Can I do my backups over the internet

I look after an office with 20 PCs and a server, and we run weekly full backups and daily incrementals. Backups are to a USB-attached hard disk, which is taken off-site overnight. What I'd ideally like to do is carry out the backup process over the internet, to a remote PC with the backup drive permanently attached to it, to avoid physically transporting the drive. Full backup is around 120GB of data, incremental is 5 - 10GB. What would you recommend as the best method to achieve this? (using an internet hosted, paid-for backup service is not an option - too expensive!!)

On-line or internet hosted backup services (the ones you're avoiding for the cost in your situation) are becoming very popular. They definitely have their place, but they also make me uncomfortable.

And they make me uncomfortable for the same reasons and issues that you're going to run into with what you're attempting to do.

The problem you'll run into is bandwidth.

Unless you have an incredible internet connection, the copy off-site will take longer than the backup period. In the table below I've done a little back-of-the-envelope math, and as you can see, a 120 gigabyte backup will take over a week to upload at "traditional" T-1 or good DSL speeds. If you have a VERY good internet connection - beyond the maximum of DSL rates, you're still talking a day to upload and that's assuming perfect communications and 100% use of the internet connection.

Backup Amount	1.5Mbs (T-1 or "good" DSL)	10Mbs (basic ethernet LAN speeds)
120gig	7.5 days	1.1 days
10gig	15.2 hours	2.2 hours

In my opinion across-internet types of backups really only make sense if:

• you have an extremely fast internet connection
• or the amount of data that you're backing up can somehow be constrained to a more reasonable amount.

In other words, across-internet backups just don't make sense for full backups, and they rarely make sense in incremental backups in an busy environment.

So what about those online backup services?
First, I'm sure that they're doing everything as smart as they possibly can to minimize the impact of bandwidth limits. I'm sure they compress whatever they can, and that they copy only things that have changed, and that they use your internet connection at what would otherwise be "idle" times - which for many people is most of the time.
However, that doesn't change the fact that a full backup is a heck of a lot of data; much more than one would want to upload via any typical internet connection.
So compromises must be made, and it's those compromises that concern me.

The most typical compromise is to use an internet backup service to backup only your data. This makes total sense, and is a great compromise, as long as one huge issue is addressed. In fact, I do something very similar myself on a semi-regular basis.
That one huge issue? How do you backup the rest of your system?
It's an issue that's very common when you choose to backup only your data, regardless of the reason. The issue is simply this: what happens when you lose something that isn't part of what you backed up? An installed application, perhaps, or even Windows itself? Your on-line data-only backup will not help.

That's why I recommend on-line backups only as part of a larger backup strategy that includes full backups to more traditional backup media.

To put it even more concretely, here's what I do:

   

   Every night important data is collected on one central machine. The other machines are not backed up in any other way. This implies that if something worst-case happens to them I will end up having to rebuild them from scratch. Based on what they do and how they are used, this is an explicit choice I've thought through.

        That central machine is actually my primary desktop machine. Full backups are performed on it monthly, and incremental backups are taken nightly. I use Macrium Reflect and back up to a NAS device on my network.

      Also nightly, some particularly critical data is copied across the internet to the computers at my wife's business, and vice versa. Because of the bandwidth issues this is a limited amount of data; something that can be copied in just a few hours in the middle of the night. (And the primary computer there is also doing monthly full and nightly incremental backups using Acronis to an external hard drive.)

        Once a month a larger collection of data is assembled, compressed and encrypted, and uploaded to an off-site server. This is about 2.5 gigabytes of data, and takes several hours to upload.

As you can see, remote backup can be a part, but only a part, of a larger backup strategy. I strongly recommend off-site backup of some sort, and it's one approach to that. However, that doesn't remove the need to do an explicit and well-thought out backup of full systems and data.

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How to setup Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Broadband Router

Step1 -Begin setup of your Linksys Wireless Router by first plugging in the power. Give it 10 seconds or so to initialize and then plug an ethernet cable into your wall jack and into the port on the back of the router marked Internet. Next get another ethernet cable and plug one end into your laptop and the other into one of the ports labeled 1-4 on the router. Your computer is now properly connected to the router to begin its setup and configuration.

Step 2-Next open a web browser window on the connected computer and type http://192.168.1.1 into the address bar and press enter. A window will pop up prompting you for a username and password to access the configuration page for your router. Enter admin for both the username and password.

Step 3 –you would get a setup page

Step 4-On this screen you should change the Router Name from its default value to something unique so that your Base Station will not be confused with another. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click Save Settings then click Continue when the Settings are successful dialog is displayed.

Step 5- Next, click on the Wireless tab at the top of the settings screen. Change the Wireless Network Name (SSID) from the default value to something unique (you can use the same name you set as your Router Name in the previous step. Then Disable the Wireless SSID Broadcast option and click Save Settings and then Continue when the Settings are successful dialog is displayed.

Step6-Now click on the Wireless Security subsection at the top of the page. In order to password protect your wireless network first use the Security Mode dropdown box to select WEP and then from the WEP Security dropdown box select 128 bits 26 hex digits. Choose a password between 6 and 8 characters and type it into the Passphrase box. Then click Generate. Finally click Save Settings and then Continue when the Settings are successful dialog is displayed. You may also select WPA encryption, however not all network cards support this, so check your documentation first.

Step 7-Next click on the Wireless MAC Filter subsection at the top of the page. Then Enable the Wireless MAC Filter option and select the option to Permit only PCs listed to access the wireless network. Click on the Save Settings button at the bottom of the Filter List window and then Continue.

Step 8-Now click on the Edit MAC Filter List button to pop up a new window (shown below) where you will enter the MAC Address, also known as Physical Address, for each computer that you will be using to connect to your wireless network. If you don't know how to get this information follow the steps here. Once you have finished, click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the Filter List window and then Continue when the Settings are successful dialog is displayed. You may now close the Mac Address Filter List window.

Step 9 Finally click on the Administration tab at the top of the page. Change the default password for accessing your wireless router setup pages by typing a new one into the Router Password field and then confirming it. This should be a different password than the one you setup for WEP encryption, but should also be atleast 6 to 8 characters in length. Click the Save Settings button at the bottom of the Filter List window and then Continue when the Settings are successful dialog is displayed.

Step 10-If you encountered any problems during this configuration procedure, please consult the manual that was included with your router or contact the manufacturer.

Step 10- Your Linksys Wireless Router is now secure.

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