Backup Over a Network

Photograph: John KuczalaAs home and small-office networks continue to proliferate, so too do the computers attached to those networks--PCs that need to be backed up somewhere. Networkable drives provide a single backup destination, and also make it easy to access and restore your files from any system connected to the network.

We tested and ranked on our chart five devices that connect to your network via ethernet, with capacities ranging from 300GB to a full terabyte. In this group, we looked at Adaptec's $1470 Snap Server 2200 (500GB), Buffalo's $1000 TeraStation (1TB) and $400 LinkStation Network Storage Center (300GB), Maxtor's $350 Shared Storage Drive (300GB), and Western Digital's $400 NetCenter (300GB). We also considered Mirra's $750 Personal Server (400GB), but its inability to work with system backup software kept it from rising above the rest. (For more on the Mirra, see "Server Has So-So Services.")

Not all of these devices come well prepared for backup out of the box. The Western Digital and the Maxtor don't come with backup software at all. For its TeraStation, Buffalo provides its own Easy Backup, a crude utility that makes restoring files difficult (it shows you only the folders and the dates you backed them up, not what's inside the folders).

With its LinkStation Network Storage Center, Buffalo bundles LinkStation Backup, for use with multiple clients; but in our tests, it failed to copy multiple files because the file path was too long. Furthermore, if you enable compression, the software won't back up any file larger than 2GB--so forget about saving digital video files of even relatively modest size.

All of the network storage drives in this group have Web browser-based command centers that enable you to set up shared folders, mete out access privileges, and use disk-formatting utilities. The Western Digital NetCenter, the Buffalo LinkStation and TeraStation, and the Maxtor Shared Storage unit also have extra USB 2.0 ports, for sharing devices such as another hard drive or a printer.

Some of the drives are easier to use than others. Leading the way is the Adaptec, whose clear interface is speedy to navigate. Maxtor's and Western Digital's interfaces look surprisingly similar to each other, and they work well too, but their procedures are a little harder to follow than those of the Adaptec. The Maxtor unit has an added convenience if you also use the drive for shared network storage: Its software automatically sorts your files as you drag-and-drop them to the drive.

Buffalo's LinkStation has a sluggish Web interface, but the TeraStation's interface is quick--probably because the latter device has a 266-MHz PowerPC processor and 128MB of RAM inside. The TeraStation's management utility makes setting up user privileges easier than most of the other tools do.

Each of the drives here will work with either a fixed IP address or one assigned by a router. Most of the drives require you to browse Network Neighborhood to map the device after you've connected it, but the Western Digital NetCenter asks if you want to assign it a drive letter during its software installation. If you're using one of these drives for backup, you'll need to map it to a drive letter: Backup software typically won't work with a networked drive unless you do so.

Middling Performers

Not surprisingly, none of the five chart makers burned up the pavement with their speed. The Buffalo LinkStation completed our system backup test in just under 48 minutes (with compression and verification turned off by default), making it the fastest of this group.

The Maxtor and the Western Digital came in second and third, respectively, both at about 56 minutes; however, each drive's default configuration had file verification turned on--without verification, either model may have won the heat.

The Buffalo TeraStation--which at $1 per gigabyte offers the best value of the bunch--has four internal 250GB ATA-100 hard drives that come configured to use the integrated RAID controller for disc spanning (but not for striping or mirroring). You can easily change the RAID configuration; the unit supports RAID 0, 1, and 5. Regrettably, this model's singular gigabit ethernet connection didn't yield a performance advantage, as it was on a par with the Maxtor and Western Digital models. The TeraStation came in first on our file-copy test--by a hair.

The Adaptec also has two drives, striped together using RAID 0 for greater speed but no data redundancy. Unfortunately, the unit's performance was unimpressive: Using the ancient Symantec DataKeeper software, with no verification or compression, it took about 65 percent longer to complete the system backup than the average of its tested competitors.

Alan Stafford