Difference between 'Network' external HD's...

[acoustictech]

Is there a difference between 'Network' External HD's and regular external HD's? I'm planning on putting a couple 320GB external hard drives on a windows 2003 server computer in the office. One will be used for backing up files, another will need to be accessed by 60+ users. Can I buy a simple Western Digital external hard drive and get it to work as a normal shared network drive, or do I need something else? Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fs483]

Network External HD is probably connected to your network through ethernet which sort of becomes equivalent to a SAN. Regular external HD is probably a hard drive that connects through USB or firewire to your server. It might become a bit slow if you are planning to put 60+ users on an external HD... Also, if you plan on putting critical data or need reliable/redundant system, you should go for Raid 1 (or Raid 5 with spare) SCSI if you can afford it or maybe SATA (I never tried them). Also you might want to choose more robust equipment (or server grade) if you plan on using it on a server for multiple users. I never put a 100$ hard drive in a server and expect it to perform as well as a 500$+ HD... There's a reason for the added cost.

 

[birky]

60+ users....wouldn't you be better implementing a 'proper' backup solution?

PinnacleData Systems Ltd (UK)