Just polling for some ideas..

 

How do you BACKUP your computer(s) to your unRaid Server?--what operating system(s) and how do you do it?

i use Acronis True Image for windows boxes

 

Time Machine for mac

 

and File System backup (via webmin) for linux

 

hope this helps

 

steve

 

crashplan

I use easeus. Pretty simple, able to setup a schedule when to back up and how many back ups to save. Also you are able to select what to back up. And it's free.

Where can you get easeus for free? All I see on the website is a trial version that says it will work for 15 days. Thanks.

Acronis true image for Windows.  I've done bare metal restores using a bootable CD with great success.  Works just like Windows home server.

Where can you get easeus for free? All I see on the website is a trial version that says it will work for 15 days. Thanks.

 

That is the Pro version.  The Home Edition, however is free.

I wrote my own backup system that is driven by an ini file where you list the directories you want backed up and where to. It checks each file to see if there was a backuop done for that month, and if so only backs up the file if it changed. Ergo at the start of a month it does a full backup and then does inceremental for the remainder of the month/.  I normally don't back up windows as I think it is a good idea to periodically reinitialize it.

Thank you eroz. I how have a weekly backup scheduled, so we'll see how things look after 1am Tuesday.

Hey- I downloaded the EaseUS home edition and I do not see how to schedule a backup at all.  It lets you create a boot CD (to clone a drive or partition) but I am not seeing how to schedule a backup, etc.  Any help would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

althor

Here you go!  Shows you a step by step process. just click on the first link.

I'm rocking it old school with a batch file that backs up the Windows 7 user account, it isn't automatic but I don't really want it to be at the moment. The user account is stored on the second partition (D:) so the script looks like this:

 

@echo About to backup D:\ to \\Tower\Storage\Data Backup\<user>

@Pause

@xcopy D:\*.* "Y:\Data Backup\<user>" /E /V /Y

@echo Backup Complete!

@Pause

thanks eroz.  i guess i was asking how to do it with the app that was already linked, not by using a separate app.  i did see that todoBackup, but i did not see the free version before now, so thanks for that too!

I backup to unRAID using:

- SyncBackPro from PCs

- rsync from Apple Macs

crashplan

Superflexible sync and acronis true image.

 

Sent from my SGH-I727R using Tapatalk 2

 

Crashplan -> unRaid -> Crashplan

 

Been experimenting with WHS 2011 but I don't really trust it yet.

I still use whs2011 to back up all of my PC's . it is about the only thing I use WHS for.

 

 

@chickensoup.

You really should consider switching from xcopy to robocopy.

xcopy is not very reliable and robocopy has so many more switches and has error reporting.

I still use whs2011 to back up all of my PC's . it is about the only thing I use WHS for.

 

@chickensoup.

You really should consider switching from xcopy to robocopy.

xcopy is not very reliable and robocopy has so many more switches and has error reporting.

 

Thanks for the tip, it's an old batch file so I will definitely look into it. How do you find WHS for PC backups? Are you running it via ESXi? Have you ever used the default "Winblows backup" to backup to an unRAID server? I was considering this for a while but don't know how much I trust Windows with my work files..

Secondcopy for years.

 

I only used Macs (minus my HTPC but I don't back that up) and I use Carbon Copy Cloner on them. It initially makes a cloned image of your disk and subsequently adds/removes/updates any file differences. I don't use Time Machine because of don't really care about versioning of my files. I never do any work on them since I graduated college so I don't worry about getting back a file I accidentally delete. Plus 95% of the time I use my iPad for stuff I used to use a computer for.

 

I also use BackupList+ to backup my iTunes music directory on my main Mac to a separate share on the server so I can use speeding_ant's awesome iTunes server plugin.

Ok, so I have easeus installed and scheduled to backup to the unraid box once a week. Is there anything else I would need to do to be able to restore my system from the backups that are created? If the machine crashed would I just be able to replace the hdd that died (in the machine that is getting backed up, not the unraid box), reinstall windows and then use the backup to get me right back to where I was? Thanks.

Ok, so I have easeus installed and scheduled to backup to the unraid box once a week. Is there anything else I would need to do to be able to restore my system from the backups that are created? If the machine crashed would I just be able to replace the hdd that died (in the machine that is getting backed up, not the unraid box), reinstall windows and then use the backup to get me right back to where I was? Thanks.

There is no substitute for a live test. Temporarily stick a blank hard drive in your windows box, and try your restore routine. If it doesn't work, and you can't figure out why, then post back and ask for help. A backup routine that isn't tested is just asking for trouble.

Using inbuilt windows 7 backup for files and image once a week also tested a restore from boot cd works for me

Home has 4 Windows 7 PCs:

• MyPC
  
• MyWife'sPC
  
• HTPC 1
  
• HTPC 2
  

 

"MyPC" and "MyWife'sPC" have the user profiles (\user\[name]\documents, pictures, etc) plus outlook.pst, Firefox bookmarks etc mapped onto a Synology NAS which has RAID 1. This means that we can format and rebuild our PCs easily without the worry of any data loss.

 

Every 1-2 months I use Windows 7 inbuilt backup to generate a System Image of the c:\ drive and save this onto the Synology. These System Images are typically around 20-25GB due to our installed applications. I typically keep the last couple of System Images and one of the early ones immediately following a clean install.  I have undertaken numerous restores with the System Images without issue, it is fairly painless and quick (20-30 minutes for a complete restore).

 

My Synology then does a rsync backup on a nightly basis to my UnRaid server. This backup includes the contents of our user profiles (documents, photos etc), plus the System Images etc. I have a nightly backup Monday->Saturday, and then a weekly backup on a Sunday.

 

I then, on a monthly basis backup the Synology to a portable USB external HDD which is then kept offsite.

 

The UnRaid server is primarily for the HTPC (ISO images etc), the Synology backup is an added bonus.

 

This means:

I always have a backup from yesterday, prior weekend and prior month

The monthly backup is offsite (in-case of a significant home 'issue')

I can reformat and rebuild our PCs without have to worry about losing any of our data since it is stored on the network (Synology)

Our digital photos are RAID 1 on Synology, also backed up to UnRaid and also offsite on portable USB as I'd hate to lose years worth of our photos.

The Synology allows us to easily share information between us

The Synology allows me to encrypt (some or all of) the folders it is backing up to UnRaid if needed for security reasons

 

I'll be posting a Synology->UnRaid how-to in the next few days.

 

Alex