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- How To Access Your Computer Remotely
- Screens 4 6 6 – Access Your Computer Remotely Backup Hard Drive
- Screens 4 6 6 – Access Your Computer Remotely Backup System
The Windows Server Backup page on TechNet says 'You can use Windows Server Backup to create and manage backups for the local computer or a remote computer.I've looked all through the fairly spartan backup options on Windows Server 2012 and I cannot find any way to backup or manage backups of a remote server. Sharing your screen remotely is a convenient way to access another computer as if you’re sitting in front of it. OS X and Windows have this ability built right into them, meaning you can easily share your Mac’s screen with Windows PCs, and vice versa. If you run a mixed network, it’s most likely a combination of Macs and Windows PCs.
I'll look at a couple of ways to back up to a computer located elsewhere, such as on a friend's or family member's computer, and discuss some of the issues of doing this.
by Leo A. Notenboom, © 2011
I am trying to find a way to backup my computer automatically to a hard drive at another physical location (my parent's house). Is there a way to do this?
This is a pretty interesting scenario, and one that I personally used forsome time while my wife had a retail business at a different location from myhome. I would regularly backup in both directions - simultaneously achieving'off-site' backups for each.
But there were, and still are, limitations.
Today, there are a couple of approaches to peer-to-peer backup; I'll coverthe most appropriate.
There are also a couple of things that people often think should work, andwould work in concept, but they simply can't work for practical considerations.
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Peer-to-Peer Backup
Do not confuse this kind of backing up with peer-to-peer file sharing, which we've heard so much about. This is completelyunrelated, except for the concept of 'peer'.
'.. peer-to-peer backups are not suitable for full systembackups.'
A peer is simply 'someone like you'. A co-worker at the same level as youis your peer. A student in the same class is your peer.
We use the same terminology when it comes to computers - two computersconnected on a network that have no hierarchical relationship to them - one isnot a server, for example - can be considered to be peers: on equal footingand with equal permissions and capabilities.
Peer-to-peer backup simply means that we take two computers and back upfiles from the first to the second and the second to the first.
While the two computers don't need to be in different locations from eachother, we'll say that they are for the purposes of this discussion; by doing it this way, you'll get an off-site backup. Saved in a different location, this backup protects your data from things like your house burning down and destroying all your local machines and local backups.
Backing Up Your Data Versus Your Computer
We first need to rule out image backups, or backups of your entirecomputer. It's not that the techniques which we're talking about wouldn't work, theywould. Perhaps even someday, they'll be practical, but today, they are not.
The problem is the speed of your internet connection and the sheer volume of data that you'd need to transfer to backup your entire system.
According to Akami,the average connection speed in the US is now 3.6 megabits persecond.
Now, let's say you had 20 gigabytes used on your system, which is small, by today's standards. (Recall that a byte is 8 bits.)
Math then tells us that it would take over 12 hours to back up your entiremachine under ideal circumstances.
Given that circumstances are rarely ideal, that many people havesignificantly less than a 3.6-megabit connection, and that most havesignificantly more than 20 gigabytes on their system, you can see that a fullsystem backup would take days.
The result is that peer-to-peer backups are not suitable for full systembackups.
On the other hand, they're great for data backups - the backups of only the data fileson your machine - which typically don't add up to nearly as much.
Dropbox
I've talked about Dropbox before, but only in the context of sharing files with friends associated or simply across multiple machines.
But the same technology is also a great peer-to-peer backup solution.
When you install Dropbox and create a Dropbox account, it creates a folderwhich is then shared with all of the machines logged into that same Dropbox account.Update a file on machine A and it's magically updated on machine B whether that machine is across the room or the planet.
Sounds kinda like peer-to-peer backups, right?
You can also use it to share sub-folders with other specific Dropbox users.That way, you can use Dropbox for yourself, but also specify that a particular folderin your Dropbox (perhaps called 'remote-backup') should be shared with your friend'sDropbox account. The same thing happens: updates within machine A's remote-backup folder are magically transferred to the remote-backup folder on your friend's machine (or vice versa) without anything more than an internet connection and making sure Dropbox is running on both machines.
The files are also stored on the Dropbox servers, so even if you don't electto share with a friend, you've got an off-site backup just by using the tool.
Caveat: pick a friend you can trust to use Dropbox with forpeer-to-peer sharing. They can see your Dropbox-shared files and you can seetheirs. Files are encrypted on the Dropbox server, so no one but the accounts which youauthorize can access them.
Dropbox is one example; perhaps the most popular. There are similar,competing services as well. Windows Live Mesh and SugarSync are twoexamples. Scrutiny 6 8 12 – suite of web optimization tools.
001f‹00030003CrashPlan
CrashPlan isbackup software that, as one of its features, allows you to use a friend'sremote computer as your backup storage location.
How To Access Your Computer Remotely
The beauty of this approach is that it's much more like backup software andcan be configured and controlled more like backup software.
The free version allows only peer-to-peer backup with no storage provided byCrashPlan itself. It appears to be ad supported and does not offer 'continuousupdate'. Paid versions of the product offer these features and more.
Unlike the Dropbox approach, your data is encrypted before it leaves yourmachine, meaning that the friend who's been nice enough to allow you to backupto his machine elsewhere cannot see your data.
Disclaimer: I've not used CrashPlan, so this isn't really arecommendation. However, it is the only online backup service which I've foundthat has the very feature that you're asking for as part of its offering. Make sureto carefully evaluate this, or any product or service that you plan to use forbacking up.
Online Services in General
If all that you're looking for is an off-site backup, you don't need the data to bestored on a friend's machine, and you can live with the assorted costs and/or limitations of the various services, then any of the general-purpose online backup services may well be worth looking into. Names like Carbonite, Mozy, Jungle Disk and others are examples.
Roll Your Own
For completeness, I'll throw this out as well.
Particularly because it's what I did.
While my wife had her business, my off-site solution consisted of twoapproaches:
- I used a Hamachi VPN to connect the two machines over the internet, and thensimply had batch files or scripts that copied files back and forth asappropriate. This backed up the most critical data nightly.
- Each location had an external hard drive on to which more extensive, nightly local backups were placed. Periodically, we would physically swap the twodrives as we traveled to and from the business.
The disk swap might not be seamlessly automatic, but it was quitepractical.
Article C4802 - April 23, 2011 «»
You may also be interested in:
- Can I do my backups over the internet? Backing up to a service or server across the internet can be a useful part of a larger backup strategy, but the technique does have important limits.
- Is an online backup service a good idea? Backing up data using an online backup service is lucrative, and can be an important part of an overall strategy - within limits.
- What backup program should I use? Backing up your computer's data is critical. What program should you use? There are many, but the best is which ever one you actually will use.
April 24, 2011 11:25 AM
The security of Dropbox hosted files is apparently poor, employees of the company are able to decrypt your files. The other Leo (Laporte) suggested wuala.com which competes with Dropbox but claims to be unable to decrypt your files on their servers. He hadn't actually used it however.
The Security Now podcast from April 20, 2011 described a security flaw in the Dropbox software. Apparently, copying a single file is all that's needed for a bad guy to impersonate you with Dropbox. Even if you change your Dropbox password, the bad guy with that critical file is still you, as far as Dropbox is concerned.
As for the common offsite backup providers, there is a hidden gotcha with some of them. I blogged about this here
Why your backups may disappear
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17832/why_your_backups_may_disappear
http://blogs.computerworld.com/17832/why_your_backups_may_disappear
In brief, they do replication rather than backup. Thus, if you accidentally delete a file on your computer, many providers will delete the backup of that file. Istat menus 6 00 (906) download free.
There is also another option: you can roll your own VPN. Windows XP Professional and some versions of Windows 7 (not sure which) are able to act as a VPN server. Probably Vista can do it too, not sure. Also not sure about Macs.
The upside is that by acting as your own VPN server, no extra software needs to be installed and thus no trust needs to be placed in any third party. And, its free forever. The downside is that its a bit techie to set up.
Finally, yet another option: sibling NAS boxes. Some (many?) Network Attached Storage devices are able to replicate the data they hold to another NAS box. They do incremental backups using rsync. Thus, its best to fully mirror the two boxes initially. Offsite replication can even be scheduled for off-hours. I haven't tried this yet, but would love to some day. Its a bit pricey however.
April 26, 2011 10:27 AM
While online backup using these methods sounds good in theory, there is one overriding disadvantage that is rarely mentioned: ISP Data Caps. If your service provider limits your data transfer to, say 250GB per month (cough..Comcast..cough), and your normal usage accounts for say, 100GB per month, then your new online backup system would be limited to a transfer of 150GB per month. It sounds like a lot, but it's not. Given the potentially draconian penalties for exceeding the data cap, online backups are rarely practical.
Steve ClarkApril 26, 2011 3:13 PM
For those, like me, with over 200 GB of data to backup, Crash plan offers (for a reasonable fee) a 'seeded backup' service. They send you a hardrive, you backup to it, then return to them, they upload it to your online backup, all encrypted. Then your system can start maintaining that backup with just files that change or are added. Gets you immediate backup protection and saves all that data upload time. They will also overnight a drive back to you if you need to restore your system and don't want to wait for all that download time. They have the most options for data backup I have found. I have mine set to backup to a local eSATA drive and online to CrashPlan. I have used it to recover data after a hard drive crash. There is no option to do a full system backup or image backup. The user interface is a bit too simplified and not exactly well documented - that's my only complaint. Their tech support is pretty quick and helpful. I now subscribe to their family plan, backup as many as 10 computers, no data limit, no data transfer rate throttling either. And back to the article, it does support backing up to any other computer, whether its your own or a friend's. After many many years looking for the 'right' backup solution, this is the best so far. I am a realist though and I would be surprised if Crashplan doesn't let me down somehow in the future, but so far so good!
Mark JApril 28, 2011 11:43 AM
![Access Access](https://cdnp2.stackassets.com/26d63ccc8f99777eafe73e8e6e1a5c1e9005f1f0/store/opt/73/55/dc79bc3562486d43ce3e54dad04f6d78fd1eaf79dc548a4b9c655df07d7c/c12614518d555116a7477a270198c291538a1ae3_main_hero_image.jpg)
Teamviewer.com is a very good piece of software to connect computers over the Internet. It is expensive ($500) for professional use but it is totally free for non commercial use. Of course, you have to trust each other to give each other access to each other's computers.
Robin ClayMay 1, 2011 11:48 AM
Mark Draa wrote, April 26, 2011 10:27 AM :-
While online backup using these methods sounds good in theory, there is one overriding disadvantage that is rarely mentioned: ISP Data Caps.
In the 'Good Old Days' before the Internet became so universal, I used 'Fido', and also I used what might be called 'Fido technology' to transfer files 'direct' (i.e. without any InterNet/ISP etc.) to another computer via dial-up modem. I once (circa 1994) did this from a computer in Turkey to another in the UK.
Perhaps this might still be a viable method ?
Can one 'dial-up' using the Internet telephone system ? If so, how ?
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Comments on this entry are closed.
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When you cannot access your Android phone because the screen is broken, how to recover data from broken Android might be your priority. However, as USB debugging is disabled on the broken Android, you are unable to connect your phone to PC via MTP mode and recover the data. Thus the problem will be: how to enable USB debugging on Android with broken screen?
USB debugging is a way to facilitate a connection between an Android device and a computer so that you can access your phone from the computer and transfer data. Normally, you can enable USB debugging on Android in these steps.
However, when your Android phone screen is broken and unresponsive, you need to enable USB debugging on a broken screen with extra tools: OTG cable or ADB tool. And if neither of the methods works on your phone, you can also try to recover data from screen-broken Android without USB debugging with FonePaw Broken Android Data Extraction.
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Enable USB Debugging without Touching Screen
If the touch screen on your Android phone is broken, but the display is still on (you can still see the display), you can use a USB OTG and a mouse to control the phone with a broken screen and enable USB debugging.
USB OTG (USB On-The-Go) is a technology that allows you to connect a device(mouse, USB drive, keyboard, etc.) to your smartphone or tablet through the USB Type-C or micro USB port. For example, by connecting a mouse to your phone via OTG cable, you can use the mouse to control the phone without touching the screen.
But not all Android phone supports OTG technology. So you should check whether your broken phone (Samsung, HTC, Huawei, LG, Lenovo, Sony, Asus, etc.) is OTG supported. You can refer to the users manual of the phone or just google if your phone supports USB OTG with the specific device model.
To use OTG cable to enable USB debugging on your Android phone with broken screen:
STEP 1. With a workable OTG adapter, connect your Android phone with a mouse.
TIP: Some users have succeeded in connecting an Xbox/PS3/PS4 USB wired controller to a smartphone and enabling USB debugging with the controller. If you have a controller, you may want to give this a try.
STEP 2. Click the mouse to unlock your phone and turn on USB debugging on Settings.
STEP 3. Connect the broken phone to the computer and the phone will be recognized as external memory.
STEP 4. From the computer, open the file folders of your phone and copy the photos, contacts, videos, music that you need to the computer.
Tip: If your phone is on a black screen and USB debugging is disabled, please jump to how to recover data without USB Debugging.
Enable USB Debugging on Android from Computer
Is it possible to enable USB debugging on Android remotely from a computer? The question has been brought up on various forums. And the answer is a no. There is no way to enable USB debugging from PC/Mac. But you can still use ADB command or terminal to backup broken Android with PC.
On Android, there is a tool called SDK, which can debug problems with Android devices. Android Debug Bridge (ADB) tool is part of the SDK tool. With the ADB tool on PC, your PC can communicate with your Android phone via USB and execute a series of commands, including back up data on the phone. By executing ADB command, you can extract data from broken Android with USB debugging.
STEP 1: Install the ADB tool on your PC.
STEP 2: Normally ADB needs to communicate with a phone with USB debugging. Since USB debugging is off on your broken phone, you need to boot your device into ClockworkMod Recovery mode.
STEP 3: When your phone is in recovery mode, launch the ADB tool and connect the phone with a broken screen to PC via USB.
STEP 4: Type this in command prompts: adb devices.
STEP 5: Then type the command to backup data on broken Android:
- adb pull / data / media / clockworkmod / backup ~ / Desktop / Android-up
Tip: If you are not a techie and know nothing about ADB, fastboot and command, it is risky to follow the tutorial to use ADB command without knowing what you are doing. You may end up bricking your phone and turning it into total garbage.
Obviously, it is very difficult for ordinary users to enable USB debugging on an Android phone with a broken screen. But luckily, there is still a way that allows you to access your phone and recover data with no USB debugging.
Samsung Data Recovery without USB Debugging
FonePaw Broken Android Data Extraction is an application for Windows PC that can recover data from Android phone with broken/black/locked screen. With the application, you can access photos, contacts, WhatsApp/SMS messages, music, videos, etc. on your screen-broken phone from PC and save the data on PC. You don't need to enable USB debugging for the application to work. It is a good helper when you need to extract/backup data from the phone with broken screen.
Currently, FonePaw Broken Android Data Extraction supports data recovery from Samsung S4/S5/S6/Note 3/Note 4/Note 5/Tab Pro 10.1. Follow these steps to retrieve data from your phone with broken screen.
STEP 1. Download Broken Android Data Extraction on your Windows PC and run the program.
Download
STEP 2. Connect your phone with broken screen to PC with USB cable. And choose Start.
STEP 3. Choose the device name and model of your phone. Click Confirm.
STEP 4. The FonePaw program will guide you to put your phone in Download mode. Follow the guide to enter Download mode with Home + Power + Volume Down button.
Screens 4 6 6 – Access Your Computer Remotely Backup Hard Drive
STEP 5. The program will begin to scan out your phone data. After it is done, all your phone data will be displayed.
STEP 6. Select the data that you need and click Recover to save the data on your computer.
Screens 4 6 6 – Access Your Computer Remotely Backup System
With FonePaw Broken Android Data Extraction, you can also fix the bricked Android phone, such as Android phone that is stuck in a boot loop, recovery mode, and more. It is highly recommended that the program requires no technical knowledge for ordinary users to fix Android system problems and recover data from Android phone with a broken screen.