Backup hardware and software solution

CodeMaster

CodeMaster

Expert Member
Joined
Dec 4, 2003
Messages
3,512
Reaction score
70
Location
127.0.0.1
Hi all,

We had another break-in last night. They got into 3 offices, and took all PC's, printers, etc. We are in quite a remote area, and by the time armed response got here, the culprits were long gone.

I need to come up with some ideas for backup, since that is a problem now. None of the PC's were ever backed-up, and now a lot of info and work has been lost.

We have a walk-in fireproof safe on the premises, so what I was thinking of doing was either sticking a PC or NAS hardrive into the safe, and setting schedules to do backup's.
I need some ideas and recommendations though. Are there network hardrives available in SA? Would I partition it and allocate a partition to each user? What software can I use to create shadow copies of hardrives, and also do incremental backups?

Please HELP!!!
 
ola,
I can highly recommend Handy Backup 4.0.
It is worth it's price in gold.
It does everything you expect from a backup program, incremental , off site via ftp, cd's, and lan the choice is yours. With high compression zip files and high security password protected zip files -if you need.
If local bandwidth gets free access backing up will be great with ftp. No new hardware needed.
The power of this program is in it's reliability and rock solid performance.
It merrily runs in the background performing it's duties without fail, and if it does fail, it can send you and email or alert to let you know whats going on.

You can setup multiple jobs which go to multiple locations, ie I have some things off site via FTP,but each day my laptop backups the important stuff incrementally , that way when my laptop follows me home, so do my backups. You don't have to nurse the program either, once it's up and running, it does it's jobs, I only check up every couple of months to see that everything is still there, as it should be.


http://www.handybackup.com/

At 30 dollars you can't go wrong, and free options might exist, but this one is really painless to implement.:D
The other option is mozy.com which is kinda nice if you have the bandwidth to use this service. Really quick and simple too, but I found that it needed a bit of attention now and then.
Low maintenance life solutions is where you wanna be!
Cheers

EDIT: Oops, I see the version of Handy Backup has actually gone to 6.0, but their website logo still says 4.0 on the homepage...
 
Last edited:
Good thinking CodeMaster.

Sticking PCs in safes tend to be a heat issue as the safe would become a sauna at some point and the pc would suffer wear soon enough. Unless it is turned on before backup and shut down afterwards, that would be a very good solutions. A cheap PC with loads of storage would do.

Clever idea wrt the safe. :)
 
Hi CodeMaster

What you need is to run your LAN cabling into the safe, and store ALL your data on a NAS server like Openfiler. If you're not using locally hosted email and web services and just want a place to dump all your files, Openfiler is perfect. And now that you need to replace your users PCs, give them laptops to take home.
 
Jeez dude, that must suck.

I know that you can also get pepper spray that works when there is movement, that you can put inside your office somewhere. Just a added security thought.

Perhaps it might be an idea to get laptops? And then get extenal drives for backups.

At least with lappies it easier to packup and hide. lol.

So then you'll only need to pack away, Printer/external HDD, and maybe the lappy, unless you take it home.
 
@antowan, It is a big walk-in strong room, fairly reasonable ventilation... think it would take quite a while to heat up, plus the door gets opened every now and the, there are some tools and consumerables in there.

@Boodles, yeah... the idea of lappies has come up, but if they are highjacked or broken into at home, then we sit in the same situation.

@ant101, thanks for the suggestion, will look into the software. Do you know off-hand whether it creates a shadow copy? If I had to replace a hardrive or PC, could I do a FULL restore... without having to load OS and software first?

Thanks, and keep it coming.
 
Codemaster, I don't see any option for "shadow copy" however I suppose you can implement it by setting a backup job as "synchronization" and by ticking the C:\ as the source.

Quote from help file:
"Handy Backup performs three types of operations - backup, restore and synchronization.
Synchronization: You can use this type of operation to synchronize data between different locations (for example, your home and office machine). You can also synchronize data with a remote FTP server. Handy Backup performs 3 types of synchronization:
1:copying from the first folder to the second - the program copies files/folders from the first folder to the second;
2:copying from the second folder to the first - the program copies files/folders from the second folder to the first;
3:mirroring both folders - the program makes contents of both folders identical."

I am not 100% sure if hidden or system files get copied,
maybe check the demo out.
 
Last edited:
Wife has the pepperspray alarm system setup at her business , this also after a number of burglaries. On Monday when one of the employees opened up, he accidentally pressed the panic button. Filled the whole place with pepperspray , they had to stay out for half the morning.
 
Mecer has a security bracket that you bolt the computer down on to table. Backups to a NAS device (D-Link DNS-323, etc) which have low power and heat output would probably help good deal as well (slap in large drives and mirror them)
 
NAS drive is safe is great idea.

A Dlink DNS-323 is a great idea!

offsite backup is also essential. Get a 120GB Seagate Freeagent go for that. Make sure you get a Gigabit network.

My backup software of choice is Syncback (the FREE version). I use it to backup my client's server with 600GB of documents on it (mainly insurance policies). It's fast, easy to setup and can send you and email if something goes wrong with the backup.

The full version can do things like document version control and backup in use files ect ect.

www.2brightsparks.com
 
CodeMaster said:
@ant101, thanks for the suggestion, will look into the software. Do you know off-hand whether it creates a shadow copy? If I had to replace a hardrive or PC, could I do a FULL restore... without having to load OS and software first?
Thanks, and keep it coming.
Click to expand...

stay away from hard drive imaging, it's only useful if your hard drive packs up. problem is if your PC gets stolen in a year's time, your hard drive image cannot be restored as you are likely to have a different model PC.
 
Does not support Vista :mad:

ant101 said:
ola,
I can highly recommend Handy Backup 4.0.
It is worth it's price in gold.
It does everything you expect from a backup program, incremental , off site via ftp, cd's, and lan the choice is yours. With high compression zip files and high security password protected zip files -if you need.
If local bandwidth gets free access backing up will be great with ftp. No new hardware needed.
The power of this program is in it's reliability and rock solid performance.
It merrily runs in the background performing it's duties without fail, and if it does fail, it can send you and email or alert to let you know whats going on.

You can setup multiple jobs which go to multiple locations, ie I have some things off site via FTP,but each day my laptop backups the important stuff incrementally , that way when my laptop follows me home, so do my backups. You don't have to nurse the program either, once it's up and running, it does it's jobs, I only check up every couple of months to see that everything is still there, as it should be.


http://www.handybackup.com/

At 30 dollars you can't go wrong, and free options might exist, but this one is really painless to implement.:D
The other option is mozy.com which is kinda nice if you have the bandwidth to use this service. Really quick and simple too, but I found that it needed a bit of attention now and then.
Low maintenance life solutions is where you wanna be!
Cheers

EDIT: Oops, I see the version of Handy Backup has actually gone to 6.0, but their website logo still says 4.0 on the homepage...
Click to expand...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X