Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
Hi,
the other day a friend of mine had a near miss and almost lost all her files.
I'd like to give her some suggestions for the future.
I've already set her up with a Dropbox account, but TBH, I doubt she'll use it.
I'd like to suggest an an external HDD that she can use to back up documents, photos, etc. She'll probably want to do this for several PCs. I was going to recommend the WD Passort 500GB, but all the reviews and forum posts really slate the Smartware backup software that it comes bundled with. Sure you can probably use something else, but I think it auto installs when you first plug the drive in.
So can anyone recommend an External HDD for backup purposes ? Does this look good http://www.amazon.co.uk/Buffalo-Mini.../dp/B004KSRM0Y
Can you also recommend a backup software package ? Is the "Backup & Restore" that comes with Windows 7 "good enough" ?
And as a final thought, can anyone recommend a friendly (in cost and usability - i.e. HDDs included), NAS solution ? I'm not too hopeful on this but something that is cheap, reliable and easy to setup and use, would be nice.
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
Cloud solutions just make my spidey sense itch. Any external hard drive will do to be Frank ( or Shirley at the weekends) . The windows 7 backup utility while good, use it myself, is not the greatest on functionality. If you want a scheduled backup that's free then you can't go far wrong with it. Has worked flawlessly for me the past year. A backup is only as good as the last restore.
Would recommend a Synology Nas device the support is tremendous for their devices. Although they don't come with drives which you want. (Unfortunately its a bad time for HD's with the price rises)
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
Unfortunatly if she is not going to use Dropbox which is automated, then what are the chances of her connecting a USB hard drive on a regular base?
Dropbox or Spideroaks is highly recomended and free up to 2Gb. Spideroaks gives you more options in terms of computers, folder selection, backup and syncronising.
I'm not a big fan of USB HDD's for backups and prefer a multidrive NAS'
Genie Timeline is a good backup program that is a light version of Apple's time machine.
Cheap NAS - HP Microserver if you feel like setting a FreeNas, OpenFiler, Windows Home Server.
D-Link DNS-320 (I have no idea on what it is like to configure)
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
DNS-320 is a doddle to configure, but it doesnt come with hard drives :(
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
One of the WD 'kiddie grade' Live NASs should do the trick. User friendly and plenty of support. Not the cheapest things, but more convenient than an external HDD any day.
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
personally looking at getting a Synology Disk Station DS212J 2-Bay Ethernet Gigabit RAID NAS Server 1.2GHz DLNA to enhance my system
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
How much data has she actually got to backup?
Once I'd limited mine to the stuff I really didn't want to lose, I was only totalling 50ish Gb. Even if I do incremental backups to allow restoration of a prior version I didn't see myself exceeding 500gb any time soon....
Re: Backup solutions, External HDDs, NAS, etc. Advice required
Quote:
Originally Posted by
belgarath2kuk
personally looking at getting a Synology Disk Station DS212J 2-Bay Ethernet Gigabit RAID NAS Server 1.2GHz DLNA to enhance my system
+1
I got an older version DS210j and it has never failed me. Their NAS software suite is very useful and will satisfy most of your needs. Throughput is also good, streaming 1080p movies to PS3 is a no brainer.
