[NCLUG] In search of a new backup solution

[Paul Hummer]

Hi NCLUGgers,

I recently retired my big raid 5 backup server and have migrated to a drobo. I currently have less capacity in the drobo, but that doesn't matter because (a) I wasn't using all the capacity anyway, (b) the drobo has much less power requirements as well as maintenance requirements, and, most importantly, (c) the simplicity means that I don't have to maintain it as much, which in turn means I get backups even when I'm feeling lazy and don't want to play sysadmin (a game I'm not always the best at).

On my old server and backup strategy, I was using rsync on cron. I like rsync, but running it on cron meant that if my system was suspended or not powered up for any reason, I didn't get backups. This usually occurred when I was traveling with my laptop, when I probably should have been the most careful of backing up.

I wonder if there's a backup strategy that is simple (jafo, I wouldn't consider your setup simple :) that might have some more archival features like rdiff-backup, but not require too much human interaction, and still be easy to restore (I'm not sure I've ever restored from rdiff backup, but I remember it seeming complicated). Most of the systems here are Debian or Ubuntu. Bonus points if it can also be used on Windows and/or Mac OS, and even more bonus points if my wife can easily monitor her own backups, or at least be notified when something breaks so she can scream at me to come and fix it.

Cheers, Paul

P.S. The sooner I can get something place, the better. I'm not currently at risk of totally losing data, but the current transition means that if certain hardware fails right now, getting the backups restored would be EXTREMELY inconvenient.