Backup my kids computer over the internet?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Ken
  • Start date Start date
K

Ken

I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a VPN
or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to back up
their computers to one of our home computers that I use just for storage
(it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what programs/hardware
would I need?

Thanks
Ken K
 
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a VPN
or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to back up
their computers to one of our home computers that I use just for storage
(it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what programs/hardware
would I need?
Click to expand...

Start small. How do you backup YOUR home computers? ;-)
 
Ken said:
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not
remember often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router
with a
VPN or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow
them
to back up their computers to one of our home computers that I
use
just for storage (it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If
so,
what programs/hardware would I need?

Thanks
Ken K
Click to expand...

They will never learn fend for themselves if you always try to
save them.
 
Ken said:
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a
VPN or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to
back up their computers to one of our home computers that I use just
for storage (it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what
programs/hardware would I need?

Thanks
Ken K
Click to expand...

Please don't, even if you find a way to do so. Having tens of thousands of
college kids backing up hundreds of GBs of HD each, every night or even
every
week, will consume a major portion of the world's bandwidth. What a waste.
 
Please don't, even if you find a way to do so. Having tens of thousands of
college kids backing up hundreds of GBs of HD each, every night or even
every
week, will consume a major portion of the world's bandwidth. What a waste.
Click to expand...

Au contraire!
In this case, we'll all soon be on a 10 Gbps network.
Hmmm, oh, but you already have that in the US !
 
Peter said:
Start small. How do you backup YOUR home computers? ;-)
Click to expand...
I use True Image 8. I do a full backup every Saturday night, then do
incremental backups each night. These files are then backed up in the
early AM to a computer in another part of the house that is used only
for backup, so that I have redundancy. The house is alarmed and there
is a fire alarm. Our fire station is 2 blocks away and our neighborhood
pays extra to the city for additional patrols, resulting in an almost
negligible theft rate in our area. So short of a fire that sweeps
through our long home or forgetting to set the alarm and being robbed, I
am covered fairly well. I do not have off-site redundancy, although I
do have a removable SATA hdd that I may take to the office once a week.
I don't want to be TOO compulsive.... ;-)
 
Ken wrote...
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a VPN
or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to back up
their computers to one of our home computers that I use just for storage
(it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what programs/hardware
would I need?
Click to expand...

At home, I always try to train my 12-years-old boy to take care
of himself, even he is still not doing it quite well yet.

At work, I always try to teach my fellow workers to solve their
problems by themselves first, before comming to me asking for help.

If you solve the problems for them, they will come to you every
single time. And I do not enjoy pampering other people.
 
I use True Image 8. I do a full backup every Saturday night, then do
incremental backups each night. These files are then backed up in the
early AM to a computer in another part of the house that is used only
for backup, so that I have redundancy. The house is alarmed and there
is a fire alarm. Our fire station is 2 blocks away and our neighborhood
pays extra to the city for additional patrols, resulting in an almost
negligible theft rate in our area. So short of a fire that sweeps
through our long home or forgetting to set the alarm and being robbed, I
am covered fairly well. I do not have off-site redundancy, although I
do have a removable SATA hdd that I may take to the office once a week.
I don't want to be TOO compulsive.... ;-)
Click to expand...

That you cannot do over Internet. You must be more selective it choosing
data files.

Setup home VPN server. Create shares on a storage PC for a backup purpose.
On remote PCs (your daughters), identify folders, which need to be backed up
("My Documents"). Then write a script which would connect to your VPN server
and copy changed files to your folders on a storage PC. You can use a time
stamp or better yet, application like "Second Copy 2000" to avoid copying
the same files again. Shutdown PC at the end. Schedule that script to run
every night and ask your daughters to leave PCs on, before they go to bed.

Actually you can do scheduling, VPN connecting and mapping drives using
"Second Copy 2000" advanced properties.

Give it a try.
 
Harry said:
Ken wrote...
Click to expand...
At home, I always try to train my 12-years-old boy to take
care of himself, even he is still not doing it quite well yet.
Click to expand...
At work, I always try to teach my fellow workers to solve their
problems by themselves first, before comming to me asking for help.
Click to expand...
If you solve the problems for them, they will come to you every
single time. And I do not enjoy pampering other people.
Click to expand...

On the other hand, with something done as unreliably as
backup, there is a lot to be said for a fully automated solution.

And the bandwidth requirement should be minimal if the backup is
incremental and not just mindless brute force image backup at a high rate.
 
Ken said:
Peter wrote
Click to expand...
I use True Image 8. I do a full backup every Saturday night, then do
incremental backups each night. These files are then backed up in the early
AM to a computer in another part of the house that is used only for backup, so
that I have redundancy.
Click to expand...

No reason why you couldnt automate that bit over VPN for your kids.
The house is alarmed and there is a fire alarm. Our fire station is 2 blocks
away and our neighborhood pays extra to the city for additional patrols,
resulting in an almost negligible theft rate in our area. So short of a fire
that sweeps through our long home or forgetting to set the alarm and being
robbed, I am covered fairly well.
Click to expand...

It wouldnt cost that much more to have that computer in
the other part of the house in a fireproof safe that isnt easy
to find so isnt going to be found by the unlikely burglars.
I do not have off-site redundancy, although I do have a removable SATA hdd
that I may take to the office once a week. I don't want to be TOO
compulsive.... ;-)
Click to expand...

Sounds like a pretty decent approach.
 
Bob Willard said:
Ken wrote
Click to expand...
Please don't, even if you find a way to do so. Having tens of thousands of
college kids backing up hundreds of GBs of HD each, every night or even every
week, will consume a major portion of the world's bandwidth.
Click to expand...

And proper incremental backup wont.
What a waste.
Click to expand...

Only if that mindlessly crude approach is used.

Its actually something crying out for a decent commercial solution, stupid.
 
Paul said:
Au contraire!
In this case, we'll all soon be on a 10 Gbps network.
Hmmm, oh, but you already have that in the US !
Click to expand...
not hardly! 99% of of those on high speed connections are paying 30-50 US
dollars per month for Broadband with transfer rates somewhere around 3-15
Mbits/sec download and 256-512k bits/sec upload. Nearly all the rest are on
either DSL or dial up. There is a very small number of poeple who are using
special university networks that allow very high speeds for very specific
types of transfers and not for general purpose every day Internet use.
There ain't no such thing as a free lunch!
Eric
 
Eric said:
not hardly! 99% of of those on high speed connections are
paying
30-50 US dollars per month for Broadband with transfer rates
somewhere around 3-15 Mbits/sec download and 256-512k bits/sec
upload. Nearly all the rest are on either DSL or dial up. There
is
a very small number of poeple who are using special university
networks that allow very high speeds for very specific types of
transfers and not for general purpose every day Internet use.
There
ain't no such thing as a free lunch!
Eric
Click to expand...

We pay $29.95 a month for 3.0/768 ADSL.
 
Rod said:
And proper incremental backup wont.
Click to expand...
True. I assumed that college kids who can't even schedule a simple
backup probably
can't set up a more complicated schedule of fulls plus incrementals either.
 
Bob Willard said:
True. I assumed that college kids who can't even schedule a simple
backup probably
can't set up a more complicated schedule of fulls plus incrementals
either.
Click to expand...

Sounds like the kids wont be setting it up, because they arent that competant.
 
Ken said:
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a VPN
or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to back up
their computers to one of our home computers that I use just for storage
(it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what programs/hardware
would I need?

Thanks
Ken K
Click to expand...

Streamload.com offers 10Gb of storage online.

Depends on what they have in their files (ie. confidential, video ...)

I am not affiliated with the above, I noticed the company in an article last
month.
 
Ken said:
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not
remember often to back up their computers.
Click to expand...

FolderShare looks like a great option ... it can be setup to sync
new/updated files automatically ... but if they have accumulated a lot
of mp3's and other stuff then any backup will take a long time even
over a broadband connection ...
https://www.foldershare.com/
 
Ken said:
I have two daughters in college and I know that they will not remember
often to back up their computers.

I am wondering if it is a consideration to purchase a router with a VPN
or to purchase a program that will set up a VPN to allow them to back up
their computers to one of our home computers that I use just for storage
(it is an XP box with 600Gb of storage). If so, what programs/hardware
would I need?

Thanks
Ken K
Click to expand...

They're college girls. Chances are that they don't *want* to be sending the
contents of their hard drives back home to daddy. I feel for ya though.
 
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