Win Client

[mike]

Im looking for a Win7 client. I'd like it to automatically backup my
files as i make them and encrypt. I prefer an open source client over
shareware if possible when security is concerned. Most of the windows
clients in the datastorageunit list that have those features arent
windows. I googled a bit and found some other windows backup clients
which might work here.. Bacula, Areca backup ,Zamanda and Backup pc.


Which one do you recommend?

[mike]

oops i meant most of the clients on the list that had those features
were linux

[Martin Larsen]

Hi,

My favorite tool is rsync. It is very fast, reliable, versatile and not too difficult to use. I does not encrypt files by itself, but you can use it with other tools to encrypt data.

I don't know if a native windows rsync exists (it does probably) but it can be used with cygwin, as can most other linux command based tools.

Martin

[John Wooton]

cwRsync would be the direction I went personally.  If you want to encrypt, look at EncFS.  I believe the website has support videos for both of these under the "Support" page.  Sometimes cwRsync can be a little troublesome to get set up, but isn't too bad usually.  If you have problems just post back.

[mike]

Thanks for the vids.

Is your service susceptible to these attacks?
http://www.h-online.com/newsticker/news/item/Some-online-backup-services-insecure-736179.html

Can i backup my whole computer or only one folder?

If i use truecrypt instead of encfs for a little extra security would
i lose alot of performance or usablity?

-Mike

[John Wooton]

Man-In-The middle attacks can be avoided by verifying your connections RSA Key Fingerprint.  I keep that posted on the website.  Could this be forged...I suppose anything is possible.  Those that are paranoid enough to not trust SSH alone should sleep better knowing they have the option of adding a second layer of defense...EncFS or TrueCrypt...or anything else they want to incorporate.  

A good practice would be to use a different password for accessing your SSH account than that of your Pass phrase for your encrypted Data.  Personally I feel those two methods combined provide Excellent security for your Data.

Loss of performance with Encryption...  I don't see this being a noticeable difference.  The only downside I see is maybe a little extra leg-work because there is an added level of complexity.  Some folks for example that are only storing their music collection may not worry so much and just prefer to keep their storage solution as simple as possible.

You can back up your whole computer.  However, if you want to copy every single file...you can run into issues with locked system files and such...(Particularly on Windows Clients).  If you are referring to backing up your computer as a "cloned image" for instance....I wouldn't be able to help you there.  That's probably possible, but also probably fairly difficult to get going without some paid software...or a lot more legwork.  Personally, I think a more ideal solution is to arrange all your important/critical data into a folder, and then duplicate that locally if possible.  Then the last leg of the backup would be offsite storage.  That way local restores are quick and easy...then offsite data is there in the event you lose both...or there's some sort of disaster/theft/etc... at home.

I hope I've answered your questions...if you ever want me to help you with anything specific just let me know.  Sometimes I'm quick to respond and sometimes I take a little longer.  I'm going to be traveling away from home in the not so distant future so during that time I may be a little more slow.

[Martin Larsen]

With a clone tool such a Norton Ghost (commercial) or the open source alternative CloneZilla, you can make a set of image files of your computer and then backup those files to DSU.

[Michael Teachman]

Would i have to verify that manually every time to catch a MITM if one ever came?

I was originally going to do my primary backup online and a secondary one with an old external hd on a schedule id forget about, but i just remembered my wrt610n router supports usb storage and the dd-wrt firmware I installed on my router supports rsync :)

I should probably do the sync backups on my important Data folders and create images of my Os/program folders on a schedule. I probably would have to create separate partitions on my computers unless the imaging program can exclude the data folders in the os/prog image. A con of partitioning is i might lose some usefull space on my current small laptop hd, I may upgrade, but to a small ssd.

-mike