HP SureStore storage mounting kit

Advantages: Good points. Easy to install and use. Nice web browser interface.
Disadvantages: Bad points. Very expensive for what is essentially a pc with a lot of hard disk space. No virus protection. No room for upgrading.

...on desktop PCs or remote PCs can automatically back up data from their local hard disks across the network to the HP SureStore AutoBackup appliance. The box itself is very much in the style of most HP PCs. The front panel has a LCD display showing the status of the device but only seems to give minimal information about what it is doing or what is going wrong about it. The power button and CD writer are hidden behind a door, which easy to pull off completely when only trying to open it out. The machine itself runs on an embedded version of Windows NT called Windows for Express Networks. We are told Linux versions of the appliance are in the pipeline. This software is mirrored, so if one version corrupts we are told that a back up version starts up in its place. Total storage on our test machine comes in at about 66GB. This should roughly... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average off topic

Advantages: Good points. Obscenely easy way to rebuild a corrupted server.
Disadvantages: Bad points. Limited hardware and software support. Make sure your operating system can read all partitions.

...Those of us who have had to spend a late Friday afternoon rebuilding a really important server, longing to get to the pub, will no doubt be yearning for something where we can just press one button and get the machine back up and running and doing all the things it was supposed to do before it went base over apex. Until recently disaster recovery has been a lengthy, time-consuming process of locating operating system (OS) disks, application disks, backup tapes, and configuration details. The new Hewlett Packard SureStore DAT40e could be an answer to those prayers, for its much-touted industry first, one-button disaster recovery (OBDR), a clever system which fools your server into thinking the tape back up drive is really a bootable CD-ROM drive. Booting from a tape drive is not new. In fact, most dedicated UNIX workstations... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful

Advantages: Quiet, Compact and Reliable
Disadvantages: Occasional difficulty initialising tapes

...Have only been using this drive for 3-4 weeks but it has proved invaluable. The 12GB native capacity is more than adequate for most data backup needs. I, personally, backup data files rather than system files which uses much less storage. System backups are not the most reliable and inevitably need a re-install anyway. The drive is, generally, very quiet although it does occassionally make a nasty rattling, from the tape itself, when winding/rewinding halts. Speed of backup is acceptable I normally backup about 2GB is less than an hour. I have not had occasion to restore files yet but do not anticipate any problems. The HP SureStore is a well-established and well-respected brand. The 4mm DDS tapes are very compact and easy to store and label, allowing simple library organisation. For larger capacity backups the drive supports... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average helpful