PC Help Request

I recently got fed up with storing backups on the same computer. I’ve been using a second hard drive to store my backup data, including pictures and music. This got frustrating because access from another computer was difficult since I dual boot my computer with linux. I also reformat so often that access from other computers is never guaranteed. What I really wanted was a designated file server, a computer that did nothing but share data on the network so that either the laptop or my desktop could get at it. When I looked into this a little more, I discovered Network Attached Storage (NAS) and particularly the Linksys NSLU2. A low power, and easy to use dedicated file server with two USB ports for USB hard drives.

I purchased a 200GB USB hard drive from Seagate in addition to the NSLU2. The hard drive was pre-formatted so when I plugged it into my computer to test it, it was ready to go. It even had a README text document on it. The NSLU2 was just as simple to use. I powered it up, it beeped a couple of times, and then I could access it through my web browser for configuration. It was just like configuring a router. I hooked up the USB hard drive and used the web browser configuration tool to format the hard drive. The NSLU2 wants to reformat the hard drive so that it knows what’s what. This took about twenty minutes.

After the format I opened up “My Computer” in Windows and looked under “My Network Places”; sure enough, there was “data_2″, ready to be accessed. I was able to easily create folders, copy my photos and music, and even play my music as if it was a hard drive on my system.

Some other benefits to this system: I no longer have doubles of photos on different computers; I no longer have to worry about which computer has the most up to date set of pictures; I have all of my music in one place for any of my computers to play; I don’t have to muck around with multiple hard drives or partitions on my desktop computer.

If you need a sane data storage solution and have a few computers that need to share data, the NSLU2 is an easy solution. I paid less than $200 through NewEgg and now have a simple data storage solution. The setup is easy and takes only a few minutes.

Links:
Linksys NSLU2
Seagate