One of the key elements of the MyXerver is that it's not just for backing up your files at the end of the day, as NAS servers are generally wont to do. This one goes further, and backs up your changes as you go. So if you tweak a Word document on your PC or Mac, that change will be immediately backed up on your MyXerver.
The set-up menu walks you through the tricky stuff
This backup functionality is all down to the NTI Shadow software, which comes preinstalled. You can set it to back up all your files, or you can exclude some to save space if, for instance, they're static and you don't need to back them up again. It can be configured to save after every change, or at pre-set times, and you can also have it save previous saved versions of files – up to nine of them, in fact. Retrieving files is simply a matter of drag and drop.
And when our connection dropped – as it's occasionally wont to do – NTI Shadow simply warned us that we'd lost the connection, then, after it was restored, calmly took up where it had left off, continuing its back-up. All well and good, though we couldn't repeat the same trick with a simple drag and drop operation of a 5GB file. When the connection dropped that time, it was back to the start again.
Once you've set up the required jobs, NTI Shadow will continue to back up your data on the MyXerver to your specifications, and you can more or less forget about it. Now that's the kind of NAS server we like.
Access isn't just limited to your immediate network as you can log on to the MyXerver from anywhere using the web. Initial setup is slightly fiddly, as you'll need to suss out your router's IP address, although the manual walks you through this. Once you're set up, you can specify a domain name for access – much easier to remember than an IP number, though you may have to pay for the domain name.
Online storage: access is available remotely from the web
The MyXerver also has a useful printing option. If you connect the device to your printer via the USB port, anyone on your network can access it. You can also use the MyXerver as a uPnP server, streaming media directly to compatible devices. Usefully, it's optimised for use with iTunes, which makes set-up easy, and you can keep your music there so your tracks don't clutter up your desktop's hard drive while you stream them over your network.
COMMENTS
Power Consumption
I got these power consumption from the makers:-
MyXerver unit without hard drive in Standby Mode 4.2W
MyXerver unit with 1TB hard drive in Standby Mode 7.8W
MyXerver unit with 1TB hard drive in Active Mode 12W
@Anonymous Coward
The SATA drive in the MyXerver is formatted to XFS - so it works on Mac and PC.
With regards to the SMB comment, whcih I assume to mean Server Message Block, I have asked our tech team to advise and I'll come back to you..
rubbish review
NFS? SMB? iSCSI?
this article has no technical content :o(
Graham Barnish
Hi All,
I am Product Manager in the UK for the MyXerver, which means that I'm supposed to be able to answer any questions you have on it. I'll check back when I can to see any new issues but to answer a couple of comments:
RAID will be an option on the future versions of the MyXerver because of the second hard drive you can chain from the USB port. It's not something we've tried to include in this incarnation, but since you can set up backups to multiple drives mapped on the computer (the USB drive would appear as a separate Network Drive) you could very easily backup to both in one go. It's not technically RAID, but you've effectively then got a mirror of the first drive. The NT3600 is the USB version we produce which looks identical to the MyXerver.
@Alex and @Monkey
@Alan - Yes I do realise it only has one disk, and therefore raid is an impossibility. But that's what I do not understand about producing a NAS device with just one disk. The idea is to have a central point to store your music, photos, video's, documents etc. You have to assume that many of these are irreplaceable. Personally I would not trust these to single point of mechanical failure such as single hard disk. Ok there is a backup facility but that requires you to actually do the backup periodically which most people won't do(and sods law says it will fail just before you do).
@Monkey. Its not IT snobbery, just practicality. Why should a unit that supports RAID mirroring be any more difficult to use for the IT illiterate than a non raid disk unit? Personally I would be happier with the knowledge that my data was likely to accessible despite component failures
If you want a NAS that does not support RAID, then this looks like a good unit, just don't complain when 5 years of family photo's go up in smoke when the hard disk fails.
@GhilleDhu. I have the same problem. IcyBox does a system which is reasonable priced and supports RAID 1, however there are some issues such as only supporting EXT 3 file system.
