Author Topic: Windows Home Server? (Read 8570 times)

PaulieWalnuts · « **on:** August 27, 2009, 21:49 »

Anybody using it or have one of these types of hardware servers?

http://www.amazon.com/Acer-Aspire-AH340-UA230N-Home-Server/dp/B001WGX15W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1251427632&sr=8-2

Looks pretty slick but I'm wondering how well the backup works versus just buying more external drives.

leaf · « **Reply #1 on:** August 28, 2009, 01:13 »

I have been thinking about something like this a bit and would be interested in hearing opinions too.

Phil · « **Reply #2 on:** August 28, 2009, 01:39 »

bit different needs (we have 7 pcs/laptops & 2 maclaptops in the house) but I have a $50 ebay pentum 4 PC (cheapest I could buy with sata) runs win xp & has no monitor (use remote desktop when I need to) that I put 2 tb of hd drive in and connected the router and printers and it pipes internet, network printer/scan etc and does backups.

Adeptris · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2009, 02:11 »

I have a similar product from NetGear, but I use it becase it is a raid one system where if one drive fails no data is lost as it mirrors to the other drive, and I can just hot swap a new drive and it will mirror the data.

The question we all have to ask ourself is simple, If I had a fire or a breaking an my kit was destroyed what is my Disaster Reovery plan, kit can be replaced the images cannot, I have the NetGear storage, one set of portable drives with all my data at home, one set of portable drives held at another location plus online backup, all these are options for disater recovery.

For remote access I looked at all different backup services and found the most economical for me is this, 'Amazon s3 Storage' and the FireFox plug-in, so providing I can get online I can get acess and download any image, the cost of this storage is so reasonable at $0.15 per GB a month, the plug-in is not graphical is the only downside.

this is an an overview of how to use the two products for online storage

I will have a dig around to see if there is a way you could also use Amazon s3 as a virtual drive.

David

Fran · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2009, 03:30 »

I used it for a while when I was in UK on Win (I'm on mac now) and I have only good things to say about it:
- fast
- VERY EASY TO MANAGE
- effective

Recommended.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2009, 06:46 »

Quote from: Adeptris on August 28, 2009, 02:11

I have a similar product from NetGear, but I use it becase it is a raid one system where if one drive fails no data is lost as it mirrors to the other drive, and I can just hot swap a new drive and it will mirror the data.

The question we all have to ask ourself is simple, If I had a fire or a breaking an my kit was destroyed what is my Disaster Reovery plan, kit can be replaced the images cannot, I have the NetGear storage, one set of portable drives with all my data at home, one set of portable drives held at another location plus online backup, all these are options for disater recovery.

For remote access I looked at all different backup services and found the most economical for me is this, 'Amazon s3 Storage' and the FireFox plug-in, so providing I can get online I can get acess and download any image, the cost of this storage is so reasonable at $0.15 per GB a month, the plug-in is not graphical is the only downside.

this is an an overview of how to use the two products for online storage

I will have a dig around to see if there is a way you could also use Amazon s3 as a virtual drive.

David

This server also has raid but it looks like some sort of new Microsoft variance. You can put up to three 2TB drives in it for a total of 7TB. If one drive fails you swap it out and the new one regenerates. Also has remote access and fully backs up any computers connected to it.

Remote storage sounds like a good idea but I have almost 1TB of data so $150 per month is a bit steep.

Adeptris · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2009, 07:04 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 28, 2009, 06:46

This server also has raid but it looks like some sort of new Microsoft variance. You can put up to three 2TB drives in it for a total of 7TB. If one drive fails you swap it out and the new one regenerates. Also has remote access and fully backs up any computers connected to it.

Remote storage sounds like a good idea but I have almost 1TB of data so $150 per month is a bit steep.

I was commenting more from an additional solution rather than a replacement, with an off-site remote access and backup, if you were away you would have to leave the server running and may not have no one at home to reboot it if required, with 'Amazon s3' it would be always avaliable providing you had a PC and a connection to the net.

$0.150 per GB – first 50 TB / month of storage used, Is that not 1000 GB = 1 TB = $15.00 ?

What is your disaster recovery plan for your data, if your kit was destroyed or stolen?

David

Fran · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2009, 07:30 »

Quote from: Adeptris on August 28, 2009, 07:04

What is your disaster recovery plan for your data, if your kit was destroyed or stolen?

I backup my images at work, at home in Germany and in UK, and off site again on my brother's home server in Italy. Even in case Germany is polverised, I still have a copy of the RAW files in Italy and UK

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2009, 07:38 »

Quote from: Adeptris on August 28, 2009, 07:04

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 28, 2009, 06:46
This server also has raid but it looks like some sort of new Microsoft variance. You can put up to three 2TB drives in it for a total of 7TB. If one drive fails you swap it out and the new one regenerates. Also has remote access and fully backs up any computers connected to it.

Remote storage sounds like a good idea but I have almost 1TB of data so $150 per month is a bit steep.

I was commenting more from an additional solution rather than a replacement, with an off-site remote access and backup, if you were away you would have to leave the server running and may not have no one at home to reboot it if required, with 'Amazon s3' it would be always avaliable providing you had a PC and a connection to the net.

$0.150 per GB – first 50 TB / month of storage used, Is that not 1000 GB = 1 TB = $15.00 ?

What is your disaster recovery plan for your data, if your kit was destroyed or stolen?

David

Hey, it's early and I never was good at math. If it's $15 per month that's not bad. I'm showing $.15 x 1000 = $150. What am I doing wrong?

Disaster recovery is something I've just started looking into. My original plan was taking an external drive offsite to do weekly backups.

Adeptris · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2009, 08:25 »

Quote from: PaulieWalnuts on August 28, 2009, 07:38

Hey, it's early and I never was good at math. If it's $15 per month that's not bad. I'm showing $.15 x 1000 = $150. What am I doing wrong?

Disaster recovery is something I've just started looking into. My original plan was taking an external drive offsite to do weekly backups.

Yeah $150, it was midday here and the caffine was wearing off already

David

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #10 on:** September 03, 2009, 10:13 »

I just found something called Fabrik Ultimate Backup by Hitachi. http://backup.fabrik.com/registration/

$4.95 per month for unlimited storage. Sounds almost too good to be true. Anybody use this?

surpasspro · « **Reply #11 on:** September 03, 2009, 11:59 »

I use the hp smartmedia server, which also has 4 bays for hard drives. Actually just ordered a 2TB drive to fill out my last slot since I'm running out of space. So, I'll be up to 5TB on there. It uses a microsoft server software with duplication. You need a PC to setup the software initially, but after that I was able to use it with my mac.

I looked at the drobo at the time and just didn't trust their propriety software to run it. The acer looks like a new product, since I didn't see it at the time when I bought the HP. I got tired of having different external hard drives to backup my stuff. Now I use them to backup the HP and store the files off site.

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #12 on:** October 30, 2009, 17:48 »

I picked up one of the Acers. Pretty slick. It's not just an external drive case. It has quite a few features and there are a lot of add-ons coming out for it.

It actually does some sort of image based backup. You can restore individual files or an entire computer. If your PC drive fails you drop in a new drive and it completely restores the computer (Windows, files, and everything) to the last daily backup. And the restore actually works.

I think you can connect up to ten computers to it so it's good for a home network or even a small business.

flashon · « **Reply #13 on:** October 31, 2009, 01:08 »

There are many online storage solutions that cost $5 per month for unlimited space, Mozy and Carbonite are two that come to mind, there are more.

eppic · « **Reply #14 on:** October 31, 2009, 01:39 »

I used to use DVDs for storage, but they're just too small now. I've switched to external hard drives, so all of my critical files are now in at least 2 separate hard drives. I have critical files further backed up on another external drive that has been stored at another location, so should my desktop get stolen or there's a fire, that other hard drive won't suffer the same fate. 1 TB externals can be bought for 100.00 on sale now, so for me this is now my main storage option.

cybernesco · « **Reply #15 on:** October 31, 2009, 06:10 »

I use Second Copy from secondcopy.com to mirror everything to external HDs. That little piece of software is amazing and highly useful. Just got it the other day...you can mirror files, folders, group of folders, HD and anything you want to any location you want. Each copying task is defined in a profile identified in the secondcopy window. Each profile can be adjusted to your requirements such as automatic copying before the PC shutdown or copying anytime you want it or every two hours ect.. and the type of copying such as an exact duplicate or just files added or zipped ect... Maybe many of you know secondcopy as apparently it has been working for years. Just found out about it the other day. Denis

PaulieWalnuts · « **Reply #16 on:** October 31, 2009, 07:27 »

I was mostly using the external drive route but I was starting to get a collection of drives and managing and finding the data was getting to be clunky.

And that route wasn't backing up anything else but data. If your PC drive dies you need to re-install windows and all of your software, download and update service packs and updates, find the serial numbers, restore Outlook PST (if you even back it up), reconfigure networking, etc. It's a full day or two of getting things back to normal.

The Acer WHS makes one giant pooled drive out of multiple drives. And it can have your PC fully restored in a hour or a few depending on how much data you have.

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Author Topic: Windows Home Server? (Read 8570 times)

PaulieWalnuts

leaf

Phil

Adeptris

Fran

PaulieWalnuts

Adeptris

Fran

PaulieWalnuts

Adeptris

PaulieWalnuts

surpasspro

PaulieWalnuts

flashon

eppic

cybernesco

PaulieWalnuts

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