Well, like many other folks around, I need a good backup option for my computers at home. We have so many home movies of our family digital photos that it is filling up our laptop. I also need to have a way to access these files from any computer in my house. I don’t want to worry about a machine going down or having to manually backup several computers manually.
I have looked at buying a NAS (network area storage) or building one based on Linux. Most of these did not have the features that I want. Also, most of these would require me to write a script for each computer to be backed up. The Linux options area good if you are just needing file storage. I do like Linux and have a Linux box in the house.
I will begin to start testing my next option later this week. My next option is Windows Home Server. I have been following the development of this product for about 2 years. It has progressed pretty well and not to much fan fair. Much like a NAS, it can just run in a closet with no monitor, keyboard, or mouse attached. You can also access it through the web if you so choose.
Some of my favorite user features are:
- * Digital memories and media stored and organized in a central location
- * Home computers backed up daily, automatically
- * Simple restore of lost files or even entire hard drive contents
- * Accessing photos and home videos from my XBox
- * Easily add storage space and new software capabilities
- * Best of all is that it can run on one of my old machines
I will post my experience after I implement it later next week.
L8r
