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I have a freshly installed SBS 2011 server that I need to configure for backup. I tried using the SBS backup configuration tool, but it didn't want to use anything but an external drive. Previously, with our W2K3 servers, I used NTBackup to back up the server to disk and then copied the backup files to a remote server on a regular basis. It doesn't appear this is possible with the built-in backup tools in SBS 2011. Am I missing something? What other options are there that won't cost an arm and a leg?

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  • What's wrong with copying to an external drive and having the upload/transfer happen from there? Robocopy could be a candidate for backing up files to a networked computer.
    – Ashley
    Oct 26, 2011 at 9:27
  • Well for starters, I don't have an external drive that I can use for that purpose.
    – Chris
    Oct 26, 2011 at 22:12
  • Can you not buy one? Disk is cheap. Losing data or systems because you didn't have a backup is not.
    – Ashley
    Oct 27, 2011 at 22:27
  • It's not just the matter of obtaining one. There's also no room in the rack for it. At any rate, the whole "here's the real solution stupid, just do it" attitude isn't helpful. I ended up figuring out how to backup to a regular volume using the core windows backup admin utility, rather than the SBS interface, so, problem solved.
    – Chris
    Oct 28, 2011 at 18:33
  • I wasn't intending to be patronising, you hadn't explained your conditions fully so was only recommending as I could based on the information. Glad you found the way. Post that as the answer and I'll upvote.
    – Ashley
    Oct 30, 2011 at 1:46

2 Answers 2

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The answer is to use the Windows Server Backup admin utility from the Administrative Tools menu, rather than the one in the Small Business Server admin tool. The former allows you to specify a local volume and does not attempt to force you to use a removable storage device.

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  • Upvoted, you should mark it as Answer too :)
    – Ashley
    Nov 1, 2011 at 23:50
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I also recently installed an SBS 2011 server and came across this same issue, in all honestly I am not a huge fab of the Windows Server Backup tools so I persuaded the company to make the small investment in ShadowProtect SBS edition.

http://www.shadowprotect.com/backup-software/shadowprotect-sbs

It was about £300 an provides a great solution, it's been backing up the server since May and it has failed once due to the destination drive needing more space. I test the images every Friday afternoon using the image mounting tool and every once and a while I perform a restore to an old piece of hardware. Works an absolute treat! £300 for a license forever! It also comes with all the restore/engineer CD's!

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