[red-beard]

Originally Posted by willtel

I have one of these that works well. I use it with Time Machine for backups and all my photo storage. You can also stream media from it to an Xbox and use it with IP based cameras to dump photos to.

StorCenter ix4-200d Desktop Network Attached Storage by Iomega.

The ix4 is pricy compared to the ix2 line. the ix2 uses 2 drives and the ix4 uses 4 drives.

I use an ix2 for my business with an external USB drive to also do a nightly backup. You can configure it so that you have daily backups which can keep up to 7 past days. I take the Friday backup and save it as a weekly backup. I then save one per month for a monthly backup. I wish I could automate this part...

The Iomega units works with both PC and Mac systems, even intermixed. I inistalled an ix2 for my sister and her kids have a mixture of Macs and PCs. I installed the backup software so that each computer will backup the files to the stor center once a week. Timemachine is built into the Macs. Windows XP and up have backup software. Iomega also provides a backup software.

Neither the ix2 or the ix4 can have "random" drives installed. But a single drive failure will not lead to a loss of data. The Iomega units are appliances. You install them, and they work. And the price is right.