Hardware Question: What's the cheapest and easiest way to wirelessly autobackup my data?

Question

I think I created two new words in that Title ;) but hopefully you understand what I'm asking :)

I have two development laptops with data that I would like automatically backed up. I'd like to keep my laptops completely wireless (except for AC) and I'd rather not have to plug my laptops into an external hard drive to backup the data. What's a cheap and easy-to-configure system (hardware and software) I can buy to automatically and wirelessly backup my laptop data? I have a wireless router I use to connect to the internet, is a wireless NAS device a good route to take? Other thoughts?

If so, do you have any recommendations for a good, inexpensive, wireless NAS that can store between 150GB and 500GB of data?

What about software? Will the wireless NAS (or other device) you recommend come with good autobackup software? If not, do you have any recommendations for good software?

Thanks so much in advance for all your help! You've all been so helpful in this venture of mine!

Answer 1

Not exactly an answer, but ... if it's for development - nothing compares to having a version control at a central place and being able to just check-out your latest environment (not only code, but all dev configuration like .profile, .vimrc, etc.)

Answer 2

I consider wireless backups a mistake. It will end up being the bottle-neck in your backup's reliability. I recommend instead investing in a good docking station, so you can have the best of both worlds (wired and free-to-roam).

Answer 3

On the hardware side, I'd also consider a wireless NAS your best bet. Of course you could also use an existing server if you have one, but if you don't yet have one, setting one up just for backup is probably overkill.

On the software side, I am very satisfied with dirvish, available at http://www.dirvish.org/ . It can create "incremental full backups" by using hardlinks. It's Unix-only though, as far as I know.

On Windows, you could set up a task using rsync (just google for rsync windows), or use one of the ready-made backup solutions. Most should be able to back up to any mounted drive, so backup over wireless should be no problem.

Finally:

Make sure to get some notification about the last successful backup, so you notice when (not if) your backup stopped working. And: Test restoring. Remember that backing up is easy; it's the restore that can get hairy...