Master harddrive for the house questions (Apple questions)

[Code54]

I am looking at adding a "master" hard drive to our house so everyone in the house can access it (Kids downstairs, wife and I upstairs). I would like to be able to have our iPhoto and iTunes library on it as well as a document folder where I can house things like service manuals, wife's recipes, stuff like that. We are currently running 2 MacBook Pros, 2 iPads, 1 Mac Mini, and 2 IPhones, 2 Apple TV's and 2 iPods so thus why I am looking for Mac compatibility. Also sort of want it setup so the kids can place there homework on it and I could check it from my Laptop or my wife's.
I understand a RAID drive does redundant backups but that is not overly important as I am more looking for a bulk storage area. I figure I rather have two separate drives so I can back the one up and keep a copy at my relatives house or work so if someone broke in, we had a fire, etc, I would not lose everything with it being in one location.
The one drive i looked at so far was:
Amazon.com: Seagate Central 3TB Personal Cloud Storage NAS STCG3000100: Computers & Accessories
We have DSL and a wireless router for the DSL so I think I have a few options - a separate standalone drive or a drive I plug into the router? Is either better? I would like to stay around $150 and was thinking either 2 or 3 TB. Don't have close to that much stuff but would give a ton of room to grow.
Is there drive you recommend or I should stay away from? Is this plan functional or am I missing something? I was also thinking about getting my wife a new Mac Air for Xmas so I know they don't have a ton of storage so I was thinking this maybe a way around that also.
Thanks in advance for the information

 

[B7510HSD]

I have drives setup at 2 locations plugged to the router and no problems anyone that can login to the router has access !!

 

[KiotiKowboy]

Just a side thought ...

I bought a nice 48 gun Cannon safe from TSC. It has a network jack and a power connector on the back. This allows you to put your data store inside the safe, protecting it from fire/theft.

I also have a Linksys router to provide wireless throughout the house. It has a memory card slot that will accommodate at least a 16GB card. This provides data access on your local network and also via the Internet.

 

[s219]

Is your wireless router an Apple Airport base station? If so, you should be able to hang a USB2.0 hard drive off it and do much of what you want (see: Apple - Mac - AirPort). They also have their Time Capsule which is an Airport with HD built in. I am not really up to speed on other options for networked HDs, the only thing I have done is hang a HD off an iMac that was always on, to serve as a file server. Probably not something you'd want to do with a laptop.

 

[Tompet]

Is your wireless router an Apple Airport base station? If so, you should be able to hang a USB2.0 hard drive off it and do much of what you want (see: Apple - Mac - AirPort). They also have their Time Capsule which is an Airport with HD built in. I am not really up to speed on other options for networked HDs, the only thing I have done is hang a HD off an iMac that was always on, to serve as a file server. Probably not something you'd want to do with a laptop.

I second most of this...for Mac peripherals, storage, cables etc., check out Other World Computing (OWC). It will come up as macsales.com in your browser. I have purchased Mac items from them for many years. Powermaxx is pretty good for Apple items.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I bought a 3 tb WD My Cloud that has a USB 3.0 port in the back. You can daisy chain additional external drives to it to expand it. It connects to the router with gigabit ethernet, so it's pretty lively on my main computer, which is also connected to the router with gigabit ethernet. WiFi access, of course, is not as fast, because WiFi is not that fast. I have mobile access to it from any WiFi hot spot, and can also access it on our cell phones via WiFi. Pretty nifty.

I bought it off the shelf at Staples for $179. I could probably have beat that price by shopping around, but it was within my budget so I just bought it.

 

[kco]

It will cost a bit more, but you may like to take a look at a more capable Network Attached Storage device(NAS). I am very pleased with my Synology DS111 which we use to store files for two Windows PCs, two Android tablets and two Android phones. The Synology single drive station is now DS114. They also have multi-disk RAID models. The stations include many applications but you only need to operate the ones you want.

The most valuable utility is Time Backup.

I use the Time Backup utility which is set to backup user data to an external USB drive every hour from 05:00 to 23:00. It grooms the backups keeping each one for 24 hours. Then it keeps the last backup of each day for one month and cleans them up, keeping the first backup of each week forever.

I go through the older weekly backups every six months or so keeping 1 for for every six months and after two years, just keep the first backup of each year. This is the only manual part of the backup, the rest is automatic and has been running flawlessly 24x7 for three years.

I have separate Time Backup job that does the photos once a week. I don't bother backing up Movies or Music.

It sounds like a lot of data but it isn't. The very first backup copies all the data. The subsequent backups copy ONLY those files that changed. So if you don't change any files for a week no files are written to the backup disk. However, it preserves the directory tree as if the files are being backed up(it uses the UNIX utility RSYNC).

About once per month I drag one of the user data to a 2nd external USB drive. This does copy all the data and takes a long time. I exchange this drive with another in a fire/waterproof box. The OP's idea to keep a backup offsite accomplishes the same thing.

The Synology also has ITunes, a Cloud Server, Mail Server, Media Server, Photo Server, Audio Server, and others utilities. But you can just use it as a simple file server and implement other utilities when you wish.

I come from a computer operations background(retired 11 years ago) so backups are my main concern. All our financial, tax, email, legal, etc. documents are stored on the server. I have an on-going project(which I will never finish) to scan in our old 35mm negatives and slides.

Another option for backups is to use a cloud service. That is too expensive for my internet(over cellular) setup.

I think disaster planning for valuable data and photos is important and sadly neglected by many until it is too late.

 

[Fidler4]

It will cost a bit more, but you may like to take a look at a more capable Network Attached Storage device(NAS). I am very pleased with my Synology DS111 which we use to store files for two Windows PCs, two Android tablets and two Android phones. The Synology single drive station is now DS114. They also have multi-disk RAID models. The stations include many applications but you only need to operate the ones you want. The most valuable utility is Time Backup. I use the Time Backup utility which is set to backup user data to an external USB drive every hour from 05:00 to 23:00. It grooms the backups keeping each one for 24 hours. Then it keeps the last backup of each day for one month and cleans them up, keeping the first backup of each week forever. I go through the older weekly backups every six months or so keeping 1 for for every six months and after two years, just keep the first backup of each year. This is the only manual part of the backup, the rest is automatic and has been running flawlessly 24x7 for three years. I have separate Time Backup job that does the photos once a week. I don't bother backing up Movies or Music. It sounds like a lot of data but it isn't. The very first backup copies all the data. The subsequent backups copy ONLY those files that changed. So if you don't change any files for a week no files are written to the backup disk. However, it preserves the directory tree as if the files are being backed up(it uses the UNIX utility RSYNC). About once per month I drag one of the user data to a 2nd external USB drive. This does copy all the data and takes a long time. I exchange this drive with another in a fire/waterproof box. The OP's idea to keep a backup offsite accomplishes the same thing. The Synology also has ITunes, a Cloud Server, Mail Server, Media Server, Photo Server, Audio Server, and others utilities. But you can just use it as a simple file server and implement other utilities when you wish. I come from a computer operations background(retired 11 years ago) so backups are my main concern. All our financial, tax, email, legal, etc. documents are stored on the server. I have an on-going project(which I will never finish) to scan in our old 35mm negatives and slides. Another option for backups is to use a cloud service. That is too expensive for my internet(over cellular) setup. I think disaster planning for valuable data and photos is important and sadly neglected by many until it is too late.

+ 1 on the Synology NAS. I have a DS214 with two 3tb drives and Raid 1. I also backup to Carbonite.com as my off site option.

 

[boggen]

network attached storage at newegg
NAS, Network Attached Storage, Home Sharing, Network Storage, Private Cloud - Newegg.com

a unit that has a "cooling fan" is very important in my book, there are a lot of cheap usb and like external hard drives, to NAS (network attached storage) to other. but if it does not have active cooling via a fan. then expected it to get toasted, in more ways than one in a very short time.

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personally i just leave my main desktop computer running 24/7, and setup a folder to "share" across network. from there ya just need correct program to work on various devices, to store stuff there.

with family and kids, "email" can be a tad easier, and simply attach files to email. and then just goto your email and create extra folders (work projects, kids, manuals, receipts, etc...) and simply move emails back and forth between folders. it can be a little bit more of a hassle, but nearly everything out there works with email, and most accounts you can store a few gig's worth of stuff. and lets you "email yourself" and put in a few comments, say, xy tractor, oil change, or xy tractor, 1999 xy tractor manual (attached pdf file), with comment of were you purchased / obtained manual. if a kid emails homework, ya know when they actually sent it (aka time/date stamp, and there email address). as long as you have correct program and it setup to open given document type. you should be able to click on kids email they sent you and open it up. you may need to make a couple setting changes, before you can/edit save it (depends on program). before sending it back to the kid.

 

[dmccarty]

Just be careful of using a network router to connect a hard drive for everyone to access. A coworker used a router with a USB connection to allow shared disk access. Long story short, the company knew there was a security issue with their router, failed to fix it, the drive was hacked and the coworker's identify was stolen.

Later,
Dan