Linux Backup software

[RavenRM]

Hi, I am new to the Linux environment and still learning but I have to say I love it! One thing I am not sure about is I have setup a computer running Linux mint. Now i want software that will serve as backup for another windows machine. The thing is i have tried using Box Backup but i just get confused although from what i have read it would be the perfect backup solution. I basically need the software to backup as much as possible meaning files and settings configs all of that. The windows machine has a dot matrix printer installed on it and allot of applications that is so time consuming to install and setup if you need to re install after a HDD crash or whatever the reason may be. Does anybody know of software i can use and is there a how to guide lol. Please provide links if possible =)

 

[skittle]

Most people would just use rsync, or a gui for it.
Here is a whole list of 'backup' programs.
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/backup_programs

 

[RavenRM]

Thank you for the reply. The thing is I need software that can backup system files, applications and documents etc. Which will be saved on a server offsite by implementing a VPN in the system. The software needs to be able to do a bare metal restore and do incremental backups so that if I have worked on a word file and saved it, it would back up the changes and not the whole system again. Maybe I should run a MS pc or do I stick with Linux as a server?

 

[skittle]

Thank you for the reply. The thing is I need software that can backup system files, applications and documents etc. Which will be saved on a server offsite by implementing a VPN in the system. The software needs to be able to do a bare metal restore and do incremental backups so that if I have worked on a word file and saved it, it would back up the changes and not the whole system again. Maybe I should run a MS pc or do I stick with Linux as a server?

I would just use the standard linux program dd to make a one time system compressed 'full metal' backup image.
Boot any linux livecd/liveusb and run command:

dd if=/dev/sda | gzip -c  > /mount/backupfolder/backup.img.gz

Then use any number of tools to do incremental backup. boxbackup is not actively developed anymore.

Bacula works well with windows clients

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Bacula

 

[Alabalcho]

@Raven, what you're looking for is Windows application, not Linux. Of course, you can use Linux box to host the backups, but the application to execute backups must reside inside the Windows.

There are many application to aid in bare-metal recovery - Acronis, Norton Ghost, even Microsoft' own Backup tool. Most of these tools also support differential backups.

I am using (unfortunately, discontinued) Windows Home Server for that task. It's successor, Windows Server Essentials, can do almost the same things, but costs couple of hundreds of dollars. If you can afford this, I would recommend going this route with your Windows boxes.

 

[RavenRM]

Hey guys thank you for the help. @skittle I had a look at the links and the software provided within and learned allot also thank you for telling me about box backup. @ Alabalcho The windows way is the expensive way lol. I can load Windows Server Essentials as my company has a license agreement for them so I have a product key to install and it would be the easier way i think but like i said more expensive. So I spoke to a couple of people and loaded Ubuntu 14.04. Is there any guide as to how to setup this server so it would perform or be a cloud server? I read up on vsftpd and there is a guide on how to install that. All I want to do is rent a server from a company (like in South Africa we have Afrishost.co.za) which uses VMware on their servers. They have cloud hosting and managed cloud hosting. I got hold of Cobian Backup Black Moon v8 which is a open source software to install on the Windows clients from where the backup needs to take place. Now I have just freshly installed Ubuntu and want to get started on it so that I can run some tests with my windows laptop to backup to it from two different locations. What should i do first on the Ubuntu server to get it ready? And do I need dyndns? I have been doing research for a week now and I just get confused with all the different ways. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks again

 

[Alabalcho]

You can turn your Ubuntu into your Own Cloud

I know nothing about Cobian Backup, but it seems that your v8 is quite old and no longer supported. Check with the developer whethr it provides for "bare metal restore" before spending efforts on that.

 

[skittle]

In addition perhaps look into creating a Git repository to keep track of changes to files