[aimlesspee]

I am currently backing up weekly to a small external drive.. it is a small 20gigger. It has taken about 1 year or so to fill up. Now i am thinking long term.. i am considering purchasing a "network harddrive", one that is between 500gigz to 1tb. There is a smaller/more affordable Seagate external drive.. but it is not a "network harddrive".. it has 1.5tb.. versus a network drive that is about 2tb but it cost about 314.

My question is, thinking long term.. and considering the setup i have.. which is a regular PC acting as a server.. what should i get?

Your suggestions are appreciated

Thank you

[helpmerick]

The new network drives or (NAS drives) are nice since it makes it easy for any computer to access the data and use it for backup. Plus, many of them can also give you remote access to the files. And lastly, the drives aren't reliant on any one computer...just the router.

Good luck.

[Hughv]

There's no advantage to network drives unless you have a network. How many PCs will access this drive?

[aimlesspee]

hey Rick.. thanks for the reply..

Let me tell you my setup..

6 computers.. all of them have Xp including the "server computer", which i will reiterate, is just a regular PC acting as a server. The network is just local and is like all connected as a "workgroup". I am telling you all this so i don't make the mistake of purchasing a "network" drive that i can only use if i have Windows Server or something complex like that..

Thanks

[Hughv]

A network drive will work fine in this environment.
Be sure to follow the setup directions carefully, as the procedures to access and control the folders, etc. are different than for an external drive.

[aimlesspee]

Well awesome, i will follow your advice.. however, let me clarify.. this network drive will act as a backup.. it will back up certain data every week/and some data every day.. the other computers won't even access the network drive at all. It will be backing up all the information from the "server" computer.

[Hughv]

That's not really a "Server". It's just your principal PC.
There's certainly plenty of room for the other PCs to utilize this drive, but that's up to you.
Remember, no data is safe on a hard drive. Consider adding online and optical backup if your data is important.

[aimlesspee]

Yes that's what i am going for..

This is what i want to achieve.. onsite and offsite backup.. which i am doing now with the better backup solution with the network drive

But i am also currently with Mozypro.. i tried to get others to do my offsite back up but none were as simple as mozypro.. is this a good choice?

[Hughv]

I've heard good things about it, and they advertise nationally, which suggests they aren't a fly-by-night outfit. The trial version worked OK for me.
The drawback to these services is often the download speed when a restore is needed, but I don't have any experience with Mozy in this regard.
I really like the MS Sky drive setup. 25 GB of free space and relatively simple.
Google Docs is also nice.

[aimlesspee]

Hugh,

I'm an insurance broker.. msot of the information i have on the main PC and most of the information that will be backed up are PDFs of signed applications, scanned licenses and registrations and pictures..

In the case where i actually had to download a backup, because my server crashed or the place burned down, what is the process.. does it all restore my computer like 90 percent? that is my goal here, unfortunately, due to budget constraints, the setup i have seen or think will work best for me is getting a bigger external network drive for onsite backup and mozypro for the offsite.. will this setup suffice?

[Hughv]

You should try a partial restore to see what the problems might be. There are many negative posts, but some are several years old.
http://mozyrestore.com/
My experience tells me this:
No file is safe on a hard drive. They crash, the cases malfunction and they're vulnerable to fire, theft and the whimsies of God and Satan.
I've been experimenting with Gladinet, which os an interface for several online backup service (Google Docs and MS Sky drive included, as well as Amazon).
It's a manual process, but I find Google and MS more trustworthy than most.
http://www.gladinet.com/
The only safe answer, IMHO, is lots of copies in different formats.

[helpmerick]

I'm glad HughV added the information about safety and hard drives. A backup, is not a backup unless you have it stored in at least 3 places...one of them being a more rugged medium like flash drives or DVDs. The key to good backup is making sure you test your backups from time to time.

I also like online backup as ONE cog in my backup wheel.

We are opening up a whole new topic, but back to your question, I do like the option of some NAS drives to access data remotely...and with the number of computers in your network, it is a great solution. Again, it shouldn't be your only cope of data however.

HughV, nice to meet you...you seem to be a kindred spirit regarding your thoughts on backup and cloud computing. I'm a Gmail freak, love Goolge Docs and Zoho, Pixlr, and many other Web 2.0 apps.

[aimlesspee]

Hey i was looking at some Network drives on Buy.com.. i ran across this one:

http://www.buy.com/prod/lg-n2r1dd1-2...212576783.html

What do you guys think?

[helpmerick]

Yikes...that one is a little steep. And do you really need a DVD burner built-in to the drive??

Check out this fairly recent review at CNET of some nice NAS drives.

[Hughv]

Not only is it steep, there are no drives in it. It's a borderline rip-off.
Check out this page from Tiger Direct. Read the reviews:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati....asp?CatId=207