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Remote Backup of Windows Boxes w/o Samba?
reezle asks: "I'm looking for a good (free as in beer) method to have my Debian server back up some remote Windows machines. There is no Samba in the mix; this is supposed to be a strictly secure internet thing. I've been toying with OpenSSH on the windows computers as a good tunnel, thought of simple tools like ntbackup initiated from a script on the Linux box, but not all of the pieces have come together yet. I need to have the Linux box make the connection, back up data (full and incremental backups) and have that backup data get back to the Linux machine in an encrypted format (across the wild internet). Has anyone done something like this?"
Great suggestion, I think people with large volumes can really benefit from that advice.
I'm glad to see not EVERYONE makes useless posts to Slashdot just to hear themselves harrumph around acting like know-it-alls who run around rebuffing everyone who tries to help others with a little advice, but never offer any advice themselves.
+1 Insightful to you, my friend.
Every time I try to talk about this issue, someone tells me I'm wrong! I even put a warning paragraph at the end of my (grandparent) comment, and still it happened.
For example: A backup that must be restored to the same computer is not a backup! Suppose something fails on that motherboard and you don't have any other motherboards exactly like it?
A backup backs you up! If there are situations in which you won't get all your work back, you don't have a backup. This is not an isolated situation. The commercial life of motherboard models is about 9 months now. Try buying an Intel 845GB motherboard now. Yes, I saw the one listing on Froogle; it is a mistake.
Over and over again I have said that Microsoft technical support representatives have verified my statements, and over and over again someone has other ideas.
NTFS is crippled! Any file system that is designed not to copy all of its own files is crippled! If you think it is not crippled, try using COPY, XCOPY, or ROBOCOPY to copy all system files. You will get error messages. Windows 98 is not crippled; XCOPY32 will copy all system files to another drive and that other drive will be bootable. Yes there may be minor problems with programs that use DOS file names. In my experience, they are easy to fix.
Microsoft says: NOTHING that comes with Windows can backup all of a Windows XP or 2000 system partition, so that it can be a reliable operating system when restored. Yes, people do it, but there are problems. Yes, people live with the problems, or don't notice them.
Microsoft employees recommend Ghost. My personal opinion is that Ghost is very poor quality software with poor support from Symantec.
As I said in my original post, all the facts in it have been reviewed many times by Microsoft technical support people.
I specifically said in my original post: "Some people restore a backup over a working Windows XP installation, but this is said by Microsoft technical support people to be unstable."
I'll see your +1 Troll and raise you a point for posting absolutely nothing of value. Dumbass.