SC

How much data do you want to back up?
How valuable is it?
How much can you afford to spend?

Seymour, will they be networked?, If so it may be worth specing one with several big HDDs to use as a bakcup machine.

Check out Acronis as your backup and restore managaement package, its getting very good reviews and is cheap;


Neil

Optimist, sorry had a busy day. Some of the data is "mission critical" but incremental backups wouldn't fill a CD by any means. Changing the business software so not sure how much data there will be but I don't expect it to be a huge amount. We can store one month's data on 2 CD's at the moment if that's any help. Cost - prefer under 100, given that the main PC is only a 500 machine.

I know you're going to suggest higher spec but chatting to the s/w company they say plenty of folks run this s/w on a low spec machine successfuly so I'm really looking for a cheap and easy solution.

higher spec and low spec machines,great from a optician that is aint it :-)))

Sort of bifocal computer, then.

SC

Incremental backups are fine in theory but in practise when something goes wrong they are a problem to restore and could be impossible should a CD fail.

If you need to use a backup, most times it is going to be after a serious failiure or worse still, someone breaks in at night and relieves you of your computers.

The way that I would set it up for a small network would be to have a central server that controls the domain and could also act as a print server. This machine would not need to be a high spec (early P3 should be OK) but you would have to buy the server OS or learn about Linux.

This would have the advantage that user access would be controlled from the server and you could enable roaming profiles for your users so that all their local data and settings get written back to the server. Most company data should be accessed only from the server.

You would then only need to backup the server each day. The best way to do this would be a tape drive. A DDS3 would give you 24GB which should be able to backup the entire disk. Set the backup to run each night and buy a tape for each day of the month that way you don't have to worry about which tape to use. Store them in a fireproof safe at home.

This backup would need to be run overnight, so you might consider running an additional very quick one of your realy important data that you can take home each evening.

As regards backup software, I have used Backup Exec which is very good but most tape drives will come with an adequate program. You realy need one that will run to a schedule and email you if there are any errors.

Sorry that I've not described a 100 solution, but IMO you can't get away with cutting costs on backing up. I don't think the solution above would be too expensive.

Differential backups are in my opinion a much better option than an incremental backup. They back up everything that has changed since the last complete backup (not since the last incremental backup as in the case of an incremental backup). This means that in the event of a total failure you only have a maximum of two backups to load, the complete backup and the last differential backup. You can rotate media between the differential backups so that even if the last differential backup is unreadable, the last but one will be on a different disk/tape and therefore should be OK. Whatever the solution chosen, buying a number of media and rotating them according to a strict plan is essential for the best protection possible.

Personally I use a 20Gb physical Seagate tape drive (more with compression), monthly complete backups and daily differential backups. I have my PC set to boot automatically in the early hours and the differential backup to complete before I start work each morning. All totally automatic provided the tape is in the drive. The drives can be had for around 100 on eBay, a reasonable set of tapes for as much again.

Mega, MM :-))

Thanks guys. Would a web based solution so one location gathers info from three other sites be practical? I'm thinking about using broadband and my home PC to collect the info. Or am I just making life too difficult by far!!!

SC, you would be limited by the maximum upload speed of the PCs that are being backed up. With current ADSL that would be 256 Mb/s or only 118 MB/hour (theoretical). SDSL would be faster as it is symmetric, cable is too I think, and the upload speeds for ADSL will be upgraded later on in the year subject to your line being able to handle it. Still it's not really going to be a workable solution.

Agreed, was just an idea. Thanks for all the help.

When I launch a particular web site-When I type the password the web site closes.
It only happens to this web site.
I have another computer and it works fine on that.
I am rather puzzled, can anyone help?

AB, probably securioty related, either post the web site url or send it to me and i will see if i can find out. without knowing the site its hard to be certain.

Arly Barley Although I'm not a fan of the Firefox browser (although plenty of others are), it may be worth installing it and using it for that site.

SC

I would not tataly discard online backup, Netstore used to do one the around 20 / month / machine that was suposed to work over a dial up connection so it may be good enough over broadband. It really depends how large the changed files are. If they are all small documents there would not be a problem but I can't see how a large database system could be kept backed up on line.

To pick up on Kayak's points, I was suggesting that you put the entire contents onto tape each night (I'm guessing that your server would hold less than 50 GB), that way you would never have more than one tape to restore. Some modern computers and tape drives even have a one button system that will restore your entire hard drive and operating system. I would not buy a tapes from Ebay, the guaranteed life of a tape is so ridiculously low (though they generally do better) that you really should buy only good quality new tapes.

Agreed re the tapes, although there are new ones on eBay too which have performed fine for me. Similarly there are new Seagate 20Gb/40Gb drives advertised at much lower cost than normal.

Thanks Guys. I have managed to sort the problem out.It was Java that was causing the problem with open office, I uninstalled open office and java, I could not reinstall runtime from Java site so I tried Znet site and that did it Ok. I also was using Firefox at the time I uninstalled that and used Internet explorer browser.
Does anyone know what you should use from Java .I do not play games just information and share dealing.
I am not very good with all this technical stuff.

AB, well done, I Have sent you a message (edit no I haven't you have blocked messages ;-( )

Anyway re Java, In my view Sun are a bit confusing with their naming but most users only need the Runtime Environment which Sun calls JRE (Java Run Time) they now have a separate site with runtime versions and the following URL should always be the latest version.

http://java.com/en/download/download_the_latest.jsp

I updated my Java this morning to the following :

Version 1.5.0 (build 1.5.0_02-b09)
Copyright 2004 Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Following the update I can no longer use my mouse wheel to scroll through my MAM stockwatch screen. Has anybody any ideas?

p.s. all other MAM screens work OK.

Paul

Control Panel/Uninstall all java programs

Go to Stockwatch - for which you will need Java - and then install Java from the link on the moneyAM Stockwatch page

Paul

So far as I know, Sun Java never has had mouse wheel support. I can't really believe this to be the case, but it is obviously too much of a challenge for most sites to implement.

Docproc & Optimist many thanks for your help. Ive uninstalled all java programmes via add/remove and reinstalled using the MAM link. Still the same no mouse wheel on stockwatch. The MAM java link updated my java to the same version as this morning.