Hi Michael,

Since your using winodw clients with a linux box, I assume you plan to use the linux computer to provide a samba file server. Red Hat Linux 8.0 with its new ext3 file system makes an excellent file server. The ext3 file system uses journaling which mean the file system will never become corrupted, even during brown out, black out, or just turning the system off. Also, it is no longer necessary to do a file check (e.g. fsck ) after a un-clean shutdown, which can save alot of time.

I'm running a Windows XP Pro system. It comes with a backup utility that I use. It is very fast. I use the task scheduler to automatically perform a daily backup of directories on the winodws side to a samba directory. I also backup files on the linux samba side to a windows computer.

If your window 2000 workstation comes with the new Microsoft backup/restore application, you might give it a try. With it, you can backup to a file/directory, CD ROM, Tape, DVD, or a dedicated Hard Drive. Even when your using a file system like /var/www/html in a linux setting, for example, as a web server, you can still back it up by adding the path to the samba system. This would allow you to back it up from the W2K system, and restore it if necessary.

LelandJ