January 2005
Small/Home Office (SOHO) Data Storage/Backup

Last month I wrote about Microsoft Small Business Server 2003 as a great SOHO server for easy and reliable server-based data storage. Another way to add data storage (hard disk space) to your SOHO network is network attached storage devices (NAS). My favorite method for doing this is Linksys' Network Storage Link that can attach two USB external hard drives to your network.

he real beauty in this is the ability to create users, private directories, map the NAS device and use backup software to copy and/or backup data to the device. My SOHO network now has a Linksys Network Storage Link with two Acomdata 250GB External USB drives attached. Using Second Copy 2000 from Centered Software (www.centered.com – free 30 day trial), files, directories and drives can be copied/backed-up to the NAS device manually or automatically. The configuration discussed here can be purchased for less than $450.

Now, let's touch on how to keep your data and computer safe. Every computer should be protected by a hardware firewall, software firewall (other than Microsoft Firewall), AntiVirus software and Anti Spyware/Adware software. There are many choices for these tasks, but I will list the ones that I have used with success:

This article outlines some basic tools to ensure a safe computing environment and data integrity. Happy New Year!