Thinkpads Forum

Hi, I am scanning thousands of slides to JPEG and TIFF format and am in need of permanant storage.

I purchases Mitsu Gold Archival CD-R's to backup the images too, howver I would like a network Hardrive.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I have a linksys WRT-G54 router with a netgear print server. All the computeres run wireless. I already have a 200gb lacie d2 extreme drive for my personal backup.

I am looking for a RELIABLE! and fast hard drive with 150+gb of storage.

If you're just going to use it to store the photo images, the easiest thing might be to get the desktop (3.5) hard drive of your choice, put it in a 3.5 USB enclosure, attach it to one of your machines, and share the whole drive on the network.

Given the differing opinions on drives I won't suggest a particular brand. Whatever you're comfortable with.

The USB enclosure also makes it relatively "portable" should you ever want to move it.

I considered that before purchasing my LaCie Drive.

That would be a good idea, but i would rather have an enclosure that connects diretcly to the router via Cat5 cable. Know of any?

Im thinking in the 150-300 price range.

I wouldn't worry about speed as your speed is going to be limited by the router regardless of the drive speed. I'd get a larger drive, rather than faster.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/network_ ... /index.php

These work very well, Ximeta models can be used via USB and/or Ethernet depending on the model. I own one and have been using it for quite some time, directly connected to my router and thus always up and running

There will probably be other brands/solutions for your situation, but i just wanted to share my experience concerning network attached storage (NAS) in a SOHO environment...

When I said "the easiest thing" I should have also said "the cheapest thing". NAS units tend to be significantly more expensive per unit of storage.

Which is why I've gone the DIY USB enclosure route. About twice the storage for the price, with the added benefit of being able to store one unit off site in the event of a disaster.

But, to each his own.

This http://www.serverelements.com/naslite.php , an old computer and the hard drive of your choice will work.
I've been running one for years.

atct86 wrote:That would be a good idea, but i would rather have an enclosure that connects diretcly to the router via Cat5 cable. Know of any?

Don't know about prices but Maxtor and Buffalo both make NAS products aimed at the home user.

Rob.