Need good double back up solution

[sarahbanks]

I have a small network comprising an IMac (250GB), a MacBook Pro (500GB) and a PC (200GB), with the PC connected to an external backup drive of 500GB. With the external backup being smaller than the total capacity of my 3 machines, I'm obviously having trouble! So I've bought an additional 1.5TB drive which is also connected to the PC. I try not to keep any critical data on any machine, but network error or user error does occasionally leave critical data in the wrong place. Time machine or alternative PC based syncing software seems to back up from A to B, but I need to backup A/B/C, to D, and then to E (where D holds all critical data, and E holds a back up of all critical data and also a vast amount of non critical information). I'm really stuck trying to find the most robust and elegant backup solution - what I have is clumsy and manual, and that's no good when you're tying to protect client data against hardware failure and user error. Can you help with a better solution?

 

[kimsland]

For XP: Start > Run > Ntbackup.exe

For Vista (I have done this)

Copying the files XP backup program to Vista

In order to copy files for XP’s Backup Utility, you need access to a working installation of XP Pro. You will then fire up Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Once there, you will need to locate the following files:

• Ntbackup.exe — Windows Backup Utility executable
• Ntmsapi.dll — Removable Storage Public Interfaces
• Vssapi.dll — Volume Shadow Coy Requestor/Writer

You can then copy them to a folder on a USB drive for easy transport over to a Vista system

Enabling the Removable Storage Management system

Now that you have the files necessary to run XP’s Backup Utility on your Vista system, you need to enable the Removable Storage Management system. To do so, access the Control Panel, select Programs, and then click Turn Windows Features On or Off. When you do, you will encounter a UAC and will have to deal with it appropriately.

When the Windows Features dialog box appears, scroll through the list, and locate and select the Removable Storage Management check box

 

[sarahbanks]

Hi Kimsland - thanks for your quick reply )
However I am now very confused! I'm not quite sure what your notes were helping me achieve, but I followed them anyway assuming all would become apparent during the process. I found the files like you said, but they were also already on my Vista system, so I didn't copy the older ones over. I then couldn't find the options you mentioned in Control Panel (Programs?), nor do I know what a UAC is. Could you explain it all a bit more in layman's terms?! Me no tekkie...

For XP: Start > Run > Ntbackup.exe

For Vista (I have done this)

Copying the files XP backup program to Vista

In order to copy files for XP’s Backup Utility, you need access to a working installation of XP Pro. You will then fire up Windows Explorer and navigate to the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Once there, you will need to locate the following files:

• Ntbackup.exe — Windows Backup Utility executable
• Ntmsapi.dll — Removable Storage Public Interfaces
• Vssapi.dll — Volume Shadow Coy Requestor/Writer

You can then copy them to a folder on a USB drive for easy transport over to a Vista system

Enabling the Removable Storage Management system

Now that you have the files necessary to run XP’s Backup Utility on your Vista system, you need to enable the Removable Storage Management system. To do so, access the Control Panel, select Programs, and then click Turn Windows Features On or Off. When you do, you will encounter a UAC and will have to deal with it appropriately.

When the Windows Features dialog box appears, scroll through the list, and locate and select the Removable Storage Management check box

 

[kimsland]

Oh I see you have it in Vista: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...e2-8b69-4c65-afa3-2a53107d54a7&DisplayLang=en

So what happens when you run NTBackup