I am looking for a viable backup for my environment. Let me explain what I need and I would really like any input that anyone has. I am running WSS 3.0 and using the Windows Internal Database (so SQL backup is available for me). I would like to do a weekly backup on Sunday that would backup the entire site and then do a daily backup Monday Friday for those items that change. I would like for these to go into 2 different locations and get over written each time the back up is ran. So my Full backup this week will be replaced / overwritten by my Full backup next week. And each of my Daily (incremental) backups will be replaced / overwritten each day. This way when my network backup program runs it will backup these two folders and I can store them with the rest of my backups. The problem I am finding is that when you do a Full backup in SharePoint Backup or with the STSADM command then the Full backups dont allow you to replace / overwrite the previous backup file. Instead it creates a whole new folder and backs everything up in that. In my case that causes a problem because it requires me to clean that folder up all the time. If I backup once and it creates an 800 MB file, when I run the Full backup again the next week it will create another 800 MB file so I have to delete the old one that I backed up last week. I am sure that I am not the only person that needs this type of backup routine. I would really like to hear how others are handling this scenario. Thanks for reading this and taking a few minutes to share your knowledge about this subject with me!

Check this out - very good and clean... http://www.codeplex.com/spbackup and Sushi - http://sushi.codeplex.com/(this is good for one-offs STSADM Automated Full and Diff using STSADM Link 1 http://geeksconnected.com/muhanad/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?List=a7ec315d%2D5ab3%2D40ad%2D9a21%2D748fc9a07ee1&ID=32 Link 2 http://msftplayground.com/archive/2009/02/06/scheduling-sharepoint-backup-part-2.aspx It sounds like youll just need to be creative with your scheduling and you can do that with scripting. Microsoft options and how-tos http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263427.aspx Kris Wagner, MCITP, MCTS Twitter @sharepointkris Blog: http://sharepointkris.com

Thanks for your reply Kristopher. Those backups are good but I don't they will do what I need to do. I can create a schedule right now with no problem and run the back ups. The problem is that the default backup in SharePoint can't be scheduled, and when you run the STSADM command with the Full or Differential switch then you don't have the option to overwrite the previous backup. I guess the only option would be to run a delete all in a script before I run the STSADM command. Unless anyone else has a better suggestion.

You can use the Windows Scheduler to set the schedule and run the scriptsand there is an overwrite switch to do what your asking... So the way I'd look at it is you'd need to make several jobs for the function/role you want... IE Sunday Full andoverwrite and other'sdiff and on Sunday overwrite all. And if you are having issues with the overwrite look here for help with the error codes http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc288001.aspx How to schedule http://www.codeproject.com/KB/sharepoint/STSADM_Backup.aspx How to overwrite - http://zabistop.blogspot.com/2009/02/scheduling-periodicdelayed-sharepoint.htmlKris Wagner, MCITP, MCTS Twitter @sharepointkris Blog: http://sharepointkris.com

Sorry I get what you're saying now, I miss read that, so right you can't use the overwrite for the full just for site collection backups... Here's a link to the command line reference... Do you have the budget to consider Microsoft DPM, AvePoint or Quest tools? Something 3rd party? Or even just SQL where you can script the backup? I hope this info helps.. http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc263441.aspxSyntax For site collection backup stsadm -o backup -url <URL name> -filename <file name> [-nositelock] [-overwrite] For catastrophic backup stsadm -o backup -directory <UNC path or local drive> -backupmethod <full or differential> [-force] [-item] <created path from tree> [-percentage] <integer between 1 and 100> [-backupthreads] <integer between 1 and 10> [-showtree] [-quiet] Kris Wagner, MCITP, MCTS Twitter @sharepointkris Blog: http://sharepointkris.com

Actually you were much more help than you think. Once I posted my last comment it hit me that I could do just that. I have my batch files that I can schedule I just need to delete the previous backs before I run the STSADM command. I am setting it up and testing it to see if it will work for me like I think it should. Thanks for posting! It really does help to spell this out and to know that there isn't something already out there that does this.

No problem... Yeah we all have the same issue sometimes:) I'll call my PM and just talk a problem out loundand say thanks man you did it... :)Kris Wagner, MCITP, MCTS Twitter @sharepointkris Blog: http://sharepointkris.com

Try the following: http://imperfectit.blogspot.com/2010/03/automate-sharepoint-2010-farm-backups.html