Forefront ofr SharePoint is the current concensus as being the best solution for this.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/eval/fssp/default.mspx

Here are some great options from Mart Muller`s weblog. I especially like the Smigrate tip of changing the backup to a cab file and using the manifest file to find individual documents.

http://blogs.tamtam.nl/mart/SharepointDocumentLevelRestore.aspx

Go to http://www.sybari.com/wss to get this free untill June 2006. Thanks to Mark Harrison for this tip!

http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.sharepoint.windowsservices/browse_thread/thread/5d239beaa0bce6d/50a1091bdbf2e6d1?lnk=st&q=stsadm+backup+site+collection&rnum=3&hl=en#50a1091bdbf2e6d1

Scroll down to the following post

Jay Apr 29 2004, 1:29 pm

I just use this script that creates a timestamped folder. You can remove the hours, minutes and seconds if you don't need them:

This is what it does: It creates a subfolder with the timestamp in the folder name at the path you specify in line 37:

Set f = fso.CreateFolder("C:\SPS_Backup\SPSPortal-" & yr & "-" & mo & "-" & dt & "-" & hr & "-" & min & "-" & sec)

The folder name is not just the date, it has the time in there too.

Then it runs SPSbackup.exe and backs up the entire portal to this folder, there should be at least 5 files in there.

Put in the path to your backup folder in line 37 and make sure line 47 is the correct path to the SharePoint bin folder where spsbackup.exe is

Setup a scheduled task in windows to have that script run daily. In the command box ensure you type "cscript [path to your file].vbs" (without the "" of course).


'''''''''''''
'Begin Script
'''''''''''''
Dim fso, f, fspec
dim yr, mo, dt, hr, min, sec

yr = Year(Now)

mo = Month(Now)
if mo < 10 Then
mo = "0" & mo
end if

dt = Day(Now)
if dt < 10 Then
dt = "0" & dt
end if

hr = Hour(Now)
if hr < 10 Then
hr = "0" & hr
end if

min = Minute(Now)
if min < 10 Then
min = "0" & min
end if

sec = Second(Now)
if sec < 10 Then
sec = "0" & sec
end if

destFolder = "SPSPortal-" & yr & "-" & mo & "-" & dt & "-" & hr & "-" & min & "-" & sec

Set fso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set f = fso.CreateFolder("C:\SPS_Backup\SPSPortal-" & yr & "-" & mo & "-" & dt & "-" & hr & "-" & min & "-" & sec)

bkFolder = f.Path
bkFolder = Replace(bkFolder, "", "\")
bkFolder = bkFolder

'''''''''''''''''''''''''
'Run the spsbackup script
'''''''''''''''''''''''''
Set objShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
objShell.CurrentDirectory = "e:\Program Files\Sharepoint Portal Server\bin"

objShell.Exec ("spsbackup.exe /all /file " & bkFolder & "\SPSBackFile")

' WScript.Echo "Backup Started!"

How to Write a Back Up and Restore Application for SharePoint Portal Server 2003

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/odc_SP2003_ta/html/Office_SharePointBackupRestore.asp

I can see that a lot of people (like me) have used SharePoint Services (SPS) with the MSDE and have hosed the system. Then they need to recover, or extract, the documents that are shared in the Shared Documents on SharePoint. Aha! If you still have MSDE database files, I can help. Witness the wss-recover.asp file, version 0.1.

http://ralph.hogaboom.org/projects/code/wss-recover/index.asp

Ralph Hogaboom

Create a BAT file with this in it::

@echo off
echo +++++++++++++++++
echo %date%
c:
cd \program files\sharepoint portal server\bin
move d:\sharepointbackup\full d:\sharepointbackup\full.yesterday
@echo off
msdmback /b d:\sharepointbackup\full
echo completed



Open the msdmback.vbs file, search for "WScript.Echo
strBanner" and mark this line as TEXT.

c:\>at \\computername 3:00AM /Every:m,t,w,th,f,s,su cmd /c "sharepointbackup.bat > c:\sharepointstatus.log"

This will write a log file to c:\ every night with "completed" or nothing if it fails. Important note: make sure you save the .bat file to %systemroot%\system32

Based on comments posted to this site, thanks all!