Mirra Personal Server

[James Fee]

http://www.digitalmediadesigner.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28496

"Most people don't realize the importance of backing up their data, especially given the failure rate of hard disk drives. By virtue of their design, hard disk drives will fail at some point. And Windows-based computers can be infected with malicious viruses that can and will destroy data. The Mirra Personal Server can be an asset to your file management system. Most folks who have multiple computers at home don't have a server that can enable them to store files, let alone share them. The Mirra Personal Server offers such a solution. It is not however without its warts. First, there is currently no Macintosh support, although a Macintosh client is in the works. Second, what if the hard drive in the server fails? Or what if you reach capacity on the Mirra Personal Server? There is no option to swap out the drive in the event of a hard drive failure or full capacity. It does have some neat features, of which first among them is the capability to access files on the server via a Web browser from anywhere. And it is secure too, as the Mirra Personal Server employs 128-bit SSL encryption, email address/password authentication, password protection of files, and because the operating system of the server is Linux based, the server is protected from viruses that are prone to attack the Windows operating system. It ships with a 90 days labor and one year parts warranty. The Mirra Personal Server is by far the coolest storage device I have looked at this year."



With security features and included web access to files on the server, the Mirra Personal Server almost seems perfect. I'm beginning to hear some worrisome sounds from the hard drives in my computer and I'd be toast if I lost all of them. Mirra lists from $399 depending on how much space you need.

[James Fee]

http://www.digitalmediadesigner.com/articles/viewarticle.jsp?id=28496

"Most people don't realize the importance of backing up their data, especially given the failure rate of hard disk drives. By virtue of their design, hard disk drives will fail at some point. And Windows-based computers can be infected with malicious viruses that can and will destroy data. The Mirra Personal Server can be an asset to your file management system. Most folks who have multiple computers at home don't have a server that can enable them to store files, let alone share them. The Mirra Personal Server offers such a solution. It is not however without its warts. First, there is currently no Macintosh support, although a Macintosh client is in the works. Second, what if the hard drive in the server fails? Or what if you reach capacity on the Mirra Personal Server? There is no option to swap out the drive in the event of a hard drive failure or full capacity. It does have some neat features, of which first among them is the capability to access files on the server via a Web browser from anywhere. And it is secure too, as the Mirra Personal Server employs 128-bit SSL encryption, email address/password authentication, password protection of files, and because the operating system of the server is Linux based, the server is protected from viruses that are prone to attack the Windows operating system. It ships with a 90 days labor and one year parts warranty. The Mirra Personal Server is by far the coolest storage device I have looked at this year."



With security features and included web access to files on the server, the Mirra Personal Server almost seems perfect. I'm beginning to hear some worrisome sounds from the hard drives in my computer and I'd be toast if I lost all of them. Mirra lists from $399 depending on how much space you need.

[KidKomputer]

If you're actually thinking about this, you might want to check out the Linksys NSLU2. It goes for $80. It uses external disks whch isn't as nice, but you can pick up a disk enclosure for ~$35 from newegg and choose your own drive. (250 gb drive for $220-300. Mirra's 250 server is $750 btw).
The Linksys box runs Linux and the firmware is open-source. There is a great series of articles on what you can do with this device at tom's networking http://www.tomsnetworking.com/Sections-article85.php. (Skip to part five for pre-built firmware you don't need to compile yourself)