I'm looking for a reasonable way to procede with backing up user data from a Windows 7 box to a Linux box. I am interested in nighty backups, not near-real-time backups. Windows box is of course NTFS, target filesystem on Linux is ext3, which is shared via Samba back to the Windows box (there is more on the share than just user data backups - it is also a server for photos, music, etc.)

Options:

1) Since the Windows box already has the backup drive mounted as it's "P:" ("public") drive, I could go with a total Windows solution that backs up "Documents and Settings" to the appropriate subdirectory on the P: drive. Windows has some kind of scheduler which I would have to re-learn how to use.

2) Install cwRsync on the Windows box and have that talk to an rsync server on the Linux box. Again, using the Windows scheduler to initiate the backup.

3) Leave Windows totally out of it, except for sharing "Documents and Settings". Then the Linux box could mount that Windows share and do the backup using rsync (totally from the Linux box), unbeknownst to Windows. Backup would be initiated from cron on Linux.

4) ???

Any wisdom on the best way to procede? Or other alternatives I haven't considered?

Thanks in advance!

I'd use rsync server in Linux box and do whatever you have to do in Windows to connect to it. Just my two cents.