External hard drive

[vanguard]

I have a Simpletech 320GB Simple Drive. It works very well and was cheap at around $80. Easy to install.

[pelligrini]

dumb question, i guess, it would be answered by searching for the hd mentioned above in google, but here is anyways (this is related to the question that i asked too):

can the hd mentioned above be connected to the router and dont need to be connected to the computer itself?

Some devices can be stand alone, don't know about the One Touch. I believe they're classified as a NAS (Network Attached Storage)

I saw a 1Tb WD tonight at Sam's that will plug into a network. There's a few routers out that will let you attach a USB drive. I wish I would have waited a little bit longer before I got my Wireless-N router, I would certainly have gotten the model that allows external drives.

[pelligrini]

If you do go with some sort of automatic backup feature, make sure it is capable of E-Mailing or printing a brief report of what it did in the middle of the night, and get used to reading them.

If it's really critical, make sure you can actually restore your backup. Even if it's not that critical it's a good idea.

I had some Ghost images of a home rig and I thought I was safe. I found later that I couldn't restore them.

We're using the built in backup software on our Small Business Server at the office. I'm uncomfortable with it because I have never verified I can do a total restore. I have pulled files from the backup archives though.

I am certain my backups done with Backup Exec on my data servers work. Between the daily tape backups, a seperate weekly USB copy, all our CAD files are safe. Weekly full backups are taken offsite too.

[leehljp]

can the hd mentioned above be connected to the router and dont need to be connected to the computer itself?

I have a Wireless "N" unit / router that allows a USB HD to be attached. Works fine for me. I have backups set to every 6 hours and it works in the background.