External Hard Drive?

[Shude]

Yes, wish I went for the pricier unit now. I have a Linkstation 250GB and while ecapacity is more than adequate it crashes far too often.

My TS has only been reliable since it was first turned on about 6-7 months ago.

He just doesn't realise he needs it to connect to a netowrk yet!

As soon as I buy a decent media player I'll be using my TS for music and movies etc, independent of a PC. This isn't what I originally bought the TS for but I'm so glad I went for one rather than a USB thing.

Additionally my TS was filled up a couple of months ago so I hung a cheap 500GB HDD off the back of it (takes 4 USB drives ).

 

[glojo]

That would be a fine device if it could attach to a network. No point spending that money for a device that can't.

You and Shude are probably talking a lot of sense (you usually do) In this instance I don't understand your technical abbreviations but you have raised a very valid point and have got my attention.

We have four computers all on a wireless Netgear network. What would you recommend we use as an external back-up source and roughly the costs please?

Regards,
John the computah fikkie

 

[Chris_J]

Could just share the external drive out on one PC, and then allow others to connect to it that way. Only problem is, that PC must be switched on if you want to connect from another PC, or you just have to unplug and move the drive where you want.

 

[BTB 500]

As already mentioned, a backup drive left connected will guard against disk failure but you may be left with nothing if you have a fire/theft/flood/etc.

IMO for normal domestic stuff the KISS principle applies. A cheap 400/500 Mb external USB2 drive you can plug into any PC in a second, then keep somewhere safe. If you were really paranoid you could have two - one kept somewhere in the house for convenience, another kept offsite - and swap them over periodically. Total cost about £160.

You just need the discipline to do the backups - a recurring reminder on your mobile phone or Outlook calendar helps . I do mine monthly.

 

[Flyer]

We have four computers all on a wireless Netgear network. What would you recommend we use as an external back-up source and roughly the costs please?

After a client's data hard drive AND tape backup failed , I've been looking at adding a NAS (Network-Attached Storage) device. This looks very good, at a very reasonable price: Buffalo Linkstation Pro 250gb SATA Based Network Storage Centre. 250GB for £121.

Connect that into your Netgear router, use the included software, instant automatic backup from all PCs. Of course, all data is on-site, so some method of off-site backup may be necessary, but this is ideal for simple backup requirements.

For my client, we're dumping DAT tape and using 4GB mini portable hard drives instead (as well as a NAS).

 

[glojo]

Connect that into your Netgear router, use the included software, instant automatic backup from all PCs. Of course, all data is on-site, so some method of off-site backup may be necessary, but this is ideal for simple backup requirements.

Many apologies to Swiss Toni for taking advantage of his excvellent question. Does this system stand alone? By that I mean the router is located in the hallway, nowhere near any computers. Can I simply connect this gadget to the router and conceal it in a cabinet?

Thanks again,
John

 

[BTB 500]

I'm not personally very keen on tapes ... been involved in enough projects to convert archives etc. from one format to another as the technology changes, always find that a percentage of tapes have become unreadable.

Always test periodically that you're creating readable tapes in the first place too. We found a couple of defective drives that way .. in one case they'd been backing up a LAN server daily for almost a year and NONE of the backup tapes were readable!

 

[Flyer]

Can I simply connect this gadget to the router and conceal it in a cabinet?

Yes John; on your router, you will have four network ports. Simply connect the supplied network cable from the LinkStation into one of the router ports, connect the power supply, and that's it (well, apart from software configuration). It will then be visible on your network.

 

[Shude]

Many apologies to Swiss Toni for taking advantage of his excvellent question. Does this system stand alone? By that I mean the router is located in the hallway, nowhere near any computers. Can I simply connect this gadget to the router and conceal it in a cabinet?

Network Attached Storage devices are (should be!) stand-alone units that will plug into a hub or switch (your router probably has a 4-port switch built into it) and will be contactable by any of the other computers on the local network. NAS devices are actually computers in their own right.

Be aware that it might get a bit hot if it's in a small cabinet!

Try to avoid any devices that claim to be NAS but require special software (other than backup) to be installed on client computers.

 

[Flyer]

Oops, just read the rest of the thread and see that Graham has a LinkStation and doesn't rate it The reviews on ebuyer are mostly positive, but perhaps Graham's experiences are enough to warrant further investigation...

 

[GrahamC230K]

My device is now discontinued and there are new models. I should have taken up the offer of a replacement unit when it showed early signs, but I didn't and persisted and now regret it.

My colleagues have the Terrastation Pro units which are great. I think I have a unusual fault to be honest.

 

[Shude]

My colleagues have the Terrastation Pro units which are great. I think I have a unusual fault to be honest.

TS Pros do not support PCast or UPNP media. AFAIK the only good thing about them is that you can slide drives in and out without having to totally dismantle the thing!

 

[AJTHOMAS]

How do you find the transfer rates when moving large files from a computer to a home user NAS box ?

A couple of reviews found them disspointingly slow, relative to the theoretical throughput of a 100mb network, often outpaced by simpler lower cost USB2 external hard drives.

Can this be true ?

 

[Swiss Toni]

THANK YOU to everyone!

Digging a little deeper, is this ok from www.maplin.co.uk at £75?

400GB Maxtor External Hard Drive
Manufacturer: Maxtor

We have done our research and you won't find this hard drive cheaper anywhere else! This web only offer is not available in our stores and is only while stocks last. Includes Free UK delivery

High-capacity High Speed 400GB external hard drive
Space for up to 6665 hours of digital audio, 400 hours of digital video or 128,000 photos
High-speed USB 2.0
Low noise 7200 rpm spin speed
Cache Buffer 16MB 8MB
Seek Time < 9.0 ms
Weight 1.16 kg
Dimensions: 4.5 x 15.2 x 22.3cm

In case you like to go with a specific brand, it is worth knowing that although this is a Maxtor drive, Seagate have owned Maxtor since 2005.

 

[BTB 500]

Digging a little deeper, is this ok from www.maplin.co.uk at £75?

Perfect for what you want, IMO.

 

[unit504]

on storing data eg: photos and that - i went to and extra drive (internal as im on a G5 mac) plus i also always back up to DVD (just to be safe!

 

[NiallerS320]

External HDs are so cheap no days you could always get around 800gb (two 400gb drives) for a relatively cheap price.

There's a few standards out there but avoid USB 1.1, USB 2 and Firewire 400 are both ok for transfer speeds, if you can get your hands on a Firewire 800 drive & card you'll be laffing, alternate backups betwen drive 1 & 2 and that should give you an excellent level of redundancy for a home user. Most drives come with their own backup software though I've found LaCie's a tad lacking, maxtor ok but Seagate using BounceBack Express can be scripted and set to run at certain times.

 

[NiallerS320]

You and Shude are probably talking a lot of sense (you usually do) In this instance I don't understand your technical abbreviations but you have raised a very valid point and have got my attention.

We have four computers all on a wireless Netgear network. What would you recommend we use as an external back-up source and roughly the costs please?

Regards,
John the computah fikkie

Hi Glojo

Not meaning to but in but I wouldn't recommend backing up over a wireless network, for one the speed is probably only working at 56mbits at best an old CAT 5 wired network ran at 100mbits and are capable of running at 1000mbits (gigabit) this will make a huge difference in backup times. Disk based backup is certainly the way to go for a 4 user network but for those getting rid of tape based backup I've recently installed a gigabit network in a clients and backup a 2tb server and 30+ clients to an LTO3 HP autoloader I'm getting on average 2gb a min in backup speed and 3gb a min on the compare phase I have also found them to be very reliable.

 

[BarryG]

For home use I would go external HD, my local Aldi has one on offer 500Gb for 80 odd quid
As has been mentioned don't rely on CD/DVD media still being readable in a few years time. I have loads of CDs stored away in their cases, in a dark cupboard, away from any sort of contamination. They are totally unmarked and good quality. 20% are now unreadable, using recovery software is no guarantee of recovering anything from them either. Plus it's a nightmare long business extracting files that are recoverable.