Cheaper Backup server for home LAN?

[jtsnow]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use as server 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!

 

[J. Clarke]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use as server 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!

If that laptop has a PCMCIA slot you can get a USB2 adapter for it for about
15 bucks.

If not, find a used machine with a PCI bus, details pretty much don't matter
as long as it's working, get a PCI USB 2 board, put a stripped down Linux
on it with just the drivers you need to access the disk and share it on
your network. Total cost maybe 40 bucks depending on how good you are at
scrounging.

 

[jtsnow]

Nice suggestions. Yes it as a slot for pcmcia card where modem is now. I
can plug in there to try it.
thanks!

 

[Dominique Pivard]

I want to have another PC on my home LAN to use as server 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!

How about this one:

www.synology.com.tw

I just ordered one for myself.

Cheers, Dominique

 

[jtsnow]

seems nice. at $400 Id have to pass though

How about this one:

www.synology.com.tw

I just ordered one for myself.

Cheers, Dominique

 

[J. Clarke]

seems nice. at $400 Id have to pass though

Especially considering that you can get a real server off of ebay for 50
bucks.

 

[Dominique Pivard]

I think the list price on the manufacturer's site is considerably
higher than actual street prices. I paid about half that amount here
in Finland, where computer equipments tend to be more expensive than
in the US.

Cheers, Dominique

 

[Dominique Pivard]

Especially considering that you can get a real server off of ebay for 50
bucks.

As I said, actual prices are much lower. Still higher than 50 bucks,
but I'm ready to pay a premium because:

1) I have no need for a "real server"

2) a $50 second-hand "real server" is likely to be noisier, bulkier,
more power-hungry and less reliable than a brand new piece of hardware

3) I like the idea of a pre-configured embedded Linux (I would have to
spend several hours configuring a "real server", whether with windoze
or with Linux, and my configuration would most likely not be as
optimal for the task as the one pre-configured on the appliance).

Cheers, Dominique

 

[J. Clarke]

As I said, actual prices are much lower. Still higher than 50 bucks,
but I'm ready to pay a premium because:

1) I have no need for a "real server"

2) a $50 second-hand "real server" is likely to be noisier, bulkier,
more power-hungry and less reliable than a brand new piece of hardware

I seriously doubt that that piece of consumer junk is going to be more
reliable than the dual-Xeoned, SCSI-RAIDED, ECC-RAMmed, triple-redundant
powered, overcooled, hot-swap-everything server I have sitting in the
corner of my basement. That cost about the same.

3) I like the idea of a pre-configured embedded Linux (I would have to
spend several hours configuring a "real server", whether with windoze
or with Linux, and my configuration would most likely not be as
optimal for the task as the one pre-configured on the appliance).

I doubt that it is using embedded linux. It might be using Linux but I
suspect it's the regular kind. As for being "optimal for the task", I
think you're picking at minutiae here--I'd rather it be "good enough" and
something that I can fix if I need to than be dependent on some outfit in
Taiwan that nobody has ever heard of getting out timely bug-fixes.

Besides, the last server I got off of ebay had a 500 seat Novell
installation on it, and given the choice between embedded Linux and Novell,
I'll take Novell any day--I've seen Novell boxen run 5 years without a
reboot.