Backup Solution

dextor03

Hi, I am trying to set up a backup solution for a user in my office. I want the user to be able to backup important files to an external hard drive on a regular basis. This process needs to be as simple as possible. Is there a free backup software package that I can use that will backup important data to the external hard drive? It needs to be very user friendly. I am aware of built in backup software on some external hard drives, can they be used on any external hard drives? Any help would be appreciated.

marco_polo

dextor03 wrote: »

Hi, I am trying to set up a backup solution for a user in my office. I want the user to be able to backup important files to an external hard drive on a regular basis. This process needs to be as simple as possible. Is there a free backup software package that I can use that will backup important data to the external hard drive? It needs to be very user friendly. I am aware of built in backup software on some external hard drives, can they be used on any external hard drives? Any help would be appreciated.

Have you Vista or Windows 7

Fisrst thing I would do is have a look at either Windows Backup and Restore Center Or Sync Center and see if they will do the job you want

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/backup.aspx


http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-vista/features/sync-center.aspx

Keano

OP, try what marco said or else have a look at maybe purchasing a product like Norton Backup Exec or something similiar.

unnameduser

I have found that most third party free backup solutions are finicky. Here are 2 if you want to try them http://www.fbackup.com/ http://www.acebackup.com

If you are going to pay for a backup software you could try novabackup. I'd recommend it.

Capt'n Midnight

depending on how big they are you could look at synctoy

or setup robocopy to do it too

Dardania

Again depending on how much you must backup you could look at using an online backup solution. Eircom broadband users get a certain gigabyte allowance for free to back up to, and if your storage needs exceed that allowance you can purchase more for something like €4.99 per month.

For sharing files a nas is a great idea, and it's definatly straightforward enough to setup yourself. You plug it into your network, it gets an IP adress, and to use it you type \\ipadress into a window explorer address bar. You mention that you only want to backup to it, but maybe you could consider working from it?
Things to consider with a nas:
can you password protect certain folders?
power consumption
noise if it's in an office
can you plug a USB printer into to share the printer on the network
can you securely access the files online remotely over the Internet (my maxtor central axis has this functionality and it's been useful a few times)

dextor03

I'm using Windows XP, i'll try the two free backup packages and let you know how I get on. Cheers for the help guys.

WestWicklow1

If you end up paying for a backup solution Acronis True Image is very good.

steps_3314

Backup to the cloud

http://mozy.com/

fearanphoist

hi,

is there a program that would do an automatic backup at a certain time on a lan . i have an office out the back and a pc in the main house on the same network. i would like to backup my data to the house machine just incase. is there good software to do this ? two machines are xp.

thanks

f.

dextor03

I used FBackup and it worked for me. Thanks again.

fearanphoist

cheers mate interesting to see . does it do outlook express backups ? have you tried it . i am actually going to get new machine and if i could backup my mail it would be great .

DannyBuoy

You could also just use the free backup tool that comes with XP, ntbackup.exe. It can do incremental, full, differential backups. It can be scheduled and is definately a good alternative to paying for a third party solution.

fearanphoist

thanks for that danny ,

i will give it a go ..is it from the command prompt , or from run you can launch that application ?

unnameduser

start - run - ntbackup or find it in system tools folder called "backup"

Its pretty straight forward but if you need more help check out the tutorial here