Help with backing up windows 8 computers.

[JaredB]

I am going to be building a 2nd PC in the near future that I an going to use for several purposes.

 

One, is it will run all of my servers (minecraft, teamspeak, Filezilla, media streaming etc.), but the main purpose is that I an going to use it to back-up my main PC.

 

What I am trying to figure out is exactly what program I can use to back-up my main PC (over lan).

 

I want a program that will run on the 2nd PC, that can keep multiple regular back ups of the data on my main PC, with the ability to select specifically what files, folders, and drives I want.

I want the program to automatically run daily / hourly back ups of all the data I choose from all the drives on my PC.

 

My main PC runs windows 8, and I know that some programs have trouble backing up widows 8.

I know Windows 8 has a built in back-up feature, but it doesn't work like I need it to.

 

I will probably run windows 8 on the 2nd PC( I'm not very familiar with linux), but I could run an older version of windows if I have too, but I would prefer something that works on windows 8.

 

I was looking into Windows Home Server 2011, but I think it has compatibility issues with Windows 8. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Any help with and/or suggestions for good, reliable, and preferably free programs I could use wold be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

[Nallown]

I am going to be building a 2nd PC in the near future that I an going to use for several purposes.

 

One, is it will run all of my servers (minecraft, teamspeak, Filezilla, media streaming etc.), but the main purpose is that I an going to use it to back-up my main PC.

 

What I am trying to figure out is exactly what program I can use to back-up my main PC (over lan).

 

I want a program that will run on the 2nd PC, that can keep multiple regular back ups of the data on my main PC, with the ability to select specifically what files, folders, and drives I want.

 

My main PC runs windows 8, and I know that some programs have trouble backing up widows 8.

I know Windows 8 has a built in back-up feature, but it doesn't work like I need it to.

 

I will probably run windows 8 on the 2nd PC( I'm not very familiar with linux), but I could run an older version of windows if I have too, but I would prefer something that works on windows 8.

 

I was looking into Windows Home Server 2011, but I think it has compatibility issues with Windows 8. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Any help with and/or suggestions for good, reliable, and preferably free programs I could use wold be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

If you're planning on installing windows on the secondary backup pc then there is a extremely simple way to sync them up togethor, create a public folder and use that as your main documents folder on both pc's so whenever you safe something into my documents it will be stored onto your backup pc aswell but keep in mind that depending on your bandwidth you may or may not have faster/slower transfer speed.

Another way is to install a linux distro onto it and use something like freenas to configure a partition to be used as your main shared hard drive and then you can also run anything in the background such as a server but keep in mind that the transfer speed might be slow like i said before.

 

Also I'm not networking expert so I'm not sure whether what I said is the most efficient way of doing this.

[JaredB]

If you're planning on installing windows on the secondary backup pc then there is a extremely simple way to sync them up togethor, create a public folder and use that as your main documents folder on both pc's so whenever you safe something into my documents it will be stored onto your backup pc aswell but keep in mind that depending on your bandwidth you may or may not have faster/slower transfer speed.

Another way is to install a linux distro onto it and use something like freenas to configure a partition to be used as your main shared hard drive and then you can also run anything in the background such as a server but keep in mind that the transfer speed might be slow like i said before.

 

Also I'm not networking expert so I'm not sure whether what I said is the most efficient way of doing this.

 

So what you're saying is that I could install Windows 8 on the 2nd PC, and run FreeNAS in linux as a virtual OS, and then have it store the back ups to a RAID array?

[Nallown]

So what you're saying is that I could install Windows 8 on the 2nd PC, and run FreeNAS in linux as a virtual OS, and then have it store the back ups to a RAID array?

No basically my point is that you have either options, Install windows onto the secondary pc and set it up to have a public folder OR install linux instead of windows as the main OS for the secondary pc and use freenas to create a shared folder.

[JaredB]

No basically my point is that you have either options, Install windows onto the secondary pc and set it up to have a public folder OR install linux instead of windows as the main OS for the secondary pc and use freenas to create a shared folder.

Ok, well neither of those would work for me. A synced shared folder isn't what I'm looking for, because I want to be able to keep multiple back up copies automatically. And FreeNAS takes over the entire PC, so I wouldn't be able to run my other servers off of it. So I would need something else. Thanks though.

[Nallown]

Ok, well neither of those would work for me. A synced shared folder isn't what I'm looking for, because I want to be able to keep multiple back up copies automatically. And FreeNAS takes over the entire PC, so I wouldn't be able to run my other servers off of it. So I would need something else. Thanks though.

I get what you mean but when you say "all" do you mean EVERYTHING including program files? or just all documents? Because you can set the documents folder to be another folder so when you safe a file into my documents it would safe it onto the shared folder if you get what I mean? Because essentially all the documents folder is a link to another folder from your C:\ drive so instead you change the link to the external public folder

[JaredB]

I get what you mean but when you say "all" do you mean EVERYTHING including program files? or just all documents? Because you can set the documents folder to be another folder so when you safe a file into my documents it would safe it onto the shared folder if you get what I mean? Because essentially all the documents folder is a link to another folder from your C:\ drive so instead you change the link to the external public folder

I know what you mean, but I do want something that will back up the entire PC, including program files.

[Nallown]

I know what you mean, but I do want something that will back up the entire PC, including program files.

Like raid 1? 

[JaredB]

Like raid 1? 

RAID only keeps a single copy of my data, I want it to have multiple daily / hourly back ups.

The 2nd PC will have Raid on it to store the back-up data. I still deciding between Raid 1 or 5.

[Peer Review]

Use Macrium Reflect. Its free for personal use. It has the ability to backup via your network. It also makes a bootable rescue media you can use to push the FULL images it makes back to any drive you want whether it be a new on because the old one fried or just to bring your old drive back to any state you want. You can mount and play with the images created to take files or anything else out that might have been erased by accident or corrupted , without corrupting the backup image itself. All in all it's a handy piece of software.

 

Also I use Windows home server 2011 and windows 8 with no issues at all.

Also what kind of bandwidth you have is irrelevant all this is done via your local network you could not even have internet service and it wouldn't matter. 

[Nallown]

RAID only keeps a single copy of my data, I want it to have multiple daily / hourly back ups.

The 2nd PC will have Raid on it to store the back-up data. I still deciding between Raid 1 or 5.

RAID 1 would copy everything onto a second hard drive, EVERYTHING. basically you'd have a duplicate hard drive

[JaredB]

Use Macrium Reflect. Its free for personal use. It has the ability to backup via your network. It also makes a bootable rescue media you can use to push the FULL images it makes back to any drive you want whether it be a new on because the old one fried or just to bring your old drive back to any state you want. You can mount and play with the images created to take files or anything else out that might have been erased by accident or corrupted , without corrupting the backup image itself. All in all it's a handy piece of software.

 

Also I use Windows home server 2011 and windows 8 with no issues at all.

Also what kind of bandwidth you have is irrelevant all this is done via your local network you could not even have internet service and it wouldn't matter. 

Can you run other servers while running Windows Home Server 2011. As I mentioned I want it to also run things like game servers, teamspeak, FTP(unless FTP is incorporated into WHS2011), and other similar programs.

[JaredB]

RAID 1 would copy everything onto a second hard drive, EVERYTHING. basically you'd have a duplicate hard drive

Yes, but it's only 1 single back up, I want multiple back-ups kept over time. So if for example, I need something I accidentally deleted from a week previous I can get it.

[Nallown]

Yes, but it's only 1 single back up, I want multiple back-ups kept over time. So if for example, I need something I accidentally deleted from a week previous I can get it.

I see what you mean, so you want a backup drive which JUST copies over files and not synch with other drive

[Peer Review]

Can you run other servers while running Windows Home Server 2011. As I mentioned I want it to also run things like game servers, teamspeak, FTP(unless FTP is incorporated into WHS2011), and other similar programs.

Of course. Windows is just the platform. You can run as many different application servers as you computer specs can handle. I run Apache ,Plex, Samba, Teamspeak, Vent, and a few other random Applications at all times.

Don't let the word "Server" confuse you. All those are just programs but server versions not clients. As simple as I can put it, they are just where the main program is running that you and your friends or clients need to connect to.

[JaredB]

Of course. Windows is just the platform. You can run as many different application servers as you computer specs can handle. I run Apache ,Plex, Samba, Teamspeak, Vent, and a few other random Applications at all times.

Don't let the word "Server" confuse you. All those are just programs but server versions not clients. As simple as I can put it, they are just where the main program is running that you and your friends or clients need to connect to.

Ok, then maybe I was wrong about WHS2011. It may be what I'll use then. Thanks.

[Peer Review]

Especially since it's like 50 bucks and comes with 10 cal licenses included. Hope that all helps.