One of my goals for running a dedicated home server was for backup purposes. I already have a Simpleshare NAS that works OK but if it fails my data is still lost. Unlike previous computers, the Shuttle PC K4500 is so quiet that I can run it 24/7. From the Shuttle PC, I can mount the Simpleshare and rsync changes across.

#!/bin/bash
/bin/mount /mnt/nfsbackup
/usr/bin/rsync -a --numeric-ids /mnt/nfsbackup/ /home/backup/bkup.0/
/bin/umount /mnt/nfsbackup

The –numeric-ids option is handy because the UID/GIDs are different between the server and my laptop. I looked at different methods of doing backups. What I decided was to rsync new files to the Shuttle PC but not to delete anything. I’ll decide how I want to “prune” deleted files later. Rsync runs every six hours and now I have everything mirrored. The next step in centralizing my data is to setup icecast and stream all my music from the server. I archive all my music in FLAC already. Once I start streaming I’ll be able to remove my MP3s from the laptop.