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Backup Over a Network

Our Best Buy, the Maxtor, is great for moderate storage needs; but Buffalo's TeraStation has capacity in spades.

Melissa J. Perenson

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H01R300 Shared Storage Drive PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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1. Maxtor H01R300 Shared Storage Drive

300GB, 10/100Base-T ethernet, USB 2.0 interface, Two-port USB 2.0 hub, no backup software, Price when ranked: $350

Bottom Line: Stylish device will work with any backup application you choose. Network setup is easy; USB 2.0 port on the rear lets you share a printer or an extra hard drive on the network.

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NetCenter PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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2. Western Digital NetCenter

300GB, 10/100Base-T ethernet, USB 2.0 interface, Two-port USB 2.0 hub, no backup software, Price when ranked: $400

Bottom Line: Slim box is very similar to the Maxtor drive, but is a little more expensive. Also includes a USB 2.0 hub for sharing supported printers and storage devices.

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TeraStation 1TB NAS PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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3. Buffalo Technologies TeraStation 1TB NAS

1TB, Gigabit ethernet, USB 2.0 interface, Four-port USB 2.0 hub, Buffalo Easy Backup to HD, Price when ranked: $1000

Bottom Line: Despite its use of RAID, this box showed little performance advantage over competitors; but it does offer the best value per gigabyte, plus an integrated print server.

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NAS Linkstation 300GB Network Storage Center PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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4. Buffalo Technologies NAS Linkstation 300GB Network Storage Center

300GB, 10/100Base-T ethernet, USB 2.0 interface, One-port USB 2.0 hub, Buffalo LinkStation Backup, Price when ranked: $400

Bottom Line: Its performance is speedy, but its Web interface is slow. The minimalist software won't back up compressed files larger than 2GB. Can daisy-chain via the TeraStation's USB hub.

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Snap Appliance Snap Server 2200 - Network storage server - HD 250 GB x 2 PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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5. Adaptec Snap Appliance Snap Server 2200 - Network storage server - HD 250 GB x 2

500GB, 10/100Base-T ethernet, USB 2.0 interface, Symantec DataKeeper 5, Price when ranked: $1470

Bottom Line: Unit has an excellent Web interface and print server, and works with many operating systems. Accesses files via a browser or FTP. But this costly unit was slow in our tests.

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Mirra Inc 400GB Personal Server PCW Rating: PCW Rating: PCW Rating:

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6. Mirra Mirra Inc 400GB Personal Server

400GB, 10/100Base-T ethernet , Mirra (file-monitoring backups), Price when ranked: $750

Bottom Line: Model has an attractive design and can safeguard multiple users' files automatically. It can't perform full system backups, though, and it can't serve audio or video files.

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