I guess I'm a little surprised

[Gilligan]

Apple didn't come up with the term "Cloud".. apple had little to do with the proverbial "cloud".

Squeegee, let me look into that web interface situation for all the other aspects that I'm not certain about.  As I said, I typically use command line for everything with very few exceptions and I know of many other solutions that use web BUT I'm not certain on all of them.  I've played with some commercial NAS's before and their interface is crude but functional and I'm not sure what is out there to mimic that but I'm sure there is something.

Evo... remember that external HD is actually MORE likely to fail than your internal it suffers from cheaper power and less cooling.  These two elements are what kills drives the most.  If you are backing up and or NEED your data external for workflow/dataflow purposes then do what you have to do.  But if you are taking it external because you "feel" safer then realize you are (like many others) barking up the wrong tree.

Many people take that approach because they worry that an OS corruption = same as failed HD.  But that is far from the truth.  The data is usually still perfectly in tact and fairly easily retrievable.  Most of the time you just need a Linux Live disc.  Any other problem that you encounter can happen to the external as easily as any other.

[Evo]

Evo... remember that external HD is actually MORE likely to fail than your internal it suffers from cheaper power and less cooling.  These two elements are what kills drives the most.  If you are backing up and or NEED your data external for workflow/dataflow purposes then do what you have to do.  But if you are taking it external because you "feel" safer then realize you are (like many others) barking up the wrong tree.

Many people take that approach because they worry that an OS corruption = same as failed HD.  But that is far from the truth.  The data is usually still perfectly in tact and fairly easily retrievable.  Most of the time you just need a Linux Live disc.  Any other problem that you encounter can happen to the external as easily as any other.

Yep. I was an Ubuntu convert for several years, just went back to Windows 7 when I bought a new machine.

I keep the setup I have for backup and organization. All the pics, music, etc on one disk, all the backups on another. I'm planning on getting a 4 or 6 bay Drobo for general storage and backups, then using the external USB drive for incremental backups to store off-site. That way the externals don't get hammered so much.

[Gilligan]

I recently picked up a few of these cases to stock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=11-156-253-TS&ISList=11-156-253-Z01%2c11-156-253-Z02%2c11-156-253-Z03%2c11-156-253-Z04%2c11-156-253-Z05%2c11-156-253-Z06%2c11-156-253-Z07%2c11-156-253-Z08%2c11-156-253-Z09&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16811156253&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=RAIDMAX%20Simplex%20ATX-618B%20Black%20Steel%20%2f%20Plastic%20MicroATX%20Mid%20Tower%20Computer%20Case

They have a little slide up panel that allows you to "hot swap" two hard drives.  Hot swapping is a function of software/hardware and your case doesn't make it happen, it just makes it easier.  But still easy enough to shut down and yank the drives for those that don't want to mess with unmounting drives (logically).

[squeegee]

Is that a mid tower?

[Gilligan]

Technically yes.

19" x 8" x 17.5"

[squeegee]

Screenexpress, thanks again for the tip on synchronicity, I was reading the manual yesterday and it does have a backup scheduler for automated back ups, if I can map to an offsite FTP my problems would be over.  Haven't tried the scheduler yet but will once my second backup finishes.

[tancehughes]

squeegee,

I don't think Carbonite allows the external hard drive...