BackupPC

BackupPC with Cygwin (Windows Clients)

BackupPC can back up Windows machines using Cygwin’s rsync and SSH.

Install Cygwin on Windows Client

Download Cygwin installer from https://cygwin.com
Install packages: rsync, openssh, cygrunsrv
Run Cygwin terminal as Administrator

Configure SSH on Windows Client

# Set up SSH host keys
ssh-host-config -y

# Start SSH service
net start sshd
# or
cygrunsrv --start sshd

BackupPC Server Configuration

Configure the host in /etc/backuppc/hosts:

host    dhcp    user
winpc   0       backuppc

Host config /etc/backuppc/winpc.pl:

$Conf{XferMethod} = 'rsync';
$Conf{RsyncShareName} = ['/cygdrive/c'];
$Conf{RsyncClientPath} = '/usr/bin/rsync';
$Conf{SshPath} = '/usr/bin/ssh';
$Conf{RsyncClientCmd} = '$sshPath -q -x -l backuppc $host $rsyncPath $argList+';

rsyncd.conf (Alternative: rsync daemon mode)

[homes]
    path = /cygdrive/c/Users
    read only = yes
    comment = Windows User Profiles

[data]
    path = /cygdrive/d
    read only = yes
    comment = Data Drive

Start rsync daemon:

rsync --daemon --config=/etc/rsyncd.conf

ReiserFS Notes

BackupPC works best on Linux filesystems. ReiserFS was historically recommended for its handling of small files:

# Format with ReiserFS
mkfs.reiserfs /dev/sdb1

# Mount
mount -t reiserfs /dev/sdb1 /BackupPC

Note: ReiserFS is deprecated in modern kernels. Consider ext4 or btrfs for new installations.