Network Hard Drive

aerostar

Just remember if you keep all your precious pictures etc in a single place, murphys law will dictate that it will fail at some time and you loose everything.

If the storage is mechanical, eg has moving parts then it will at sometime fail.

You should always backup your pictures to CD/DVD as well, even then these will fail to read at sometime in the future, but will last longer than a hard disc.

totalsolutions

HUFsteve, I agree with Leopard post #2. I put into service an old windows box (free) and installed Windows Home Server (free trial available). Installed a couple of 1Tb sata drives and it works well for our family of PC's.

Previously I used (big mistake now) a Netgear SC101 that used its own file format. It crashed on me and I'm still trying/hoping to recover the data, (300Gb)

Please re-read and take in what Leopard has said.
"backs up all our computers" = Automatic backups
"networks our printers" = Place the server anywhere you want to and have the printers attached to the server -- in another room is possible.

A NAS box does not do any of these things you still have to transfer files manually (more duplicate files) and its only a 1Tb and can it be increased?
Just add another cheap hard drive for more storage capacity

cmatt360

HUFCsteve

Thanks for suggestions, comments, etc.

I do regularly backup my important files onto DVD and store them 'somewhere else'.

The PCs we have aren't particularly 'state of the art' and don't have very big hard drives - hence why I wanted to have a drive that is accessible to all of them. I appreciate your comments on Network Hard Drives but feel that this would be a better solution for us than another PC.

gjchester

totalsolutions wrote: »

Please re-read and take in what Leopard has said.
"backs up all our computers" = Automatic backups
"networks our printers" = Place the server anywhere you want to and have the printers attached to the printer -- in another room is possible.

A NAS box does not do any of these things you still have to transfer files manually (more duplicate files) and its only a 1Tb and can it be increased?
Just add another cheap hard drive for more storage capacity

Not quite, Some do auto backups but do it by the software on the PC pushing a back up to it to the NAS (I use Acronis to do that on a weekly basis)

And my NAS can act as a USB printer server

Only issue is it can't be easily expanded as a PC.

[Deleted User]

Out of interest.. I had my 500gb LaCie Internet Space (NAS) drive delivered yesterday.

However, i can only seem to connect to it when my laptop is plugged into the router also. I can't connect over wifi.

Grr, i can't figure out routers

tnor_fo_tkcab

I recently bought the LaCie 1TB NAS mentioned earlier by DCFC79 and have found it very simple to set up & use. It comes with Genie Backup Assistant software which makes backing up a doddle.
My 2 desktops & 2 laptops are networked (wired & wireless) via a netgear router and all connect to the NAS as soon as they boot up.
I've now got one set of documents, photos, music etc stored on the NAS and the 4 computers work from the NAS & save back to the NAS.
I made one full copy of the info onto the largest PC and set up Genie to copy once a day all updated information. I just delete the older backups as they are replaced with newer versions.
Very small, tidy, quiet piece of kit that works well.
I don't use this function but it has a usb port so that you can connect a camera etc and download directly to the NAS.

Just need to find a cost effective method now of playing my music wirelessly from the NAS via my exisiting Hi Fi ??

Saeed

Leopard wrote: »

Be careful of the file-formats that some Network Hard Drives use - you could find it restrictive. Check before you buy.

One of the best pieces of advice I was given, almost in passing, was to use an old but networkable computer instead, so that there'd be no problems of file compatibility.

Admittedly, that applies more to Macs but it's true for PCs, too.

I found a 2003 Apple 1GHz G4 Power Mac for sale nearby (so, no shipping costs) on eBay and nailed it for £102. It has Gigabit Ethernet, a Firewire 800 port, 2GB of RAM and it runs on the latest (until tomorrow!) version of Apple's Mac OS X operating system.

I put four 500 GB (IDE) 7,200 rpm hard drives into it and we leave it running 24/7. It networks on Gigabit, backs up all our computers (using Time Machine) and can be backed up itself, through its Firewire 800 port. It also networks our printers through its USB ports.

That's a lot of value for £102 and it it works far better, and does far more, than a Network Hard Drive (most of which aren't Gigabit anyway). it also gives a fine old computer a useful new purpose in life instead of being thrown away because it's become obsolete. Which is nice.

Consider that option, instead, before you part with money.

I second this option. I have an old P2 350 40GB HD 128MB RAM running as a server, bittorrent client, sip server and as a media streamer to my xbox and it works 100% all the time. I also remote desktop to it, so no need to have to run up to the attic to set it up, alter things, just do it from the comfort of my laptop in my living room