computer back-up

[Hummingbird]

I'm looking for help/info with regard to external hard drive back ups. I want to get something & a program that I can download a back up from a different location. Confusing ? yep -

 

Here's what I want to do; I will have a computer in a building apart from my home and across town. There will be people cataloging information/pictures on that computer. At the end of the day I want to back up that information on an external hard drive which will be located at my home.

The reason for this particular action is many but foremost is in case of fire/theft or any other unforeseen act.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Dick

[Freebird]

Have you considered an online backup? I've never used it but I hear a lot about Carbonite.

 

http://www.carbonite.com/

[Hummingbird]

Have you considered an online backup? I've never used it but I hear a lot about Carbonite.

 

http://www.carbonite.com/

 

Yes - we talked about an online provider - here's the MAJOR problem.

 

This whole project is with the Malvern Historical Society. They have a building that was donated ( 2 story wood frame house) by a concerned citizen. Many, many local citizens have donated items of historical value and the entire project is run by 4 volunteers on funds that are sparse to say the least. Paying the monthly electric and heating bill can be a challenge sometimes.

The computer has not been bought yet because the grant to pay for it hasn't been approved yet, I'm trying to gather info so that when it does happen, they hopefully will be ready.

I guess the whole point is that a monthly obligation could be considered a burden and I'm trying to avoid that as much as possible. As a matter of fact, it's already been decided that if programs are needed to function that I will bring the computer home and download off the net because the society doesn't even have a phone let alone internet.

It's an enormous and daunting task but as long as somebody wants to try, I'll help with what my abilities will allow.

[Freebird]

Well if that's the case, it is really a moot point. Without Internet access at the other site, you have no choice except to take your external hard drive to that computer to do any backups at all.

[Hummingbird]

When the time comes - they are considering internet access, everything is so iffy - money so scarce. On top of everything else, they meet once a week on Saturday and have the bldg. open for visitors from 9 to noon. I haven't been able to figure out when they will do any cataloging.

[friesman]

If your backup isnt very large, when you get connected to the net I would suggest Mozy https://mozy.com/?gclid=CJfItorKgaACFRwUawodgTaEmQ&mcr=1&ref=0811cfe9 . They offer free 2 gigs back up and they put a client on the machine that allows you to program backups to select what you want backed up and the best time to do it. if your backups get bigger than 2 gigs, you can sign up for their unlimited account for 4.95 a month.

My brother used this and lost the harddrive on his local machine and had everything restored once he reinstalled his Operating system.

 

Brian

[Hummingbird]

This is so hard to disect - being a third party volunteer leaves me with questions and no way to make immediate decisions.

 

The good thing is there are some real good alternatives to catalog and possibly use.

 

Thanks

[BuddyRich]

Backing up systems is a science all its own. Larger corps have teams that do nothing but backup because of its complexity and importance in recovery. For simple backups I like Acronis. Has most everything I need. If your going to be backing up servers or multiple systems you'll need bigger and more expensive software/hardware/tapes/disks/. From what I have read this should work just fine for you.You won't need to use the Online since you don't have a connection

 

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/

 

In case of an HD failure you could even restore a clone of the drive to a new drive and be back up and running in a couple of hours.

[Rocket]

When the time comes - they are considering internet access, everything is so iffy - money so scarce. On top of everything else, they meet once a week on Saturday and have the bldg. open for visitors from 9 to noon. I haven't been able to figure out when they will do any cataloging.

 

I have been using Acronis for a few years & it will backup to various media. Here is a link to the system requirements page, for the new version released this year.

 

http://www.acronis.com/homecomputing/products/trueimage/requirements.html

[Bummer]

Ok, so you have a few people, a pending (modest) hardware budget for unspecified stuff, and no money on a monthly basis.

 

When you get the computer get two identical external USB backup drives. Tb, tb&1/2 are pretty cheap now. Attach one drive to the system. Put the second in a safe place - the top of your closet, for example. Have the people put all the data into a specific directory on the computer. At the end of each day/week (as appropriate) have the system back up that directory to the USB drive. (This can be done with a couple of lines of DOS, BASIC, or Perl, and a Chron - ez and pretty close to free. Winders may even have something to do this already.) Go by at some time after the back up is complete and swap drives. You could even hook it to your computer and make a copy there too.

 

That leaves you with the data on the main computer. The data is on another drive sitting next to the computer. The other drive, with the data, is in a completely different place or two.

 

Computer dies? You have two backups. House burns down? You have one backup (maybe two if you copy it to your machine too). World ends? No backups, but there's nobody left to care.

 

Cost? Two USB drives, a book on whatever you decide the script should be written in (if you can't do it with something buit-in), an hour or two to scan the book and write the script (don't let this freak you out, it really only needs to be a line or two if you need to do it at all), and a little time to drive by now and again and do the swap.

 

I did something very much like this for Navistar so the suits could carry around compressor logs whenever they wanted to. It took a zip drive, a couple of disks, and a little time writing and debugging a Perl script and a Chrontab. And that was a fairly complex copy. Yours wouldn't need to be anything nearly that complex. Cost:

[SilvrT]

I did something very much like this for Navistar

 

You worked for Navistar?... so did I. I managed their Idealease operations in Calgary, AB mid 80's. I was just getting into programming at the time and me and another salesman developed a truck specing application that we sold to a few of the dealers. Right after that Navistar came out with their own and the dealers got it shoved down their throats to the tune of several grand if I recall correctly.

 

(sorry...not meaning to hijack the thread)

[Bummer]

You worked for Navistar?... ...

Yep. Technically still do until July 31st. That's when my layoff benefits end. They shut down the Power Stroke plant in Indy.

[Squeeze]

For Windows OS, i'd suggested Robocopy. It's free and it's a mighty Tool. Google for it.