[ale] Recommendation for off-line storage?

[Allan Metts]

Hi everyone,

I have several hundred Gigabytes of data that's in my way.  I need to keep it, but I don't need regular access to it.  More data is coming in now that will eventually need the same treatment.

So I'm looking for a good solution for off-line data storage.  Here's what I'm looking for:

--*-- Rack-mountable

--*-- Non-proprietary hardware, no special "backup" software

--*-- Supports Linux distributions.  I choose which one.

--*-- Uses readily-available and inexpensive IDE drives.

--*-- Easy to set up and administer.  We have no time to fiddle with this -- I'm thinking 1) mount the drive, 2) copy the files, 3) unmount the drive, 4) remove and replace the drive.  The machine still needs to work when I pop in an unformatted or unrecognized drive.

--*-- Hot-pluggable drives would be nice if it doesn't make things complicated.  I'm willing to power down the machine to swap the drives if need be.


I think what I'm looking for is a bare-bones rackable server, with an internal IDE drive to boot Linux, a CD-ROM drive to install Linux, and two removable drive bays that I can dump the data to.

Suggestions?  Recommendations?


Best Regards,

Allan Metts, VP -- Technology & Operations
AirSage, Inc.
ametts at airsage.com
(404) 861-3404