Backing Up

stevemcol

Hi. Is there a consensus on the best free backup/sync software for use with NAS. Thanks.

stevemcol

GFI gets good reviews. I'll give it a go.

j.smith1981

stevemcol wrote: »

GFI gets good reviews. I'll give it a go.

i might look at that, never heard of that before (please excuse my lack of caps. im eating atm )

stevemcol wrote: »

Hi. Is there a consensus on the best free backup/sync software for use with NAS. Thanks.

Yea I have a local network self implemented NAS type service but again it's only localised to my network (not off the Internet), using something widely known by Linux developers called samba (allows for network mapped drive storage between Linux and Windows) even to the point of allowing network based logins (most likely beyond the needs for most average users), but it's great for when you want to have several family members and share data on multiple computers and one NAS in the middle running samba for Linux.

oneblondebrow

Hi all,

I am new to these forums but am a bit of a techie so thought I would add my current backup setup, I never used to backup even though I work in IT until 10 years ago I lost all my honeymoon photos....i know!, since then this is what I do..

With all photos digital these days I wanted to make sure they were safe no matter what so I now backup triplicate, 2 on site but in different sections of the house and one offsite.

Initially all photos are backed up from my laptop, iPad, mobile phones into a folder on my file/media server (masses of hard drive capacity) then I use SYNCTOY to incrementally copy this folder ( only copying new and updated files) onto a NAS (Network Attached Storage) drive I have in my loft, and also I use a program called LIVEDRIVE, I pay £3 a month for this service but it comes with the software to install on as many computers as you like and unlimited storage, this is set up to do incremental backups as well, and to top all that off my file server and NAS drive use something called RAID, now this is a little complicated to go into the different types I use but basically it means that if the individual hard disk drive fails (which they WILL do) then it will not lose any data.

Now it may sound over the top but imagine I had a severe house fire, I would more than likely lose all the photos of my children and my life in general but having so much backup and importantly off site backup I can get them back.

stevemcol

oneblondebrow wrote: »

Hi all,


Now it may sound over the top but imagine I had a severe house fire, I would more than likely lose all the photos of my children and my life in general but having so much backup and importantly off site backup I can get them back.

I've often wondered if under the floor might be a good location for a backup drive. I would have thought that even a severe house fire would be more likely to act upwards, leaving anything under the house relatively intact. I suppose there is water damage to consider.

grumpycrab

I'm an IT engineer and, this may come as a surprise, but backups really are the last thing I think about. In an office environment stuff gets backed up for you and s/w config control takes care of the ...s/w.

So when people ask, what's a free, easy backup mechanism I struggle to provide an answer. When I say copy important stuff to USB sticks people wonder if I really am an IT engineer.

I need to have a better answer. This is my 1st guess. An external drive (some, but not all people I know, have these). Approx £40.
That's the easy bit. I'm going to suggest that "My Documents" is the default backup (assume email is web-based).

Next; a real-time BU utility. I don't want to mess around with a "11o'clock every Froday night" regime; a nice simple real-time client. OK, so a full backup has to be done immediately; I can explain the need for that. ***** QUESTION *****Does Windows have a real-time BU mechanism? (yer I should know...). If not, is there something free and easy (that works) to do this? Cheers.

EDIT: sorry, the 1st few posts didn't answer my question.

closed

usb hard disk, macrium reflect free, and a blank cd for the macrium boot cd. Backup definitions can be saved, so subsequent backups are one click away

Full system can be recovered from the above combination, but it's useful for all users to create the windows disc if one wasn't provided with the machine.

extra backups of the most important data (photos etc) on dvd.

xcopy c: F:\backup /s/e/d/c/h can be used for something quick and dirty, subsituting the usb drive letter for F:

Biggest mistake usb drive owners make, is moving their data (instead of copying) to the usb drive, on the assumption it will always work.

grumpycrab

Thanks will look at macrium reflect free.

EDIT. Hmmm looks good if you want std image and incremental/differential scheduled backups. But I'm after a real-time-configure-and forget tool. I'm looking at
http://web2.iomega.com/iomega-quickprotect
which appears to be freeware (no nag screens or time limits AS FAR AS I CAN SEE).
So my "configure-and-forget" real time backup solution is:-
1. buy a cheap external USB drive
2. install QuikProtect

You specify what you want backing up and when can be a schedule OR realtime. Seems to work. Will run this for a few days.

daveparker

I just use microsoft skydrive - can't say I've had any problems with it, works like a treat and synchronises all my files between different pc's - I can be working on a file at the office and when I come home carry on where I left off from my home pc its brill!

bmewsd

daveparker wrote: »

I just use microsoft skydrive - can't say I've had any problems with it, works like a treat and synchronises all my files between different pc's - I can be working on a file at the office and when I come home carry on where I left off from my home pc its brill!

You've gotta remember that skydrive is not actually backup. It's synchronisation. You've also got to remember that there are limitations on the file types and sizes you can use with skydrive.

Additionally, there's always the angle of ensuring that you're not breaking any compliance rules because Microsoft cannot guarantee that your data does not leave the EU. Even though their datacentres are in Ireland and Holland. This is equally applicable to ANY US company (dropbox (which is amazon storage), amazon, google, mozy (actually almost defunct now with EMC's investment in Syncplicity))

research is the key, and if you're not fussed where your data is then just stick with it. If you put any personally identifiable information of customers etc on it then you can be getting into interesting waters.

hope this helps