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Back Up / Storage
Mushkin Callisto 120GB SSD Install and Performance Specs
Jan 21st
So last weekend I put and Mushkin Enhanced Chronos (MKNSSDCR120GB) 120GB SSD ($150) in my personal PC here at home and saw some amazing results. I posted about it here. Later that weekend, I was talking to the Worship Guy at our church and he had seen the post as ask if I thought an SSD drive could speed up the PC the church uses for video production. It is a Dell XPS 630i with (Core 2 Duo Quad Core, E8200, 2.66, 6MB Wolfdale, 65W) but came into our hands with a 500GB OS spinning drive and just 3GB of RAM. Of course my answer was YES and how fast can we get one in! He smiled.
Later the next day a Mushkin Callisto 120GB SATA II 2.5” drive was ordered from Newegg.com and shipped with 8GB of new RAM ($100). Since the PC does a lot of video rendering, more RAM is always better.
Jim’s Search / WHS 2011 with Drobo S
Oct 23rd
The discussion is on over at the Home Server Show Forums. You can join in there or leave a comment here. Got a favorite? Good recommendation?
Will add to this list as we move along.
| Picture | Link | Features |
| Drobo |
Drobo Dashboard 2.0 Continued: Tools, Drobo Copy, Dashboard Preferences and Some Final Thoughts
Jul 30th
I have been reviewing a Drobo in some form or fashion since December 2010. Some reviews over at the Home Server Show and some here at the Average Guy. The first part of this review can be found at Drobo Has a New Dashboard! Welcome Version 2.0 with a Drobo S and 5 Drives In recent months, Drobo has released a new version of their dashboard (v2.0.3 updated for this review) for both their consumer and enterprise products. For a company that is taking steps in the right direction when it comes to back up hardware, this software upgrade replaces a fairly vanilla offering from the last several years. It’s a definite upgrade and one that users of a Drobo should test out quickly. I found no reasons not to upgrade. If you are a Drobo owner, the upgrade is free.
With the new Dashboard, you can: (from Drobo.com)
Store Your Music in the Cloud? Installing the Amazon Cloud Player Uploader and get 5GB Free with 20GB after purchase.
May 8th
Weeks ago, Amazon announced that it would begin to provide 5GB of cloud storage for Documents, Music, Pictures and Videos. In its most practical application with the online storage of music, Amazon has now released a Windows Uploader that will allow you to easily upload multiple music files and folders to the cloud. It does require an Amazon account, which is free. You can sign up for an account here.
Even better is the offer to up your storage to 20GB per year with the purchase of one mp3 album. Now your music, both that which you have purchased (in any form, from any store, ripped from CD or mp3) or purchased from Amazon directly can be accessed from anywhere, via a internet connected web browser or smart phone that has the Amazon Cloud Player.
Start at Amazon.com. Select MP3s & Cloud Player
Secure Data Deletion for the Average User
Apr 24th
- by Rich O’Neil
There’s been a lot of talk about secure deletion of data from a hard drive. How do you ensure that no one will ever read your personal data once you’ve decided to dispose of or repurpose a hard drive? Maybe you want to hand down a hard drive to your kids but want to guard against them grabbing one of the many freely available data recovery utilities on the internet and taking a crack at your data. How do you deal with that?
ioSafe Solo 1.5TB External Hard Drive Deal–$219 at RadioShack
Oct 25th
I’ve talked about the ioSafe Solo many times at the HomeServerShow.com podcast. The ioSafe Solo is a external enclosure that is both fire and water proof. Pretty handy if you want to protect your data from a fire or flood in your home. I don’t know about you, but a good majority of my computer equipment is in the basement and near the floor. Since I live on a hill, I’m not too worried about flooding. But, if the house caught fire, between the heat of the fire and the water it would take to put it out, I would most likely lose any normal hard drive. The ioSafe however, would make it. How do I know that you ask?
Watch the video above. We filmed it last year in Las Vegas at CES. It’s the real deal.
ICY DOCK MB662US-2S dual bay 3.5 SATA to eSATA/USB 2.0
Mar 10th
Disclosure: ICYDOCK provided this unit for testing purposes at no cost.
The MB662US-2S is a dual bay hard drive RAID enclosure that can use two 3.5” SATA hard drives (in my case, 80 GB drives) with 6 different RAID configurations and both USB and e-SATA connectors. A good looking case design, a fan speed controller and hard drive installation that requires no tools or kits rounds out the highlights of features.
What’s in the box?
 |  |
Product Features:
* MB662 Series fits 2x 3.5” SATA I/II hard drives for maximum storage and supports up to 4TB.
* Plug & Play USB 2.0 + eSATA with Silicon Image 5744 chipset for versatile connectivity.
* Built-in hardware RAID controller allows six different RAID configurations:
–RAID 0 (FAST), RAID 1 (SAFE), BIG, JBOD, SAFE 33, SAFE 50
* No additional software and hardware required for RAID capabilities.
* Multi-drive exchangeability & maintenance capabilities.
*Compatible for both Windows and Mac.
ioSafe Solo Install (Part 1) – At 1 TB, It Is The Real Deal!
Jul 16th
After watching Dave burn his “evaluation” drive from ioSafe, I knew I had to have one. No, I’m not going to burn mine, but I am going to install it on my Home Server as a back up drive and use it to store copies of my files and PC backups. Safely and soundly.
I purchased it from Amazon (full disclosure: ioSafe did nothing to influence this post) and saved almost $100 off the list price from ioSafe.com. Right now it has free shipping (ordered it last Friday and got it the next Thursday – 6 days) and comes in at $230 for the 1 TB box. I know, I could get two 1 TB external drives for that, but they are not water and fire proof!
