Create Windows Server 2008 Backup Schedule Weekly (2 Ways)

Why would you backup Windows Server weekly?

As known to all, one can never be too careful with data issues. For Windows Servers which are commonly used in enterprise environments and usually store a lot of important data, frequent backups, such as, schedule Windows Server backup once a week, are necessary.

And this type of schedule backup helps you keep multiple backup schedule while using less disk space, especially when you've taken other procedures to protect your server, like disk RAID array (RIAD 5, RAID 6) or Database Availability Group. Also, you can create a few weekly backup tasks if you want to run different types of backup each day a week.

Methods to Windows Server 2008 backup schedule weekly 

 In Windows Server 2008, you can backup full server, system, bare metal, volumes, etc with Windows Server Backup.  It provides you with two backup wizard - Backup Once or Backup Schedule, definitely, to create a system state backup in Windows Server 2008 automatically, you need to select the latter one. But it is limited to Once a day or More than once a day. So you cannot use it to schedule backup weekly. 

Fortunately, there are still two workable methods to schedule Windows Server backup weekly:

• Run Wbadmin full backup weekly with Task Scheduler.
• Use third-party backup software that supports backing up Windwos Server 2008 once a week. 

Before selecting one of them, you need to know that the built-in method is kind of complicated and you need to learn the wbadmin command line parameters.

Besides, it comes with some limitations, such as, only the partitions formatted with NTFS can be included in the backup, critical volumes cannot be set as target location, Windows Server Backup not deleting old backups, etc. 

While the third-party tool is easier and you can create a weekly system backup in 3 steps. And it offers you different features to save or free up disk space, such as, incremental backup, automatic backup cleanup, etc.

Method 1. Schedule weekly backup in Windows Server 2008 with built-in tool

1. Type “task scheduler” in the search box and select Task Scheduler.

2. Click Create Task to begin the settings.

3. In General, set a task name, and check the option Run (to know) whether user is logged on.

4. In Triggers, click New > select On a schedule and then Weekly. Click OK to confirm you want the backup to run weekly.

5. In Actions, click New > select Start a program > type wbadmin in the Program/script box and type the backup command in Add argument (optional) box.

For example, to backup the C: drive including all critical volumes to the G: drive, write the following command below:

6. Check other settings based on your needs. If all are good, click OK and input user password.

Then, a weekly backup task is set, it will create backup image weekly on a specific day. And you can easily restore Server 2008/R2 to previous date if your computer does not boot. Note that if you want to restore the entire server, you need to prepare an installation disc or recovery disk as well.

Method 2. Schedule weekly backup in Windows Server 2008 with AOMEI Backupper Server

Here you will use third-party tool - AOMEI Backupper Server to create Windows Server 2008 backup schedule weekly. Except for weekly, it still supports daily, monthly, event triggers like system shutdown, USB plug in. And not only Windows Server 2008, it supports all Windows PCs & Servers. So you can also use it to schedule backup for Windows Server 2012/R2, 2016, 2019, 2022, SBS 2003, etc.

It terms of backup functionality, it provides incremental and differential backup method to copy only changed files, and automatic backup cleanup to delete old backups for more space. And you still can enjoy normal comrpession, automatic splliting, intelligent sector backup, etc or advanced features to further free up disk space.

How about give it a try? Download the tool first and follow the steps below to create a Windows Server 2008 R2 backup schedule weekly. Here's a free trial:

1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper Server. Select Backup and  System Backup. By default, this software will automatically choose the operating system and other partitions containing system files required to start a computer.

2. Click where the arrow points and select a path to save the backup image for Windows Server 2008. You can backup Windows Server 2008 to external hard drive, USB drive, network drive, NAS, etc.

3. Click Schedule Backup, toggle on Enable Schedule Backup and Select Weekly. Afterward, click Start Backup to perform Windows Server 2008 weekly backup.

★Tips:
1. Except for weekly, you still can use other schedule settings. 
✍ Daily or Weekly: You could try other daily or monthly frequency if necessary.
✍ Event Triggers: You could trigger the backup event by the following events: User logon, User logoff, System startup, System shutdown.
✍ USB plug in: You could automatically backup your file from or to USB once detecting it is detected.
2. In Backup Scheme, you can enjoy different backup and cleanup methods. The incremental backup is the default backup method. And you can also enjoy differential backup and delete old backup images with By quantity, By time, By daily/weekly/monthly.

Conclusion

Now you know how to schedule weekly backup for Windows Server 2008 R2. As you can see, if you use the Windows built-in tool, the process is complicated and also time-consuming. To finish the job in an easy way, AOMEI Backupper Server is a better choice. It can help you create multiple daily/weekly/monthly backup tasks as per your needs. Or you can try event triggers or USB plug in settings.

If you are worried about the system failure, you can choose to create a bootable media, or AOMEI PXE tool in advanced. So you can easily restore Windows Server 2008 even if your server is unbootable. Besides, it is still a disk cloning, which can help you clone Windows Server 2008 (R2) hard drive to another drive easily and quicly.