| Pages in topic: [1 2] > | Poll: Do you have network attached storage? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
|
|---|
This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Do you have network attached storage?".
This poll was originally submitted by MartinPorto. View the poll results »
| | | | Mary Worby 
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:59
German to English
+ ...
All our data is stored on our NAS box. My husband is a computer consultant, what more can I say!
| | | | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 22:59
Spanish to English
+ ...
JulianHolmes wrote: Given that freelancers are by definition one-man bands and they are the only person on their office network - if they have one - what's the point of having a NAS? I really can't see the point of this question unless you have several client computers in your office which is an over-redundancy for a single freelancer.  Happy translating! [Edited at 2012-01-12 08:57 GMT]
Duh. I can get all my important-ish stuff on a pen drive, so why let it float in the doubful "security" of cyberspace? Tech for tech's sake?
| | |
|
|
|
| Different physical location | Jan 12, 2012 |
neilmac wrote:
Duh. I can get all my important-ish stuff on a pen drive, so why let it float in the doubful "security" of cyberspace? Tech for tech's sake?
While the point about "cyberspace" security may have some value, surely you can see the advantages of having backups in a (very) different physical location?
My backup drive is just shoved in a drawer in my desk, and this is increasingly starting to bother me. It's true that the kind of calamity which would cause me to lose both laptop and backup in one hit would probably be of a kind such that work would take a back seat for a few days, but I'd no doubt want the backup eventually.
There may be other solutions to the problem of finding a different physical location for backups, but I don't think NAS is "tech for tech's sake", no.
Edit to add further interesting discussion here: http://www.proz.com/forum/safe_computing/215804-local_vs_cloud_backup_options.html
One recommendation, since both the cyberspace and keep-it-in-the-office options have significant drawbacks, is to indulge in both...
[Edited at 2012-01-12 09:51 GMT]
| | | | Emin Arı
Türkiye
Local time: 23:59
English to Turkish
+ ...
| just unnecessary | Jan 12, 2012 |
no need for such a techno geek toy
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 22:59
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Depends on importance | Jan 12, 2012 |
Charlie Bavington wrote: neilmac wrote:
Duh. I can get all my important-ish stuff on a pen drive, so why let it float in the doubful "security" of cyberspace? Tech for tech's sake? While the point about "cyberspace" security may have some value, surely you can see the advantages of having backups in a (very) different physical location? Edited at 2012-01-12 09:51 GMT]
Not really, not as a freelancer; nothing I do or possess seems to be all that important to warrant going to such lengths as to leave it on a cloud or server somewhere "out there".
I suppose it depends on how seriously you take the idea of confidentiality. As I say I can get all my crucial stuff (bills and working documents for the past few years) on an 8 gig pen drive and I can stash them all over the garden or the nearby hills if I feel paranoid. But I don't. I have greasier fish to fry.
BTW, I also have a backup PC which holds everything that I have on my main one, so again, no need for nebulosity. And ditto a laptop. Maybe if I were a company or "business owner", as some would have it, rather than just a punter, I might consider it but my point about cyber security also applies to sharing TMs online, which I see as akin to sticking one's head down a lion's throat. Just my opinion.
[Edited at 2012-01-12 12:27 GMT]
PS: One of my long-term direct clients is a large international EDI service provider with more than one Disaster Recovery Centre in different locations, and I could store anything there, free of charge, if need be... but it's simply not an issue in my "translating from a broom cupboard" case
[Edited at 2012-01-12 16:34 GMT]
| | | | Interlangue (X)
Angola
Local time: 22:59
English to French
+ ...
As many others here, I use different means: a pendrive for 2x daily backups, my sent box (Webmail) for files sent to the client (I keep them there one year or at least until they have been paid), 3 external hard drives used at the end of the year, one being stored at my son's, in another country (I do not think our houses will burn down at the same time).
When working on big files, I send a temporary backup to my own Webmail (not the 1st time I mention this on this forum), just in case, so... See more As many others here, I use different means: a pendrive for 2x daily backups, my sent box (Webmail) for files sent to the client (I keep them there one year or at least until they have been paid), 3 external hard drives used at the end of the year, one being stored at my son's, in another country (I do not think our houses will burn down at the same time).
When working on big files, I send a temporary backup to my own Webmail (not the 1st time I mention this on this forum), just in case, so I can work from wherever possible if all goes wrong here. ▲ Collapse
| | |
|
|
|
| I recommend Ubuntu 1 or Google Docs | Jan 12, 2012 |
I have backups of my work "in da cloud" for several reasons. You could have a really, really bad day and have your smart phone stolen in the cafe, your laptop nicked on the way home only to find that your pyromaniac partner/child/neighbour/prime minister (delete as applicable) has burnt down the entire building where your handy backups were stored.
Other reasons could be that you want to travel and log in to your work in any location with internet access on any one of your handy de... See more I have backups of my work "in da cloud" for several reasons. You could have a really, really bad day and have your smart phone stolen in the cafe, your laptop nicked on the way home only to find that your pyromaniac partner/child/neighbour/prime minister (delete as applicable) has burnt down the entire building where your handy backups were stored.
Other reasons could be that you want to travel and log in to your work in any location with internet access on any one of your handy devices independently of whether they have the right USB port for your memory stick.
Is it hackable? Well, my answer to that is that you're no less naked than if your OS is Windows, which is like leaving your front door open and leaving a note with your combination sellotaped on the front of your safe. Ways to prevent your cloud from being hacked are not using your date of birth or maiden name (especially if you're a man) as your password or, for that matter, any real words that could be run through a dictionary scan.
All the same, losing anything to disc corruption, theft or fire is ALWAYS a bad experience and costs time and/or money.
 Happy translating! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Rosa Grau (X)
Spain
Local time: 22:59
English to Catalan
+ ...
I keep my very few important backups both on a pen drive and Dropbox.
| | | | Edward Potter
Spain
Local time: 22:59
Member (2003)
Spanish to English
+ ...
| Dropbox vs ASUS Web Storage | Jan 12, 2012 |
I know a few people who use Dropbox. They say it is great for sharing photos and music. All they have to do is save the files on Dropbox, then give their friends the password. It also seems to be useful as a backup system for translators. It is free up to 2 Gb.
My ASUS Seashell computer came with something called ASUS Web Storage, which I have never used. Does anyone have any experience with this one?
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 05:59
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Is a USB flash drive NAS? | Jan 12, 2012 |
Hmmm.
For "network attached storage," Wikipedia says "Network-attached storage (NAS) is file-level computer data storage connected to a computer network providing data access to heterogeneous clients." (sic)
neilmac wrote:
Duh. I can get all my important-ish stuff on a pen drive, so why let it float in the doubful "security" of cyberspace? Tech for tech's sake?
And, you answered "Yes" to the poll. Are you saying that your pen drive is a NAS? If so, please enlighten us more.
I think people here are misconstruing NAS as a glorified data backup device. It is also used for file sharing, as well, which is not really needed for single freelancers unless you are sharing your network with other translators.
Why not just continually copy all of the content of your work folders onto an external hard disk (i.e. massive external backup storage) after a work session and disconnect the hard disk if you're worried about Internet security.
FYI, from what I know:
NAS is only what is it states "storage attached to a network." A NAS, or a USB flash drive/pen drive, at that matter, offers little help whatsoever in the way of protection if a system crashes and cannot be recovered.
This is where a RAID 1 machine comes in handy, since the entire content of the hard disk including OS, all programs and data is mirrored in realtime. Your computer has two disks, disk A and disk B. Disk A switches over to healthy disk B seamlessly in the case of software or hardware trouble and you can carry on working while the sick disk is overwritten with the content of the healthy disk. Believe me, this has saved me in the past.
I would really recommend investing in a RAID 1 machine even though they are a little pricey - if you're working on a big project and your system decides to keel over and fly out of the window just before delivery and you lose income and credibility. You might even get sued by the customer. 
If you don't want a reliable backup for your hard disk's OS, programs, data and working environment, that's your decision.
Of course, I'm assuming that a NAS is for storage/filesharing only and does not have disk mirroring and complete OS download and recovery capabilities.
If I am wrong, please do tell me. I'm always looking for cheap ways to ensure the security and integrity of my translation environment. 
Tech for tech sake's? Definitely not!
Happy translating!
[Edited at 2012-01-12 14:44 GMT]
| | |
|
|
|
Simon Bruni
United Kingdom
Local time: 21:59
Member (2009)
Spanish to English
| Webmail, pen drive, laptop and translation memory | Jan 12, 2012 |
As others have mentioned, my work is backed up in various places so I don't really see the point in finding other methods. Every file I receive or send is stored on the servers of my webmail provider, almost every sentence I have ever translated is stored bilingually in my translation memories and I have a pen drive, desktop and laptop to save stuff onto.
| | | | Tobias Ernst
Germany
Local time: 22:59
Member (2004)
English to German
+ ...
| Mobile office with NAS-based backup scenario, and also some geek stuff | Jan 12, 2012 |
On a level of a freelance translator, my concept of work and backup goes like this:
I have my complete office installed on a subnotebook (NOT a netbook! - a fully featured notebook, Lenovo X201s, that features full performance, but weighs just under 1,1 kg). So I can take all of my work everywhere. Office, sofa, garden, airplane, metro ...
Most of the time, of course, I want a big screen and a good keyboard. So I have the subnotebook sitting in a docking station. The do... See more On a level of a freelance translator, my concept of work and backup goes like this:
I have my complete office installed on a subnotebook (NOT a netbook! - a fully featured notebook, Lenovo X201s, that features full performance, but weighs just under 1,1 kg). So I can take all of my work everywhere. Office, sofa, garden, airplane, metro ...
Most of the time, of course, I want a big screen and a good keyboard. So I have the subnotebook sitting in a docking station. The docking station is connected to two 24" screens and a decent keyboard. This way, I have a great desktop-like office, but when I feel like working on the road, I just pop the subnotebook out of the docking station and am ready to go. Everything is with me, even all my windows stay open. No need to painstakingly copy files from one computer to another and back when switching from desktop to mobile use.
In this "volatile" scenario, I need a good backup. Of course, I could connect an external disk to the dock and instruct my computer to make backups whenever the notebook sits in the dock. But what if I am ill and work in bed for a few days? Or when the weather is good and I only work in the garden? I won't have a current backup then, and by Murphy's law, this is when my hard disk will fail, leaving me with an outdated backup. But the most recent files (i.e. those created in bed or in the garden) are usually those I would need most.
Also, I don't want another device on my desk, and, as others pointed out, it is good to have have the backup stored in a different location. When I spill a lot of water over my desk, chances are I would destroy my notebook and the external drive alike.
So I decided to install a NAS in the basement (my office is under the rooftoop) and connect it to my local network (which of course is protected by a decent firewalled router). The NAS is a Thecus N3200PRO (3 disks, RAID 5, for additional protection against hardware failure). My laptop has WLAN and I have WLAN everywhere in the house and garden. My computer is configured to always try to connect to the WLAN, and whenever the NAS box is visible, it will synchronize the most recent changes on my hard disk to the NAS. This way, I don't have to worry about backups at all, everything goes automagically whenever my notebook has LAN or WiFi access. The software I use for this is ViceVersa Pro, which does a PING test to look for the NAS before starting to synchronize in the background. Essentially, this setup works similar to the concept of Time Machine and Time Capsule in the Apple world.
A few things that I would NEVER recommend to do:
Don't keep backups on a pen drive. You have to remember to plug the pen drive in. Chances are you forget that during busy periods, and that's when a hard disk crash will hit you most. Also, pen drives are not very reliable. They only survive a certain number of read/write cycles, after which they go bust out of a sudden without prior warning.
Don't try to make backups by any other means that requires you to do anything manually to get the backup started. See above, you would probably forget it when you need it most. A serious backup system needs to work without requiring user intervention.
Don't keep backups in the "cloud", ESPECIALLY when the online storage space is offered for free or at ridiculously low rates. I don't want to expose my client's data to the risk of exposure. Also, the cheaper the offering, the lesser its reliability. Plus, bandwidth still is an issue, and when you use online disk space, you will probably only copy the "most relevant" stuff. However, if other stuff is "less relevant", then why do you have it on your disk at all? And how much time are you prepared to invest into deciding what is relevant and what not? I want a full backup of my entire disk, and that would use up too much bandwidth.
I hope you follow me so far. Now for the geek stuff:
I also have a SAT receiver that can use the NAS to work as a PVR and store recorded TV shows (it is a Dreambox 800 HD). The receiver can also be programmed to automatically record certain shows, films or serials based on their titles from the EPG. Now my NAS runs on Linux, and with a little bit of fiddling around, you can install custom software on it. So you basically can get it to do anything you want, and its Geode 700 MHz processor is quite powerful, too. In my latest experiment, I compiled ffmpeg for the NAS, and now when my NAS is idle, it recodes my favourite recorded TV shows into a format that is suitable for watching on my mobile phone. On my mobile phone, I have an App that automatically pulls the latest shows from the NAS whenever the phone is booked in to my home WLAN (Telexy SymSYNC). I.e., the Dreambox pushes raw TV shows to the NAS, the NAS recodes them, and the phone pulls the recoded shows back off. So I have always interesting content to watch on my mobile when I feel like it. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Chun Un
Macau
Member (2007)
English to Chinese
+ ...
| Dropbox and Ubuntu One | Jan 12, 2012 |
total give me 8GB storage, which is more than enough for me.
| | | | | Pages in topic: [1 2] > | To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator: You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request » Poll: Do you have network attached storage? | CafeTran Espresso | You've never met a CAT tool this clever!
Translate faster & easier, using a sophisticated CAT tool built by a translator / developer.
Accept jobs from clients who use Trados, MemoQ, Wordfast & major CAT tools.
Download and start using CafeTran Espresso -- for free
Buy now! » |
| | Protemos translation business management system | Create your account in minutes, and start working! 3-month trial for agencies, and free for freelancers!
The system lets you keep client/vendor database, with contacts and rates, manage projects and assign jobs to vendors, issue invoices, track payments, store and manage project files, generate business reports on turnover profit per client/manager etc.
More info » |
|
| | | | X Sign in to your ProZ.com account... | | | | | |
Login to reply/comment 
