[Busy]

Hello:

My friend and I are turning our wooden shed into an office and I'm looking for some backup advice. The purpose of this project is to quite simply consolodate the backups of the two machines.

I'll have a modem and wireless router inside the house. In the shed, I'll pick up the wireless signal with an adapter that plugs into a switch. Both PCs will be physically wired to the switch.

Currently, both of our PCs have the same hardware configurations and backup routines. There are three hard drives in each - one for Windows and programs, one for data, and one for backups. A daily, incrimental backup is taken each day of the data drive and copied to the internal backup hard drive. We also each have an external drive which houses an image of our boot drives and a full backup which runs monthly.

I'd like to keep something off site for extra security, but am not sure what my best option is. This guy works a lot with video so needs a lot of storage space.

I currently have my old PC (still in great shape) and could simply add some large internal HDs for storage. Also, I'm open to purchasing a NAS. I'm looking to store something on site for quick restores, but the ability to keep something off site for additional security.

For two PCs on a wired network, what would you recommend? Should I convert my old PC into a backup box? Convert the old PC into a file server of sorts? Buy two NASs, one for daily backups to stay on site and one for monthly backups to keep off site? I could continue our current routines but I'd like to consolidate the backups into a single solution.


Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Kevin

Edited by Busy, 29 May 2011 - 09:03 AM.

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Hi Busy,

Welcome to Geeks to go!

I personally back up my important Data to an External HD. A 1 Terabyte external hard drive could hold backup data for multiple computers.

Also when searching for solutions a while back I found the link below to be very educational for my needs.

Backing Up Multiple Computers: Ask Bob Rankin

Other members who are a tad bit more experienced may have advice for you as well, so please stay tuned.

Donna

Edited by DonnaB, 29 May 2011 - 09:49 AM.

[DonnaB]

Hi Busy,

Welcome to Geeks to go!

I personally back up my important Data to an External HD. A 1 Terabyte external hard drive could hold backup data for multiple computers.

Also when searching for solutions a while back I found the link below to be very educational for my needs.

Backing Up Multiple Computers: Ask Bob Rankin

Other members who are a tad bit more experienced may have advice for you as well, so please stay tuned.

Donna

Edited by DonnaB, 29 May 2011 - 09:49 AM.

[Ztruker]

NAS is the way to go, though external USB drives would also work. Use two (or more) 1TB or 2TB drives and rotate them on a weekly or monthly basis, keeping the off site one in a bank deposit box, friend or relatives house for safe keeping.

[Digerati]

I use an old computer in the basement as a NAS.

[busypcguy]

Hey...thank you both for the information!

Donna - this sounds similar to the setup we have now. I could upgrade to a larger external hard drive, share his folders out, and backup the files from my own machine. I like it.

Ztrucker - I'm good with computers but haven't worked with NAS before. Could be interesting. Without using what's on the NAS itself, is there any software you recommend for this backup. I'd like to get a single module I can run from my own PC to configure, monitor, and maintain the backups of both PCs from my own workstation. We are both currently using Acronis True Image Home 2010. I think they make a package that includes an agent for this kind of work but I'm not super crazy about this software. I can't find any reporting tools of any kind. For example, my friend's incremental backup was going crazy for a while backing up large amounts of data. I could see in the log that the backup had run, but there was no listing of while files had been backed up for that day so I never could figure out what files were giving us issues. Ah...I'm getting side tracked here. Sorry. But seriously, I'd like some software that I can use to monitor these backups but I'm not looking for something as expensive as a business package such as Backup Exec, ya know?

Oh well, either way I go I see I don't have to worry about pulling out my old PC. I appreate your help. It'll be a month or two before I finish this work but will try to post back here the results - what I did and the pros and cons of the decision - for anyone finding themselves in my shoes one day.

Thanks...

Kevin

[Ztruker]

Kevin, sorry but I have no experience with monitoring multiple system backups from a single computer. I have one computer that backs up automatically each night to a 3rd internal D (1.5TB). I have tow others I backup manually as needed (laptop and Webserver)so I've never had a need to look into this.

I also run a program called Mirror Folder that backs up important data between my Desktop and Laptop computers andon top of that I run Carbonite to do my offsite backups.

I agree with your thoughts on Acronis TI 2010 (same one I use). Definite lack of easily accessible reports on what did or did not get backed up.

[Spyderturbo007]

I'll explain my setup and maybe that will help, or at least give you some other ideas. I run a 1TB RAID 1 array on my Synology DS-209 NAS that's stored in my basement. It acts as my file server for the house, which is mostly just movies, music, pictures and documents. There are some things that can't easily be stored on the NAS, such as my business invoicing program, my Outlook profile, etc. These get backed up to the NAS on a daily basis using Genie Backup Manager Professional.

Every month or so, I create an image of my PC's using the Genie software and store it on my NAS. The NAS is manually backed up on a regular basis to a WD 1.5TB external HDD. The Synology supports backup via USB, so you just plug the external into the back of the NAS and hit the backup button.

I keep the external HDD off site in my parents safe just in case of fire or damage to the NAS. I figure it keeps everything as safe as possible, without me spending hours a day fumbling with backups. The Genie software supports post backup commands, so you can have it email you following a backup. Or you can set it up only to email you if there is a problem with the backup, which is what I have it set to do. They also have a program called TimeLine, which looks cool, but I haven't tested it out yet.

The Synology NAS also has a Data Replicator utility that allows you to backup data from your workstations automatically. I've never used the application, so I can't comment on it's functionality either. Here is a link to their description of the utility.

Edited by Spyderturbo007, 02 June 2011 - 01:28 PM.

[admin]

Sounds like a good role for Windows Home Server.

[Digerati]

Sounds like a good role for Windows Home Server.

And a most excellent setup guide by David (MajorGeek) can be found here.