Synchronised backups

[Salazaar]

I've got a Windows 7 PC, an Openfiler based file server and an external USB HDD. Is there any freeware/opensource software that can keep folders on the server and PC synchronised with with the external drive (which would is formatted to NTFS and connected to the PC).

It may be easier to connect the HDD to the server but I need to retain the ability to use it with windows PCs and Openfiler doesn't like the permissions (or lack of them) on an NTFS drive.

[Splash]

You should be able to script something with rsync pretty easily to take care of that. That said... what you're describing is not a backup in my eyes.

[Salazaar]

I've found a piece of software called Allway Sync which seems to offer what I need.

What you're describing is not a backup in my eyes.

How so? It's a duplicate (or two) of the files on seperate devices. Okay, it's not off site but that's not really practical (or ultimately necessary) from my living room.

[jim]

You'll have to pay for Allway sync if you've got a lot of files, free version is only designed for small transfers on and off USB sticks.

Syncback might be worth a look. Their free version has always been adequate for me, although they have extra features with the paid options. Don't know off-hand whether a feature you need will be paid-for.

[Salazaar]

Allway Sync seems to be working so far. It says it's free for moderate personal use, though it doesn't specify what moderate is. there seem to be three versions, two of which are designed for flash drives but the main version seems to be fairly complete.

I'll stick with it for now and give Syncback a try if I start getting demands for cash

[Splash]

How so? It's a duplicate (or two) of the files on seperate devices. Okay, it's not off site but that's not really practical (or ultimately necessary) from my living room.

Because as soon as one version of your files is corrupted then all 3 are. Granted, your setup gives you protection from hardware failure, but this is no more than RAID.

[Salazaar]

Ah, I see. Though that's largely unimportant for my purposes, nothing I'm copying is in any way critical, or even of sentimental value.

As an aside, if a RAID array suffers controller failure doesn't that stuff the data? In which case an external hardware copy is marginally more secure?

[mikerr]

How much data are we talking about ?

I use dropbox for this - it'll sync over LAN, as well as backing up to the net at the same time.
It also keeps previous versions of all files...

[oolon]

As an aside, if a RAID array suffers controller failure doesn't that stuff the data? In which case an external hardware copy is marginally more secure?

No, (in general) most raid controllers use config on disk, that means the disks can be removed and put into a new controller of the same class and work, normally you can even put the disks in any order. This also means that clever software is also able extra the data from the array. Posh raid controllers even have battery backed up memory so you can pull the memory out of the controller and install it into a new one to protect your writes. Either way its always easier to not to have to have to do this.

Try to rember what your raid stripe size is, because of you know this its very easy to recover data from an array without knowing much more.

[Salazaar]

How much data are we talking about ?

I use dropbox for this - it'll sync over LAN, as well as backing up to the net at the same time.
It also keeps previous versions of all files...

Between 0.5 and 1 terrabytes, so something like dropbox is not really an option. I just wanted something that makes it a bit easier than manually copying files over (to the external drive) every time I add or delete something from my file server.

Allway Sync seems to do that for the moment.

[jim]

It will for a bit, then it will ask you to pay

I bought it a while back under similar circumstances, for what it matters.

[CaptainCrash]

I've tried loads of file syncing utilities (free and otherwise), and finally settled on FreeFileSync - easy to use, loads of options, very fast over a network, and so far 100% reliable in my experience (which is more than can be said for SyncToy, for example). It also has a native 64-bit executable, a real-time continuous backup capability, and will back up open files - AFAIK Allway Sync (free or paid) won't do this.

There's also good old Robocopy of course if you're happy getting your hands dirty with batch files.

[badass]

Allway Sync seems to be working so far. It says it's free for moderate personal use, though it doesn't specify what moderate is. there seem to be three versions, two of which are designed for flash drives but the main version seems to be fairly complete.

I'll stick with it for now and give Syncback a try if I start getting demands for cash

Allway sync will sync 40,000 files per month and then demand that you pay for the fuller one after that. So either you can sync a few files very regularily or you can sync lots of files occasionally. The free synctoy by Microsoft can do almost everything that allway sync can and it's what I use to make my computer's local pics, music etc available on my NAS when the computer's shut down.
I also use windows backup to backup to that and synctoy running on Windows server 2003 sync's the backups to another site.