I have been interested to note that large numbers of forum members have home networks that consist of multiple PC's w/diff OS's and it made me wonder what backup/restore/file sharing strategies people have put in place to help them with the management of their networks.
Now....I like to play/overclock/tweak/etc or windows update/Nvidia drivers/ Java upgrades/ etc sometimes break something unexpectedly which ends up with me needing to recover files, drivers and/or something else. I have noticed that restore points help but do not allow for complete recovery of all the files and folders on my pc's so I needed to use a different strategy to accomplish my needs.
In my case, I came down on the side of "Windows Home Server" to provide the above mentioned services because the OS now costs under $100 and will run on an older re-purposed pc (I built mine from scratch but the the principle remains the same). Drives are cheap (I use 5 drives in my server) and the OS will mirror the data in the shared folders across multiple drives so I don't lose valuable pictures (I would hate to have to explain to my wife that I lost the pictures of our kids or grandchildren and can't get them back), software, or the pc backups that will be needed sooner or later. The home server even monitors if my pc's have been backed up regularly or need to be backed (and notifies me should one need to be backed up, the default backup schedule is daily or I can manually backup after I make changes) and it even cleans up the backups for me retaining however many I tell it (default I believe is 3-daily, 4-weekly, 3-monthly) so I don't have to be bothered with the administration. Now I only have to maintain the files I share in one location (even my music library) and I just point to the shared file on the server from 5 different computers and because the restore can be down to a single file or folder instead of only the complete system I have been able to turn off restore points on the individual pc's and use this space for other uses.
When I first started down this road I was just interested in simplifying the administration of sharing the same files across multiple systems and automating the backup process (because I am inherently lazy about it even though I know how important it is when you need to recover something...Hindsight is 20/20 afterall), but about 2 weeks after I stood up a Windows Home Server I had the bad fortune to suffer a hard drive crash on my laptop and discovered how well the restore function in WHS works. Just installed a new hard drive and then restored the last backup which took about 20 minutes and I was back in action with this laptop and all drivers, files, network connections, etc were there, no downloading to get them back or having to reapply patches or updates.
Anyway I was just wondering what solutions others are using and why.
Now....I like to play/overclock/tweak/etc or windows update/Nvidia drivers/ Java upgrades/ etc sometimes break something unexpectedly which ends up with me needing to recover files, drivers and/or something else. I have noticed that restore points help but do not allow for complete recovery of all the files and folders on my pc's so I needed to use a different strategy to accomplish my needs.
In my case, I came down on the side of "Windows Home Server" to provide the above mentioned services because the OS now costs under $100 and will run on an older re-purposed pc (I built mine from scratch but the the principle remains the same). Drives are cheap (I use 5 drives in my server) and the OS will mirror the data in the shared folders across multiple drives so I don't lose valuable pictures (I would hate to have to explain to my wife that I lost the pictures of our kids or grandchildren and can't get them back), software, or the pc backups that will be needed sooner or later. The home server even monitors if my pc's have been backed up regularly or need to be backed (and notifies me should one need to be backed up, the default backup schedule is daily or I can manually backup after I make changes) and it even cleans up the backups for me retaining however many I tell it (default I believe is 3-daily, 4-weekly, 3-monthly) so I don't have to be bothered with the administration. Now I only have to maintain the files I share in one location (even my music library) and I just point to the shared file on the server from 5 different computers and because the restore can be down to a single file or folder instead of only the complete system I have been able to turn off restore points on the individual pc's and use this space for other uses.
When I first started down this road I was just interested in simplifying the administration of sharing the same files across multiple systems and automating the backup process (because I am inherently lazy about it even though I know how important it is when you need to recover something...Hindsight is 20/20 afterall), but about 2 weeks after I stood up a Windows Home Server I had the bad fortune to suffer a hard drive crash on my laptop and discovered how well the restore function in WHS works. Just installed a new hard drive and then restored the last backup which took about 20 minutes and I was back in action with this laptop and all drivers, files, network connections, etc were there, no downloading to get them back or having to reapply patches or updates.
Anyway I was just wondering what solutions others are using and why.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Systemax N2000
- CPU
- Q6600 (G0 stepping)
- Motherboard
- XFX nForce 680i LT
- Memory
- 4 X 2gb OCZ SLI-Ready PC-6400
- Graphics card(s)
- Dual XFX GeForce 9800GT 512MB in SLI mode (Stock)
- Sound Card
- Integrated High Def audio 192 kHz/32-bit eight channel
- Monitor(s) Displays
- 1 24" Septre widescreen, 2 17" Optiquest Q171b's
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x1200 Sceptre / 1280X1024 Optiquest's
- Hard Drives
- 250GB 7200 RPM SATA II
- PSU
- Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W
- Case
- n2000
- Cooling
- Thermaltake bigwater 760is - Liquid cooling
- Mouse
- Microsoft wireless laser Mouse 6000
- Keyboard
- MicroSoft wireless 6000 v2.0 keyboard
- Internet Speed
- Wild blue -darn it 1.5mb down and 200k up 17gb p/month FAP
- Other Info
- Windows home server x86(1.5 Tb on 5 drives), Ubuntu 9.0.4 x86, vista x86 sp1, XP pro sp3 x86. SQLserver 2005, MySQL DB 5.0.
