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