Ubuntu Remote Backup Using LiveCD on a PC

[karazyk]

Hello,
I am not sure what approach to take to my reach my computer desires and would appreciate any kind guidance or help.

My situation is that I am remotely using an Ubuntu box as a web server several hundred miles away from me. I do not have physical access to this computer.

I am planning to store valuable information on this server and would like to backup this data to my home PC.

I would like to install a new hard drive on my current computer and run Ubuntu from a CD to ssh into my server and back it up onto my new hard drive.

I'm not sure how windows responds to newly installed hard drives and would prefer not to get windows involved. If I could install Ubuntu on my new hard drive that would be great too, but I thought LiveCD would circumvent any dual boot issues I fear, because I'm a noob.

Maybe an alternative is using a virtual machine with an Ubuntu OS to remotely backup my server.

I was planning on using rsync to mirror my server. Is this the best way to mirror a server?

I am asking a lot, but I have not found the ideal solution on the internet.

Thanks.