Windows Home Server lets you backup machines on your network easily. But what about backing up the server data? Today we take a look at ASUS WebStorage for Windows Home Server, which provides you with secure off-site backup for WHS.
To use the ASUS WebStorage service you’ll need to sign up for a free account. It offers 1GB of free storage, then you can purchase an unlimited backup package for $39.99 for a year subscription.
Note: They also offer online storage for individual PCs as well.
Install ASUS WebStorage for WHS
Browse to your shared folders on the server and open the Add-Ins folder and copy over the WHSConnectorSetup2.2.4.088.msi file (link below) then close out of the folder.
Now launch Windows Home Server Console from one of the computers on your network, click Settings, then Add-ins. Under Available Add-ins click the Available tab and you’ll see the Asus WebStorage installer file we just copied over. Click the Install button.
Installation kicks off and when it’s complete, you’ll need to close out of the console and reconnect.
Using ASUS WebStorage WHS Connector
When you reconnect to WHS Console, scroll over to the ASUS WebStorage icon and click on Settings.
Now log into your ASUS account…
Now select the folders you want to backup to the WebStorage service.
Select the radio button next to Enable to initialize the backup process…
The backup process begins. You can change which folders are backed up simply by disabling the backup process, uncheck the folder(s), then enable the backup again.
ASUS WebStorage Site
After you have files backed up to the ASUS site, log into your account, and your presented with an overview of the amount of storage you’re using. It also shows what type of files are taking certain amounts of space.
You can browse through your backed up files and folders. It allows you to share and sync backed up data as well.
Navigate to the file you want and you can easily download it by clicking on it, or share it out by clicking the share link below it.
If you choose to share it, you’re provided with a link to the file to send out to other users.
Conclusion
Users of Windows Home Server have been looking for an inexpensive cloud backup solution for quite some time. There are services such as JungleDisk, KeepVault, Wuala…etc. These services probably do a better job, but can start getting expensive once you start uploading a GBs of data. Another disappointment of ASUS WebStorage is you can only backup your WHS shares (from what we’ve been able to determine), it’s an “all or nothing” type of thing.
You cannot go in and select individual files and folders. The initial upload speeds can be a bit slow as well, although that might have something to do with limited upload speeds on the DSL connection we used to test it.
Retrieving your data from the ASUS site is a breeze though, and all the data files are organized quite well. The WHS Addin is very easy to install and use. If you’re looking for an off-site solution to backup your WHS data, you can test out ASUS WebStorage for free with a 1GB limit.
This is good for testing the service and it might be exactly what you’re looking for. Other users may want a more advanced solution like KeepVault or CloudBerry…which is a front end for Amazon S3 storage.
Download ASUS WebStorage WHS Addin
Other WHS Offsite Backup Solutions
CloudBerry, JungleDisk, KeepVault, Wuala
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