For all the computer geeks:

My parents got me a NAS device for my birthday (I might have given them the impression that I'd really like a D-Link DNS-323).



It's pretty cool. The only pitfall is that it doesn't support FAT32 or NTFS. It runs off the ext2 linux kernal. At least I'll be able to get to it from my Mandrake box.

I through in my Seagate 300Gb SATA drive and it formatted and started itself instantly. If anyone is looking for an easy backup device or NAS file server, this thing is pretty good. It supports RAID 0, 1, and JBOD.

I'm waiting for Seagate to release the 1Tb drives. my real goal is to get two of those and mirror them.

i have no clue what the heck you just said but sounds like your happy with it

Looks like a toaster. A TB! that's some serious storage!!!

my dad worked for digital which was bought out by compaq, then compaq was bought by Hewlet Packard and I know very, very little about computers. I know absolutely nothing about linux. My brother used to have a linux system but he hated it and deleted linux and went back to XP. Computers are great and what they can do is awesome, but when it comes to how they do all that they do, I'd like to think its magic.

Sounds cool Bryant. I think my Buffalo Terrastation is probably easier to use, but I bet yours is better.

Those are nice.

My network attached storage is actually a computer with four SATA 320GB hard drives and a 120GB system drive... running a VPN, apache http server, ftp server, and remote desktop. Oh yeah and 14 fans. Those hard drives sometimes are cool to the touch, even after running for days. hehe.

Nice present there! I haven't used one of those...but they should work out nicely for you. Keep us informed on any problems you may run across.

Me too!

I have no idea what NAS stands for, but I caught the formatting references. :p

NAS is "Network Attached Storage"

It's basically a set of hard drives to store files on that attaches to your home network. It doesn't have all the processing capabilities and hardware/software of a PC, just enough to act as a file server and/or set of arrayed hard drives.

They are kind of expensive, but VERY handy. I lost some good data on my wife's old PC when the hard drive crashed. This is when I got my NAS drive. Now, I store all my important files (mp3s, movies, tax returns, digital photos, etc) on my network drive.

The model I have is RAID 0,1, or 5. I think mine is defaulted to RAID 5 right now. All I know, is the sucker works, it's easy to use, and I never have to worry about losing those files.

My head started hurting after I read that, but congrats on your toaster.

Looks good, I've wondered about those before, but have settled to just back up on two seperate computers. After my laptop's HD went out, I started backing up on my other two rigs. Then it died again after a year (Yay for 3 year warranty). Looks good!

The other cool thing about these is if I store photos and mp3s on it, then my wife can access them from her computer and I can access them from my computer.

That's just a lot harder to do when you back up files the way you are currently doing them.

I'm just a gadget junky.

It is a sweet toaster.

I used to back everything up to a standard external hard drive, but then I started to worry that my backup drive was going to fail. I figure I'll be all set once I mirror the two drives.

I'm sure all you guys will start to hear about these things more and more now that most households have several computers these days. Home networks are starting to look more like business networks.

So you understand the potential here, at the bank we have a SAN (similar to a NAS) that comes in at 5.78 Terabytes. That's a lot of storage.
http://www.emc.com/products/networking/servers/nsx/index.jsp

wow, i am no 'tard when it comes to computers and the only thing i got out of that was "linux" looks cool though.

Umm, Chevy 350's have a 4 inch stroke...the fly is layin on the plains after he gets hit by a plane...does your toaster make Julienne fries?