Backing Up, use of nas as central storage etc

supermonkey

Hi guys,

Sorry if this is long winded. Basically, I'm terrible at backing up. I am currently trying to make my network / storage setup simpler so as to give me less excuse over backing up.

We mainly use a laptop. This has our most used docs & photos etc on it.
Also have a desktop. This also has loads of docs on it and I really want to amalgamate them as duplicates really annoy me. I have an external hardrive which I planned to use for backup, but never get round to it.

I have toyed with the idea of getting a NAS drive & storing everything together to make the backup so much simpler and eliminate all the duplication. However I could do without the extra cost of this to be honest, & it wouldnt help with backing up certain settins (bookmarks etc). Does anyone know if it is possible to set it up so it saves the original doc to the nas & mirrors on the local drive a bit like raid1? Could I also keep music on this and stream to my stereo (hmm, maybe even get one that will connect to TV for movies etc!).

To avoid cost I've considered combining all docs (inc photos but not vids) and storing on the laptop. This would make sense in a way as the laptop is usually used & i guess if I use the desktop its not a huge issue to have to turn the laptop on too, unless of course the mrs takes it somewhere else and I am stuck! The videos would be stored on the desktop, not ideal, but we could put up with it. I'm leaning towards this cos it wont cost anything, but it's not as simple as I still have to backup multiple locations.

Anyone have any thoughts on these?

After I've sorted all that, I will be forcing myself to do regular scheduled backups and disc images!

wakandem

Keep it simple otherwise you won't do it. I would back up to the external and the laptop. I have found it usefull to have duplicates as drives have a habit of failing at the most inconvienient times. Essential stuff always make another copy to dvd or blue ray disk.
If you have a big folder of mp3's or films that is too large to back up then copy it to the external and take round to a friends house and give them a copy.

I wouldn't rely on a laptop to back up, their drives are less robust and have a shorter life span. I also back up to other pc's in the house , the kids pc is always a handy one.
To play video and music I use the main pc which is connected to the hi fi & tv and stream videos music from whatever pc, laptop or external drive that is connected to the network

damo24

You could use the external drive to back-up to. Using a program such as Goodsync (http://www.goodsync.com/) you can automate the process.

theartfullodger

Backup rules a wise old man told me once....

a) Take a copy.
b) Take another copy.
c) Take yet another copy and put it in another building.
d) Try recovering your data/system regularly. When doing so update the..
e) Copy of the recovery instructions which are printed from time2time ON PAPER.

Cheers!

Lodger

Oh, use NAS/SAN/which software?? That ain't so important as rules a-e...

supermonkey

Thanks guys, I really must get organised with backing up. I guess what I would really like advice on is the NAS situation. Basically, centralising storage would make it so much easier!

posted_2

If you have only one copy on the nas, and it fails or gets a virus, you are lost. They are also quite slow when compared to usb. You could keep the main copy on either the pc or laptop, a second copy on the nas (for readonly access from the other pc/laptop), and also do disk images of both periodically, for good measure. Really important stuff, treasured photos etc backup to dvd-r also (worm protection!). A nas with a usb port makes life easier (faster).

http://www.bigbangenterprises.de/en/doublekiller/


http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

totalsolutions

I'm going down the Microsoft Home Server route now. Take an older unused pc and install a couple of 1TB drives +Home Server software (free trial for 120 days). Auto backups complete systems down to data files on all your pcs.
Use a NAS box but its manual drag'n'drop just like an external network drive. Will sell it soon.

S0litaire

Think "Windows Home Server" requires the server/Machine to have SATA drives or the OS will not install!! so it's not useful for an old machine unless you spend some £'s on a SATA card + Drives..

totalsolutions

Yes, WHS does seem to want to install on a +80GB drive first. Fair enough I guess as this IS a server after all!

I have a SATA card going spare and brought the SATA drives last weekends PC show, knowing I will need some anyway. PATA only go up to ~400-500GB and are getting rare.

supermonkey

thanksfor the replies guys. If i kept main copy locally which autobacked up to nas, how does it work if i want to acces a pc file on the laptop and its not switched on. If i edit it the nas copy will be newer!

Pssst

I have a buffalo linkstation 500Gb Nas. Its small and very easy to use. Basically i have my ADSL wireless router tucked out of the way, i have the nas plugged into it and anyone with permissions on my home network can access the Nas. I use my lappy wirelessly and buffalo also has a reomte access option which can be a bit quirky but works once setup ok.

I can also use Norton ghost to run backups to the NAS automatically.

Its possible to plug in extra USB drives to the NAS and it also has a built in print server apparently.
They are quite cheap now..
Fit n forget bit of kit.