NAS Data Recovery (Network Attached Storage)

Today's topic is about the use of network attached storage (NAS) units and common problems that require NAS data recovery. Some examples of NAS units include the Buffalo Terastation, Linksys NSLU2, and the Maxtor Shared Storage. I'm sure I don't need to say it- but NAS devices are great. However, they are not exempt from failure. Inside the NAS unit, there is normally more than one hard disk configured in a RAID array of some level. The normal rules when dealing with a RAID apply. You must keep the unit backed up! As we have learned in previous blog entries, there are certain levels of RAID can be risky (think RAID 0). For the most part, NAS problems fall into three categories: 1) disk failure within the unit, 2) user error, and 3) NAS unit failure. Many things can happen to cause disk or unit failure including power surge, system crashes, and viruses. Sometimes users can accidentally cause problems by performing a reformat of the NAS unit or deleting their files. Yes, NAS is great....but just remember to treat it like any other storage medium and back up your data!!!

Now for the joke of the day:

A man goes into a pet shop to buy a parrot. The shop owner points to three identical looking parrots on a perch and says: "The parrot on the left costs $500 dollars"."Why, does the parrot cost so much?" asks the man. The owner says, "Well the parrot knows how to use a computer".The man then asks about the next parrot and is told that this one costs $1,000 dollars because it can do everything the first parrot can do plus it knows how to use the UNIX operating system.Naturally, the increasingly startled man asks about the third parrot and is told that it costs $2,000 dollars. Needless to say this begs the question, "What can it do?"To which the owner replies, "To be honest I have never seen it do a thing but the other two call him boss!"