Gizmodo: datto

Datto's ZR Series Drive Improves Internet Backup Solution With Gigabit Ethernet, RAID and ZFS

Jason Chen — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:11:19 EDT

We liked Datto's previous Network Storage device with offsite mirroring, but we had some issues with their slow 10/100 Ethernet and loud fan. Good news for us, since Datto's latest Z Series solves these two problems with standard dual Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, a fan that only spools up when needed, 1TB local and offsite storage, RAID 1, Active Directory support, free customer support and a five-year warranty.

It also looks nicer, with that new white finish. The downside is that it's quite costly (it is a home office/small business solution), with a price starting at $499 for the 250GB model up to $1149 for the 1TB model with RAID. That's not including the monthly fee. But if your data's important enough that you'd actually go and pay for a data-recovery specialist to get it back, you should get one of these and save yourself the hassle. [Datto]

Lightning Review: Datto Network Storage With Offsite Backup

Jason Chen — Thu, 08 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT

The Gadget: Datto's Backup NAS, a 100/500GB network storage device that automatically uploads whatever is on it to Datto's servers, giving you an off-site copy of your important information in case of a catastrophic loss.

The Price: $599 for 500GB, $399 for 100GB. Monthly service is $24.95, $249 for 1 year, $499 for 2 years, and $998 for 5 years.

The Verdict: It works. The network interface is only a 10/100, not Gigabit, so transferring stuff to the drive isn't all that fast. However, that's not the point of the Datto. You're not using this as an extra storage drive that you move stuff onto or off of every day, you're using this as a backup for your more important documents and files. Storing your home business docs, tax records, or whatever irreplaceable (vacation pics?) files you've got lying around so that you can get it back in case your kid sets fire to your house.

The only possible problem with this is that uploading 500GB of data takes a long time on a standard cable or DSL connection. It's not an issue when all your data's already on their servers and you're just updating a file or two here or there, but the first upload can take days, if not weeks, depending on your internet speed. You can have them do a roundtrip shipment of the device, manually doing a dump of your drive into their servers and sending your unit back.

If your device fails, Datto will ship your data back to you in under 24 hours. It may not be for everyone, but if you've got some important data or you're running a business at home, you should definitely consider it as an easy offsite backup solution. [Datto]

Datto Backup NAS Automatically Mirrors Data Onto Remote Servers

Jason Chen — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:50:00 EDT

Although this 500GB Datto NAS backup seems to be targeted towards small businesses, most of us on Giz have enough data lying around our computers for it to be worthwhile to us as well. The Datto comes in two models, 100 and 500GB, and both automatically back up whatever data's on it to the Datto servers in case your house gets destroyed by Godzilla and the Cloverfield monster playing footsies.

If your unit goes down, a backup can be delivered in under 24 hours. The units are $399 and $599 respectively, and come with a $99 and $249 annual fee. At this price, it's cheaper than rigging up your own backup solution on Amazon's S3 storage, but it might be a little steep if you just want to keep your vacation pics and music safe. Unless of course your name is Christina Aguilera and those vacation pics are of yourself nude, and that music is your next album. We have a server for you to put those onto. [Datto]