Question For Windows Xp Experts

[MacRS200]

As the title really.

We have a home network with 4 computers running plus a laptop that obviously only connects when powered up. Mrs Mac has Uni work that is in a shared folder on a drive on my computer that she can access from either her PC or the laptop to do her work. Her assignments can take weeks of work so I am a bit worried that if the drive crashes she could lose the lot.

Question is is there anyway to automatically mirror or back-up that folder on an another networked drive using XP Pro?

TIA

Neil

[Steve ( West Mids )]

Start / programs / accessories / system tools / backup /

next / backup / choose

at this stage do start / help and support / type in backup ............... and select schedule a backup .... this will talk you through it step-by-step. Should be able to what you want.

[MacRS200]

Thanks Steve will give that a try :D

[loggyboy]

using a raid system on your hard drive (if they are SATA) is always a good idea for that, means quicker access too.

[St3v3_C]

means quicker access too.

No it doesn't.

Two drives mirrored (to protect data) will actually be slower, as it's got to write the data twice.

Two drives striped gives quicker access, but you have no extra safety. It's actually less safe as if one drive dies you loose the lot.

Also worth noting - RAID mirroring will NOT protect against some muppet deleting the files.

As above re windows backup is about your best bet.

[MrADeveci]

Neil, you can always download this free software : http://www.allwaysync.com/

It will sync all folders you select and backup accordingly.

I use this, on a pocket hdd to sync all the computers at home.

:)

[MacRS200]

Thanks for the input, got the Auto XP back-up working.

@ Ahmet - Thanks for that mate, a sync would be a good way of doing it. Can you set it to automatically sync at set times as I don't want to rely on me remembering to do it

[Geoffers]

You could create a batch with xcopy in to copy to entire folder or changes, then put it in task manager to perform at certain times. You can set not only times, but also at logon as well to copy across so you know that there is a copy before you start doing anything. (it will fail gracefully and disappear if there are no network drives available.)

You could even take it further and have it backup the backup on the other machine every week so there will be a current and old version.

[MacRS200]

You could create a batch with xcopy in to copy to entire folder or changes, then put it in task manager to perform at certain times. You can set not only times, but also at logon as well to copy across so you know that there is a copy before you start doing anything. (it will fail gracefully and disappear if there are no network drives available.)

You could even take it further and have it backup the backup on the other machine every week so there will be a current and old version.

Batch files, that takes me back a bit

Is that still the same format and commands as the old DOS *.bat file?

Did actually think of backing up the backup as well, main back up is off the hard drive on the PC to an external drive on the same PC so a hardware failure of the C drive is covered. Thought about the possibility of a power out corrupting both drives as the backup is in progress, so a scheduled backup of the backup makes sense.

[Giblet]

be careful with syncing. XP already offers ability to sync to an offline copy, but if you upgrade computer or make changes to the local side and the file is no longer there it will delete the copy on the shared drive. I've given up on syncing due to the many times when i have needed a copy and it has not been there. Backup is your best bet. I back mine up to a usb external hard drive which i plug in when i need it. That way if some toe rags steal your equipment, by having the hard drive elsewhere hopefully you will still have your backups to resgtore from.

[loggyboy]

means quicker access too.

No it doesn't.

Two drives mirrored (to protect data) will actually be slower, as it's got to write the data twice.

Does.

It doesnt write it to one drive, then they other, it does them both simultaneously, so writing is no slower than normal, but retreival is faster as each drive can transfer a portion of the required data simultaneously.

When it comes to backup and security, its always best to combine precedures. I tend to do a DVD back up of my important info every few months, just incase i get complete drive failure or a virus.

[Geoffers]

means quicker access too.

No it doesn't.

Two drives mirrored (to protect data) will actually be slower, as it's got to write the data twice.

Does.

It doesnt write it to one drive, then they other, it does them both simultaneously, so writing is no slower than normal, but retreival is faster as each drive can transfer a portion of the required data simultaneously.

When it comes to backup and security, its always best to combine precedures. I tend to do a DVD back up of my important info every few months, just incase i get complete drive failure or a virus.

Also, it can be even faster with a few apps running - setup correctly it will write to one disk while reading from the other. Works well with video editing and constant read-writes.

[St3v3_C]

it does them both simultaneously, so writing is no slower than normal,

Most people will tell you it's slower e.g.

RAID 1 (Disk mirroring)

Drives required (minimum): 2 (or multiples of 2)

Max capacity: Total array capacity divided by 2

Description: All data that is written to the storage system is replicated to two physical disks, providing a high level of redundancy.

Pros: Very reliable, assuming only a single disk per pair fails. RAID 1 tends to provide good read performance (equal to or better than a single drive).

Cons: Because each drive is mirrored to another, requires 100% disk overhead to operate. Write performance can sometimes suffer due to the need to write the data to two drives,

http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/5100-...11-6056489.html

[St3v3_C]

PS - I will say it can depend on hardware, but usually it will be slower.

PPS - You're not going to notice the difference either way LOL

[TigerFish]

Not that it makes any difference for what MacRS wants. Stuff like mirroring is for failover and redundancy in case of disk failure, does nothing of use for backup purposes as mentioned already.