# Enterprise storage solutions **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 10, 2011, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410 "2011-05-10T17:17:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/21 "2011-05-11T04:37:32Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Also, I’m pretty sure that the online backup services like Mozy or Carbonite will send you the backup on DVD (or other media) if you can’t wait for the restoration to happen via the online service. 1.6TB, thats about 400 DVD’s 😃 They will hate you. ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/22 "2011-05-11T06:04:22Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > What can be done is having a share on selected workstations to store backups of data on the server. I do something similar in many small businesses without servers. One machine is usually hosting the primary applications and or document shares, I then have a folder on another machine that the host machine backs up files to. Still not making sense. **NOLA Cajun** is talking about pushing data off the server and onto the local drives. Why? Does not compute. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/23 "2011-05-11T18:32:54Z")
> [@RaftPeople](#): > > Still not making sense. > > **NOLA Cajun** is talking about pushing data off the server and onto the local drives. Why? Does not compute. Pushing working data off the server to the stations I agree, not a good idea. I am talking about using a workstation as part of the local backup system for the server ---
**Author:** ![RaftPeople](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@RaftPeople](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RaftPeople)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/24 "2011-05-11T20:30:38Z")
> [@drachillix](#): > > Pushing working data off the server to the stations I agree, not a good idea. I am talking about using a workstation as part of the local backup system for the server Ya, I figured that’s what you were talking about. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/25 "2011-05-11T20:35:28Z")
Years ago I remember reading the idea of a distributed file system. The idea is to dedicate some space on each desktop PC (say 50 or 100GB) that a program could use to create a virtual drive shared among all the users so that the data would be secure and retrievable even if one of the desktop PCs crashed (or even, I think, was turned off). And this would be relatively invisible to the users. Whatever happened to this idea? Because in my experience, most office desktop PCs have tens of gigabytes of unused storage. ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2011, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410/26 "2011-05-11T22:06:27Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Years ago I remember reading the idea of a distributed file system. The idea is to dedicate some space on each desktop PC (say 50 or 100GB) that a program could use to create a virtual drive shared among all the users so that the data would be secure and retrievable even if one of the desktop PCs crashed (or even, I think, was turned off). And this would be relatively invisible to the users. Sounds like a local only version of something like Dropbox, which syncs via internet or LAN but is restricted in size to 100GB. If there is such a program I would love to hear about it, I could use it in about a dozen places. The cool thing with dropbox is that is can sync to laptops that are out of the office so people working in the field will have access to latest documents etc without worrying about connecting to a domain and such. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enterprise-storage-solutions/581410.md?page=1)