Backing up windows laptops

[kermitthefrog917]

I have been told by my parents that i need to back up their laptops regularly. My first thought on how to do this was a rsync cron job. It would handle the incremental increases over whatever time interval i end up deciding on, and it would be pretty simple through cron. Only problem im seeing now is my disk space. I've got just over 5 GB free under my linux, with about 10 GB or so on my NTFS partitions. Ideally, i would prefer to just deal with my 5 GB free. Would it be possible to routinely put all files in the backup folder on a DVD-R, and have rsync still only backup changes? I would in theory like to backup until my disk is down to 1 GB free, and then transfer the majority to a DVD, with further backups ignoring the files that havent changed, without those files taking up my hard drive space. I would prefer not to mess with the laptops. Is there any way a symlink of some sort can account for the files without them taking up space?

Sorry if im not so clear on this... im just kinda trying to figure out if my idea would be possible... just to rephrase..

As an example (probably not anywhere close to correct):

1)I set up a cron job to rsync certain folders over Samba
2)I transfer these files to DVD-R
3)The files are replaced with placeholder files so that rsync leaves the files alone, unless they have changed. That way i can save disk space.
4)The placeholder file could potentially hold an extra line of info where i can show what DVD the latest version is on (so that in a few months, 5 or so DVDs could easily be managed)

I'm kinda new to linux and that is probably very difficult, but if it were possible, it'd save me a lot of time and effort.
Thanks

[user124]

- dont use rsync over samba - use cwrsync as a windows service.
- afaik wndows does store the atime on files only with a 2sec precision. there is a rsync parameter to handle this bug.

so you are searching for an incremental backup
rsync is meant to keep dirs in *sync*. messing around with target or sourcefiles to fake rsync isnt a good idea (imho).
look out for a program that fits your needs - arkeia (light), mondo and amanda maybe. havnt tryed the programs myself, just a thought...

[kermitthefrog917]

The whole point is to keep my mom's almost dying laptop from crashing without backup. Im afraid that if i install the service, it may slow it down even more. Right now I have a kinda clunky setup that works.... I have

[coax]

What I would do, is let your users (aka Mom and Dad) put their files on a samba share on your server. You can make a "network drive" out of a samba share. (By files I mean the ones you need to backup -> docs, pictures, emails, ...)
Then when you need to format the windows computer (average 6 months or so ), you first install every piece of software you need, and then make an entire image of the computer so that you can always put it back easily. And because of their files being on your samba server, you won't need to copy them back every time you need to put the image back. You can use ghost, ghost4you (g4u I think) of just dd to make that image.

Then you can just rdiff (or whatever) those files you have on your samba share to a remote location, tape backup, dvd backup, or whatever comes to your imagination.
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- There is no such thing as having too many computers -

[coax]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot:
Buy a bigger disk drive. They're not that expensive anymore. :p
_________________
- There is no such thing as having too many computers -

[kermitthefrog917]

k... thanks for the responses... but...
1) im over a wireless network.... which would lead to some intense lag mounting a samba share for their use...
2) bigger hard drive is a definate goal... but im a poor high school student, and im having a hard time convincing my dad that 80GB is not enough to hold 3 operating systems along with a 20+ GB music collection (i already backed up my tv shows to DVD-R).... (btw... 3 OS's... Gentoo....for nearly everything..... Slackware.... to use when i break my gentoo....(it happens... ).... and Windows XP... cuz sadly... as much as i would like it too.... Linux cannot satisfy my video editing needs... my ATI all-in-wonder capture abilities are almost non-existant.... and gatos needs some serious work)
but a bigger hard drive will come when i build my sister a computer.... meaning... upgrade mine and throw all my old hardware into a box for her use....but for the short term... i need to deal with my hard drive.... cuz seriously... my moms laptop is making that freaky clicking noise on seek that means that the drive is gonna die pretty soon...
3) It needs to be transparent and idiot proof... although i have been looking at ghosting my dads laptop and setting up 2 partitions for him.... whats the best way to go about ghosting a windows partition without having to actually use windows....?

thanks guys

PS (look at my last PS).... any suggestions?

[KermitTheFragger]

Maybe its a bit over the top, but you could use bacula: www.bacula.org. Its a very feature rich program which supports network backups and windows clients I believe.