Home Network + Laptop Backup via Wi-Fi?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Home Network + Laptop Backup via Wi-Fi?

Lethal29

65 posts

Master Geek

#105009 25-Jun-2012 12:02

Hi everyone,

I'm after a bit of advice here about setting up a decent network and backup solution at home.

My wife works from home, and uses both a laptop and a netbook depending on whether she's out and about at meetings or just at home, so as a result, there are files stored all over the place.

What I want to do is set up some sort of network over wi-fi which would allow her to store files directly onto an external hard drive, and keep a copy locally as well - then obviously have a backup done, probably one scheduled daily/weekly as well as the facility to do it as and when required.

I have a couple of external HDD's floating around which currently have movies, photos & music on them, and I'm getting a bit paranoid about losing all of that because it's happened before, so I'd like to back all of that up somewhere as well.

It would be great if I could stream movies & music to any of the machines in the house as well.

We currently have a Dell XPS 15 laptop, new this year, and I'm not sure what make/model the netbook is.

We have a Sony KDLEX520 TV, a Sony BDVE280 Blu-Ray surround sound system, both of which (I believe) can be set up to connect via wireless, but are currently connected to the broadband modem by cable.

We are on Telecom and are currently only using the standard modem that they supplied.

I hope I've supplied enough information for someone to help me out with this!

In short:

1. Store files in a central location so that all laptops can access
2. Backup files to a second location
3. Stream movies & music to TV & laptops
4. Set up proper network for all devices

I'm a little new to all of this, as even though I work in IT, I'm on the applications support side of things, not networking and hardware!

Thanks for any help that anyone can provide!

Cheers

jamesrt

1609 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#645806 25-Jun-2012 12:11

Sounds like you may want to consider one of the DS212j boxes, which just got reviewed the other day:

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=9697

I've not used one (yet - considering buying one at the moment!), but I think it will do most of what you want - presume the Telecom modem has a spare ethernet port for the NAS device to plug into, it should then be accessible via the WiFi. The NAS device does, I believe, allow for media streaming, and I believe it'll come with software that will help with backing up documents. Windows backup (native in Win7) should be able to backup to this "shared network drive" too.

Finally, if you get a pair of large (2tb+) drives, you should have plenty of space, and the device will mirror across both drives for protection from single drive failure.

Lethal29

65 posts

Master Geek

#645832 25-Jun-2012 12:41

Thanks James, that does look like a good option.

Forgive my ignorance, but would having that plugged into the Telecom modem along with the TV and Blu-Ray player (I refuse to spend another hundred bucks on the Sony wireless dongle for the TV) and having the 2 laptops connected wirelessly, be all that I need to do to have everything effectively networked?

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#645834 25-Jun-2012 12:45

Yes. Note though that backup over WiFi won't be the fastest thing in the world - you won't ever get full speed on wireless compared to a wired connection.

Also note that the best option is to have two large drives on your NAS, so that even if one fails, the other one will continue work until you replace the bad one.

Obviously this won't prevent loss in case there's a house fire - we do have a NAS here and also backup to an online service (Crashplan), but mind you the online backup option will eat into your monthly traffic allowance with your ISP.

jamesrt

1609 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#645835 25-Jun-2012 12:46

I can't guarantee that, as I'm not a user of Telecom broadband, and don't know the modem in question.

However, in theory, yes; the modem should bridge it's wireless and wired ethernet ports into a seamless LAN; it should allocate all devices an IP address by DHCP, and they should all be able to see each other (individual software firewalls may, of course, alter this picture)

When I get the $$$ to get my DS212j, that's pretty much what I'll be doing - wireless connections from laptops via ISP modem to wired connection to NAS on ISP modem. Still not sure if I can be bothered running ethernet under the house to reach the TV yet...

cyril7

9058 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Subscriber

#645839 25-Jun-2012 12:51

Hi, the NAS mentioned would connect as you have described and provide all you require, and more.

That said streaming music of wifi should not be an issue, movies also unless HD movies which might struggle, hence cabling a connection for the laptop at least would be recommended. you may need to expand the number of wired ports on the modem with a small 5 port switch (all of $20).

Also whats your wireless coverage in the house, if the modem is at one end and you want to stream to a laptop at the other then maybe consider have some cabling added so you can site the wireless modem more centrally.

The NAS can be configured to do daily backups of each machines work files, this is the time capsule type feature.

Cyril

jamesrt

1609 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#645840 25-Jun-2012 12:52

And Freitasm is correct about the backups via wireless, by the way; 802.11g (which is probably what your laptops will be using) is about half the speed of a 100Mb wired connection. 802.11n is faster than 802.11g; but that'll depend on what is supported on your hardware.

The first "full" backup you're probably best to leave running overnight, and then get frequent incrementals scheduled. I think I read somewhere that the DS212j comes with some Windows software which is broadly equivalent to OS X's "Time Machine", in that the first backup takes a long time, and then it runs frequent incrementals to catch just whatevers changed.

Lethal29

65 posts

Master Geek

#645853 25-Jun-2012 13:10

Thanks for you suggestions everyone, that's definitely given me something to think about.

Now, if I can just someone manage to find one of these + 2 x 2TB drives for under $500, I'll be sweet!

AliExpress

Shop now on AliExpress (affiliate link).

spearsniper

133 posts

Master Geek

#645888 25-Jun-2012 14:03

I have one of the older Synology 2 bay NAS boxes, and it is a sweet setup.
I run my disks mirrored, and recently had one fail. Prior to inserting a new disk, I took the good one out, and backed up all of the data to a portable HDD (just in case).
I needn't have worried. When I put the replacement disk in, it was automatically rebuilt, and the NAS was running normally in a few hours.
I have the NAS doing a weekly full backup to a portable HDD, and every 3 months take the portable HDD offsite, and start backing up to a second one (These get switched over every 3 months). If I come back from a holiday after taking a truck load of photos and video, I will force a backup immediately, and whisk that portable HDD offsite.
As for the media streaming - provided your TV can use DLNA, you are set. I tried the DLNA using a HTC One X phone, and it also worked flawlessly.

jonb

1771 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#645904 25-Jun-2012 14:37

You might also find the Windows LiveMesh service useful, especially for your wife working with the same files on two different PCs. Can also use windows Skydrive/Dropbox or similar to backup to a drive in the cloud. Not so good for backing up lots of photos but fine for documents etc.

Lethal29

65 posts

Master Geek

#645927 25-Jun-2012 15:37

Just another quick question.

At this stage, I'm not sure I've got the money for $600+ to set this up properly.

With that in mind, would it be feasible to buy something like a WD 2TB My Book Essential, and plug that into the broadband modem/router?

Would I be able to save to that wirelessly, or would I have to plug into it directly to transfer files?

What I'm thinking now, is that I do something like that for the time being, and then when I've a bit more cash, invest in something like the Synology NAS box and do it properly.

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79263 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#645934 25-Jun-2012 15:49

Not all routers support external HDD - you will have to check if yours do.

JimmyH

2886 posts

Uber Geek

#646045 25-Jun-2012 18:34

Lethal29: Just another quick question.

At this stage, I'm not sure I've got the money for $600+ to set this up properly.

With that in mind, would it be feasible to buy something like a WD 2TB My Book Essential, and plug that into the broadband modem/router?

Would I be able to save to that wirelessly, or would I have to plug into it directly to transfer files?

What I'm thinking now, is that I do something like that for the time being, and then when I've a bit more cash, invest in something like the Synology NAS box and do it properly.

Better off with the My Book Live if that's what you want to do - for both performance (most router USB ports are slow) and compatibility. BUT - if it's critical data you are taking a big, big risk putting it all on a single drive solution - you have to balance the extra cost of a better solution against how painful it would be if data was lost.

I have been looking at QNAP NASes (and I assume the Synology ones are the same). On the TS-412, I understand you can set up RAID to protect against drive failure, and have a one click backup feature to a USB drive plugged into it in case the NAS unit itself goes south.

While this all adds cost, it comes back to how much you care about the data.

DrStrangelove

368 posts

Ultimate Geek

#646516 26-Jun-2012 17:33

Just be aware with a 100Mbit Ethernet/150Mbit WiFi modem, you can only support a theoretical max of 12.5MByte disk access via an ADSL modem.

That is painfully slow given most SATA HDD start at around 80MByte read rate.

If you subtract the overheads of a USB modem HDD solution, you'd be getting even less throughput.

Watching paint dry may appear exciting compared to waiting for a backup to complete at those speeds....and if the WiFi link drops!!!???!!!. Laptop would need to be plugged into 100Mbit Ethernet for backup, unless you really trust your WiFi.

Just something to consider.

I access my NAS via 300Mbps WiFi at rates down to 60Mbits (7.5MBytes at 15Metres) and it's still usable, but you may not even realise those speeds on 150Mbps WiFi at any distance.

I mount NAS shares on my Android phone (802.11g 54Mbps) and for the small files (png/jpg) it's also do-able, but my phone is a thin client and I'm not backing up data from it. iPerf access to my NAS from my phone indicates 24Mbit bandwidth, so even though files appear as local to the phone, the delay on a 50KByte picture is still noticeable.

You'd need to centralise all your data on a NAS/Server with a high speed 'Router' (and clients to match) to realise the vision of most of the others here.

So, guess I'm saying a cheap solution will be a very slow solution and maybe not very robust.

USB 3.0 HDD attached to the laptop may be the best option on a budget and if it's fat32 formatted , you can probably still attach it to your ADSL modem if required.