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For Online backup, check out JungleDisk ( <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://jungledisk.com">http://jungledisk.com</a> ) which
backs up in the background to Amazon's S3 servers. They have highly
reliable redundant multi-regional data centers. You can program the
software to back up the NAS to the Net. Data storage is $ 0.15 / Mo. /
GB. It can add up if you have huge amounts of data. Very
configurable, and theoretically, very disaster proof. After all, you
want THEM to still be around, with your data, after a catastrophe. Leo
Laporte , uber podcaster at <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.twit.tv">http://www.twit.tv</a> has Carbonite as a
sponsor. $ 55 or so / year. I've never personally used them. I don't
think you can back up a NAS with them, only what's on your PC.<br>
<br>
Depending on what you want to spend, I think Drobo ( <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://drobo.com/">http://drobo.com/</a>
) is probably the king of the hill in small NAS's in terms of
flexibility and features. I think it goes downhill from there. If you
can afford them, it should be great. Disclaimer, I don't own one, but
I want one!<br>
<br>
No doubt, people on the list will probably point out how you can build
a NAS with Linux, a spare PC, and a bunch of hard drives.<br>
<br>
You'll probably want a commercial grade UPS. I learned the hard way,
you CANNOT read the label on a UPS box and take it at face value. If
it says you'll get 15 minutes run time, IT LIES, because more than
likely, they are rating it at a totally unrealistic power drain of 100W
or something.<br>
<br>
The UPS has to run long enough to do a safe shutdown, and you have to
set the power configuration settings on the computer properly and you
have to connect the UPS to the PC and make sure they can see each
other. Ubuntu 10.04 recognized the unit I have with no problem.<br>
<br>
I bought an APC Back-UPS ES 750. I have a computer with a 4 core CPU
and several hard drives on the UPS. I also have two monitors on the
same circuit. These systems draw about 250 W at idle and about 400 W
when the PC is fully loaded and running hard. Don't plug laptops,
which have their own battery, into the battery part of the UPS, unless
their batteries don't work.<br>
<br>
The box said 750 VA (approx 750W). It also said 15 minutes run time
(didn't read the fine print). I figured I was OK. WRONG! I pulled
the plug to test the system after the battery was charged. Within 3
(THREE!) minutes, the entire system lost power and damaged the file
system. I had to rebuild the entire system from backups. It was not
my intent to create a disaster by trying to prepare for one.<br>
<br>
Now, 3 minutes is a very little time to shut down, particularly, since
the control software typically wont even TRY to shut down until it
thinks the battery has reached 15 % or something. 3 minutes is 180
seconds. Now, EVEN if the system reads the battery's charge state
correctly, when the battery reaches 15 % under these conditions, there
will be only 27 seconds of run time left. That's cutting it very close
for a Linux system which is busy, and it's hopeless for a Windows
system. (Also, an old weak battery can die when the system thinks it's
at 50 % charge. ) On my windows system, I set the power controls to
warn me when the battery reaches 85 % ( 15 % of power reserve gone - 27
seconds after power failure - for THIS combination of battery and power
drain ), and start the shut down sequence when the battery reaches 70 %
charge ( 30 % of power reserve gone - 54 seconds after power failure )
. Under these conditions, I should still have about 2 minutes of
battery left before it dies, and hopefully it will have hibernated by
then, but even that is marginal on Windows. If the system is running
Linux, it is much more likely that it will complete the shut down ( or
hibernate) before the battery fails.<br>
<br>
HOWEVER, (here's a question for the rest of you) - Ubuntu 10.04's power
control application DOES NOT allow me the flexibility of setting the
battery charge level where the warning and shutdown happens, as I CAN
SET in Vista. Ubuntu only asks what I want to do when the battery is
critically low. So, if it starts shutting down at 10 % or 15 % of
battery charge remaining, which I suspect it will, the system may not
survive a power failure even with the UPS, because it will have started
to react too late. If anyone else knows how to fix this, I'd love to
know it.<br>
<br>
Hope this helps.<br>
<br>
Sincerely,<br>
<br>
Ron<br>
<br>
<br>
On 01/30/2011 12:18 PM, Asher Vilensky wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:AANLkTi=P6izvTuuq37iVtCgvO6Nk3s32Z7KyjXErQvEP@mail.gmail.com"
type="cite"><font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Hi folks,<br>
<br>
I'm shopping for a home storage solution and thought to gather info
from the experience of users. Here are my requirements:<br>
<br>
</font></font></font>
<ul>
<li><font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Need to support Mac, Windows (Samba
ok), and Linux filesystems. Yup, all three.</font></font></font></li>
<li><font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Need to be quite (we live in a small
house...can't use a noisy machine).</font></font></font></li>
<li><font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Should have wireless accessibility
so that wireless computers can push data onto the device.</font></font></font></li>
<li><font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif">Backup: Either have backup
capabilities or have something that can push data onto an internet
based backup. The net backup is almost preferred as it backs up the
device itself.<br>
</font></font></font></li>
</ul>
<font color="#993300"><font size="2"><font
face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><br>
Comments will be welcome.<br>
<br>
Thanks.<br clear="all">
</font></font></font><br clear="all">
-- Asher <br>
<pre wrap="">man/listinfo
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
(PS - If you email me and don't get a quick response, you might want to
call on the phone. I get about 300 emails per day from alternate energy
mailing lists and such. I don't always see new messages very quickly.)
Ron Frazier
770-205-9422 (O) Leave a message.
linuxdude AT c3energy.com
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