Cheap Server for HOME LAN backup?

[jtsnow]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use to run the External 250 GB
HD backup I used to backup 4 PCs.
I have 4 PCs on my LAN and when they backup over LAN it bogs down the PC I
use, this is the same PC that interfaces (USB 2.0) to the External HD.

What is the cheapest way to get a server (or is there a simple device that
will act like a server) to interface from the ethernet (100 baseT) LAN to my
External USB HD backup?

I have a spare old laptop that would work, but I need USB 2.0 for the HD and
it doesnt have that.

Any thoughts or tips or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[Stillwater]

What is the cheapest way to get a server (or is there a simple device that

will act like a server) to interface from the ethernet (100 baseT) LAN to
my External USB HD backup?

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&scid=43&prid=640

 

[Roby]

http://www.linksys.com/products/product.asp?grid=35&scid=43&prid=640

Be aware that this device runs Linux - so the filesystem it uses to store
backups to your external drive(s) is not directly readable by Windows.
As long as you use it to read as well as write to the drive, all is well.

Roby

 

[Steven Toney]

I like this thing too -- set one up for a friend -- works well

it would be better of it allow the underlying USB drive to be NTFS versus
it's own unix type file system, you could thne just also plug the drive into
a USB port on a PC and access the files

Can't do that currently due to the file system on the drives with the
storage link

 

[jtsnow]

thanks. when reading the reviews on the Linksys it doesnt do well.
Problems stated were:
locks up frequently
wont power itself up power loss.
Uses proprietary disk format.
Have to lose any data on disk to format.
also then cant just hook disk up to PC anymore to get data off it cus of
different format.
wont format over a 80g HD.
Major problem then also is cant save images of disk for backup for complete
disk restore.
Seems about 50% were thumbs down....CNET etc.

Doesnt sound like its ready for prime time . What do you think?

 

[Mac Cool]

jtsnow:

Seems about 50% were thumbs down....CNET etc.
Doesnt sound like its ready for prime time . What do you think?

I don't have any experience with the Linksys, but I wouldn't base any
decision on c|net reviews. There are too many idiots who negative and
positive reviews on products.

 

[BarryNL]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use to run the External 250 GB
HD backup I used to backup 4 PCs.
I have 4 PCs on my LAN and when they backup over LAN it bogs down the PC I
use, this is the same PC that interfaces (USB 2.0) to the External HD.

What is the cheapest way to get a server (or is there a simple device that
will act like a server) to interface from the ethernet (100 baseT) LAN to my
External USB HD backup?

I have a spare old laptop that would work, but I need USB 2.0 for the HD and
it doesnt have that.

USB2.0 port for the laptop?

http://www.sitecom.com/products_info.php?product_id=24&grp_id=1

 

[BarryNL]

Stillwater wrote:




Be aware that this device runs Linux - so the filesystem it uses to store
backups to your external drive(s) is not directly readable by Windows.
As long as you use it to read as well as write to the drive, all is well.

Of course, you could always set your PC's up as dual boot machines so
you can boot them into Linux and read the disk that way if you ever need
to. Having 5GB or so set aside for Linux is barely noticable on today's
monster drives.

 

[Al Dykes]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use to run the External 250 GB
HD backup I used to backup 4 PCs.
I have 4 PCs on my LAN and when they backup over LAN it bogs down the PC I
use, this is the same PC that interfaces (USB 2.0) to the External HD.

What is the cheapest way to get a server (or is there a simple device that
will act like a server) to interface from the ethernet (100 baseT) LAN to my
External USB HD backup?

I have a spare old laptop that would work, but I need USB 2.0 for the HD and
it doesnt have that.

Any thoughts or tips or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

If you put a big disk (IDE or SATA) in your good desktop (w2k or XP
OS), make it one big NTFS file system you'll be able to share it out
on your LAN and back up all the machines. I do this, and use Acronis
TI8 and I frequently write full images as large as 40GB onto a 200GB
disk over my LAN.

I have a second disk, in another machine and I copy images from server
A to server B as a contingency. If sh*t happens I can take either
disk out of a server and hook it right to a PC on the secondary
channel and reimage a C drive in a few minutes.

I'm not sure I trust hot-swap SATA on commodity hardware, yet. I also
don't trust external IDE devices that need a power brick. There are
too many ways a power glitch can screw me.

 

[bmast17]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use to run the External

250 GB HD backup I used to backup 4 PCs.
I have 4 PCs on my LAN and when they backup over LAN it bogs down the
PC I use, this is the same PC that interfaces (USB 2.0) to the
External HD.

What is the cheapest way to get a server (or is there a simple device
that will act like a server) to interface from the ethernet (100
baseT) LAN to my External USB HD backup?

I have a spare old laptop that would work, but I need USB 2.0 for the
HD and it doesnt have that.

Any thoughts or tips or suggestions are appreciated!

Thanks!

check out the post from Jan 1 .. titled

"What to do with a 400MHz dual-processor computer?"

mebbe offer to buy it for $60-80 bucks ... $20 for shipping and toss a
cheap USB2 card in it .. yer all set .......

just a thought as requested ....... good luck!