Storage devices guard against hard-drive failure

Synology Disk Station

The recent failure of my laptop hard drive served as a warning to the perils of taking a lackadaisical approach to backing up digital content.

My drive gave up the ghost with a minimum of notice, and not having backed up for several months, I lost crucial files, photos and email that I miss dearly.

The simple fact is, a hard drive can fail at any moment - even when theft, damaging knocks and water splashes are taken out of the equation.

Backing up the contents of a hard drive to CD or DVD is the easiest way to ensure data isn't lost, but it's a time-consuming approach. Users who are really serious about data back-up, or who generate a lot of digital content, should consider a storage device such as the Synology Disk Station.

The external back-up drive has a huge 500GB of capacity, enough to duplicate the contents of several computer hard drives and the music and photo libraries of the most zealous collectors. A Maxtor or Seagate drive is good for straight back-ups, but the Synology Disk Drive has a layer of intelligence that will appeal to home and small office users who want their storage drive to act as a central repository for digital content.

It does more than cover against hard drive failure. The Disk Station plugs into a computer via a USB cable, but also accepts a Gigabit Ethernet cable that connects it to the internet independently. The user can back up data manually or set regular automatic updates of one or more computers on a network.

Some handy security functions are built in, such as Photo Station, which lets the user place a photo album of digital images on the web but password protect them so only authorised users can access them. The user can assign separate accounts for the drive so data remains invisible to unauthorised users. It also supports Windows domain users in the same way that computer hard drives can have access limited to them.

The Disk Station can also act as a stand-alone file server that runs when the PC is turned off. As long as the drive is connected to a router via an Ethernet cable, downloads to the hard drive will continue uninterrupted. It removes the worry of the PC being hacked while it is left running and connected to the internet. The user can now shut it down and still receive big files while they're away.

The Disk Station also works as a web server supporting PHP and MySQL web standards, so the user can host the content of a website on it.

If you're thinking of getting the Disk Station, check the Synology.com website for file transfer protocol download times, and make sure you need the high capacity and advanced software features to make the purchase worthwhile.

Symantec
An external hard drive is all you need to guard against data loss, but software such as Norton's Save & Restore package gives users a simple way to restore their computer to working order after a hard-drive failure.

Save & Restore lets the user back up a compressed or fully expanded image of their hard drive to CD, DVD, USB flash drive or another hard drive. It allows for backing up individual files and folders, rather than entire hard drive partitions. A series of wizards, similar to the System Restore feature in Windows, lets the user set a schedule for back-up and suggests drives to transfer data to.

The Norton Protection Centre interface is duplicated here but it is only truly effective when used with other Norton products.

International reviews of Save & Restore report there is no visibility of the user's security portfolio given in the Protection Centre if they are running antivirus and firewall software from other vendors. Symantec wants users in the Norton camp and is using Save & Restore as a tool to encourage them to join.

Fortunately, Save & Restore does not require an annual subscription like Norton's security products. It's a one-off installation, the functionality included on the disk all you'll need to protect your data.

Synology disk station

Pros: High capacity, remote back-up and file transfer.
Cons: Price will put off many home users.
Price: $561
Herald rating: 8/10
www.acquire.co.nz

Symantec save & restore

Pros: Easy back-up of individual files and folders, helpful wizards
Cons: Heavily integrated into Symantec security suite
Price: $100
Herald Rating: 7/10
www.symantec.com