In light of a hard drive failure (drive is in the freezer now) of my sister's computer I have decided I needed a better way to back stuff up. I have my important stuff backed up on other machines, etc. But I need a way for the rest of my family to automatically back stuff up.

I know there is tons of software out there to do this. I am even willing to spend money on software. I am looking to do automated scheduled backups or simple file copies probably just incremental to a network share. I know I could setup a batch file and schedule it that way... but something that I could talk my father through if I was 1000 miles away would make things easier. Nothing too fancy. But something that can give me options.

Any recommendations or solutions?

Thanks!

i am not sure what you want here. it seems to me that you have aswered your own question.

backup is easy. the hard part is to do it on a regular basis.

what is the size of backup you need ?

are you backing up to tape/dvd/cd or just anothere hard disk ?

do you want an automated solution or manual ?

hail hail

I know what I need to do... I am looking for software suggestions.

I need an automated way to backup/sync files between a network share.

Maybe this type of NAS backup solution would help, just a shot:

Linksys

Treeman

well like you say there are tons of programs out there to do this. Some that come to mind:

Seagate Backup Exec

Norton Ghost 2005

Roxio

Nero

To name a few.

since you are using a network share, I would use a batch command. I assume you are running XP so use the AT command to run your backup also you coulld have an icon to run your backup on a manual with a double click on an icon.

if you are not worried about compresion or security why spend money when windows gives you the tools.

if you need help to create the batch and at commands let me know.

hail hail

I'm trying to write a batch file of some sort that will automatically burn a select folder onto a cd using Roxio. Unfortunately, I am new to this writing batch files and haven't been able to find any help on this. Do any of you know how to do this or where I could look to get me on my way?

I find this batch command reference site very useful...

http://labmice.techtarget.com/articles/batchcmds.htm

you probably also want to look at mkisofs

http://freshmeat.net/projects/mkisofs/

and cdrecord

http://freshmeat.net/projects/cdrecord/

I personally use http://www.backup4all.com/. It isnt that expensive, only 45 and supports cd burning, network, full, mirror, diffrential, incremental etc. It is fully featured, and I have it on my entire network. I backup the dozen or so copmuters at my house alone using it. Very nice.

Automatically backup files, directories, even entire drives! Karen's Replicator copies selected files from one drive/folder to another. Source and Destination folders can reside anywhere on your network. Files larger than 2 GB are supported.

Options include repeated copies at intervals as short as a few minutes, or as long as several months, copy only files that have changed, and the replication of file deletions.

New features allow you to specify which files should not be copied, and also which days a file should be skipped!

Karen's Replicator

DL