Many thanks adpated !!

I took note of the usb hub limitation, will stick to 1to4. Anyway, 99% of time there will be only my main USB drive connected. The 2nd and 3rd would be rare occasions.  I was planning on buying a WD Mybook Essential 1TB (usb) for my main, will verify if it works fine with the plug.

For feature 1, ssh to unmount sounds ok to me.  Will not do that every day anyway, so couple clics and command line will not be a problem.  Hopefully the plug will remount the drive automatically when reconnected or worst case a reboot should do the thing. (correct me if I'm wrong)

For feature 2, not sure I got it   Will read more about samba and how to mount drive and come back to it later.  Worst case, I will remap it after each swap from NAS to USB and vice versa.  Again this feture #2 was not really a show stopper like 1 and 3.

For feature 3, thanks for the good advice.  I found a MyBook hacking community and a step by step hacking process to do almost the same I hope to do.  (see here :  http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/tutorial-setup-2mbwe-with-rsync-over-the-internet  )  The difference is that they use 2 Mybook World, one at both end, and hack both to run rsync.  But for my set up, I need a drive I can leave with for week ends and vacation, so must be usb.  But anyhow, it did provide good tips for the point you raised about finding the IP of the remote (using a dns).  My biggest fear was that i need a "PC" at the remote location.  Every backup solution always refer to rsync (or alike) running on both end...  I would have prefer not to hack the mybook, but with all the readings, and these forums, I am now willing to do it if necessary.

So I ordered my plug last nigth, thanks again for the little push ;-) 

Will see how long it takes to get here via normal ground shipping...

More to come,

bp

Hi all,

Wow!  All sort of interesting project and story here.  I am brand new to “community”, this is my first ever participation, but excited to start.  Looking for some specific features for a NAS and backup solution, I initially found the SimpleNet adapter, then the Pogoplug, then the Addonics adapter, and then discover the Sheeva Plug was the backbone of the Pogoplug.  I got thrilled by all the potential of this nice little thing.

Trying to do my home work first, I read many reviews, product pages, forum posts etc… to answers my many questions.  I found a lot of good information, but no clear confirmation my exact plan would work with a SheevaPlug.

The 3 main specific features I am looking for are the following :

1- Use of a “hot swappable” usb drive that can be NAS when at home, and simple USB when on the go for week end and vacations.  USB drive to be disconnected and reconnected to the plug without any setup to do on the plug.  (can take couple seconds or minutes to automatically re set up, but don’t want to “tel net” in the plug each time…)   

2- Keeping same “drive letter map” in both connection mode if possible would be important, for iTunes and ACDSee to keep finding music and photos without having to rescan the “new” drive every time I swap.  I have 200 GB of music, and 200 GB of photos, and it does take quite long for those two apps to scan and rebuild there database.  I don’t think the swap from NAS to USB is a problem, but is there a way to make the drive keep the same “map letter” without manually mapping the drive after every swap?

3- Automatically backup my main USB drive to a remote location where no pc is available, only a WD MyBook World edition (a single drive nas) with a router and high speed modem.  I read a lot about rsync and rdiff-backup, and both sound really appealing for my needs, but in everything I read, it seems that the app must be installed at both local and remote location.  But I have no pc at remote location… and would not want to buy two Sheeva plug… Can I still do automated backup to remote location with the application installed only on the SheevaPlug in my local network?  I would like to be sure before buying it.

You can find below a more detailed list of requirements and my humble network diagram, but I think the main show stopper risks are explained above (1 and 3).

So.  Should I make the jump and buy the thing?  Will I be able to make it fulfill my needs?

Thanks for any help, and be sure I will be glad to keep my project posted.

Best regards to all, its fun to read your stories,

BP

MY HOME NETWORK DIAGRAM

 

NEEDS
•   Working daily from the USB drive through local wireless network.  Practically no data will be kept on laptop.  Everything will be on the USB drive. Photos, music, excel files, etc…  Only OS and applications will be kept on laptop drive.
•   Use NTFS for main USB drive
•   Support NTFS, FAT32 and other most common file system for temporary additional USB drive connected to the local network
•   Add temporary additional USB drive to local network, on the go, and have immediate access from all pc on the network
•   No installation of application, agent, driver, client, etc… on guest’s laptop to connect to USB drive (main or temporary) through the local network.
•   Use Main USB drive with sleep mode
•   Remote Ethernet drive to be WD My Book World (already owned)
•   Control user access (read/write) to multiple private portions of the USB drive
•   Control user access (read/write) to multiple private portions of the ETHERNET drive
•   Automatic Backup / Synchronisation from LAPTOP to USB DRIVE
•   Automatic Backup / Synchronisation from USB DRIVE to offsite ETHERNET DRIVE
•   Automatic Backup / Synch requirements
          o   Without laptop being involved (for USB to ETHERNET)
          o   With no manual entry for user name and password to also backup/synch private portions
          o   One way only  (Main USB to Remote Ethernet)
          o   “Differential” only
          o   2 step deletion on the USB drive (placing deleted file in a temp directory during auto backup/synch, for later manual confirmation)
          o   Email notification of backup/synch failure
          o   Protection against data corruption or lost if power and/or connection failure happen during backup / synch.  Routine can simply
                wait for next scheduled execution, but don’t want to have corrupted files or match between Source and Target
•   USB drive to be disconnected and reconnected to the plug without any setup to do on the plug.  (can take couple seconds or minutes to automatically re set up, but don’t want to “tel net” in the plug each time…)
•   USB drive to show with same drive map letter (i.e. “X”) on laptop when connected through the network or directly to laptop via USB
•   Secured remote connection to USB drive from anywhere with my laptop as if in home (drive to show with same usual drive letter)
•   Secured remote access to USB drive from anywhere with any pc (could be mine but not necessarily) to read and write files.  No need for specific drive map letter in this case.
•   Bring Ethernet drive back home, connect to laptop through the network, and connect USB drive directly to the Ethernet drive for “first time high volume data transfer” from USB to Ethernet drive. (i.e. when back from vacation with 10GB of photos, or back from weekend with 20GB of new music, don’t want to copy that over inthernet)
•   Simple disconnect and reconnect of USB drive to the network, without any command to do via terminal, setup or config
•   Auto reboot after power failure or plug being disconnected

NO NEED FOR  (unless you think I would really gain from it)
•   Media streaming  (no media extender or player, all media will be played by laptop)
•   Bit torrent
•   Web server
•   Mail server
•   DNS server

DON’T WANT TO
•   Hack the Ethernet drive
•   Use web site to access my USB drive (like pogoplug)
•   Reformat drives (currently NTFS for mine, but could other common file system)
•   Install application, agent, driver, client, etc… on guest’s laptop to connect to USB drive (main or temporary) through the local network