Spec me a 1.5TB storage+backup solution

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I need to spec a solution for a client group.
They need 1.5TB initially, with the option to increase that over time. They need up to 12 users/computers to concurrently access the storage to push/pull files back and forth.

They also need to be able to back up this data on a weekly basis and need the backup to be on a removable media.

I've considered various NAS units and HP storage servers, plus an LTO tape drive, but many of the options are costly, and possibly OTT for these needs.

Money is an object, but not the biggest concern. Obviously I would like to keep the cost down where possible.

Can anyone suggest some options for me?

thanks
 
You want Debian!

I have a Debian install that has a SATA card sat in a PCI slot.

It currently has 4 x 80 GB drives in software RAID 5 giving it 220ish GB of storage.

It's a Athlon XP 1600 with 512 MB RAM.

It sits on my network and runs Samba to talk to windows using SMB.

If you swapped that for 750GB drives, you'd get 2 TB or storage.

Put in a DVDRW drive and you have removable backup.

So as you can see, low cost, low overhead.
 
Nice idea, but the headache involved in setting that up versus buying an 'off the shelf' NAS enclosure doesn't make it too appealing.
Also, backing up 2TB onto DVD isn't really a sensible option!
 
You can't have it all :p

It's not a hassle to set up. The Debian installer was very helpful.

So you want a NAS unit, but don't need a costly setup.

A bespoke system will give you a headache.

Good luck for the next poster! :)
 
Put it this way, a £500 NAS is affordable and will take about 15 minutes to install and configure.
The real issue is how I back that data up.

I do appreciate the advice, I'm not trying to sound as if I don't.
 
In that instance you'd get a secondary NAS for a daily backup rotation which you would take one NAS off site each day.

The key point is how much value does the company put on the data.
If it's a lot, especially for 1.5TB, money shouldn't be an issue.

You could even run a simple Windows XP Box with multiple hard drives to store that data and then back up onto the NAS box daily.
 
NAS units on average weigh 10Kg, so taking them off site isn't really going to happen. The same is true for a PC set up as a fileserver.

I'm a bit out of date with tape technology.
Is 400/800GB still the maximum that can go on one tape?
 
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