That might be the case, but my direct experience with the Buffalo
Linkstation last July tells me there's a problem with their old software. I
was just backing up files from one computer on a LAN with no other traffic
and it wouldn't complete. When Buffalo sent me a new model replacement, it
worked right away. BTW, I'm using SynchBack from 2 bright sparks as the bU
siftware. It backs up uncompressed so you are pretty well guaranteed you can
restore data in the event of a failure.
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Gillett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, April 19, 2007 9:42 AM
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Network drives
> I would be concerned that that data volume involved in backing up the
> drive might swamp the network and render it unusable for anything else
> while
> the backup is running. It may be that you can have the last one out at
> night launch the backup, or have it autostart at 10pm or mignight or
> whatever....
> .... as long as it finishes before people want to start work the next
> day.
> USB 2.0 is rated at 480 Mbps, and I don't know how close to that you can
> actually get. Your ethernet through the LinkSys (Do NOT run the backup
> through the hub!) is probably nominally 100 Mbps; with Ethernet, you'll be
> doing very well to actually see more than 60% of that.
> So if you could get the USB solution to work, it's potentially up to 8
> times faster than you can expect over the LAN. (I'm kind of assuming that
> if the LinkSys *and* the Buffalo did gigabit Ethernet, you'd have said.)
>
> [One of my favorite parables, when I was a programmer, ended with the
> punchline "If it doesn't have to work, we can make it as fast as you
> like!"
> But in your case, as usual, it turns out that it has to work.]
>
> David Gillett
>
>
> On 18 Apr 2007 at 9:31, Will Stephenson wrote:
>
> Date sent: Wed, 18 Apr 2007 09:31:28 -0400
> Send reply to: Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
> <[log in to unmask]>
> From: Will Stephenson <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [PCBUILD] Network drives
> To: [log in to unmask]
>
>> Hello all!
>>
>> I have a client with a peer-to-peer Windows XP network. A year or so ago,
>> we
>> got a Buffalo LinkStation network drive to host their business files for
>> all
>> users (especially the data file for GoldMine, which requires a mapped
>> drive
>> designation to work correctly). We also bought a Western Digital external
>> hard drive that connects directly to the Buffalo via USB and acts as a
>> backup for the Buffalo. Everything is connected through a 4-port Linksys
>> router (internet is through Verizon DSL through the router) and a hub off
>> the router.
>>
>> The setup works reasonably well except for the backup. After multiple
>> configuration changes and phone conversations with Buffalo, I cannot get
>> the
>> backup to work consistently. One example: if you manually start the
>> backup
>> (through software installed by Buffalo on a desktop), it refuses to ever
>> end, as the process never actually stops unless you turn off the Buffalo
>> and
>> the WD drive. Setting the Buffalo to do automatic backups most times
>> results
>> in a failed backup. (If anyone has any suggestions about this, I'd be
>> very
>> grateful.)
>>
>> The client is tired of messing around with this setup, so I came up with
>> the
>> idea of getting another network drive, attaching it directly to the
>> network,
>> and doing backups with a real backup program. And finally the
>> question(s):
>> is this a reasonable concept and, if so, what backup program would you
>> use?
>> Would you have any suggestions as to possible pitfalls or gotchas?
>>
>> Thank you for your time and thoughts about all this.
>>
>> Will Stephenson
>> Acadia Technologies Inc.
>> mailto:[log in to unmask]
>>
>> - Ideologies are ways of organizing large swaths of life and experience
>> under a set of shared but unexamined assumptions -
>>
>> --
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>> 7:39 AM
>>
>>
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