Chris Johnston

I want a backup utility. One that will work on my Linux server, my Windows desktop computer, my Windows notebook, and my wife’s brand new iMac.

I have a nice little Linux server that has a second hard drive in it reserved solely for backups. I want to be able to performed scheduled backups from all my different computers onto this drive. So far I have not found anything that works for me.

On my linux server I use rsync and cron to do nightly backups. This has worked very well. Although I am only doing a straight backup off all the files in certain directories with no compression (tar, gz, zip, etc) and no incremental backups. Thankfully, rsync only copies the files that have changed.

On the iMac I can do the same thing if I generate the correct ssh keys and put them in the right spots. However, there should be a simpler method. I tried DejaVu, but it could not handle backing up to a network drive.

As for Windows, as the saying goes: “forgeda bout it” (said in your best italian mobster accent). And I am definitely not installed cygwin just so I can run rsync. I tried Unison, but it crashed trying to backup some Firefox and Thunderbird files and other system files. Plus, it was more work then it was worth when it came to trying to remove files from its backup list that it could not backup.

So, what I am looking for is this, it:

• Must be able to handle backing up over a network
• Must have clients for Windows 2000 & XP, OS X, and Linux
• Must be able to do incremental and full backups
• Must be simple to use and require minimal effort to setup
• Must be fairly simple to restore a single file from the backup
• Must be able to restore an entire directory, or an entire backup easily

Is that too much to ask?

If I find anything that fits the bill, I will definitely blog about it.

Update: Primate suspects

• BackupPC
• Bacula

TipMonkies has posted a blog entry that offers newbies a quick introduction to most of the major linux distros on the market today. The article begins by listing the various Debian and Red Hat derivatives and then goes into distros like Gentoo and Slackware.

Digital Media Minute has posted an article called Setting up a SFTP Server on Windows. This is an easy thing to do using linux, but can be quite challenging with windows.

You have a virus named after you. I can see this as a brand new goal for young children: “I want to grow up and have an email worm named after me”.

In software, everyone is talking about things that are either complex or complicated. What is the difference? In my mind the difference is fairly straight forward: Complex is something that you do not understand fully and Complicated is something that needs to be redesigned.

If you have a system that is either already complicated or is becoming complicated then it is a clear indication that you either need to do some refactoring or some redesigning. Similarly, if you trying to code something that seems to complex, then it is probably an indication that you do not fully understand what it is you are trying to do.

I do realize that there are complex things that we ask computers to do. Calculating the tragetory that the next space probe needs to take in order to crash land on a meteor travelling several billion kilometres per minute is not an easy thing to do. However, if you understand the problem and can break it down into smaller steps, and break those steps down, then you are able to take something that is complex and make it into a series of simple problems. (Granted, I have not actually done this, but I am sure it is possible.)

Whenever I am trying to solve a problem I use this little rule of thumb: if my solution seems to be getting more complicated and more complex then I am on the wrong track. Whereas if my solution is simple and understandable, then I am probably doing things right.

I just noticed that Fedora Core 4 has been released. I will have to give this version a try on my laptop and see how things go. I have had good success with Red Hat in the past, so I have high expectations for this new release (although I have yet to get any version of Linux to run perfectly on my laptop or any computer for that matter).

One program that my project manager likes to use a lot is MindManager. However, it costs about $350US which is a little out of my price range. So I decided to do a little looking at Sourceforge.net and found a cool little Java app called FreeMind.

FreeMind is an open source Java application designed for creating mind maps. And it works amazingly well. I have only been playing with it for the last hour or so and so far I am greatly impressed. The interface is very minimal yet very well laid out and very intuitive. If you have ever seen anyone use MindManager then learning FreeMind will only take a minute or so. It is incredibly easy to use.

Even though the program is created in Java, the developers have done an excellent job of integrating into the windows look-and-feel (I have not tried it on linux yet).

I can definitely see myself using this program a lot and I am eager to see what the developers do with it next. If it currently only at release 0.7.1, but don’t let the low version number scare you off. The program seems to be very stable. The only major feature that is mysteriously missing is the undo function: so save often.