File Replication (Mirroring) Software

[matthews]

I'm currently working on my new server, had it setup for a couple weeks here and been doing a temporary backup of stuff. I use Acronis for daily main drive backups to my external drives. What I'm wondering is if anyone knows of a program that will instantly mirror the files onto another drive. For example, files are copied to a share on the server, the instant they are copied to that share, they are also copied to the external backup drive. I'm not too worried about deleting if the main drive file gets deleted, but it would be a bonus. Kinda like a RAID setup where it goes to both drives, but not like RAID in the sense of reading. Basically just a program that will do file mirroring (replication) for me. Thanks in advance.

[faulkner132]

Why not just get a cheap hard drive controller which does RAID 1?
It will probably be a cheaper, more lightweight and more stable option than any software package.

[matthews]

Where's the fun in that? :D lol, No I'm not looking for a hardware solution, looking for a software solution. I like a challenge, and software can be one. It's not exactly server hardware, but as all us techs know, how many of our home domain controllers or servers are actually servers.

[Force Flow]

There's such a thing as "software RAID", but I've never tried it, and wouldn't recommend it (as I've heard it's not reliable or very stable).

I found a good tool recently called "robocopy". One of the key items was the /PURGE option, which removes copies of the files/directories that no longer exist at the source location.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robocopy

This is command line stuff, but I'm sure you'll have fun with it ;)

Also, if you set it up as a scheduled task, you'll have an uncompressed backup of your files on an automated basis if you get everything set up right

[pam123]

PCMech doesn't have a "Fun,Fun,Fun" experiment forum but I'm wondering if we should start one.

Keep talking to us!

[matthews]

PCMech doesn't have a "Fun,Fun,Fun" experiment forum but I'm wondering if we should start one.

Keep talking to us!

Yeah, totally. I'm by no means a MCSE, but I'm in the process here in the next month or so on getting my compTIA A+ by the time I graduate grade 12 here... people these days, they look for help too quickly, google it my friends, play around, get crappy old computers and mess them up and try to fix them. That is how I learnt. I know you guys condone illegal software, as do I, but that is how I learnt. Windows 2003 server, that was a fun challenge with GPO's VPN's, Terminal Services, logon scripts, clustering, SQL, etc. I enjoy fooling around and see what happens :D. Hope to get my server+, network+, and whatever else I can as soon as possible, saves money by going to university. Anyways back to the topic, I'm using SyncbackSE right now, have been for couple of weeks, and that works fine, that is really all I need, backs up nightly. Would be cool though for a RAID type setup via software... hmm I'll have to look around some more and see what I can find, so far no luck... hmmm looks like I have a project at hand here....first conquer this, then clustering 2003 server :D Thanks for the replies so far.

[glc]

I know you guys condone illegal software

Hardly. Exactly the opposite, refer to forum rule 9. I hope all you did was use the wrong word - "condemn" would have been a better choice.

[pam123]

Yeah, totally. I'm by no means a MCSE, but I'm in the process here in the next month or so on getting my compTIA A+ by the time I graduate grade 12 here... people these days, they look for help too quickly, google it my friends, play around, get crappy old computers and mess them up and try to fix them. That is how I learnt. I know you guys condone illegal software, as do I, but that is how I learnt. Windows 2003 server, that was a fun challenge with GPO's VPN's, Terminal Services, logon scripts, clustering, SQL, etc. I enjoy fooling around and see what happens :D. Hope to get my server+, network+, and whatever else I can as soon as possible, saves money by going to university. Anyways back to the topic, I'm using SyncbackSE right now, have been for couple of weeks, and that works fine, that is really all I need, backs up nightly. Would be cool though for a RAID type setup via software... hmm I'll have to look around some more and see what I can find, so far no luck... hmmm looks like I have a project at hand here....first conquer this, then clustering 2003 server :D Thanks for the replies so far.


Wait a minute.
Who are you ?

[matthews]

Hardly. Exactly the opposite, refer to forum rule 9. I hope all you did was use the wrong word - "condemn" would have been a better choice.

:o ,my bad... yes, that is the word that I meant, it was close...

Wait a minute.
Who are you ?

What do you mean who am I?

[pam123]

What do you mean who am I?

I thought I'd seen this before.
Are you the guy who was wiring the house ?

[matthews]

Nope, that would not be me.

[faulkner132]

If you are using Windows Server, you can use dynamic disks to do software RAID.

While hardware would be better, the software RAID utilized by dynamic disks, in my experience is very reliable and very stable. There are some catches you should read about though:

http://www.petri.co.il/difference_between_basic_and_dynamic_disks_in_windows_xp_2000_2003.htm

[glc]

The only big gotcha of dynamic disks is the following - if something happens and you have to pull a drive to get data off it, a dynamic disk will not mount in another machine.

[faulkner132]

The only big gotcha of dynamic disks is the following - if something happens and you have to pull a drive to get data off it, a dynamic disk will not mount in another machine.

Actually, it will. I did it just last week.

I pulled a dynamic drive from Server 2000 machine and attached it to XP. In the disk management you have to tell it to "import foreign disks". This was a single disk from a RAID 1 array I "broke".


Edit:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windows2000serv/reskit/core/fndb_con_lxgq.mspx?mfr=true

Moving Disks

You can move basic and dynamic disks from one computer to another. For both basic and dynamic disks, you need to physically move the disk from the computer, and then either restart the computer or use the Rescan Disks command on the Action menu of Disk Management.
Importing Foreign Disks

If you move one or more disks from a Disk Group to another computer that contains its own Disk Group, the Disk Group you moved is marked as Foreign until you import it into the existing group.

To use Foreign/Dynamic disks, use the Import Foreign Disks operation associated with one of the disks. The manual operation lists one or more Disk Groups, identified by the name of the computer where they were created. If you expand the details on a Disk Group, it lists the locally-connected disks that are members. Click the appropriate Disk Group, and then click OK . You can then view the dialog box that lists volumes that were found in the Disk Group, along with some indication of the status of those volumes.

[glc]

You got lucky. I've had it tell me I had to revert it to a basic disk, which will wipe all data.

[matthews]

Hmm so you can use dynamic disks....alright, yeah, I just asked another tech next to me here at work, and he showed me how. Thanks for the help, will let you know what I get figured out. :)

[faulkner132]

You got lucky. I've had it tell me I had to revert it to a basic disk, which will wipe all data.
I've done it a half dozen times without a problem.
I always move the disks from either a older OS to a newer (2000 -> XP/2003) or to the same OS.

[matthews]

hmmm now that I know this, looks like I have a project this weekend to do :P, get an old computer out, put server 2003 on it, put in some harddrives, and play with some striping and raiding with dynamic disks. The tech I was talking with today reminded me that I was using an external drive for the backup raid, if it was removed it would have to rebuild the mirror....and yeah...I don't want that, but still, something new to play with and the learn :D