Storage Strategy Guide

When I was younger, storing a 10M-byte computer game on my father's PC drove him nuts. "Computer storage space should be saved for more valuable files," he would tell me. I can only imagine what he would think about today's storage needs on home networks, including music, digital photos, home videos and all those e-mails.

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This week in Network Life

When I was younger, storing a 10M-byte computer game on my father's PC drove him nuts. "Computer storage space should be saved for more valuable files," he would tell me. I can only imagine what he would think about today's storage needs on home networks, including music, digital photos, home videos and all those e-mails.

Home networks need centralized storage to save us from 16 versions of "Funkytown" spread out among six PCs. Luckily, network-attached storage devices are coming to the market that bring storage away from individual PCs to where it belongs: the network.

In addition, home users are notorious for not properly backing up their files. While in the past it might have been easier to cope with losing a file or two, in these days of 99-cent music downloads (I've spent at least $250 at iTunes in the past year), saving files becomes a serious money-saving issue.

So in this issue of Network Life, we present our Storage Strategy Guide, offering tips and suggestions on the best ways to provide your home network clients (friends, family and neighbors) the storage and back-up protection they'll need to keep them (and you) a happy network citizen.

Once you've trained your users to store their files centrally, you can get them to enjoy their multimedia content in new ways by streaming them all around the house. Our "Content Everywhere" story points out the many products on the market that aim to play music or stream video around the house.

There's lots more in this issue, as well, including a warning about home VoIP systems and our usual departments. We also would like to hear from readers about their Network Life impressions - have you been happy with what we've presented? What other topics would you like us to cover? Is this format the best way to present our advice? Send me a note at kshaw@nww.com and tell me what you like or don't like.

- Keith Shaw Editor

Everything old is new again
Strategies and advice for repurposing your PCs.

Content everywhere
Ways to stream your music and photos all around the house.

Bit buckets
It's not just about data any more. Home storage strategies need to take into account everything from photos to music and movies.

Backup 101
Learn how to protect your photos, music, data and more.

Toshiba develops prototype HD-DVD disc

Also:
-Protect yourself from charge-backs
-Epson upgrades photo printer
-Make a million by playing a game
-Creating an online reputation; and more.

Out of the Box
Some speed bumps in the wireless LAN fast lane
Netgear offers 802.11a/g speeds, weak interoperability.

NAS gets exciting (sort of)
Maxtor drag-and-drop feature gets us giddy, but where's the backup?

Axentra Net-Box is ambitious, but who is it made for?
All-in-one server/router needs better utilities.

Security chief — By Deb Radcliff
Don't ditch the landline yet
Home VoIP is cool, but needs safety and reliability fixes first.

Connection coach — By James Gaskin
The meaning of life (er, storage)
Readers wrestle with the floppy question, SATA vs. PATA and a computer Catch-22