Tag Archive for 'backups'

SugarSync Saves My Butt… Again (why no one should ever loose their files)

Published by Bret Fisher on May 7, 2010 in Tech. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

You no longer have an excuse to lose your important computer files.  It costs little to nothing to have them automatically backed up online.  Signup for SugarSync and backup 2GB for free.

Even I loose data sometimes.  I had a Excel file that I accidently overwrote, and the local Windows 7 Previous Versions didn’t capture the changes I needed, but SugarSync did!  My savior.  It backs up changes as I save files, quickly and quietly in the background.

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I’ve used lots of backup and file sync technologies over the years to keep data in more then one place. Sometimes for backups (disaster recovery), sometimes for convenience, sometimes for collaboration.  No product until SugarSync did it all for a reasonable price.  After 6 months of using it across 3+ computers, two iPhones, etc. I can say it’s worth the monthly subscription (2GB plan is FREE).  Here’s my favorite features:

  • Sync files between computers
  • chose which folders to back up (not just one root folder)
  • Keep a copy in the cloud
  • Instantly backed up after saving changes. (not ‘schedule based’)
  • Keep 5 versions of the files online for recovery
  • Access them all from web browser or mobile client
  • Chose to make files public or post pics on Facebook from the webapp
  • get a single-click public link to send your friend for downloading that 500MB file you need to send!
  • edit files on the web
  • stream your synced music from web and on iPhone (whaaat?  awesome)

Feature List and Comparison Chart

I used Carbonite for years for computer backup, but that’s ALL it did, for $50+ a year.  I used Live Mesh to sync files between computers and the cloud, but I couldn’t buy more storage and it didn’t have a iPhone client.  I’ve used SyncToy for years but it’s only a LAN client and not easy to automate.  Mozy, Box.net, DropBox, some Amazon storage clients, and more…. none of them could do 1/2 of what SugarSync does.

Check it out buy using this referral link to get extra free storage.

DPM 2007 with SP1: how it works

Published by Bret Fisher on Apr 19, 2009 in Microsoft and Tech. Closed Tags: , , , , , , , , .

Best video I’ve seen to date on the harry details on how the backups work throughout the day and week.  Cleared up tons of questions I had around the difference in workloads like SQL, Exchange, SharePoint, Hyper-V, and File Servers.

Watch the 23min High Quality WMV, or the TechNet Edge page with other viewing options.

DPM with Firestreamer Virtual Tape Library for Tape-less Offsite/remote long term backups

Published by Bret Fisher on Apr 19, 2009 in Microsoft and Tech. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

firestreamer So far DPM 2007 with SP1 works well with Firestreamer Media Changer 3.95.8.  It acts like a fake/virtual tape library with 5 drives and 200 tape slots.  Those “tapes” can be anything that accepts native windows storage… USB, local drives, CIFS network locations, etc.  We’re using a small NAS as the endpoint, and the Filestreamer interface lets you create tape files of any size, which will look/act like tapes in one of the 200 tape slots inside the DPM interface.  This allows you “operational” backups on DPM disk and long term “Disaster Recovery” backups that are pushed over the LAN to somewhere else.  Perfect. 

So far I’ve had one error.

The number of free tapes in the Tape Library Firestreamer Media Changer is less than or equals the threshold value of 40. You must add tape to the library and mark it as free in order to prevent future backups from failing. (ID 3305)

If you get an error about free tape threshold, be aware that DPM seems to have a fixed “free tape” threshold of 20%.  On the Firestreamer Media Changer, since it has 200 tape slots, that number is 40.  The error in DPM itself isn’t an issue assuming you have planned out how many tape file you need (and what size to make them), but if you want to keep your alerts screen clean, be sure to add enough virtual tapes to Firestreamer so that it never dips below 40 free.

Utilizing the Built-in Windows Backup (ntbackup.exe) For Windows

Published by Bret Fisher on Nov 12, 2007 in Microsoft and Solution Writeups. 17 Comments Tags: , , , .

This post is a record of what I’ve learned and done to make the built-in backup utility in Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003 as useful as possible.

Often my clients, as well as most home users have operating systems like Windows 2000/2003 Server (or Windows XP for home users) installed and end up using a 3rd party application to backup their data. For servers, this can get expensive quickly, and often my clients don’t understand why they have to pay as much money (or more) for backups then they did for the server(s) it’s backing up (expensive software combined with expensive tape systems). With home users, or business workstations, they are very rarely backed up because of the complexity that they perceive it to be. Often, I believe the built-in backup utility of modern Windows could do the job just fine for small businesses and home, but many don’t know how to work with it, and deal with its limitations (and Microsoft doesn’t have a good wizard to walk you though the more advanced scenarios).

Continue reading ‘Utilizing the Built-in Windows Backup (ntbackup.exe) For Windows’

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