Comments on: Building a new PC for Xmas because I want a NAS – Part 1 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/ Surfulater, the journey continues... Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:22:49 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: My Cantina » To Vista or not to Vista that is the ? http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-18836 My Cantina » To Vista or not to Vista that is the ? Tue, 01 May 2007 20:01:42 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-18836 [...] Back to my opening question: To Vista or not? My plan was to run Vista on the new PC I built for Cherryl,  however after a few days of futility I succumb and installed Windows XP. What was the problem? It was simply that I wasn’t able to get several of her mainstream, can’t live without, applications running. Now take note that I’m not putting Vista at fault, nor these applications, as they weren’t Vista versions. The problem was there weren’t Vista versions of these programs available at that time. A Vista version of one has just been announced, but not the others. [...] [...] Back to my opening question: To Vista or not? My plan was to run Vista on the new PC I built for Cherryl,  however after a few days of futility I succumb and installed Windows XP. What was the problem? It was simply that I wasn’t able to get several of her mainstream, can’t live without, applications running. Now take note that I’m not putting Vista at fault, nor these applications, as they weren’t Vista versions. The problem was there weren’t Vista versions of these programs available at that time. A Vista version of one has just been announced, but not the others. [...]

]]> By: My Cantina » XEN and the art of Virtualization http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8884 My Cantina » XEN and the art of Virtualization Tue, 09 Jan 2007 20:27:50 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8884 [...] I endeavour to spend a bit of time over the Christmas/New Year break trying out and learning about new things as these opportunities don’t present themselves much through the year. On Friday night over dinner, a good friend Russell Robinson mentioned a virtualization product XEN, which was being put to very good use where he does some contracting work. I’d heard of XEN but didn’t know anything about it. I still have Cherryl’s new PC that I can play around with, so this seemed like a good time to check XEN out. [...] [...] I endeavour to spend a bit of time over the Christmas/New Year break trying out and learning about new things as these opportunities don’t present themselves much through the year. On Friday night over dinner, a good friend Russell Robinson mentioned a virtualization product XEN, which was being put to very good use where he does some contracting work. I’d heard of XEN but didn’t know anything about it. I still have Cherryl’s new PC that I can play around with, so this seemed like a good time to check XEN out. [...]

]]> By: nevf http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8554 nevf Sun, 31 Dec 2006 22:58:03 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8554 Thanks for the info on Ximeta, which is one I'd not heard about. Down here in Australia we don't always see the range of products that folks in the US do. I've browsed the Ximeta web site and feel they are playing a bit fast and loose with the truth when talking about their product and comparing it to NAS or Mini-NAS (a term I'd never herd before). A few points to note: - Ximeta requires software installed and setup on each PC, NAS doesn't. Yet they say NAS is hard to setup. I don't agree. - They say Mini-NAS doesn't support RAID. I assume they are referring to the low end devices. Well the D-Link DNS-323 I referred above to does support RAID as does FreeNAS. I seriously have to question their other claims like poor performance, poor security etc. as well. Some important advantages of a product based on FreeNAS include: - The ability to do byte level differential backups. ie. Only copy the data within a file that's actually changed. - The ability to access it remotely, over the Internet. - You have the full power of a complete operating system at your disposal which means clever people can do anything they want. - The ability of the NAS server to perform the backups for you. In other words instead of the PC's pushing backups to the NAS box, it can pull them down. This centralized backup system could be a real boon where lots of PC's are in use. - Much easier to expand with more drives and other hardware, and I assume cheaper. I've nearly completed Part of this series, and it looks like there will be more parts than I'd planned. There will be one on RAID and another on NAS. Thanks for again for mentioning Ximeta. Thanks for the info on Ximeta, which is one I’d not heard about. Down here in Australia we don’t always see the range of products that folks in the US do.

I’ve browsed the Ximeta web site and feel they are playing a bit fast and loose with the truth when talking about their product and comparing it to NAS or Mini-NAS (a term I’d never herd before). A few points to note:
- Ximeta requires software installed and setup on each PC, NAS doesn’t. Yet they say NAS is hard to setup. I don’t agree.
- They say Mini-NAS doesn’t support RAID. I assume they are referring to the low end devices. Well the D-Link DNS-323 I referred above to does support RAID as does FreeNAS.

I seriously have to question their other claims like poor performance, poor security etc. as well.

Some important advantages of a product based on FreeNAS include:
- The ability to do byte level differential backups. ie. Only copy the data within a file that’s actually changed.
- The ability to access it remotely, over the Internet.
- You have the full power of a complete operating system at your disposal which means clever people can do anything they want.
- The ability of the NAS server to perform the backups for you. In other words instead of the PC’s pushing backups to the NAS box, it can pull them down. This centralized backup system could be a real boon where lots of PC’s are in use.
- Much easier to expand with more drives and other hardware, and I assume cheaper.

I’ve nearly completed Part of this series, and it looks like there will be more parts than I’d planned. There will be one on RAID and another on NAS.

Thanks for again for mentioning Ximeta.

]]> By: PAC http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8536 PAC Sun, 31 Dec 2006 00:49:42 +0000 http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/12/29/building-a-new-pc-for-xmas-because-i-want-a-nas-part-1/#comment-8536 Not sure if you have given up on the self-standing NAS option but I like the Ximeta Netdisk enclosure. They can be set up in a raid and you can put any drive in you want. Not sure if you have given up on the self-standing NAS option but I like the Ximeta Netdisk enclosure. They can be set up in a raid and you can put any drive in you want.

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