Thanks for the replies once again, I really appreciate the time you are taking to offer this advice.
My technical knowledge limitation is mainly regarding the linux type OS's as I've never used one, only Windows / Mac and Google OS i've used.
The computers are all on Windows 7 Professional or Ultimate (Except one that is Windows XP, and also a family Laptop that is on Windows 7 Home Premium).
Each user has their own username, and every has a password specific to them. Most of the computers are only used by 1 person, so there's no username the same on another machine (If you get what I mean).
I'd like it so they wouldn't need to login to the server if possible (I think that's what you were implying?) - rather just have something automatically back up their files to it, not store the actual ones on there, but the backups.
Would these be compatible if I were to install something like Ubuntu? And would I require a server version of say Ubuntu or just use the normal one?
Thanks.
Sorry for the late reply on this one! I've been busy and had forgot about this post..
If they have all got their own username you can create shares in this format "Username$" the $ on the end basically makes the share hidden, so no other users on the network will be able to find it unless they specifically know what they are looking for... This is a very low level of security...
What I suggested above was that each user replicates their username and password on the "server" computer, they would only need to do this once... This will give a bit more security in addition to the above..
You could then use the below to map a network drive, or you could use something like synctoy to run a scheduled backup to the network drive...
net use u: \\server\%username%$ /persistent:yes
If you want to go down the linux route Ubuntu is a good choice to get started with, and I assume you could use the same principles, I've played with Ubuntu a few times but not sure exactly what's possible.. and any version should do...
Let us know how you get on though! And any questions please shout and we'll try to help where we can!