http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/ Engadget Comments for How-To: Automatically back up your computer http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 6:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 10:08AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
And if you want to save huge headaches, use a professional service like ChoiceBackup: www.choicebackup.com

They further encrypt all the data and have a very expensive infrastructure with redundant servers. You get what you pay for... ]]>Mar 21st 2007 6:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/The prices are unreasonable.
300$ for storing 2GBs for a year ???
Nearly 800$ for 5GB ???

Are you affiliated with that website?]]>Mar 21st 2007 8:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 9:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 8:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 9:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 6:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
I use one, and all of my data has survived one HDD failure so far]]>Mar 21st 2007 6:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/]]>Mar 21st 2007 7:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
I've been lucky enough not to have to deal with a HD crash in a while though (knock on wood). ;-)]]>Mar 21st 2007 7:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 7:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.freenas.org/) on it which is a FreeBSD NAS distro, it supports all major transfer methods including RSYNC which is mentioned in the article, has a nice small install footprint (~35MB) and is accessible over the web. I'm using 4 500GB SATA drives so after formatting and RAID 5 have ~1.3TB of space for just the cost of the RAID card and drives.]]>Mar 21st 2007 11:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
I make a restore set of DVDs right after an initial install for each of my PCs, and keep an incremental backup which is updated every few weeks or so (or after I've been working on an important project). I keep the most recent complete backup on an external HDD and burn a copy to DVD. Works great.]]>Mar 21st 2007 7:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
All of my personal machines, and as of late, all of my employers servers have their data replicated to offsite backup with rsync.net. We looked into strongspace and exavault, as well as the ridiculously overpriced offerings from places like Iron Mountain ... and in the end it was this:

http://www.rsync.net/philosophy.html

and this:

http://www.rsync.net/resources/notices/canary.txt

That sold us.

Now to get cygwin+python+duplicity running on my last remaining windows system...]]>Mar 21st 2007 7:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
Uhm....as far as a backup, what about going to an 500GB external USB drive. Pair that up with Cobian backup, a free backup utility, you've got a winning Windows solution. ]]>Mar 22nd 2007 7:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
That being said, this type of article does not really belong on Engadget.]]>Mar 21st 2007 8:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
Here are the command line arguments for NTBackup.
http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/ntbackup_command.mspx?mfr=true

Hammer and nails, people...]]>Mar 21st 2007 8:20PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 8:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
Simple is getting a 500GB hard drive in an external case ($200) and using an NTBackup, which is free and comes with Windows. Nothing to install and you can keep the backup drive somewhere safe when it's not being used. If you're REALLY paranoid - get two 250s and swap them regularly.

If you have Vista Enterprise or Ultimate or MacOS X 10.4, you can even have it handle all the scheduling or do 'constant backup' which not only does constant diff backups, but keeps all the steps like a system-wide CVS repository and allows you to step through changes right in your desktop.]]>Mar 21st 2007 8:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/1. Install it on your desktop and laptop 2. Create an network on your desktop and join it from Hamachi on your latop 3. Map a drive, ANY drive, from you home network, on your laptop 4. Use any of the plethora of free utilites on the web to sync your data to this drive, like Microsoft SyncToy (don't laugh, it's free and works).

The whole setup is free and easy to setup. N-joy.]]>Mar 22nd 2007 10:27AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 9:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 21st 2007 11:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 3:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.latestintech.com/2007/03/20/sync-windows-directories-with-linux/]]>Mar 22nd 2007 10:59PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 23rd 2007 2:34AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 23rd 2007 2:35AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 23rd 2007 3:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
cwRsync + Winrar + batch file + task scheduler

cwRsync (rsync compiled for Windows)
Winrar (I use the command-line version)
Batch file (wrote a simple batch file myself to rar and rsync for me when run)
Task Scheduler (so Windows handles running the batch file automatically)

The first time it syncs to the server takes FOREVER (still syncing as we speak). I blame my upload speed (stupid Comcast), I figure I have a week or so left of uploading, but rsync will do it's magic with the subsequent syncs and should exponentially lower the upload time.

Winrar password+encryption is pretty secure, so I don't care if the sysadmin at my webhost gets a hold of my files either. Just make sure not to use compression when using rar in the batch file, rsync can't do it's magic that well on compressed file (can't find similarities).]]>Mar 22nd 2007 2:11AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 3:19AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://backuppc.sourceforge.net/

For Windows only there are numerous backup programs that support automatic backups to ftp ( http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22backup+software%22+%2B+%22ftp%22 )]]>Mar 22nd 2007 8:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 12:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
DSynchronize at http://dimio.altervista.org/eng/

All four of my PCs cross-synchronize their files each day.
It works great!
]]>Mar 22nd 2007 12:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 3:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/Mar 22nd 2007 6:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
It really doesn't matter what solution you use for the actual syncs, the important part is getting it set up and working automatically.

I've just written an article about general home backup strategies to keep your data forever, when you've absorbed everything in this article come check it out!

http://www.christophercamps.com/archives/how-to-keep-your-data-forever
]]>Mar 22nd 2007 6:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
My backup strategy:

a) TrueImage mirrors the boot partition to six backups on both internal and external drives nightly (so I have perfect mirrors going back three days on both drives.

b) SecondCopy backs up several versions of all data files at frequencies from one to 60 days - if I want to know what was in a file a day ago, or 87 days ago, I can find it.

c) Mozy backs up all important data to the net every night.

Once I set it up, it requires no supervision at all, and doesn't slow the computer as it runs from 1 - 5am.

The solution in this article is absolutely nuts.]]>Mar 22nd 2007 9:28PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
You can read it here: http://n3wb.com/boolean/archives/2007/03/howto-rdiff-backup-with-launchd/]]>Mar 23rd 2007 12:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.exavault.com/ ) which offers more GB/$ than shared hosting (as well all the other dedicated offsite backup providers)]]>Mar 24th 2007 3:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/http://www.engadget.com/2007/03/21/how-to-automatically-back-up-your-computer/
More info at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/windowshomeserver/default.mspx
]]>Jun 16th 2007 1:09PM