make windows home server report as desktop

[jackwhitter]

I am trying out a windows home server install, and i like everything it does except backblaze does not work for windows home server. backblaze vomits on the fact that windows home server is a "server" OS.

i managed to get all the pieces to the home server without actually running the installer, but the back blaze server process actually checks for server version too.

how can i get windows server to report that it is windows xp (or vista or 7.. some desktop OS version?)


alternatively, does anyone know if folder duplication is possible in windows 7 desktop? that is the piece i consider required. the other functionality of home server can mostly be duplicated or i can live without.

 

[JackMDS]

Any OS can do Folder duplication.

You can use Syn type of Application.

Or this can do it auto in real time. It does software base RAID-1

http://www.techsoftpl.com/backup/features.php

 

[Red Squirrel]

another option is syncback (not really real time though). DFS (distributed file system) might do what you want as well, I forget how to set it up but it's fairly easy and is built into Windows server OSes.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

This might help you out. Tentacle Software does a great job of disk management and it's dirt cheap.

 

[jackwhitter]

thanks for all your help, however, i did not explain this well.


i want a good offsite backup for DR (backblaze is my preferred choice due to the amount of data i have) and i need local replication/backup as well.

so i would like good folder replication on a desktop OS, so i can use backblaze natively

OR

i need to have windows server masquerade and report as a desktop OS, so i can use windows server's built in replication (duplication or DFS), and have backblaze run.


i like WHS's handling of all the folder replication for me, so i do not have to worry about matching drive capacities... i have some 1tb drives and some 600gb drives, and i would like to be able to throw everything in a computer and have the software handling all the replication and making sure the data lives on at least 2 drives (WHS does this very nicely).

 

[RebateMonger]

What happens if you set the "Compatibility Mode" setting for BackBlaze to "XP" instead of Server 2003?

 

[jackwhitter]

i had already tried the compatibility mode check (tried xp and win 2000) for the installer and for the actual change detection service (both blow up on server detection, still.)

thanks for another idea!

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Can you somehow get the WHS machine to automatically copy everything over to another desktop pc with a lot of space on it (internal and external), and then run backblaze on that desktop machine?

 

[jackwhitter]

i was trying to use WHS's intelligence for duplicating folders to avoid having to continually buy matching drives when i needed to upgrade space... but now that you mention that idea, i might be able to do something kind of like that, as the WHS is in an esxi box. i might be able to use an iscsi initiator so WHS sees the drives as native and be able to use backblaze from a desktop OS. i'll let you know how it works out after this weekend.. gonna take some configuring.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

I hope it works.. definitely curious to see if you can get it to work and how also.

 

[RebateMonger]

There's going to be a practical limit for how much data you'll be able to hold on Backblaze. The limit is going to probably be in the Gigabyte realm rather than the Terabyte one.

With disk space so cheap, I'd recommend using some sync software to copy critical data from WHS to another local (non-Server-OS) PC and run Backblaze on that. Doing so meets, technically, at least, the terms of service of Backblaze and uses proven technology.

 

[Arkaign]

Might be able to use Cobain for this. It's free and can backup over network or ftp, differential or full, very flexible and light app.

 

[Chiefcrowe]

Any updates on this jack?

 

[sourceninja]

http://support.crashplan.com/doku.php/recipe/whs_installation

Crashplan supports windows home server. You can use it to sync to a desktop and have backblaze back that sync up. OR you can just use crashplan's excellent off site storage.