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Review of the Mirra Home Backup System
Darth Fredd writes "Having trouble backing up,or just too lazy to take the time? Behold Mirra, a networked RAID 1 volume, backs up everything automagically over the network. Extreme Tech has a review. Mirra uses the insanely popular (and fun) Mini ITX form factor motherboard. Mirra is targeted at the "normal" home and desktop user." We've mentioned the Mirra before.
Yeah, this has been covered before, as it says. This 'article' reads like an advertisement. Are the editors taking money for this crap?
your average joe end user probably not pay $400 for a back up system. And that is even if they average joe end user has even thought about backups.
It's a little expensive for $400, not to mention that it's got only a 120GB HardDisk. How about those who have more data to backup?
just as a turnkey network file server, it would be great. Unfortunately for geeks it would still be cheaper to use an old PC running Linux
HOW'S MY POSTING? CALL 1-800-POSTING
For people who have a Linux server around the house,
BackupPC is a pretty good solution that can fetch files to backup through Samba and Rsync ! Nice web based interface, too.
People who can't even be bothered to run Windows Update (for free!) aren't forking out $400 for a backup system for their data.
And most people who do care enough about their data to back it up aren't going to use an expensive, single-purpose device to do it, they'll most likely be tech-savvy enough to roll their own server that does everything this thing does and more.
I have that exact case/mobo running OpenBSD 3.4 as my home firewall and it's much louder than you would think. The source of the noise is the power supply. Just as loud if not louder than the Enermax 330w on my Athlon system.
The only difference I can find is that I have a Via 933mhz compared to the 1ghz on the Mirra. I had to strip the mounting bracket off of the 3Com NIC I added and secure it w/ double sided tape since it just wouldn't fit otherwise.
Other than that, it's a pretty good investment for me ocnsidering it was $160 at Fry's sans memory and hard drive. Very reliable, doesn't take up much space. Just noisy. Maybe I could find another quieter power supply?
This guy is way out there
Like the TiVO, this thing is running linux, as such, its just a matter of time before people figgure out how to dd the image from the 120gb drive installed to add larger and faster drive capacities. Given that it is still a Linux PC driven application NAS, the possibilities are endless. The price is a touch high at $400, but it should drop once/if it gains marketshare.
The other thing to contemplate would be to get the image off the harddrive, and be able to create bigger / badder boxes by simply adding the apropriate hardware drivers to Linux. Imagine the software portion being able to control a nice hardware RAID of say 200 GB drives. More fault tolerant and easier (for us Linux folks) to use.
Clinton made me a Republican. Bush made me a Libertarian. Trump is making me question reality.
All true, but I think you are comparing apple's and oranges. Aimed at the 'normal' user it will most likely backup people's letters, documents, bank-slips, holiday pictures and some home-video. Hardly anyone kept off-site backups of those when they were still on paper and magnetic-tape.
It's also for those of us who do have the technical expertise, but frankly have better things to do with their free time than build something if a perfectly acceptable off-the-shelf product exists.
That said, whilst reading the article, I was mulling over how to go about building one myself, and what chance I'd have of convincing my girlfriend that while yes, we do have 3 PCs between 3 of us, another one *would* be a good idea...
It's official. Most of you are morons.
What's a backup?
This is a test. This is a test of the emergency sig system. This has been only a test.
It's not actually RAID 1, and in fact there's no RAID in the unit at all.
Is this an attempt because it synchs your data? I've seen RAID 1. I know RAID 1. And lemme tell ya, that ain't RAID 1.
Phooey. It says right here that
"You can remotely access your photos and files from any Internet-connected PC, including Macs. Currently only computers that run Windows 2000 or Windows XP are supported for Mirra Backup and Restore within your home network."
So, my wife's PC running Windows 98 and my PowerMac G4 running OS X 10.3.2 could read files that had been backed up from any other machines on our network... except... there aren't any.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
Anyway, if your data needs are past this level, you need to think about hiring an IS person, not buying a backup gadget.
What makes this gadget a poor value is the level of safety is provides. All you're doing is copying your data from one hard disk to another. Two disks are better than one, but not that much better, especially if they're in the same building.
Serious backup solutions use reliable offline media. Hard disks are pretty reliable these days, but still not as reliable as a tape or CD. Plus you can stick them in a fireproof box or store them offsite. Add some HSM software and you've got a storage system that's as big as you need it to be.
No self-respecting campus network lacks this technology, but the SOHO user has been seriously neglected. Somebody needs to scale the tech down, and design the usual hand-holding front end so that you don't need a lot of training to manage the media. This has been an issue for years, even when SOHO computing consisted of one or two non-networked system. I guess catering to the low-end user is just not profitable enough.