fields marshall

You can backup your documents to the Internet cheaply and easily using Rsync backup.

In this tutorial I show you how to backup documents automatically using the windows scheduler so that your backup strategy is always on and you always have a backup.

Rsync , for those of you who don’t know, is one of the best and especially quickest ways to backup your documents to the Internet. Rsync on only backups specific files that have been changed or that are new. Furthermore when updating a file rsync only sends the changed portion of the file thereby minimizing traffic and making a faster backup.

Disclaimer: Many webhosts don’t like you backing up all your personal documents to their servers and normally it is typically in terms of service. If you are backing up documents regarding your Internet business then its is a gray area. So I suggest you do not backup your whole mp3 collection for example.

You can read the tutorial, Dowload a Pdf Version of Rsync Backup On Windows here or maybe easier to..

Watch The Video ..

Getting Started

To get started you will need a program called cwrsync.

Right click here and download cwrysnc from sourceforge

Now install cwRsync ( screenshot from install )

Server Configuration

Now lets get the server ready to work with cwRsync. I am using a server here on Dreamhost as an example. Using an SSH client connect to your server and run these commands:

cd $HOME

mkdir .ssh

cd .ssh

touch authorized_keys

chmod go-w $HOME $HOME/.ssh $HOME/.ssh/authorized_keys

pwd

Be sure to write down or remember what pwd returns in this case: /home/rsynced/.ssh

Our server is now configured and ready now we need to setup our local computer.

Local Computer Configuration

On your local computer go the cwRsync installation directory and using the dos prompt type:

See this article to for a dos command prompt window

ssh-keygen -t rsa (hit return several times)

Now using the information from pwd command in the previous section and your servername change this command so that it works for you. Change the text in <angle brackets> and modify /home/rsynced/ so that it refers to your home directory.

rsync -avrz –progress “/cygdrive/c/Documents and Settings/Administrator/.ssh/id_rsa.pub” <username>@<yourserver.dreamhosters.com>:/home/rsynced/.ssh/authorized_keys

Rsync Without A Password

Now rysnc should be working automatically without a password.

To verify – try doing the same command again and you should see no password.

Now lets try backing up a folder – in this example the lame mp3 encoder located in c:\lame

Here is the command: (you should see how to modify if your own use now)

rsync -avrz –progress “/cygdrive/c/lame” rsynced@rsync.dreamhosters.com:/home/rsynced/rsync.dreamhosters.com

Automating Daily Backups

Now to automate this backup so that it happens daily in windows.

First, lets modify the script that comes with cwrsync. Notice how I just follow their instructions and put the command at the end.

Second lets get windows task scheduler to run every day .

Under Accessories > System Tools in Windows there is a Schedule Tasks program. Open this folder and start a new task.

Note: you will need to schedule this as the same user who created the RSA key.

In my case, you would need to schedule this as Administrator.

Remember your initial backup will take a long time but subsequent backups with be rapid as only the changes in a file are sent to the file server.

I live in Chile and have a slow internet connection yet I back up everything to dreamhost.

The progress switch –progress will show you that it is actually working – the transfer rate and all that

Dowload a Pdf Version of Rsync Backup Tutorial On Windows here

Some other Rsync Tutorial recommendations here:

http://rsync.samba.org/ftp/rsync/rsync.html

http://www.exavault.com/support-rsync-setup-windows.php

http://www.mikerubel.org/computers/rsync_snapshots/

Final note I have switched to Mozy because its free and gives you 2 gigs completely free

Check them out..