[KLUG Members] product review: Iomega home network hard drive

[Eric Beversluis]

On Fri, 2008-04-11 at 06:30 -0400, Peter Bart wrote:

> 	I'm looking at something like the Simpletech 500GB SimpleDrive USB 2.0.

>  I think these are not really NAS devices, just external hd's?

Yes--that's just an HDD. NAS implies some OS, however minimal, and an
Ethernet connection, so it can function as a separate box on your LAN.
The Iomega has Ethernet and USB ports, so you can use it as a plug-in
HDD or as NAS (but not both at the same time).
> 
> > With this setup 
> > --I'm able to write to each partition from the appropriate OS, using USB
> > with seeming good speed. I created a disk image of a 32GB iBook in about
> > 45 minutes.

> 	What did you use to write? I've used rsync to transfer from one
> notebook to another but that needs server and client so it's out for an
> NAS? I'm looking at documentation for NFS as well.
To make the iBook (OS X 10.4) image I used the Mac Disk Utility (with
the Iomega in USB/HDD mode). To write your Linux stuff in the USB/HDD
mode you can use rsync. Remember, tho, the problems with syncing--each
time you sync, your changes overwrite the original, so if you sync from
a corrupted version on your primary, you've corrupted your backup. (See
discussion in Ch 7 of Preston, _Backup & Recovery_, O'Reilly.)


> 	The Iomega has the ethernet port, anything I've seen so far does not.
> Should I look for something that does have an ethernet port? Eventually
> I will have a desktop box that will be used to run IP Cop maybe Squid,
> and maybe have a raid for backups? Both my critical notebooks are new so
> I'm not expecting any failures anytime soon. As a stop gap I'm
> burning /home as well as the hidden files to DVD right now. Should I
> maybe bite the bullet and get this "server" going?

My sense (based on my experience and stuff I've seen rather than on a
full understanding of the situation) is that the problem with cheap NAS
lies in the number of "translations" and "untranslations" the data must
go through in getting from your HDD to a stored state on the NAS. Your
computer has to convert the material to ethernet packets. They must
travel while competing with all the other packets on the LAN, the NAS
box must convert them back (which for many NAS's includes converting to
FAT32 format) and then write to the HDD. With low-end processors and a
stripped-down Linux OS such as the Iomega has, this is a slow process.
Probably fine for file-sharing, where someone in the house just wants to
view something on the NAS or download one file to her box. But not
optimal for the large amount of reading and writing necessary for
backups. 

When used in the USB/HDD mode, this translation does not have to happen,
especially if you're saving to a partition you formatted to match what
you're saving. 

So maybe your best bet is to continue backing up to DVDs, especially if
the total size makes that not too onerous. Then build your dream desktop
as you have time and $$.  Another possibility: buy a good HDD that will
eventually go into your dream desktop (possibly with a second or even
third HDD) and put it in one of those $40 external HDD holders that
connects via USB or Firewire. Use it that way till you get the dream
machine built.

EB