data server

[elninio]

I have about 2tb of data that we need to store, and want to have it mirrored (4tb) for safety purposes. Can someone suggest me a cheap build for this? I'd also like it to take up very little space. Maybe I should get a networked external storage box? Speed is of no concern here I just need it to handle 4x1TB drives in a raid array.

My other options are tapes (we have a tape drive) , or burning DVDs (maybe a automatic DVD duplicator)? budget is ~1000$ but cheapest possible is best

,thanks in advance

[Cptn Vortex]

Personally I would just hook this up to one of your current machines and put 4 x 1tb drives into it NCIX.com - Buy Sans Digital TR4M-B TowerRAID 4 Bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) JBOD / RAID 0/1/1+0/5 Enclosure - TR4M-B In Canada.

[elninio]

Originally Posted by Cptn Vortex

Personally I would just hook this up to one of your current machines and put 4 x 1tb drives into it NCIX.com - Buy Sans Digital TR4M-B TowerRAID 4 Bay SATA to eSATA (Port Multiplier) JBOD / RAID 0/1/1+0/5 Enclosure - TR4M-B In Canada.

oo nice - too bad it doesn't have network capability

[CanadaRox]

You could always connect it to your computer and just share it as a network drive. But there are also many similar options that can be connected directly to the network. I think the only way to get 2TB and having it mirrored would require RAID0+1/1+0, and you would need four 1TB hard drives, which would still give you 2TB storage. I'd suggest getting four 750GB drives and using them in RAID5. This would still give you one drive fault tolerance, but you would have about 2.5TB usable. Or you could get four 1TB drives in RAID5 and have 3TB usable, giving you a bit of extra space for future proofing.

[Varroa]

Build yourself a cheap box and add 4 x 1tb drive and add Windows Home server. If you have enough drives it can "mirror" the information so there is always a backup. It doesn't require a powerfull computer and doesn't even need a video card, monitor or keyboard (all done remotely).