pretty good. I've really neglected this whole process, but we
had a box crash the other day and "learnt" our lesson the hard way. Now I'm
researching ways to set-up folders, file placement ,etc. so that if it
happens again, I can restore everything easily and quickly. If you have any
suggestions, I'm all ears.

again..ty
 
Sorry, I know nothing about Acebackup. I suggest you check the Acebackup
FAQs or else start a new thread with a subject line such as "Need help with
Acebackup".
 
If you have a spare computer, Windows Home Server is a great solution. Free
120 day evaluation. Can be used for file and media sharing, automated
backup and as a print server.

Woody
 
cool....may to look into that, thanks

woody said:
If you have a spare computer, Windows Home Server is a great solution.
Free 120 day evaluation. Can be used for file and media sharing,
automated backup and as a print server.

Woody
Click to expand...
 
Pegasus said:
If you don't mind a bit of scripting then xcopy.exe or robocopy.exe
could do the job very nicely.
Click to expand...

With one caveat; neither can back up files in use, meaning the system
files can't be properly backed up. Whatever you choose, be certain it
either uses Volume Shadow Copy Services (and that they are available,
which is the default, on your machine vs being disabled) , and clearly
states that it will correctly back up your bootable drive.
 
Ingoloid said:
I'm looking for a cheap or free back up app. 3 computers on a home
network, and I'd like to back up all data to a central computer thats
not really used for anything.
Click to expand...

XP's own ntbackup.exe is a viable solution but not turnkey by any means.
You have to stage the backups somewhere on a local disk and then move
them to the network drive. I don't think it'll write directly to them;
never tried it before. But it is complete, albeit less friendly than
others.

What's "cheap"? Acronis True Image is about the cheapest of the
excellent dirve imaging programs around. Around $50 IIRC. Imaging is by
far the best way to go.

There is a freebie or two imaging program around but I can't think of
their names right now. Perhaps someone will chime in with the
names/links. One might be Casper or something like that; don't quote
me.

For pure data, xcopy, its successor robocopy, or better yet XXCopy at
XXCopy.com will work well.
XXCopy has a learning curve but if you already know XCopy, you're
ahead of the game. It's fast (no gui), has progress bars, something
like 700 different commands if you really want to dig into it, and is
great IMO for everything from data backup to versioning of files by
easily adding the date/time portion to the filename. I guess you can
tell I like it<g>. Has both a free and paid version; free is trimmed
down but still very functional for backups. Works great in batch files.

WinZip is a tad cheaper than Acronis and will work well too for just
data. You can create "jobs" with it to back up everything or specific
files & folders. The downside is keeping the jobs updated if you have a
fluctuating data structure.

HTH,

Twayne`
 
Per Ingoloid:
I'm looking for a cheap or free back up app. 3 computers on a home network,
and I'd like to back up all data to a central computer thats not really used
for anything.
Click to expand...

Define "Cheap". You can get Windows Home Server for $99 and it
seems like it's made for your situation - where you already have
a machine that can function as the server.

I went over to WHS for my TV server and stumbled on it's backup
capabilities. All-in-all, pretty good in that it's very easy
to use and does not require much care and feeding.

OTOH, I don't feel comfortable with only on-side backups, so I
use something called "Second Copy" (probably about twenty-thirty
bucks...) to make backups to USB2-wrapped drives that I shuffle
between home and work.
 
If you happen to have a Maxtor or Seagate drive, they have free imaging
software that's actually from Acronis.
Both are older branded versions of Acronis True Image, primarily furnished
for cloning to their drives but they also have the backup function & I use
it on a spare machine, just for that purpose.
Maxblast is 1:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=7add8b9c4a8ff010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

The other is for the Seagate called DiscWizard:
http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=d9fd4a3cdde5c010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD

~Gary
 
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