Wireless home server

[cichlid]

Hello, I'm trying to find find a solution to accomplish a few wants. I'm not the most PC literate so please forgive dumb questions. I currently use my desktop running Tversity to push media to my PS3. It is quickly running out of space and I have been putting off a backup solution but now I realize I should have something in place in case of failure. My wife has a laptop and I will soon be getting one and thought of turning my desktop into a home server with Windows home server software. Only problem is after purchasing the software and the storage its nearly as much as just purchasing one from HP or lenovo, so I don't know what I'm gonna do with this one. Anyways, could someone please let me know what I would need to accomplish the following?

-I am familiar with Tveristy, its easy for me and I would like to continue using it to push media to my TV wirelessly. Could I continue to do this remotely through the home server through my laptop?

-Wireless backups of my wife's and my PC automatically every night.

-Do this all wirelessly. Could I accomplish this by simply running my wireless router to the server?

-Do this as simply and cost effectively as possible


I would really appreciate any help, I'm really lost when it comes to networking. Thank you

[Variable]

I don't think windows backups on Vista/7 allow backup to a shared drive. You could probably find an open source solution as long as it will push the backups to a share.

I don't know what Tversity is, but I would assume if it works now it would work moving forward. If your trying to append drive space from a PC and allow some function of Tversity to use that space, whether or not it is possible depends on how you attach extra space using Tversity

[cichlid]

Thank you. So how do people on networks backup their computers?

[Variable]

Depends on the backup software you use. There are many applications that will backup to a network share but the ones I know about cost money. You said mentioned cost... Windows backups work fine but I believe Vista/7 will want you to backup to a USB drive which is attached. You may be able to work around it by creating a share and then mapping a drive to it from a Vista/7 box. I have never tried it but it may work.

You could also create a little batch file to copy a backup file stored locally to a network share using xcopy, but that may be too much for you right now. The guys here may be familiar with a free app that gets the job done.

[cichlid]

Thank you again for your help, as far as backups go, according to the windows home server site the home server software will do daily backups of the PC's on the network. I don't know whats involved in accomplishing this, but hopefully I can figure it out.

I imagine I could just plug the server into my wireless router to at least achieve my backup needs (I hope)

Thanks again

[Variable]

I have never used Windows Home Server but I know that Small Business 2008 will only do backups to a directly connected disk - which is stupid. The older versions could copy to a share. If Home Server will do it then you are fine and it will be a good learning experience. I would wonder how a home server runs commands on clients without a domain being set up or adding the same admin user to each machine and letting that user run as a service.