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Computers and Software => Computers and Software - General => Topic started by: 3Deep on September 17, 2012, 10:47:16 AM
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Hey I think its about time to upgrade our computers so whats the skinny on win7 now anygood or still having problems, that was a big reason I didn't upgrade awhile back and just stayed with XP. If your using win7 now and doing seps and stuff what should I have to look for if I want to still use my old epson 3000 to printe seps and I,m sure I'll have to upgrade my rip...still using an old Photoscript 7 rip from cadlink with a usb dongle.
Darryl
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Just got a new 27" imac, 16 gb with paralells for any windows needs... LOVE IT
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7 is great. I like it.
I would talk to Pierre, he will save you some coin on a new one. there isn't a good epson 3000 driver, but a rip will work around that anyway. Our 3000 is hooked up to the server running server 2003. so there isn't any problem. the usb dongle wouldn't work on 7 for some reason.
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7 is solid.
Vista was the main problem.
I'm sad to see 8 coming so quickly. :(
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guess I'll still be behind if 8 is coming out, thats one thing that blows about upgrades the stuff you have finally got to work right will no longer work on the new stuff, and you have to just about buy everything new all over.
Darryl
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7 is solid.
Vista was the main problem.
I'm sad to see 8 coming so quickly. :(
I am still on Vista. I am too lazy to switch. It's been pretty good for us. I was gonna move us all to Windows 7 many moons ago, but we came to enjoy the Windows Calendar for scheduling jobs here at the shop. I was told it was missing from Windows 7.
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Recently made the jump to 7 from XP.
I regret it every day.
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i just made the jump from a old 2 g pc to a new thinkstation e30 with 16gs and windows7 pro. so far so good. a little bit of a pain getting all the stuff i use over to the new rig but i love 7, no problems here. so much more speed, its like working at the speed of thought which is very nice. running corel x6,&x4, AI, and photoshop at the same time with no problems and very fast. not one crash yet or even a freeze..
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7 is solid.
Vista was the main problem.
I'm sad to see 8 coming so quickly. :(
I am still on Vista. I am too lazy to switch. It's been pretty good for us. I was gonna move us all to Windows 7 many moons ago, but we came to enjoy the Windows Calendar for scheduling jobs here at the shop. I was told it was missing from Windows 7.
All your computer credibility just got shot.
I just lost all respect for you man.
I think I'm gonna go out and buy a think station now.
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7 is solid.
Vista was the main problem.
I'm sad to see 8 coming so quickly. :(
I am still on Vista. I am too lazy to switch. It's been pretty good for us. I was gonna move us all to Windows 7 many moons ago, but we came to enjoy the Windows Calendar for scheduling jobs here at the shop. I was told it was missing from Windows 7.
All your computer credibility just got shot.
I just lost all respect for you man.
I think I'm gonna go out and buy a think station now.
Ya I know right. Trust me I know I am behind on OS. But I can honestly say Vista has been perfect for us and we have no stability issues at all so we haven't pressed the issue to change. Plus as you know in a screen print shop there is always something that would probably yield a better return on investment than a operating system for a already perfectly running system.
Ideally I will finally build myself a new rig in the next couple of months and move up at that time.
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Dude, Vista is garbage.
There are two types of Vista users, those that hate it and then there are those that don't know they hate it yet. I feel for those in the latter column, there is MUCH greener pastures in 7 that they are missing out on.
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Font Management in Windows 7 sucks donkey knob.
Seriously so effing mad with Microshaft right now.
Thousands of posts on the internets with the same problem, and the
MS Dweebz are shooting in the dark, suggesting reinstalling the system, etc.
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Dude, Vista is garbage.
There are two types of Vista users, those that hate it and then there are those that don't know they hate it yet. I feel for those in the latter column, there is MUCH greener pastures in 7 that they are missing out on.
Well if it was crashing, errors, slow, or unresponsive I would certainly have moved on already. We have it on 3 computers here, not a single issue. Maybe I am lucky. :D
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7 is great. I like it.
I would talk to Pierre, he will save you some coin on a new one. there isn't a good epson 3000 driver, but a rip will work around that anyway. Our 3000 is hooked up to the server running server 2003. so there isn't any problem. the usb dongle wouldn't work on 7 for some reason.
7 does not reconize a dongle.... I have been around the block on that one. Using a KVR switch and still have the XP up to print through FastRip 8. an upgrade from cadlink $195.... and I do like Win 7
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Dude, Vista is garbage.
There are two types of Vista users, those that hate it and then there are those that don't know they hate it yet. I feel for those in the latter column, there is MUCH greener pastures in 7 that they are missing out on.
Well if it was crashing, errors, slow, or unresponsive I would certainly have moved on already. We have it on 3 computers here, not a single issue. Maybe I am lucky. :D
Again, credibility is shot. We are done with this conversation.
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I love 7 and was on XP till i upgraded. If you would like i can email you the specs on all of the parts I purchased and built my own as there was no one machine out there with what I was wanting.
as for the rip I did have to upgrade it to accurip. I was on fastrip 8 but never could get it to work, and now I love accurip
I did however go with a 64 bit 7. so I did upgrade to corel x6 (64bit) illustrator 64bit and several others programs as well. I think between the new pc and the additional upgrades in software, additional raid drives and 2 new 24" monitors all in all about 2500.
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Maybe I'll get 7 for my art and still use XP for seps, I know I,m going to upgrade the office computer for billing and invoice stuff to 7, I just don't need the headache when I need seps done.
Darryl
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Dude, Vista is garbage.
There are two types of Vista users, those that hate it and then there are those that don't know they hate it yet. I feel for those in the latter column, there is MUCH greener pastures in 7 that they are missing out on.
Well if it was crashing, errors, slow, or unresponsive I would certainly have moved on already. We have it on 3 computers here, not a single issue. Maybe I am lucky. :D
Again, credibility is shot. We are done with this conversation.
Ya it's just luck, not the awesome hardware :o
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[sarcasm] No way... you had something more to say? I can't believe it! [/sarcasm]
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[sarcasm] No way... you had something more to say? I can't believe it! [/sarcasm]
Same right back to you.
I am actually replying just to drive you nuts. <LOL> LMAO </LOL>
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7 is great. I like it.
I would talk to Pierre, he will save you some coin on a new one. there isn't a good epson 3000 driver, but a rip will work around that anyway. Our 3000 is hooked up to the server running server 2003. so there isn't any problem. the usb dongle wouldn't work on 7 for some reason.
7 does not reconize a dongle.... I have been around the block on that one. Using a KVR switch and still have the XP up to print through FastRip 8. an upgrade from cadlink $195.... and I do like Win 7
mine is working just fine, maybe its the rip? im using quickfilms rip.
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Font Management in Windows 7 sucks donkey knob.
Seriously so effing mad with Microshaft right now.
Thousands of posts on the internets with the same problem, and the
MS Dweebz are shooting in the dark, suggesting reinstalling the system, etc.
I was unaware of the font issue. But I'm MAD TOO. I upgraded my wifes terminal to 7 Ultimate 64 bit. I can say without hesitation, search sucks. To search the network shared folder which is only about 185 Gigabytes takes FOREVER. And there is no easy solution. VoidTool's Search Everything is lightening fast only on a locak machine, but does have a network workaround. I just can't figure it out.
Why microsoft would implement such a poor native search engine is beyond me. No one has multiple-terabytes of data on local machines.
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Hmm, I store all my stuff on a linux server and for that I just do `locate -i <keyword>` If I want to search more key words I just filter the results through `grep -i`
It's pretty much instant since my server updates the databse every night or I can run a quick index `updatedb` that takes less than a minute.
But that is kind of technical... but it's stupid fast (literally instant).
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Gilligan, I'm ready to tear my hair out on this, and coincidentally, I'm ready to upgrade my server too. If you have a solution for a VERY poorly self-educated system administrator, I am all ears.
In the interest of clarity, my only issue with SEARCH is with Windows 7 (Ultimate 64 bit if that matters) searching the network shares. Our XP terminals get along fine.
I have finally got the girls up front trained to give their filenames some UNIQUE identifiers, and now....they can't find them on the Win7 machines. I can't imagine what the Windows 7 developers were thinking, each OS seems to be progressively poorer with SEARCH usefulness. Perhaps I am just thinking wrong. I am no egghead, even though that job falls to me.
I do kinda like Windows $even... I guess. But XP has been so easy for us, if Micro$oft would just keep supporting it, I'd stay there. I understand that Micro$oft has got to feed the beast, and that means $elling more $oftware.... to ME!! I just like to resist until I have little or no choice.
Gilly, Do you interface Windows terminals with your Linux server? If so, will that work for me, knowing ZERO about Linux?
Thanks,
Stan
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Basically for the rest of the team the linux server is a giant file server (we mount the shares as mapped drives... so the main Raid is R: on windows). You can write a simple batch script for those stubborn XP machines that don't seem to want to reconnect every boot (I do this for all my clients that I set up like this as default just because I don't want to hear about them not being able to see the "S drive" (S for "share" ;) ).
Now... the searching that I do is a LOT more cryptic and nerdy than that. My whole server has no GUI interface, it runs straight command line (think DOS, but WAY more powerful). I run a little windows app called PuTTY that connects to the server and gives me a command line on my desktop.
In my world, I technically run my IRC (internet chat) and my instant messengers (they actually run inside my IRC via Bitlbee) and then I also have a torrent client running on there (I can even manage that via my phone), web server (personal stuff), I run some virtual windows machines for certain applications (QB, my digitizing software... various things that I can't install everywhere but might need access everywhere, then I just run RDP to connect to them at anytime on any computer).
My server at home also serves as a repository for a couple of backups... I have some clients that servers push their backups onto my server daily as an offsite backup w/ permanent monthly backups that I archive onto dvd for them when I get enough for a full dvd.
It does take a little nerding out to really harness the full power available but it is pretty impressive. And if you aren't doing any virtualization then the whole thing can run on some rather light weight hardware because there is no BLOATED GUI based OS running it. Basically the interface takes ZERO resources so that all your resources are dedicated to any task you give the machine. With most of my clients that is strictly the SAMBA process, file access and network. Pretty lightweight stuff.
Let me know if you are still interested and I can work you through it all.
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<snip>Pretty lightweight stuff.<snip> Uh Huh. Very lightweight.
Choke, gasp.
Something's hanging off of my chin, just reading how "lightweight" your reply was.
Somebody drop you on your head? You should be a network administrator for somebody's business.
Oh, Wait...... You are!
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Actually what I meant by lightweight was the server load by the clients, not my post. :)
Though once you dance around with it a little, you may never go back to a stupid GUI for doing some basic stuff... WAY to fast in CLI. :)
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10 seconds before I saw your last reply, I told my wife who is struggling with seven on het new terminal, I've about had it with Microsoft....and automatic updates. I wonder if Apple is any better. Then there is always the software issues.....
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If you don't like updates I'm not sure apple is the answer. apple tries to update more on windows than windows does. ;)
Linux has a lot of updates as well, but it is amazing at how it updates every bit, even the basic applications can be easily updated.
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I love Linux and we use it for our fileserver as well. With that said though, I don't think Linux is for the faint of heart.
Definitely not something just change your fileserver over to if you have no experience with it already.
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That is true Ink... I told him I would help him along.
Here is a lesson for everyone, two days ago my server went down. I went reboot it and one of my hard drives went down... no big deal, I have 3/4 still running. Before I even had a chance to pull that drive out another one has gone down.
Now I'm dead... all lost. :(
This is why backups are SO important... just hard to backup 3+TB of junk. :)
I'm still gonna pluck away and see if I can't bring it back alive.
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We are working on our backup system here next. I have carbonite, which is OK, but I'd rather have a RAID5 here and a mirror at the house just in case. I can replace equipment easily, I can farm jobs out, but I can't replace data once it's gone.
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Yep, redundancy across my shop and my house was on the list of things to do... oops. :(
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after i dropped $2500 to have a drive salvaged, it's worth it to drop double that on a good backup system. (not that you would need to, but it's worth it)
I was down for 2 weeks.
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That is true Ink... I told him I would help him along.
Here is a lesson for everyone, two days ago my server went down. I went reboot it and one of my hard drives went down... no big deal, I have 3/4 still running. Before I even had a chance to pull that drive out another one has gone down.
Now I'm dead... all lost. :(
This is why backups are SO important... just hard to backup 3+TB of junk. :)
I'm still gonna pluck away and see if I can't bring it back alive.
Yes, and I appreciate the offer. ;) Still in flux about which direction to go....
After a recent "backup schemes" googling orgy I had, I read on a site somewhere that raids have a much higher failure rate than you would expect, complete with data loss. Worse in fact, than many other backup scenarios, and it was sobering. I wish I could find that site. I can't remember if they were positing that raids were actually responsible, or if they were just in the immediate vicinity of the crime.
It about convinced me to stay away from raids, but I'm the least tech savvy (defacto) Systems Administrator I've ever known of.
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If you don't like updates I'm not sure apple is the answer. apple tries to update more on windows than windows does. ;)
Linux has a lot of updates as well, but it is amazing at how it updates every bit, even the basic applications can be easily updated.
I am not quite sure I can parse your update comment. I think it's supposed to be a joke? I get OSX updates infrequently enough that I don't think about it and it doesn't even steal focus to tell me there are updates let alone force a restart.
I used Ubuntu for a year once and that was enough. It can be a complete solution, but it isn't like you are going to install it and hit the ground running.I seem to recall someone saying that Linux on a desktop computer is only a good idea if you like to think of your computer as a hobby.
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That is true Ink... I told him I would help him along.
Here is a lesson for everyone, two days ago my server went down. I went reboot it and one of my hard drives went down... no big deal, I have 3/4 still running. Before I even had a chance to pull that drive out another one has gone down.
Now I'm dead... all lost. :(
This is why backups are SO important... just hard to backup 3+TB of junk. :)
I'm still gonna pluck away and see if I can't bring it back alive.
Yes, and I appreciate the offer. ;) Still in flux about which direction to go....
After a recent "backup schemes" googling orgy I had, I read on a site somewhere that raids have a much higher failure rate than you would expect, complete with data loss. Worse in fact, than many other backup scenarios, and it was sobering. I wish I could find that site. I can't remember if they were positing that raids were actually responsible, or if they were just in the immediate vicinity of the crime.
It about convinced me to stay away from raids, but I'm the least tech savvy (defacto) Systems Administrator I've ever known of.
Well, that is because Raid is NOT a "backup"... it's redundancy.
Even when it's more complicated (like mine) and you are running a Raid 5 (3 or more drives one of them is the parity). You do increase your odds of a failure because you now have 3 or more drives. If you have 100 drives in service you WILL have a drive die at some point... throw the dice enough times and you will land on snake eyes.
BUT, I'd argue that you aren't going to lose data any sooner and in fact the opposite would be true. IF you have ONE drive and it fails... guess what, you lost the data 100% chance of that being the case (unless you pay too much like Brad had to to recover it). If you have 4 drives like me and one goes down... it SHOULD email you and let you know something went wrong. IF I would have just stopped it right there, shut down and got a replacement drive, I'd still be up and running. I pushed the envelope and left it up and running no it's LAST drives. Something went wrong (I'm still not sure if it might just be a glitch at this point and nothing is really wrong with that 2nd drive that dropped out).
Either way, it's NOT a backup. So you have a PROPER backup running and then you have failsafe redundancy so you don't have any real down time and if that fails on you (like in my case) you would have a backup to restore from or work off of.
In the end though... a system with no redundancy is certainly dead when the ONE drive goes down. The system with redundancy has a greater chance of a losing a drive (law of averages/probability) but it SHOULDN'T be but a hiccup when it happens.
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If you don't like updates I'm not sure apple is the answer. apple tries to update more on windows than windows does. ;)
Linux has a lot of updates as well, but it is amazing at how it updates every bit, even the basic applications can be easily updated.
I am not quite sure I can parse your update comment. I think it's supposed to be a joke? I get OSX updates infrequently enough that I don't think about it and it doesn't even steal focus to tell me there are updates let alone force a restart.
I used Ubuntu for a year once and that was enough. It can be a complete solution, but it isn't like you are going to install it and hit the ground running.I seem to recall someone saying that Linux on a desktop computer is only a good idea if you like to think of your computer as a hobby.
I was posting from my phone so it's not as fun or easy to type out things... especially while getting used to the quirks of the new SWYPE system (still better than pecking via iPhone keyboard :p ).
All I was really saying is that Apple tries to update the handful of things on the windows systems I see (I don't EVER install apple products, mainly because of how intrusive they are) than I see actual windows updates.
Quicktime, iTunes... iWhatever ALWAYS wants to update.
Not to mention it seems to need at least two to three "services" running 24/7 in the background of the system to accomplish these seemingly meaningless updates. Hence why I don't install Apple products on my PC.
We are getting some iPads given to us by a client and I'm still unsure how I will be using this thing because I REFUSE to install iTunes on one of my personal systems. I might have to have an old donor computer to put it on... maybe the failing workbench computer. LOL
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many very good points! As another person that used to sell and configure RAID drives for living, I'll say that the likelihood of their failure is actually larger than the sum of the parts. It has been my experience that they often have issues with drivers (software) and tend to forget what they are doing (hardware), crash the BIOS, kill the battery or something similar more often than there is an actual drive failure. And this was on controllers costing $3k and more.
Similar to the Linux, I find my systems with RAID to require significantly more tinkering than just plain Jane white boxes. On many an occasion I thought about giving up on the RAID setups, but in the end it is still running on my system (mirror). The whole concept is very similar to the airplanes going away from four engines back to two. For a long time the thought was that more engines will provide better reliability, but studies showed that four engines had a significantly higher incidence numbers and was creating unnecessary stress on the crew and system. The two plane engines did as well in emergencies as the other planes and the number of incidents was significantly smaller. Current designs favor the two engine setups.
So in the end, it is your choice. As Gilly said, RAID is not a backup solution (if your motherboard dies and you have to move the drives, in many cases you will lose all the info!). So back up my friends!
pierre
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I run a software raid setup... having multiples of the cards as a backup in case the card fails just to immediately switch to another card (likely that card will be outdated when you have a failure) wasn't worth it to me.
It has had it's issues... but mobo dies or even completely moving it to a new system and all I have to do is rebuild it in the configurations. So far. No telling what is waiting for me at home right now though. :)
Not many production servers out there today that doesn't implement a raid or two though... hard to argue with that. Things are a changing but that is still a ways to go for us.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I don't run any desktop linux systems... I finally got to the point where I said "I want to use my computer, not fight it or compromise constantly". I love the idea of linux as a desktop and MANY of the cool features/gadgets that windows/OS X gets comes from the linux world as they are pushing the boundaries of the computer interface... but it's a full time job. ;)
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I run a software raid setup... having multiples of the cards as a backup in case the card fails just to immediately switch to another card (likely that card will be outdated when you have a failure) wasn't worth it to me.
It has had it's issues... but mobo dies or even completely moving it to a new system and all I have to do is rebuild it in the configurations. So far. No telling what is waiting for me at home right now though. :)
Not many production servers out there today that doesn't implement a raid or two though... hard to argue with that. Things are a changing but that is still a ways to go for us.
Oh, and I forgot to mention, I don't run any desktop linux systems... I finally got to the point where I said "I want to use my computer, not fight it or compromise constantly". I love the idea of linux as a desktop and MANY of the cool features/gadgets that windows/OS X gets comes from the linux world as they are pushing the boundaries of the computer interface... but it's a full time job. ;)
one could always argue that there are two engines on the planes after all! It is just that four was too much. . .
pierre
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This is a good thread. I don't want to hijack it in any way, but I have been learning about NAS (like a D-Link 320) as opposed to shared folders in a Windows computer.
Is a NAS box an easier solution for network shares?
I currently am trying to upgrade my XP Pro "server" to a more capable XP machine, since it also functions as a Signlab server for cutting vinly. But I could lighten the ol' girl's load (pretty feeble box) and run the shared folder on a stand-alone NAS.
(FOR ANYONE WHO IS READING THIS AND DOESN'T KNOW: NAS IS Network Attached Storage. Think file server.)
Here is one solution I'm nibbling at--http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DNS-320-ShareCenter-Network-Enclosure/dp/B004SUO450 (http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-DNS-320-ShareCenter-Network-Enclosure/dp/B004SUO450)
Especially interesting since some egghead told me a remote VPN tunnel is easier to setup on a NAS. We have an office in our home 60 miles away from our store. The commute is tough and we only go home on weekends. (We have an apartment in the city.) We use LogMeIn which is laggy but doable.
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I am talking NAS with my it guy right now. His take is this:
Go with a netgear like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122062 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122062)
Stay away from Maxtor or Seagate drives...they have a high failure rate. Go Western Digital Black, not green or blue...those are slower.
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Back to my take. I have heard they are easier to VPN than a standard drive, a lot of them have the software built in. I will be setting up the exact same drive at the house in case of a major catastrophe. This way I will have everything...including the video from my fancy new camera system.
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Here is how we back up, and it works great for us and it would be something someone that knows nothing about computers really could do. I imagine most of you have a business to run rather than Servers to manage.
We have a Server, which out of the box you do nothing to but install client software, it backs up all files on all computers you configure every night. You can add hard drives as needed. It's quiet, low power draw, and it is pretty solid little machine. A monkey could set this thing up.
Then for additional peace of mind we have all data with in each client machine on a secondary hard drive in the system. So windows/programs run on its own drive then actual data is stored on a separate internal drive. At night all data is copied by a external on each client as well. So effectively there are 3 copies of each computer in the building. Addition to that we copy all of them monthly and take it offsite.
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that isn't a bad idea, but what happens if you forget one month or at the very end of the month your building is struck by lightning or thieves steal or destroy everything? I would rather have an automatic offsite backup to prevent any lost files. It should be seamless.
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that isn't a bad idea, but what happens if you forget one month or at the very end of the month your building is struck by lightning or thieves steal or destroy everything? I would rather have an automatic offsite backup to prevent any lost files. It should be seamless.
Worst case id loose a month, sucks, but I can swallow that over loosing it all of course.
Automatic offsite backup would be great, however the amount of data we create per day here would take longer than a night to back up over the internet. Here in east TN we have horrible internet speeds still, well without paying out the nose for T lines. Less than 1mb (.896) upload speed here. We create multiple gigs per day both me and Erik. Shelly creates a good bit as well. So unfortunately realistically this isn't an option for us at this time.
Recently cable internet has become available in the industrial park which would be a good bit faster on speed than our DSL, but so far I haven't had time to switch.
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we moved from a t1 to cable here and it's sweet. We are over 19mbps for download and almost 15 up. you should make the switch, it's cheaper for us than dsl.
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we moved from a t1 to cable here and it's sweet. We are over 19mbps for download and almost 15 up. you should make the switch, it's cheaper for us than dsl.
I feel you, when in PA I was on Comcast in a market with FIOS so they were competing big time. We had 70mb down, 30ish up. Was SOOOO Spoiled by that.
Came here and we are 10 down, less than 1 up. Even cable here is like 20 down I think, and like 5 up (up to of course). Not exactly earth shattering, but better. Even at that speed I doubt I would try to offsite back up over the web. The crappy part is we have 2 cable companies in town, Charter and Comcast. The left side of my street is Comcast, rock solid service. My side is Charter. Which here in this area is spotty, my parents have it, and my employee has it as well. Both have issues with net and TV. Of course that is on residential side but I suspect not much better on business side.
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comcast so far has been a ton better on the business side. my house has fairly spotty service(they just upgraded the lines) and i've had issue after issue. At the office I had 1 day of internet downtime that went until 10am, the phones didn't go down.
I bought the mid-grade package. I didn't go high end, I might once backup is up and running.
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comcast so far has been a ton better on the business side. my house has fairly spotty service(they just upgraded the lines) and i've had issue after issue. At the office I had 1 day of internet downtime that went until 10am, the phones didn't go down.
I bought the mid-grade package. I didn't go high end, I might once backup is up and running.
The only reason I really want to switch is the cable side is about 50-60 a month cheaper. So I am considering it pretty hard.
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I am talking NAS with my it guy right now. His take is this:
Go with a netgear like this:
[url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122062[/url] ([url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822122062[/url])
Stay away from Maxtor or Seagate drives...they have a high failure rate. Go Western Digital Black, not green or blue...those are slower.
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Back to my take. I have heard they are easier to VPN than a standard drive, a lot of them have the software built in. I will be setting up the exact same drive at the house in case of a major catastrophe. This way I will have everything...including the video from my fancy new camera system.
What I build in a linux box is essentially a NAS for most clients... but one that runs RAID1 usually (for me RAID 5), it also has LOTS of abilities for scripting and other various tasks. You can make it do just about anything but isn't just plug and play by any means.
As far as hard drive brands... meh, there are two major players Seagate and Western Digital (Maxtor is owned by Seagate).... also there is Samsung and Hitatchi but they are more dominate in the Laptop market (and the DeskStar has been dubbed the DeathStar as it is junk). Being that... I really doubt Seagate has a higher failure rate than WD. Sure in some people's experience that is likely true, but in some people's experience the other is likely true. I personally liked Seagate better due to the fact that they had a 5 year warranty vs 3 year warranty. But I don't like their warranty policy. If you want advance replacement (they mail you out a drive and you have 25 days to send in your old one... sometimes a drive isn't really dead but failing or you just want that replacement ASAP for a RAID) they charge you $10 bucks, non-refundable. WD doesn't do that. I've also heard, but not verified, that Seagate dropped their warranty to 3 years as well.
I buy between Seagate and WD mostly on price. If there is enough money to be saved that it out weighs the warranty BS risks, then I'll buy a Seagate without any hesitation and I'm pretty sure I'm in the top 5 on this site in how many hard drives we've bought/maintained over the course of our careers. :)
The old Seagate VS WD debate goes on in nerd circles all the time and I find it funny that neither side can see that the other side MUST have a valid point or they wouldn't be arguing it so fervently. It's not like a Apple vs PC debate where there are many variables to the argument, it's always cut and dry (X brand works and Y brand doesn't and vice versa). Obviously both sides work enough to create fan boys on both sides. My brother is one of those guys... he HATES Seagates... but I've bet he has had more WD's die on him in the last 10 years than Seagates... basically because he NEVER buys Seagates, so how does he really know they suck? ;)
Now on to Green vs Blue vs Black. No doubt about it, the black drives are definitely better drives. But one does have to look at where the bottle neck will occur. If you are building a NAS then is your network really faster than your Green drive? If not then save the money and get the green drives... that's what I did for my 4 TB server at home (which btw, all the drives checked out ok with diagnostics, so maybe Pierre is right and the raid is the culprit). I know that my drives won't be the slow point of my server... the software raid or the network will be my bottle neck.
VPN wise... it's not magic... it basically connects you like a network through the internet. So if you have a 20mb file that you need to open it will take the time that it will take to transfer that file across the internet from one location to the other to get that file open. My wife uses a remote desktop program to do most of her work from home. She might would work on smaller items at home directly if we had the VPN (it's in the plans ;) ). But for the larger items I'm not sure there is savings to be done, plus her machine here at work is a beast so when it has to do any thinking it's faster for her to remote in and let it do the thinking vs her laptop at home which is VERY underpowered in comparison.
One thing you might look at is something like Drop Box. This keeps EVERYTHING all synced up. This gives you some redundancy/backup (I wouldn't depend on it as my only backup) and it lets you open the files natively at home and then once you save them it shoves it back across the network(s) to update everyone. You can run many clients on it and they can all have mirrors of everything. My buddy does this locally at his shop because of the mac/pc issues. Instead of fighting network shares he just works "locally" on every computer and it pushes out to everyone else when it's done. Still only as fast to update as your network connection from point A to point B but if you don't NEED the update to happy ASAP it's not an issue, it will be there before you can drive there. He often works at home and does artwork and then just calls the shop and says "arts ready" and then they open it locally and do what they need to do (print banner, films whatever).
Was that a long enough post? ;)