Is this backup strategy feasible?

[CondorMan]

Hi everyone

A colleague and I each have XP Pro SP2. We're acutely aware of the need to do a regular backup but there's little point doing so if the DVD, external hard drive, USB memory stick etc. that has been used to capture the backup is sitting in the vicinity of the computer. If the house goes up in flames, so does the backup!

Neither of us works in an office or has a network to which we have access so we can't backup to a server etc. Is it feasible for each of us to do a backup to the other's laptop across the internet? We trust each other without reservation not to "plant" anything on the other's laptop nor interfere with any settings and neither of us has any concern about the other seeing what files we may wish to back up. Each laptop is connected to the internet for around 12 hours each day and I'm sure that we could come to some sort of arrangement whereby the backups could be scheduled.

If it is feasible, would it be appropriate to create a partition for the other party to use for the backup? An alternative would be to have an external hard drive connected so the one party does the backup to the other's external hard drive (so ensuring adequate disk space).

Would we need any specific software? My laptop is connected to one IP address for 95% of the time but my colleague is much more mobile and uses a number of connections so his IP address is constant (i.e. home) for around 50% of the time. Would this have any bearing upon how we would connect to each other's laptop?

If this idea is completely off the wall, what other simple suggestions are there for a secure "remote" backup? We wouldn't particularly want to use a GMail account (for instance) as a repository for the backup.

Thank you for your time.

 

[Jump1ng]

Depending on the size of your backups you might find that this will take a very long time to do over the net.

What exactly are you wanting to backup? Is it the whole contents of the hard drive or just important documents?

You can use a service like DynDNS that will allow your pc to have the same name on the internet even though the IP address has changed.

Usually for home backups its enough to have the data stored on an external hard drive that still is in the same building. If you have documents that are so important that it needs to be stored offsite you might want to buy an external hard drive backup to it and then store it somewhere externally.

To store files as a backup on a hard drive that is in use in another system has a VERY HIGH chance of being destroyed etc by hard drive failure, you get viruses that corrupts the file etc.

So again I would recomend you to store your backup somewhere else.

As I said earlier if you only need to store documents etc you might find that its enough to store them on a USB memory stick. If you need to backup the whole contents of your hard drive using an imaging backup solution like Acronis TrueImage is good way to make sure that everything on your hard drive is backed up. You could for example store these image on an externall usb hard drive that you keep in a safe that is fire proof.




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Make the best use of what is in your power, and take the rest as it happens.

 

[CondorMan]

Thank yo for the quick response. We would only want to backup our working files, Outlook.pst, downloaded applications (such as ZoneAlarm) etc., rather than the whole system. In the event of a crash, we have original installation disks for MS Office etc. so we could reinstall.

I appreciate that doing such a backup across the internet may take some time but it's not as if we're doing a backup of maybe 20+GB! I have an external hard drive and it would be logical to give the Hard Drive that has the backup to my colleague - except that he lives about 100 miles away! If he lived across town, we could act as a store for each other's backup easily, rather than contemplating using the internet as a vehicle to allow backup.

I'll look at DynDNS but also consider seriously the options of saving to a USB memory stick or my external hard drive and then ensure that these backups are stored away from home.

The option of doing a backup across the internet appealed to us as a possible option and as well as an "academic exercise" for each of us to get it up and running!

 

[RMGBELGIUM]

doing a backup across internet of each others files isnt a good idea.Let's suppose you have a virus.You send your backup files to your collegue's portable.Result : he has your virus if he opens one of your files...
And with an average upload speed of 20 kb ( that's what's most providers give), your backup would take forever...

I'd suggest to load your backup to some FTP somewhere.


rgrds,

R.

 

[CondorMan]

Yes, I appreciate the comment, but where would be find "... some FTP somewhere.", particularly one that's secure where we could deposit our files? That's the sort of thing that we contemplated by proposing doing the backup via the internet to each other's laptop. As I said, we trust each other without reservation so that part of the security just wouldn't come into the equation.

We each have up to date AV (and AdAware, Spybot etc.) but wouldn't be inclined to open each other's files.

 

[FWPIII]

A possible solution would be an online backup, this is an article from pc world that describes a relatively inexpensive option.

http://www.pcworld.com/reviews/article/0,aid,119062,00.asp

There are others as well, it will depend on how much you want to spend.

 

[CondorMan]

Thank you. That looks to be what we need - we'll look further into it.

 

[Pleonasm]

CondorMan, also see the description of the Connected DataProtector service at

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1849683,00.asp

and at

http://www.connected.com/.

I use this service, and it is excellent.

 

[garebo]

If you are backing up only a small amount and you zip it up, then you might even consider usendit.com.
If not, its a good site to know if you want to send something to someone. You can zip whatever you want, any size, zip it up and send it to someone for free, no charge at all and you get an email notification that someone has sent you a package. All you do is click on the icon and get your package.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[CondorMan]

Thank you - I've never heard of that! I'll check it out.

 

[CondorMan]

Thanks to you too, garebo.

 

[garebo]

You're welcome. Sooner or later we can all use the features available at usendit.com. Also, the most important feature, its totally free!!



Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[SimonDavies]

Silly question but are your dvd drives DVD rewriters or just dvd drivers? If you have rewritable drives then you can use backup software to backup directly to your cd\dvd.

I would also look at using a USB key to back up to, you can now get these in sizes above 2gb (I believe 4gb now) and they are something that you can give each other to look after (ie an offsite storage capability).

One thing you have to be aware of with Net based backups.. you need to be able to get on the net to get the backups back. With a local device it's close to hand and definitely faster to transfer the data across.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[CondorMan]

It's a DVD rewriter. I've been somewhat disappointed by my experience of writing to CD or DVD because of the various formats (Joliet?), the +R, -R etc. A few years ago, I saved some data to a CD and then tried to access it from a friend's laptop. I was brimming with confidence and he regarded me as a computer "guru" which, compared with him, I was. His laptop didn't recognise the CD so my "street cred" took a nose dive! Needless to say, it was something to do with how I'd saved the data, rather than his CD reader that was faulty. Experiences like that have made me shy away from CDs/DVDs, even though I know that the technology has improved.

I appreciate what you say about the USB memory stick. The prices have tumbled and I could even keep a copy in my car, on a lanyard or post one to to a remote location.

 

[garebo]

Tell you what, long time ago i felt the same way as you about my cdwriter. But then i fould out about Nero. I find Nero easier to work with and much better. If you had been working with Roxio and ez-cdcreator i can understand your frustration.
It could even be that you didnt tick off the "close" when you were burning. You should close the cd or dvd off if you want it to be read by other pcs and their readers. if you want to add to the cd or dvd and its only for your machine, you can then wait til its full and then close it off so it can be read by other machines. I simply close all mine as media is so cheap and this way they can be read by any and all pc's, laptops included.
So i suggest you get yourself a copy of nero 6.0 or higher and forget about roxio and ez cd creator.
There are others as well but i find Nero is the best and most others would agree with me.

Usb thumb drives are another option if you dont need to backup that much data.


Good advice + great people = tek-tips

 

[CondorMan]

I have a Sony laptop and there's CD/DVD writing software which comes with it. I've asked elsewhere about some other aspects of the OS and how to repair it. I am rapidly coming around to the idea of ditching the repair disc that came with the laptop and purchasing a retail XP Pro. If I do this, I'll *have* to get specific CD/DVD writing software and had almost certainly decided upon Nero. I think you've just made my mind up for me - thank you!