My particular unit uses some form of Linux and provides software for
formatting and scandisk.It's attached to the router and has a network
address. 
It's not vulnerable to Windows Malware, and no computer needs to be
turned on except the one using it.
There's a Wik entry here with more detail:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network-attached_storage

 

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Network Backup Drive
From: Dean Kukral <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Fri, October 08, 2010 7:50 am
To: [log in to unmask]

How does this work? Is there some kind of an operating system on the 
NAS? Is it connected to one computer and back-ups are made through the 
one computer?

What do you do to prevent malware?

I have a Windows Home Server, which I turn off except when I am actually

backing up my computers, because I have no anti-virus on it. It 
actually runs a Windows-like operating system and is more sophisticated 
than just a hard drive, so I suppose that it is more vulnerable to 
malware. But, to leave a drive on 24/7 that is somehow connected to 
all the computers at the same time suggests that there is some kind of 
operating system that might be vulnerable.

Dean Kukral

On 10/7/2010 9:59 PM, David Farrington wrote:
> I have a 2TB World Book Network Attached Storage (NAS) connected to 
> my D-Link 655 router. All my computers (Win7's and XP's) use the NAS 
> for backing up to. My networked Seagate Media player uses the NAS for 
> movie files to show on an HDTV recorded form Windows Media Center. The 
> system has work great. I've had the NAS about a year and a half now. I 
> keep it dust free and powered from my UPS. The NAS just sits there and 
> looks like a white book on the desk. I also purchased a 2TB USB 
> external drive and it works fine too. The NAS drive is available to 
> all computer on the network all the time, where as unless I share and 
> have the USB drive plugged in to one of the computers it is not 
> available to all computer. I use the USB drive for more long term 
> storage or short term storage on computers I am working on. I like the 
> NAS for ease of system backups. HTH
>
> <snip>

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