This has been a widely discussed subject on the blogsphere as of late, and i couldn't help myself, but to submit a post on it.
There is a lot of speculation out there saying that Microsoft is going to play much nicer with the open source community in the coming years.
As much as i would LOVE to believe that, as I am a huge linux fan, and user, I just don't see it happening. Not with Ballmer at the Helm. When i think of Steve Ballmer running the whole show, i'm reminded of articles like this.
Basically the guy is saying, linux wouldn't be here if it wasn't for us(microsoft). Do we really think this is going to be the guy to tear down the walls between open source and proprietary software??
I don't think so.
Sure, we have a few open-source projects out there that are being inter-developed with help from Microsoft, like "moonlight" mentioned in the first article I've cited above, but a few small projects here and there is like throwing a deck chair off the Titanic. Especially, when you consider Microsoft's role in the IT world today.
It's a start, but it's something i don't think we'll see Microsoft nurture as a company until we have someone more open minded in the captain's chair.
Don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against Microsoft. I work with their products on a daily basis, and will admit that they do a lot of things well with they're software, but i'm also a huge advocate of open-source software as well, as i believe that computing as a whole would benefit from world-wide open-source. It would allow us to use all of our ideas collectively and i believe we would see innovation go through the roof as a result.
Maybe, one day in a post-Gates/post-Ballmer Microsoft we'll see the company open up and start contributing to open-source software, but until Ballmer is out from behind the CEO's desk in Redmond, I think we're going to see the same old Microsoft that we've seen for the last decade.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Scheduling daily backups using Windows NT Backup.
I had to use this for my first technical post as I've been completely amazed over the years at the lack of awareness about this tool.
I had a client ask me about a week ago. "Hey Andy, do you know of a good free backup utility for Windows XP pro???"
Windows NT backup was the first thing to pop into my head. There were any number of good reasons to recommend this tool.
Using NT backup, is quite easy once you understand the terminology, and know how to access it, and use it.
As we see in the picture below, NT backup can be accessed via the Windows start menu.
This will launch the Windows NT Backup utility. The program will typically start in wizard mode, which is the default setting seen below.
Click next and let's get started!!
You'll be prompted with the following screen.
Here, we're given a choice.
we can
On the next screen you will be prompted to select what it is, that you would like to have backed up. In my example i will be backing up my wife's Sims 2 data. (so, someday i may be saving an entire civilization. LOL )
So, I select the Sims2 folder and it will automatically select everything underneath it in the file hierarchy.
Let's click next.
Now, we need to tell NT backup, where we want it to put this backup. Generally, you will pick a secondary Hard drive you have in your computer, or an external Flash Drive of Hard Drive. That way, if your primary system drive gets nuked, your backup doesn't get nuked with it.
You can even use a network location if you have a network drive mapped.
I chose the folder C:\Backup\ as my wife's sims data is located on my D: drive, which is a separate physical device.
At this point it will ask you if want to finish and be done, as the program has all it needs to preform a one time backup.
Click "Finish". You'll see the screen below and NT backup will begin backing up your files to the location you selected.
Now, that's all this will be. It will run the backup Once and Once only. (But don't worry, we needed to do this once to get a daily backup schedule going. I'll explain below.)
This obviously isn't ideal for data that can easily change on a daily basis. So, we'll run the wizard once more and exactly follow our steps until we get back to the finish screen. This time, we'll click advanced instead of finish to start setting up a scheduled backup task.
At this point NT backup will ask us, what kind of backup do we want to preform?? We have a few options explained in detail here.
for what we need to do, we'll just select "daily".
The daily backup job works by looking at all of the select files and folders for modified timestamps. Meaning, anything changed or added since the last backup was preformed will be backed up and appended to your backup.
If nothing was changed or added since your last backup. The program will have nothing to do.
Click next.
You'll be prompted with additional options.
Really the only option in here we'll be concerned with is the verify option at the top. What this does is verify that the selected data made it successfully to the backup location.
It's really your choice. Selecting it will make your backups take longer, but will have an extra file check to make sure everything is working.
Personally, i like to include verify in my backups.
Click next.
Earlier we did a one time backup, so we already have a backup medium (or file) located on another hard drive or network location. So, we're going to tell NT backup to use this existing file for all scheduled backups.
Just choose "append this backup to existing backups" and click next.
It will now ask you if you want to run this backup now, or later. We want to create a scheduled job so, we'll select later.
Name your scheduled job, and then click set schedule to define when your backup job will run.
(DON'T FORGET TO TELL IT TO RUN EVERY DAY!!!)
when you select the schedule it will prompt you for your username and password. Just input them.
Now, click finish and your good to go!! Your scheduled backup job will now run at your specifications.
If you every want to remove this job you can delete it via the scheduled tasks module in the windows control panel.
If you need to restore files from a backup you've created, you can run the restore wizard from within NT backup, and it will walk you through restoring your files from the backup file you created using this tutorial.
Thank you, and feel free to ask questions if you have any.
I had a client ask me about a week ago. "Hey Andy, do you know of a good free backup utility for Windows XP pro???"
Windows NT backup was the first thing to pop into my head. There were any number of good reasons to recommend this tool.
- It's free (as was requested)
- It SHOULD already be installed. (on windows XP pro and up)
Available here if it's not already pre-installed on your system for some reason. - It can potentially have the functionality of some enterprise level 3rd party backup programs. (I use this statement loosely as a lot of 3rd part backup utilities have specialized features.)
- Ease of use.
Using NT backup, is quite easy once you understand the terminology, and know how to access it, and use it.
As we see in the picture below, NT backup can be accessed via the Windows start menu.
This will launch the Windows NT Backup utility. The program will typically start in wizard mode, which is the default setting seen below.
Click next and let's get started!!
You'll be prompted with the following screen.
Here, we're given a choice.we can
- Backup all files and PC settings.
- Selected files. (Files we choose)
- Or just the system state. (good link here describing the use of system state backups)
On the next screen you will be prompted to select what it is, that you would like to have backed up. In my example i will be backing up my wife's Sims 2 data. (so, someday i may be saving an entire civilization. LOL )
So, I select the Sims2 folder and it will automatically select everything underneath it in the file hierarchy.
Let's click next.
Now, we need to tell NT backup, where we want it to put this backup. Generally, you will pick a secondary Hard drive you have in your computer, or an external Flash Drive of Hard Drive. That way, if your primary system drive gets nuked, your backup doesn't get nuked with it.
You can even use a network location if you have a network drive mapped.
I chose the folder C:\Backup\ as my wife's sims data is located on my D: drive, which is a separate physical device.
At this point it will ask you if want to finish and be done, as the program has all it needs to preform a one time backup.
Click "Finish". You'll see the screen below and NT backup will begin backing up your files to the location you selected.
Now, that's all this will be. It will run the backup Once and Once only. (But don't worry, we needed to do this once to get a daily backup schedule going. I'll explain below.)
This obviously isn't ideal for data that can easily change on a daily basis. So, we'll run the wizard once more and exactly follow our steps until we get back to the finish screen. This time, we'll click advanced instead of finish to start setting up a scheduled backup task.
At this point NT backup will ask us, what kind of backup do we want to preform?? We have a few options explained in detail here.
for what we need to do, we'll just select "daily".
The daily backup job works by looking at all of the select files and folders for modified timestamps. Meaning, anything changed or added since the last backup was preformed will be backed up and appended to your backup.
If nothing was changed or added since your last backup. The program will have nothing to do.
Click next.
You'll be prompted with additional options.
Really the only option in here we'll be concerned with is the verify option at the top. What this does is verify that the selected data made it successfully to the backup location.
It's really your choice. Selecting it will make your backups take longer, but will have an extra file check to make sure everything is working.
Personally, i like to include verify in my backups.
Click next.
Earlier we did a one time backup, so we already have a backup medium (or file) located on another hard drive or network location. So, we're going to tell NT backup to use this existing file for all scheduled backups.
Just choose "append this backup to existing backups" and click next.
It will now ask you if you want to run this backup now, or later. We want to create a scheduled job so, we'll select later.
Name your scheduled job, and then click set schedule to define when your backup job will run.
(DON'T FORGET TO TELL IT TO RUN EVERY DAY!!!)
when you select the schedule it will prompt you for your username and password. Just input them.
Now, click finish and your good to go!! Your scheduled backup job will now run at your specifications.
If you every want to remove this job you can delete it via the scheduled tasks module in the windows control panel.
If you need to restore files from a backup you've created, you can run the restore wizard from within NT backup, and it will walk you through restoring your files from the backup file you created using this tutorial.
Thank you, and feel free to ask questions if you have any.
Greetings
Hello all.
I've created this blog in order to share my daily adventures in the world that we have come to know as IT.
I've had a lot of friends and relatives ask me for various computer assistance over the years. Some, were very simple questions, others required a great deal of effort and thought. When ever i solved the issue that i set out to fix, regardless of what it was, i always felt a sense of pride.
I thought to myself. "you'd be pretty good at doing this for a living Andy."
Thus, began my journey into the IT industry. Once i started working in the field i found all sorts of more interesting problems and some creative solutions.
So, in the essence of shared knowledge, and the goodwill of one person helping another. I'm publishing this Blog so that as I learn new things from day to day, you (the reader) will too.
Thank you, and enjoy!!
I've created this blog in order to share my daily adventures in the world that we have come to know as IT.
I've had a lot of friends and relatives ask me for various computer assistance over the years. Some, were very simple questions, others required a great deal of effort and thought. When ever i solved the issue that i set out to fix, regardless of what it was, i always felt a sense of pride.
I thought to myself. "you'd be pretty good at doing this for a living Andy."
Thus, began my journey into the IT industry. Once i started working in the field i found all sorts of more interesting problems and some creative solutions.
So, in the essence of shared knowledge, and the goodwill of one person helping another. I'm publishing this Blog so that as I learn new things from day to day, you (the reader) will too.
Thank you, and enjoy!!
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