Best/easiest backup method

[Panama Red]

We have 5 XP machines at work that connect to a server. The server runs a Unix os and dos based inventory system. All our records are backed up on the server but none of the individual My Doc folders and Outlook files on each work station pc get backed up. What would be the best way to setup an unattended backup for each of these work station pc's? They run 24/7 so doing the backups after business hours would be preferred.

[Force Flow]

Here's a 3-part series I did on a backup system with windows batch scripting. You should be able to backup to a shared drive on the Unix system (or whatever the destination is).

http://www.pcmech.com/blog.php?blogid=53
http://www.pcmech.com/blog.php?blogid=55
http://www.pcmech.com/blog.php?blogid=56

This is basically the poor man's way of doing a scheduled backup.


There's a program called DriveXML that's free (or at least, was the last time I saw). I'm not exactly sure how good it was/is since I never actually got around to trying it.

Acronis True Image is pretty good and easy to use, but may cost a few bucks for 5 machines.

[hobey19]

Force,

Drive Image XML is a fantastic program. while my use is a bit different from Panama's, i find it to be perfect for making backups of troubled systems before i make changes. coupling it with BartPE to make backups outside of windows is a great feature. and it makes the images in standard xml format, so they should be readable in just about any backup program.

Panama,
i don't know what kind of server you have, but i am running clarkconnect which comes with bacula preinstalled. for my uses it appears to be a pretty good backup system.

craig