8. Network Storage and Backup

To me, backup is like flossing your teeth. You know it's important for good hygiene, but it's a pain to do and seems to take longer than it should. Fortunately, Santa's elves have been busy and have come up with a few goodies that should make it easier to take care of this dreaded task (backup, that is).

An often overlooked backup method uses a hard drive as the backup medium instead of tape, CDROM, or DVD. It's rarely used by those of us with small networks to manage, though, because the hard drive needs to be built into a computer for decent speed, and then, it's only really useful for backup up that single machine's drive.

Since speedy Firewire and USB 2.0 buses are now becoming more common, portable external hard drives are becoming more of a viable option for not only easy storage expansion, but also as portable backup devices. Maxtor seems to have latched onto this idea and has come up with their Personal Storage 5000 line. All members of the family include Firewire, USB 1.1 and 2.0 interfaces (except for the entry-level 5000LE, which supports only both USB flavors), and have a OneTouch backup feature.

When you press the OneTouch button on the drive, it triggers a copy of Dantz' excellent Retrospect Express backup software that comes bundled with the Maxtor drive, which then makes a backup copy of the entire drive (or selected folders). Prices range from about $200 for the 80 GB LE model, to about twice that for the top-end 250 GB XT model.

Maxtor Personal Storage 5000LE

CMS Peripherals actually was onto this idea before Maxtor was. Their extensive ABS Plus line of backup devices includes models for backing up both desktop and portable computers and comes in models for both Windows and the MacOS. Prices range from about $225 to $400.

If you're looking for something to back up more than one drive, and do it over a network, then you should check out NAS or Network Attached Storage devices. Although EFG80, might be more in your price range. The base machine comes with an 80 GB drive and can be expanded with a second drive to a total of 200 GB of networked storage. Other handy features include a built-in parallel port print server, FTP server, and ability to retrieve files using just a web browser. It's available now at about $460, but you'll need to bring your own backup software, which isn't included.

Speaking of backup software, my personal favorite is the previously mentioned Retrospect Backup from Dantz. It comes in multiple versions that handle everything from a single non-networked backup to multi-server backups over multiple networks. The Pro version will run you about $80 and handles backing up two networked machines to a single server. Remote licenses for additional machines can be had for about $15 a pop.