Need a better automated backup solution

[infotime]

I agree about using a small/simple NAS instead of having to be a Microsoft IT guru with Win server.

Synology (and QNAP?) have an equivalent or better to Apple's Time Machine. On Synology it's called Time Backup (a misnomer). You tell it which folders on the NAS or LAN to time-backup and how often, and how far back in time to keep files. It then quietly keeps revisions of all selected files/folders.

A lot of Synology users overlook that Time backup exists. It has saved my buns many times where files are hosed up or deleted due to my mistakes in editing/managing my own work in process.

I agree as well, but for the customers I support 80% of the time when a restore is called for it's because of a bad virus or disk crash which means I want a whole image. Time Machine is great for that because you can restore a single file or an entire system image from any point in time. The Microsoft products give me that for Windows, albeit with a LOT OF OVERHEAD.

Synology's Time Backup sounds great. Does it do full system image backups too? I'd love to find a simple solution on a NAS that included system image backups too.

 

[stevech]

I agree as well, but for the customers I support 80% of the time when a restore is called for it's because of a bad virus or disk crash which means I want a whole image. Time Machine is great for that because you can restore a single file or an entire system image from any point in time. The Microsoft products give me that for Windows, albeit with a LOT OF OVERHEAD.

Synology's Time Backup sounds great. Does it do full system image backups too? I'd love to find a simple solution on a NAS that included system image backups too.

Time Backup does not do image backups of the NAS. The rSync and some others can do that.
For PC disk imaging and cloning (I rely on bi-weekly cloning on desktops to create a quickly bootable recovery. Imaging is more risk but I keep 3 or so of the last images of each PC. Using Acronis.)
In many years of use, I've gotten an unfixable virus/malware on Win 7, despite my conservatism, twice. Both times, I used a clone disk plus NAS time backup to get files since the last clone.

But the biggest thing is to get in the habit of not storing data/work files solely on the PC. Between SecondCopy and Acronis, automated, I'm well covered.

 

[Marlan45]

I use Goodsync for non mission critical data. It has many options for saving version history and/or delete version history based on configurable time frames. I recommend Dell Appassure for server. It uses a simple yet sophisticated shadow copy system.


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[infotime]

Carbonite has a good solution - $59 per year for a single system gives you unlimited online backup space. For $99 per year you can hook up your own local hard drive and it does daily image backups. Sure it might be kinda pricey for readers of this board. But it might be a good fit for your technically challenged friends, family members or clients. By far the easiest Windows backup solution I've ever seen.

 

[AdvHomeServer]

Carbonite has a good solution - $59 per year for a single system gives you unlimited online backup space. For $99 per year you can hook up your own local hard drive and it does daily image backups. Sure it might be kinda pricey for readers of this board. But it might be a good fit for your technically challenged friends, family members or clients. By far the easiest Windows backup solution I've ever seen.

My acronis full backups are always well over 20GB. Sending that over the wire to carbonite, who I have never met, makes me a little reluctant, especially if I need to browse a backup for a single file. Paying $99 / year to use my own usb backup device, which I can also use for free without carbonite, is also something I am a little reluctant to try. I can't even comprehend how to do a bare metal restore from a 20+GB file stored at carbonite.

Windows previous versions, or whatever they call it on Win 8 / 8.1 is automatic and can be pointed at a mapped network drive. (Win 7 stays local with previous versions). Occasional bare metal backups using Acronis or another well regarded backup program is fairly common. All NAS boxes offer backup solutions. QNAP has free backup apps.

 

[infotime]

Paying $99 / year to use my own usb backup device, which I can also use for free without carbonite, is also something I am a little reluctant to try.

I know...

Sure it might be kinda pricey for readers of this board. But it might be a good fit for your technically challenged friends, family members or clients.

The online backup piece of Carbonite functions like any other service. It only keeps copies of your documents, pictures, etc. online - not your entire disk image. The entire disk image is only stored locally.

 

[stevech]

Uploading over the internet a 50GB or more disk image isn't practical, due to speeds and file size limits of affordable cloud services.

I use OpenDrive for sharing and individual files. I don't trust any cloud storage provider's security because of the disgruntled employee syndrome. So I just don't upload anything sensitive. I have triple backup locally.

 

[infotime]

I wasn't clear in my initial post, but tried to clarify in the last one. Carbonite does not load the entire 50GB image to the cloud. It only uploads documents and the like, just the stuff in your user folders. Just like any other online backup like Mozy, CrashPlan, etc.

Entire disk images on only stored on a local USB hard drive.