Backup Strategy

[Cindy]

Hi everyone,

Could someof you be kind enough to "vett" my backup design for my small Peer
to Peer LAN.

Configuration: 3 notebooks behind a Netgear RT314 router.
Machine A: notebook has a cdrw drive and XP home, NTFS
Machine B: notebook XP home, NTFS
Machine C: notebook Win98SE, FAT32

Backup plan:
Weekly incremental data backups using Stomp BackupMyPC from Machines B and C
to a shared backup directory on machine A.
Following this, backup shared directory on Machine A to CD/RW.

Questions/Issues:
1. Does this sound OK? If not, what would be better?
2. Do I run BackupMyPC from Machine A to get the data off machines B and C,
or do I run BackupMyPC on each machine and backup from B and C to A?
3. Will Machine C, being Win98SE, be able to "see" the shared folder on
machine A given the differences in the file system. If not, how do I get
around this?

My many thanks in advance.

[Ceri Edwards]

Hi Cindy

I would recommend a regular full backup of the files on Machines B & C that
you want to keep. Usually a good strategy is to do a full monthly backup
(say on the 1st of the month), followed by incremental backups every week
during the month.

Bear in mind that when restoring from an incremental backup, you will first
need to restore from the full backup, then from each incremental backup
prior to the restoration date....

e.g. if you needed to restore in the 3rd week of the month (before that
weeks incremental backup is done), you would first restore the monthly
backup, then the incremental backups from week 1, then week 2. This can take
a while depending on how much you are backing up. Therefore, do full backups
as regularly as you can manage. Incremental backups only save the changes
since the last full backup, and therefore rely on the full backup being
available to restore properly.

Question 2 - Yes, that will work best. All machines will need to be
connected for the backup to work correctly (i.e. you can access the shares
from every machine).
Question 3 - Yes, you should be able to see the share, however if NTFS
permissions have been applied then you may have a problem. I suggest you
backup from a machine with NTFS as they will be able to access the share on
the FAT32 share (assuming share permissions are applied correctly).

Don't forget that in your peer to peer LAN each machine will need the same
user set up on each machine with the same password for the permissions to
work.

Hope this helps

Ceri


"Cindy" > wrote in message
...
> Hi everyone,
>
> Could someof you be kind enough to "vett" my backup design for my small
Peer
> to Peer LAN.
>
> Configuration: 3 notebooks behind a Netgear RT314 router.
> Machine A: notebook has a cdrw drive and XP home, NTFS
> Machine B: notebook XP home, NTFS
> Machine C: notebook Win98SE, FAT32
>
> Backup plan:
> Weekly incremental data backups using Stomp BackupMyPC from Machines B and
C
> to a shared backup directory on machine A.
> Following this, backup shared directory on Machine A to CD/RW.
>
> Questions/Issues:
> 1. Does this sound OK? If not, what would be better?
> 2. Do I run BackupMyPC from Machine A to get the data off machines B and
C,
> or do I run BackupMyPC on each machine and backup from B and C to A?
> 3. Will Machine C, being Win98SE, be able to "see" the shared folder on
> machine A given the differences in the file system. If not, how do I get
> around this?
>
> My many thanks in advance.
>
>

[Cindy]

Cheers Ceri - many thanks :)


"Ceri Edwards" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Cindy
>
> I would recommend a regular full backup of the files on Machines B & C
that
> you want to keep. Usually a good strategy is to do a full monthly backup
> (say on the 1st of the month), followed by incremental backups every week
> during the month.
>
> Bear in mind that when restoring from an incremental backup, you will
first
> need to restore from the full backup, then from each incremental backup
> prior to the restoration date....
>
> e.g. if you needed to restore in the 3rd week of the month (before that
> weeks incremental backup is done), you would first restore the monthly
> backup, then the incremental backups from week 1, then week 2. This can
take
> a while depending on how much you are backing up. Therefore, do full
backups
> as regularly as you can manage. Incremental backups only save the changes
> since the last full backup, and therefore rely on the full backup being
> available to restore properly.
>
> Question 2 - Yes, that will work best. All machines will need to be
> connected for the backup to work correctly (i.e. you can access the shares
> from every machine).
> Question 3 - Yes, you should be able to see the share, however if NTFS
> permissions have been applied then you may have a problem. I suggest you
> backup from a machine with NTFS as they will be able to access the share
on
> the FAT32 share (assuming share permissions are applied correctly).
>
> Don't forget that in your peer to peer LAN each machine will need the same
> user set up on each machine with the same password for the permissions to
> work.
>
> Hope this helps
>
> Ceri
>
>
> "Cindy" > wrote in message
> ...
> > Hi everyone,
> >
> > Could someof you be kind enough to "vett" my backup design for my small
> Peer
> > to Peer LAN.
> >
> > Configuration: 3 notebooks behind a Netgear RT314 router.
> > Machine A: notebook has a cdrw drive and XP home, NTFS
> > Machine B: notebook XP home, NTFS
> > Machine C: notebook Win98SE, FAT32
> >
> > Backup plan:
> > Weekly incremental data backups using Stomp BackupMyPC from Machines B
and
> C
> > to a shared backup directory on machine A.
> > Following this, backup shared directory on Machine A to CD/RW.
> >
> > Questions/Issues:
> > 1. Does this sound OK? If not, what would be better?
> > 2. Do I run BackupMyPC from Machine A to get the data off machines B and
> C,
> > or do I run BackupMyPC on each machine and backup from B and C to A?
> > 3. Will Machine C, being Win98SE, be able to "see" the shared folder on
> > machine A given the differences in the file system. If not, how do I
get
> > around this?
> >
> > My many thanks in advance.
> >
> >
>
>