It’s not just about data any more. Home storage strategies need to take into account everything from photos to music and movies.
Home network users are making the same storage mistakes business network users did in the mid-1980s. The IBM XT, with its whopping 10M-byte hard disk, let users keep their own files, defusing the push to use file servers to centralize storage. Decisions about storage locations, file organization and back-up tools – critical for the office 20 years ago – now must be made in every home with two or more PCs.
Most homes have a junk drawer (or closet) used to hide items. If your friends and family use their PCs as a junk drawer, you will get called for help far more often than you want. A messy home data storage system will cause endless frustration and money.
When the question, “How do I add more storage?” comes your way, remember (but don’t admit) your early mistakes and push them toward centralized storage.
Granted, your next-door neighbor won’t come and say “please help me back up more often” even though he should. But if you recommend the right storage plan, backups should be easier and performed more often.
Storage upgrade options
Replacing a hard disk with a larger one (or adding a second drive) was once the only affordable choice for home users. External hard drives connected via USB now are becoming more popular, as the USB 2.0 standard has increased throughput considerably.
External USB hard drives automatically appear as usable storage in Windows 2000 and XP systems. The drives can be moved between computers, which gives a 21st century twist on the sneakernet of old, where people carried floppies from computer to computer (and overwrote files hither and yon).
| USB EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES ARE GOOD FOR: |
| • Adding extra disk storage without opening the computer case. • Individual PC backup (most users). • The new sneakernet (transfer between PCs). |
The drives can provide back-up services, and many units come with fairly sophisticated back-up software. The Iomega REV drive , an update of its old Zip drives, hold 35G bytes rather than 100M bytes and comes with real-time back-up software keyed to file changes. While counting on users to reliably use these back-up options for one PC might turn out well, normal users won’t move the devices between systems enough to get good backups. Pricing for external USB hard drives has dropped to less than a $1 per gigabyte, and they are best used as a way to expand current systems.
The USB thumb drive has become the new floppy. Some devices, such as the Cruzer line from SanDisk, now include automatic folder synchronization software (PocketCache) aimed at being used for backup. Unfortunately, this only works for one PC because, like the REV drive, users probably won’t remember to use the software on multiple machines. Depending on capacity, pricing ranges from $10 to $200 for a 20G-byte portable drive.
Although you understand the nature of users and don’t expect much, remind your family and friends that USB drives are not a legitimate option for extra storage or regular backup, except for one computer. Even though the new Kanguru Zipper Pro USB drive ($199) holds 20G bytes in the space of six stacked credit cards, these devices aren’t suitable for shared network storage because they generally get attached to one PC.
| PORTABLE USB DRIVES (CAPACITIES RANGE FROM 64M BYTES TO 20G BYTES ) ARE GOOD FOR: |
| • Backing up several PCs (reliable users only). • Moving files between office and home. • Moving files between home and school. |
Getting NAS-ty
With more PCs attaching to the home network, network-attached storage (NAS ) devices look like a better way to pull storage out of the computer case. NAS vendors are finally helping home users organize their storage and setting the stage for a huge leap in home data management.
Parks Associates estimates about 200,000 home NAS units were sold in the U.S. last year, about 1% of the total home network market. The cost of home-appropriate NAS units has been hovering at around $2 per gigabyte, but three things will drive down that price:
| PORTABLE USB DRIVES ARE BAD FOR: |
| • Multiple system backups (people regularly won’t do it). • File sharing among home computers. |
Broadcom’s “NAS on a chip” that includes the network operating system for these types of devices.
Buffalo’s TeraStation device , which packs a terabyte of storage, brings the price down to about $1 per gigabyte.
Mainstream acceptance of storage issues.
You might think it silly to push home users toward NAS, but these are not the same kind of NAS boxes you see in the data center. The home NAS systems are basically USB external hard drives with a minimal network operating system. Each system we’ve tested runs some type of embedded Linux that stays well hidden under a browser-based administration utility. This provides rudimentary file locking that works fine with standard commercial applications and provides file access (in most cases) for Macs and Linux/Unix systems through the Network File System.
So far, a lack of interest in the market hasn’t slowed NAS innovation. Buffalo’s TeraStation ($800, $1,000 or $2,000, depending on capacity) might be the ultimate home network bling. Tritton offers a NAS box with built-in wireless access and another model that packs a NAS into a router/firewall and wiring hub. SimpleTech’s SimpleShare VHS-cassette sized, sleek, aluminum case looks at home among expensive audiophile equipment (and is silent). Linksys has two different units with removable hard disk trays for easy capacity upgrades (one tray is empty to start on the base units).
Hitachi plans to release its own half-terabyte home NAS unit this year (because Hitachi makes a considerable number of high-performance disks, this could be a screamer aimed at audio/videophiles).
| HOME NAS IS GOOD FOR: |
| • Sharing files (digital photos and music files, particularly). • Non-client-attached backup (over the home network). • Offering a shared print server (some models). |
All NAS units for homes and small businesses include some level of client back-up software (albeit often poor). Luckily, readily available back-up software can be used with any of the NAS units on the market.
All home NAS units rely on Microsoft client network protocols and security, leaving much to be desired for a small business user but a workable system for home users. Some experience in network design will make life easier for home NAS users.
Getting home users to buy a NAS can be tough. They’ll say they can share an attached USB hard drive with other network users.
Technically true, but this relies completely on Microsoft network protocols and user-access permissions, which varies considerably depending on the reliability of the operating system version on the host computer (as well as the sophistication of the users). It also eliminates blocking the host user from any of the files stored, and Windows pass-through file performance isn’t great.
| WHY NAS IS BAD: |
| • Pricier than a comparable USB external hard disk unit. • Experience is needed to adjust the poor default security settings. |
If you can’t convince them to go for a NAS, dedicating an older computer to become the storage server will provide many of the same features. You’re still stuck with strictly Windows networking and security, but in a home setting this can be handled, especially if no one uses the computer as a PC. Configure it and then take away the keyboard and monitor. You’ll have some control over which users access which folders when you enable user-level security. The important distinction is to move storage from a PC to a shared device, either a NAS unit or a “server,” to make backup easier.
| PICKING UP THE PIECES |
There are stages to computer crash grief: first is disbelief, then curses, then pleadings to a higher power (this is when they call you), then hammers. With your help, your friend or family member can say goodbye to the old hard disk (through reformatting or replacement) and embrace the new. But they have lost their innocence. Use that to your advantage. During reconstruction, change their behavior. They now will accept change because they have no choice and have to start from scratch. Set up the second data disk partition on their hard disk. Gather all the application disks and store them together for the next time (there will be a next time, I promise). Gather all the inadequate backups (on their various CDs) and break the news gently about how lousy the backup has been. Drive partitioningWhen the operating system and data live on different disks or partitions, reformatting and reinstalling the operating system and applications is less time-consuming because you know your data is safe. Drives will fail, and operating systems will collapse, so prepare for an easier recovery next time. Each drive partition looks like a separate physical drive to the operating system, and one large disk can support multiple virtual drives. Good luck explaining that to your neighbor who goes by “Crazy Bill.” I learned the hard way that creating separate application and data partitions can save hours of frustration when the operating system must be reinstalled. Windows XP (both Home and Pro versions) make it easier to move the My Documents folder from Drive C to a different drive letter (Start > right click My Documents > Properties > Move). When the data sits on a different partition from the operating system, reformatting and reinstalling the operating system doesn’t touch the data. You must still reinstall the applications, but the data remains safe (as long as you back it up). The ratio of apps to data partition size depends on the user. Standard Microsoft Office documents take relatively little room, and I apportion the storage space two-thirds Apps, one-third data. Users into digital photography, music creation or copying, and any video applications should reverse that ratio at a minimum. Because an hour or two of digital video can take tens of gigabytes of disk space, you might need a 1 to 10 apps to data ratio for video fans. Adding a second partition to the hard disk adds another drive letter. You can leave the data partition as E, or use Windows XP System Tools Drive Management to change the assigned drive letters. |
Organizing files
The My Documents folder has become the junk drawer for millions of PCs and billions of files. Sharing the My Documents folder between different users on one computer turns sibling rivalry into high-tech warfare. Sharing a single folder with different users across a network always leads to overwritten and accidentally deleted files, and a total lack of backup-and-restore compliance.
Most NAS devices come with a Public or Disk1 volume open to all network users. Leave that for your family or friends to play with and create three other volumes: Music, Photos and Backups.
Volumes for most home NAS devices don’t have set sizes, so all the volumes will share the total disk space. Separating the volumes in this manner will ease backups,as well as force some organization on the file system.
| RECOVERING DATA: HOW MUCH IS THAT PHOTO WORTH? |
Photos drive disk recovery services because people will leave their only photos of a special event on a wheezing hard drive with no backup. It’s a common mistake: When the photo goes to the computer and the camera memory cards get erased for the next batch of photos, we forget about backing up the new photos from the computer. Or the camera will crash and keep the photos locked up in its flash drive. Recovering a crashed hard disk takes money, starting with a non-refundable $200 diagnostic fee (from DataDoctors.com, headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., with more than 100 storefronts around the country). Software fixes to the operating system (usually spyware cleanup) can be done for the cost of labor, but if the drive has mechanical problems, the meter starts at or near $1,000. Services can cost many times that depending on the complexity and speed requested. Of course, damage to the hard drive means you can’t get all the data, but Data Doctors works to get all they can. Ken Colburn, president of Data Doctors, says that 30% of his business is home users, double that of just a few years ago when backup was something people only did in their cars. Colburn says 10% to 15% of their data-recovery customers are repeat customers. Inform friends and family that a drive being sent out for recovery has the chance of being read by someone at the service location. Unfortunately, the only way to verify a file has been recovered is to read that file, but that makes some people nervous. But if your information is worth more than $1,000, you might not care if a service technician takes a look at your first grandchild entering the world. |
Families that want private folders should create private volumes and assign security to those volumes. “Money” as a volume is much easier to keep private than trying to set folder-level access. Such settings work well with a real network operating system and directory service, but home NAS units fall short. So take the safe way and create private volumes.
Properly segmented, individual volumes offer more backup flexibility when you want to copy the collected files in each volume. Use the Backup volume to store each individual user’s files.
Convince your family and friends to consider storage as a shared, not personal, computing resource. Today’s home network shares printers, access to the Internet, and video- and audiostreams – it also can share the movies, songs and photos that your home users create.
Adding more storage to the network is like adding a shed or building a garage – but if you don’t help organize the junk, you’ll still be sweating when they ask for help in finding something.
Gaskin writes about technology and has been helping small and midsized businesses use technology intelligently since 1986. He can be reached at readers@gaskin.com.
| AVOIDING THE NEXT CATASTROPHE |
To protect the drive electronics (and the rest of your computer) always use a battery back-up UPS to handle voltage spikes and sags. A surge protector is better than nothing, but well-protected drives cause less grief. Organized hard disks require less head movement and extends the drive life (less wear on moving parts means longer life). They also make for easier data recovery if necessary. Microsoft Windows provides decent utilities for disk defragmentation and disk cleanup. Run these every quarter and after adding or deleting a large number of files. Of course, always back up the system before running a new hard drive or file management utility. |
