Home networking and backing up

Nis · 27 May 2007 at 15:25

Hi guys,

I am a bit undecided on what to do and wondered if you had any advice. Currently there are 3 computers in my house and we all need somewhere to backup all our data too. At the moment i run another computer with a printer attached with 2x 160gb drives in to backup over the network with.

But the PC is on 24/7 and its noisey and there is no point leaving it on overnight. Would u suggest improvising, or is their a better known way? like network hard drive and aprint server or something?

Any advice would be appreciated..

Thanks a lot guys,

James. xx

Snapshot · 27 May 2007 at 19:59

Have a look at http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=14&subid=707. I don't know if any of them have print servers built-in so you'll have to check for yourself. There are also network devices like the Linksys NSLU2 to which you can connect almost any USB drive but, again, I don't know of any with print servers although I think they do exist.

Nis · 27 May 2007 at 20:24

Thanks a lot m8, Print server I can buy seperate its not a problem, its just the network storgae i need.

Thanks,

James.

squiffy · 27 May 2007 at 20:27

Yup NAS's are great, I have the D-Link DNS-323. USB port acts as print server, you can't connect USB HD but if you want to install Linux to the D-Link it'll add those feautes.

Have two WD 320GB in the DNS-323.

DarkHorizon472 · 27 May 2007 at 20:28

you can buy network attached harddrives now quite cheaply and they are fairly slient in operation. We last bought one a couple of years ago and it cost £250 for a 350GB drive. I expect prices will have dropped by now.#

You can get second hand jet direct boxes or similar cheaply if you look about. They allow you to connect a USB or parallel printer cable to them and then give it an IP address so you can print to it. Jet direct boxes are very small and completely slient. Just make sure you get a USB one if you have a USB printer. The wireless ones cost more than the ones you just plug a network cable into.

Hope that helps

squiffy · 27 May 2007 at 20:36

Don't buy rubbish either, ie Netgear SC101, or the £60 NAS's from a certain competitor.

Nis · 27 May 2007 at 20:39

I need something reliable, what make would u suggest, what are the western digital ones like?

Thanks a lot,

James.