CP> Which is why I disagree with the "it's up to the user to backup
their
CP> PC" mentality.  

OO> Agreed. But on the other hand, if you're using Windows, why spend
time, 
OO> effort and money on 3rd party backup software? Just use the
briefcase or 
OO> offline files feature in windows, and do backups of your file
server. 
OO> That 
OO> ofcourse requires users to put important files in a certain folder, 
OO> while 
OO> providing the users an opportunity not to back up less important
files, 
OO> like their latest tvtorrents.com .torrent and data collection, and
mp3 
OO> collection (pretty common if you work in the field :) ).

I'm not saying it won't work.  I'm saying it's not as good as real
backups.

Lots of reasons:

1. I've been that user whose been forced to use Offline files.  Can't
tell you how many times it takes it takes sometimes to get a decent
backup.  Plus there are file types that it doesn't support.

2. It requires you to be VPNd in, and that's not always possible

3. That whole "requires users to put important files in a certain
filder" thing.  I don't like trusting users to do something like this.

4. The users has two choices:
        1. Save all files in the offline directory.  If you do that,
then
      you get crappy performance every time you open that directory, 
      even when you're offline.
        2. Save all files in a local directory and use xcopy to "back 
        them up" to the offlined directory.  Now you've used twice the
        storage.

5. It doesn't support all file types.

6. No centralized reporting.

7. If you worried about users putting the wrong things in there, you can
fix that problem with a real backup solution by excluding files.  You
CAN'T fix that problem with Offline Folders.  If they put it in there,
it's going to be backed up.

---
W. Curtis Preston
Author of O'Reilly's Backup & Recovery and Using SANs and NAS
VP Data Protection
GlassHouse Technologies

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