looking for method to synch windos PCs to a backup NAS running Ubuntu server

Question

I am looking for a Windows 'client' that will sync all the files in my desktop 'Data' volume with a backup disk on a NAS running Ubuntu server.

Some features I would like:

• Client compresses files using a well known standard, e.g., zip
• Files stored on backup are still compressed but there is a viewer that can look at and retrieve the files in unzipped format, back to the Windows machine
• Various configuration switches such as:
  • always maintaining one previous version,
  • deleted files on client = deleted corresponding files on server,
  • configurable time to synch, ranging from specific time every day to as soon as new file is written on the client, etc.

I have been through backuppc, bacula, and considered Amanda(zmanda), but they are either sparsely documented, or have way too many features that it is difficult to figure out what to do... I've also run into weird config issues as well.

Basically I am looking for something like synctoy that is a little more robust and configurable.

Any pointers are welcomed.

Answer 1

If you have more than 2-3 machines you want to backup, I would recommend reconsidering Bacula - it will take backup of Windows, Linux & Mac, there is no Samba share fiddling and the whole thing is managed centrally. Bacula is very reliable (we have used it for 3+ years both in our data center and in our office, it have saved both us and our customers multiple times and never once have it failed).

Bacula have a steep learning curve, but I have written a Bacula tutorial how to install Bacula on Ubuntu and backup windows clients (among others) - it will be very helpful if you are new to Bacula.