Drive Mirroring?

[myronb]

Is their a way to setup a Drive on a network (LAN) to work as a "Central Drive" What I mean is: I would like to be able to save a file on my computer & it automatically save it on another computer. & also be able to save a file at a third computer & it save on the "Central Drive" Is this feasible or am I a nut?

Thanks,
Myron

 

[shawn_75]

Sounds like you want multiple copies of your files.

I'd suggest a network RAID system. RAID means Redundant Array of Independent Drives. You see it as only one drive but there are at least two. The data is mirrored on both drives and they are hot swappable.


The third hit I got on Google.
http://www.directron.com/raidstorage.html

This site has a good explanation of RAID methodology.
http://www.lefthandnetworks.com/products/understanding_raid.php

HTH

Shawn

 

[Shovelhead]

I'll wait for Techman to chime in.

 

[Techman]

There are several software utilities that will do exactly what you want.

The problem is a few will only copy that file when it is not being used. This is only a problem for companies who have users accessing data 24 hours a day every day. (sales departments) However there are a few others that will back up anything on the fly even when that file is being used. Either way its your choice.

There are RAID or there are software solutions. Those who want to spend money and show off, or has a high fear of a data loss use system techniques that are practical for such. Sensitive data or BIG outfits with many users accessing lots of data in a data base need redundancy. This type of user gets complicated RAID systems..

Those who just want it to work and be practical and have no TRUE need for RAID. They do not have a fear of data loss and do not use multi user systems accessing big relational or SQL data base files will use software.

I knew of a few websites using RAID. When they went down they stayed down until some IT tech could remount some hard drive.

I also know of a few websites that operated on regular systems. When they lost a hard drive they were back up within minutes because the tech simply had to change the cable and reboot.

I use software. I have never needed or saw the need for a RAID system. Most of us have no need for RAID. In my opinion. Software will do us just fine.

I personally used genie server back up software. It will back anything to anywhere on any schedule. I had a central system and three other desktop locations. Each one would back up to another desktop. And the central would back up to a second drive. EAch weekend it would back up to a DVD. SO there was never a chance to lose anything. All of his was so transparent I would sometimes check just to make sure it was working.

There was always at least three backups of DATA files. I don't mean whole systems. Just data. This prevented huge unneeded files.

The software would examine all the data files each night and backup only those files that had a change made to it. This is what I used for over 15 years even in the computer shop.
IF you wish you can set up the software to back up changed files every hour if so needed. But, that is over kill.

In summary, 96% of us would do fine to have backup solutions based on software. Very few of us need anything more because how many of us make more than a few new graphic files a day.

How about computerized point of Sale? Yes, that is important. If you do 50 sales a day then you are looking at some kind of daily or hourly back up system.

What is the trade off?

If you have a high fear of data loss or down time. And such down time would cost you lots of money,, And you have users accessing data 24 hours a day. And you do not mind the extra work it takes to maintain the system,, And have the experience and knowledge, and you have the bux,, then use RAID

If you are a regular user such as 96% of us here, and you do not need to run your system 24 hours a day, and you do not have a high fear of data loss, and a couple of hours of downtime will not cost you thousands and do not have an ego driven need to have the biggest then backup software is fine.

I have never ever lost a single file of data..

Thats my personal opinion.

 

[John M]

Myron -

It sounds like a product like Acronis True Image Home will do what you're looking for. Like Techman said, a scheduled backup wouldn't be as useful if you had 24x7 activity but for simple file replication, you can't beat the product or the price.

It makes incremental backups of your data, where only the changed data is copied. This makes it a much faster process, especially considering the size of design files. It can also make a full recovery image for use if your HD just totally dies.

RAID is never a substitute for backup. It's insurance against hardware failure but provides no defense against human error or file corruption. A layered approach is the only way to properly protect data.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

Just my two cents.... but I would consider a NAS device. It sits on your network and several users can share and store files on it. It can be setup with several RAID flavors to protect your data against drive failure and be backup up from your computer. I don't know if this is EXACTLY what you were looking for, but again, just my two cents.

 

[synergy_jim]

we have a NAS drive that has all of our files on it so it is accessible from any machine inside our firewall.

I back it up to a 500gig external once a week and take it home with me. ( Just In Case )

You can pick up a 1TB NAS drive for around $250.00

Western Digital Makes one with username and login password management.

 

[SignBurst PCs]

I have shipped a few Intel models. They were a little more pricey, but they did the job well. RAID 10 (four 500GB drives), so I actaully got 1TB of space, but if a drive goes down, you can hot swap it and you are never down. You can also configure separate users and passwords if you so choose.