Hi Henri, 2009/3/14 henri <[email protected]>: > In essence I would like to determine if rsync a good choice when it comes to > the backup of files on a Windows XP machine? > > Suggestions such as the following will all be warmly welcomed : > > (1) Do not run rsync over ssh, keep it simple. > (2) Do not use rsync on Windows XP. > (3) Try xyz commercial solution/service instead, it works great! > (4) Use xyz open source solution it is fantastic! > (4) It works but it is difficult, prepare your self for punishment. > (5) No problem, just follow these instructions you will be running in 1 day. > (6) It works, just make sure you install the xyz patch. > (7) Not enough information, it depends on various other factors. > ...etc > > > I am aware that there is the popular "Cygwin" project which provides a super > simple way of installing both rsync and OpenSSH on Windows systems.
There's no "native" port of rsync on Windows so using the Cygwin port is the way to go. If you don't want a full Cygwin installation there is an excellent package called cwRsync which contains just what you need at http://www.itefix.no/i2/node/10650. The same site provides an OpenSSH package called CopSSH which is designed to work well with cwRsync. Both packages come with Windows-style installers that set up the SSH/rsync daemons as Windows services. If you want a commercial backup solution, you might be interested in BackupAssist (www.backupassist.com) which now supports backup via rsync as well as other methods. (Disclaimer: I work for the company that develops BackupAssist.) BackupAssist provides various pre-defined schemes for regular scheduled backups with history. No need to fiddle around with scripts and rsync options, just enter your server details, select a scheme then select which files/directories you want to backup. There's a 30 day free trial period if you want to try it out. Other features: - Supports rsync daemon, rsync over ssh, and rsync daemon via ssh tunnel - Backup history uses hard links for files that haven't changed between backups, similar to rsnapshot. (Our marketing department calls this "single instance store".) - Support for Volume Shadow Copy service (VSS) for Windows 2003 and later (not XP unfortunately). I hope this doesn't sound too much like an ad, but you did ask about commercial solutions. Cheers, David -- Please use reply-all for most replies to avoid omitting the mailing list. To unsubscribe or change options: https://lists.samba.org/mailman/listinfo/rsync Before posting, read: http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
