BACKUP - Now It's Easy to Back Up Data on a Network - New York Times

Now It's Easy to Back Up Data on a Network - New York Times:
Backing up files, by definition, requires a second hard drive. The biggest risk of data loss is disk failure, yet it never hurts to consider the possibility of theft, fire or physical damage either. It pays, then, to have an external second drive that you keep apart from your computer.

Called local external drives, these hook up directly to your computer by a U.S.B. or FireWire connection. They have been around for years at very affordable prices. Networked drives have also been in existence for a long time, found mainly in offices. But now drives linked to a network router by an Ethernet connection are finally ready for the home.

Like multiple-TV homes before them, many homes now have two or more PC's. With high-speed Internet connections widespread, home networking routers no longer seem like alien technological wonders (though their alien roots still show on occasion when they misbehave). A networked drive plugged into a router can serve multiple computers at the same time. Many can even work with Macs and Windows PC's simultaneously.

Networked-drive storage systems typically include automatic backup software. Many have a U.S.B. port for connecting a printer, so that everyone on the network can share it. And when it comes to those iTunes purchases, there's an added bonus: the drives don't just back up your entertainment, but also give multiple computers access to the same files. Downloaded music, the latest family snapshots and even home videos uploaded from the camcorder are available to anyone in the house, regardless of which computers are turned on, and without the need to synchronize data in some overly technical way.

Out of a dozen or so networked storage systems designed for home use, I tested four. Three of the biggest hard-drive manufacturers offer stand-alone networked drives: Shared Storage by Maxtor (list price $280 to $500), Mirra from Seagate ($280 to $500) and NetCenter by Western Digital ($210 to $330). Last year, the network-hardware maker Netgear introduced the Storage Central SC101 ($130), a networked housing built to support two standard PC drives (sold separately or bundled, at extra cost, with the device).

The Shared Storage by Maxtor was my starting point, and it turned out to be appropriate. The single-drive 500-gigabyte unit I tested is easy to plug in and configure. Its bundled automatic backup software is noticeably unsophisticated, but it works. I could easily select the particular folders I wanted to protect, and schedule times when their contents would be copied over to the drive. It has U.S.B. ports for sharing a printer or even adding additional U.S.B. hard drives. Most important, its software works on both Macs and Windows PC's. My Mac's right-brain files (music and photos) and my PC's left-brain files (Word docs, spreadsheets, etc.) could be backed up together on one hefty drive."

After configuring the Mirra software to back up a few folders on my hard drive, I grabbed another computer that has a separate connection to the Internet. I went to Mirra.com and logged in using a name I had provided during setup. Sure enough, the files I was moving to the Mirra were already visible online. I could browse folders full of pictures in thumbnail view, and could download any file to the computer.

Whichever approach you choose, make sure you anticipate your capacity requirement. Music, photos and video can demand plenty of space, especially if you have to back up two or three computers' worth. Once you get the hang of it, you might keep all of your media files on a networked device. But then, of course, your backup drive will need a backup drive of its own. Surely you saw that coming.