Hey there!

I'm looking for a backup software that can stop a service, take the backup and then start the service again.

I found Backup for Workgroups. On the paper it seems to do the trick.

But I wonder if there isn't any free solutions out there.

I guess you can do a simple batch-file, but then you need a backup software that can be started from the command line.

Anyone has any ideas?

/T

You could look at scripting ntbackup and using net start/stop on the services or sc to deal with them as well.

Jim

I too would look at customizing ntbackup... I personally use Enterprise Veritas NetBackup for this, however this is by far not a free solution.

Thanx for your replies!

After some more searching around the web I found "2BrightSparks SyncBackSE V4".

There is a free version also but it doesn't copy locked files which the SE version does. However there is a solution to this too if you wanna go the "free"way (hohoho).

This is a quote from their document on how to backup Outlook.

Note that SyncBackSE can copy open / locked files, but SyncBack freeware cannot. This means when copying your Outlook data files with SyncBack freeware you must close Outlook (and any programs that may also be using the file, e.g. Copernicus or Google Desktop Search) before running your profile. You can configure your profile to Auto-close Outlook, but it cannot close programs like Copernicus and Google Desktop Search as they are services and not applications. A workaround is to have a Run Before program to stop the service (net stop servicename), and a Run After program to restart the service (net start servicename). To see which program has a file open see this FAQ article.

This is something I definately will look into.

The SE version of 2BrightSparks SyncBackSE V4 is only 25$ anyway. If it works it's definatley worth it.

Ntbackup built into XP can backup open files. Its not a bad solution at all.

What are you trying to do, your request is not clear, you want to restore previous services setting or backup data ?

you may want to read about Bacula or Amanda. Both are free software, but as in the other posts, you probably have to use scripting to shut down or start services before and after the backup process.

The question is, in which environment do you want to use it? AFAIK both of them qualify as Enterprise network backup software and seem to be a bit hard in first time setup. (not to mention that Bacula's server is ATM only available for Linux/Solaris and the Amanda server part on Windows seems to use Cygwin)

Try the MSbackup built in your in your system if not that then do it the other way and put that drive as the secondary drive and then backup without worry.

Maybe a command line backup program that you can load from floppy.