Media Network Hard Drive compatible with TM? oh and reliable?

[ablomination]

Hi all!

I'm looking to by a new hard drive backup for my home network. After doing countless hours of research online I am at a loss. It doesn't seem like what I want exists yet or if it does it seems there are countless bad reviews regarding reliable, etc. What I would like....

1. Network compatible. I can connect via Gb ethernet and it is visable over my home network.

2. Media ready. I can access music, movies, etc. over the network.

3. Time Machine Compatible. And able to handle multiple machines. 1 iMac, 2 macbooks

4. Reliable. Is this too much to ask out of a back up hard drive? Isn't that the point??? Everytime I think I have found what I am looking for I start reading horrible reviews about products failing and people losing all their data. Perhaps these are just b/c they are the only people to post?

5. Print server? Perhaps this is just asking too much.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. The three I have come closest to liking but still feel limited by are. Iomega Home Media Network, Lacie Network Space 2, WD My Book

 

[mstrze]

So, just to clarify...

You want this drive to function as a backup AND to serve as your media storage? That sounds like a dangerous prospect.

Backup should be backup PERIOD. Heck, in this situation...you won't ever have a backup of your media so if this drive fails...your backup is gone which isn't a problem since you have the stuff remaining on your comp BUT your media files will disappear as they are not backed-up elsewhere.



I have a WD 1.5TB FW/USB/eSATA serving as my iTunes media library attached via FW. I have a 500GB drive as my Time Machine drive...don't recall the brand but it is attached via USB. I also have a 1TB USB harddrive as a drive that is serving as my MiniDV video backup as I transfer all of my tapes into .dv files.


As for reliability...I really woudln't sweat it too much. I think we will be spending $50-$80 per TB of storage within a year or so and doing this every couple of years isn't horrible. I fully expect my drives to have a useful life of about 2-3 years, then I get antsy. Heck, usually before that point technology catches up and that HUGE drive is already looking pretty small by 18 months. LOL

 

[ablomination]

I suppose I should clarify. I do have a dedicated backup drive at 1Tb, but my iMac at 500Gb is pretty much full and I now have media files on my backup drive that are not backed up anywhere else. A recent occurrence. I just figured if I am going to get another backup it might as well give me some more functionality. Or is there a better networking solution to begin with? Preferably I could have all media files on the networked drive and backed up on the external so that I could clean up my iMac.

 

[mstrze]

Yes, I kicked all my iTunes content off my internal 4-5 years ago. I host it all on that FW drive (newly upgraded last month to 1.5TB) WD and just let my iMac host my music by having iTunes open...and allow the computer to wake-on-wireless if my AppleTV needs files.

My backup drive is attached via USB, but I could just as easily hook it up to my Airport Extreme. Given that my backup is 500GB...I obviously am going to have issues very soon and do plan on upgrading to another WD 1.5TB shortly. I do backup my internal AND my iTunes drive, both of which still are smaller than 500GB obviously.

Just get yourself a large enough drive for iTunes...maybe repupose the 1TB and then get a larger drive for your backup...1.5 or 2TB?