[krx]

Some threads in this forum have thrown a serious iron in the works for me. My plan was to bring my iMac 333 up to 512 MB, install 10.3.9, and set it up in my 5 year old's room both for her to play games on and as a backup server for my home network. But what I'm reading here makes me think this class of machine is becoming obsolete. If I can't get 2 or 3 years out of the set up than it's not worth the trouble. In my experience, browsers in OS 9.2 can't handle current Web sites. But if OS 10.3.9 is too slow on this machine, than there's little advantage in it.

I also just read that a backup server for a small home network should have Firewire, or at least USB 2 - which this machine does not. And I would need to add an external drive to give it enough capacity for backups.

So maybe I should cash in the iMac 333 for a newer model - one w/the HD capacity, Firewire, and the speed to keep up w/Web site technology for a few years. I just dropped a small bundle on a new iBook so I'd like to conserve here. But any thoughts as to what affordable machines might meet these criteria would be much appreciated.

[Will C]

This all depends on what you want it to serve. I'm no expert but if you just want it as a file repository for backups then it will be fine. It will probably also be OK if you want it to serve basic webpages to the internet such as familty photo albums and newsheets - as long as you don't expect heavy loading with lots of simultaneous visitors.

Don't know who suggested that you need FW and/or USB for a server (link?) - again it all depends, but my experience with servers is that they are often very basic fileservers, do a little processing and often have really basic graphics and no expansion ports since most of their activity is through their network connection.

What sort of thing do you want to do with your server?

[krx]

Originally Posted by Will C

What sort of thing do you want to do with your server?

Mainly I just want it to backup my 2 iBooks through my home network, running Retrospect Backup 5.0. Sorry if I'm not clear - don't know much about this.

The FW/USB 2 idea was cited in an article hyperlinked in my first post.

[Will C]

Sorry don't know how I missed the link in the first place.

I only think you'll need FW or USB 2 if you want to have extra drives connected to your iMac-running-as-a-server which you can disconnect. Is the HD in your iMac big enough to store all the stuff you have on your 2 iBooks?

I have not used retrospect, I tend to do periodic backups using carbon copy cloner - it is a bit clunkier in that I have to action them manually and I just copy all my data to a different drive rather than get a backup product only copy the updated files.

[krx]

Originally Posted by Will C

Is the HD in your iMac big enough to store all the stuff you have on your 2 iBooks?

No, it's only 6GB, I think. The iBooks each use 13 GBs or more of HD space. I know Retrospect condenses, but I'm guessing I'll need a lot more HD. I want to back up the entire HD on each iBook and then do nightly incrementals.

[Will C]

Have you considered upgrading the internal HD in the iMac - it is relatively straightforward unless you don't like the idea of opening it up and it would probably be the cheapest option. The only drawback is that if the iMac dies in general use then you may have lost all your backups. Maybe this is why the linked article suggested the external drives.
Also, would you/do you have your iBooks connected to the iMac via cabled ethernet? Doing large backups via Airport would be a bit slow.

[JoshuaZ]

An old B&W G3 served me just fine as a file server for a long time. They're very cheap on ebay. Plus they're easily expandable.

[krx]

Originally Posted by Will C

Have you considered upgrading the internal HD in the iMac - it is relatively straightforward unless you don't like the idea of opening it up and it would probably be the cheapest option. The only drawback is that if the iMac dies in general use then you may have lost all your backups. Maybe this is why the linked article suggested the external drives.
Also, would you/do you have your iBooks connected to the iMac via cabled ethernet? Doing large backups via Airport would be a bit slow.

The CD ROM just died which makes me think the iMac dying is a real possibility - that's one reason I'd be more comfortable w/ an external HD. The iBooks are on Airport but each also has a cable connection to the network, so we could go that route for backups.

[Will C]

Originally Posted by krx

The CD ROM just died which makes me think the iMac dying is a real possibility - that's one reason I'd be more comfortable w/ an external HD. The iBooks are on Airport but each also has a cable connection to the network, so we could go that route for backups.

Well since your iMac has no FW or USB2.0 I would not recommed external drives connected to it for backup. If you are concerned about it dying wrt the CD-Rom, I think it might be a no-goer.
Doing regaular backups to a central server (your iMac with a big HD) would work well with multiple computers connected to it via ethernet. With just a couple of iBooks if you only expect to backup every week or so, you may be better off getting an external HD - say FW (or USB 2.0 if your iBooks support it) - and just plugging it into each iBook as you do the backups - but then you said you wanted a computer for your daughter in her room...
As a server, would you want to leave it running in her room overnight? - it may disturb her sleep with HD activity and IIRC the iMac 333s have fans.

I can see this being a tricky decision if you want to get some more use out of the iMac and save a bit of money. Old B+W or G4 towers may be better bets though if you have an old monitor.

[krx]

Actually I do have an old monitor - hooked up to a Performa 6214 that is virtually useless. So maybe I should put the iMac in my daughter's room for her to use and get a used machine for my study (where it can run in the night and not disturb anyone) to use as a backup server. You suggest a B+W or G4 Tower - I'm not too familiar w/these machines. Would one of these be preferable to a newer used iMac - one w/a big HD and firewire?