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Helping out my dad's friend develop a backup solution...looking for recommendations..

L

leeland

Diamond Member
Hi all,

My dad's friend is a small business owner (mechanic) whom is not very technically inclined with computers...

The main computer he has in his shop is a store bought throw away...he run's the business from the computer

When I initially was asked about it I saw a major flaw to his current backup setup which bit him in the ass yesterday...hard drive failed and now he is up shit creek.

He had previously hired some guy to write some POS file level copy process out of dos with a scheduled task to an external drive (not good at all). I told him that wasn't very reliable and would be a PITA to recover from.

On top of that the external was connected to the desktop...so in the event of a fire...or other disaster both the desktop and backup are toast. He agreed but didn't really seem to grasp that...out of site out of mind kind of a deal...

I offered up a different solution that went something like this...

Main PC
External NAS
Automated backup solution (Acronis)

Both Networked together on his Home Network (his shop is on his land next to his house).

I told him he could invest in an inexpensive NAS, have it set up in his home...

Set up Acronis to do a weekly full backup of the main office computer on a schedule accompanied with daily differentials / incrementals which would be written 'off site' to his home.

My thought was if something happened in his shop he would at least have the backup in his house.

Still not bulletproof because an electrical issue could fry everything and he would be screwed on both fronts...

I don't know if he has the ability to add another fold to the mix of moving another copy of that backup to off site or to a disconnected device to protect from mother nature...but anything would be better than he has now.

I am trying to recommend a process / method that is:

1. User friendly
2. Reliable
3. Easily recoverable
4. Doesn't break the bank as he isn't wealthy...

I was hoping to help him out with this vs. going to some computer shop and getting charged through the nose...the first guy he went to yesterday said he could fix the problem by adding mirrored drives to the computer. I kindly explained he would still be screwed if he got a virus or some other disaster...and be in the same boat he was in already...



If anyone can let some recommendations of software and / or process I would be most appreciative...


Thanks,

Lee
 
Honestly... Internet based storage was made for this guy. Personally I wouldn't throw anymore hardware into the mix.
 
an internet based solution sounds good...can anyone with experience fill me in on how a restore goes when you are attempting pull a backup from cyberspace?
 
I don't see online backups as viable for the whole OS (13GB-50GB+?), but they are amazing for data backups. Once setup properly, they can take the (error-prone) user mostly out of the loop.

The restore can take a while if there's a lot of data. Many of these vendors also have the option to send you a burned DVD or some other media for a fee. For example, Carbonite's "Home Premiere" plan offers this shipping option.
 
His situation from what I can tell deals with individual files (spreadsheets, word documents...) as well as applications (only a few critical ones) to run his shop.

He has a Point of Sale application (invoices, customers, stock) and also a shop application for accessing manuals / diagrams for vehicles (He is a mechanic).

I am not sure how these would be handled by a service like Carbonite. If the app is open and he is entering data would the backup process be able to maintain the version or only when the files close...etc...

My thought would be to recommend a online product like this as well as a backup solution to image the drive and attempt to get those backed up to a 'backup file' which could be uploaded off site as well if feasible.

If he were to keep the OS drive lean and only keep what is needed to run the shop on it I can't imagine he would exceed his storage limit...and as a result it would give him the flexibility to backup individual files as well as have something to use (full drive backup) to restore in the event of a disaster.

The UI looks pretty simple from the webpage videos...and the price for 250 gb's a year doesn't seem terrible...
 
If you have some leftover hardware, you could cobble together a Windows Home Server for his location. WHS does automated daily backups, and full-system recovery on a gigabit network is pretty fast... bare HDD to fully-configured Win7/Office2010 in ~30 minutes, back in business. You can choose which backup you want to restore, too, you're not limited to just the most recent one. I think it keeps 3 months' worth by default.

WHS can wake the systems from Sleep to run the backups, or you can configure them to auto-start in the BIOS at a given time of day to give WHS a chance to back them up before he opens.
 
Last edited:
leeland said:
His situation from what I can tell deals with individual files (spreadsheets, word documents...) as well as applications (only a few critical ones) to run his shop.

He has a Point of Sale application (invoices, customers, stock) and also a shop application for accessing manuals / diagrams for vehicles (He is a mechanic).

I am not sure how these would be handled by a service like Carbonite. If the app is open and he is entering data would the backup process be able to maintain the version or only when the files close...etc...

My thought would be to recommend a online product like this as well as a backup solution to image the drive and attempt to get those backed up to a 'backup file' which could be uploaded off site as well if feasible.

If he were to keep the OS drive lean and only keep what is needed to run the shop on it I can't imagine he would exceed his storage limit...and as a result it would give him the flexibility to backup individual files as well as have something to use (full drive backup) to restore in the event of a disaster.

The UI looks pretty simple from the webpage videos...and the price for 250 gb's a year doesn't seem terrible...
Click to expand...

It really depends on the mechanics tolerance for pain if something happens. I use Carbonite for my home computer and it works great. As soon as I save a file I know that within minutes that file will be backed up. I also wonder if the person had only one computer if he could use the home edition. From what you are saying he doesn't need multiple computers backed up. If it is just one I would try the home edition. Just select the folders where the data is saved to. Don't worry about Mirroring drives etc. It just gets to complicated for a user like this.
 
On-line: Jungle Disk. Better/cheaper than Mozy, Carbonite et al. You get a new drive letter as well as auto-backup. Use either/both.

On-site, 2nd drive: SecondCopy ($30) Centered Systems. Setup/forget.
 
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