Do NASes Handle Drive Images?

[thusband]

I want my NAS as mainly a backup. Are they good for drive imaging like from Acronis?

I have a PC with about 1TB of data on a couple of drives (mostly photos) right now and an HTPC in the living room with maybe 300GB of data.

Also If I got a two drive NAS I don't have to install two drives right away do I?

Sorry, probably dumb questions but I haven't seen the answers anywhere.

Many thanks

 

[00Roush]

You should be able to save drive images to an NAS just like you would a local drive. I have used Acronis several times to create drive images directly to my network drive.

To my knowledge you can use most two drive NASes with just one drive. But with some NASes adding another drive later might mean you have to erase everything that is already on the NAS. So in some cases it is much easier to just start with two drives.

You mentioned that you your goal is to use an NAS as a backup... Will you still be keeping other copies of your data besides just the NAS?

00Roush

 

[thusband]

Thanks, 00Roush, for the reply. I think the NAS would be my only backup. On it would be the backup of my OS drive, the drive where my photos are, my HTPC drive OS and, perhaps, my wife's Mac. If some other setup works better I'd be all for it.

I'm still not sure why the NAS would be any better than a couple of external hard drives.

Thanks again,

Tom

 

[stevech]

yes, external USB or eSATA drives would be far simpler. Maybe cheaper, for the simple need of backup drive images and folder shares.

 

[teknojnky]

I'm still not sure why the NAS would be any better than a couple of external hard drives.

typically the main reasons for a nas are;

- centralized storage for multiple PC's, ie so various external drives don't have to be moved around or shared across the network. What you store on a nas can be either backup data (data that is primarily used on the PC, and copied to the nas), or primary storage (data that is primarily stored and accessed directly on the nas, not on individual pc's (this is not a backup).
- redundancy/raid, meaning that a single drive failure will not cause data loss. Using mult-bay nas also pools the available space so that you have more storage than a single drive can provide. Note however than redundancy/raid is NOT a replacement for backups.

Backups mean you have more than one copy of any particular data. Ideally you have multiple copies, on multiple devices and locations.

Data loss can occur for any number of reasons, multiple drive failing at the same time or during a rebuild, hardware/software failure, fire/flood/natural damage, theft, virus/malware, accidental or intentional deletion, and so on.

- power savings, often we may have multiple pc's and we can certainly have internal/external drives hooked up and shared so that other pc's can access them. However PC's tend to be a much larger power drain than a small dedicated nas box. Using a nas box means you can power down/suspend the pc's your not actively using and save some energy costs. Of course you still leave all your PC's on *and* have a nas, the nas itself is still often more energy efficient than if you had the same drives hooked up to a pc.

Hope that helps and doesn't make it more confusing.

 

[thusband]

Thanks, teknojnky, that does clarify things. Maybe I'll go with an NAS so I can use it to backup my PC and HTPC. I thought perhaps a couple of external drives would work but the NAS seems to be more flexable.

Thanks again,

Tom

 

[jprule]

I would suggest that you check your vendor's compatibility info before buying the NAS. For example, if you would like to use Acronis Backup and Recovery with your NAS, you need to make sure it is officially supported by your vendor or there may be some support issues in the future.