Using StoreGrid with External Hard Disks and Storage Boxes

Home > Solutions > Using StoreGrid with External Hard Disks and Storage Boxes

If you've already invested in an external disk, you might as well use it better! With all that extra space and StoreGrid’s powerful features, lost data can be a thing of the past!

What’s more, if one of your computers has the 'external hard disk' connected to it, any of your other networked computers can back up to this disk. No need for complicated connections between your external disk and your LAN. StoreGrid manages all that for you - without any added hardware.

Here’s how you can be on your way to using that storage box / external hard disk better!

For simplicity, lets assume you have a desktop computer (A) and a laptop (B). Lets also assume that your external hard disk (call it EHD) is connected to the USB port of A.

We’ll also assume that you’ve already installed StoreGrid (in Client & Server mode) on A & B and that A & B are on the same network / LAN (wired or wireless, it doesn’t matter). If this is the case, A & B will discover each other and this will be reflected in the StoreGrid User Interface. Next…

Step 1: Check on A to see what drive the EHD has been allocated (typically E: or F:)
Step 2: Open StoreGrid on A, and go to Server Admin -> Server Settings.

In the table titled ‘StoreGrid Server Settings’ look at the ‘Backup Directory’ listed. This probably says something like C:/Program Files/Vembu…essentially the default location.

Change this to the EHD drive (from Step 1). You could also create and choose a subdirectory like F:/MyBackups. Click ‘Save’

PS: You could have done Step 2 from the laptop (B) as well by opening StoreGrid on B and using the powerful ‘switch to peer’ function to ‘switch to’ A !
Step 3: That’s it! If you now configure a backup (from A or B) and choose A as your backup server, the backups will be stored in backup the directory you chose in Step 2 (say F:/MyBackups). You can now leverage StoreGrid’s powerful features to get more value from your storage box!

As you’ve probably gathered by now, you could simply use StoreGrid instead of the bundled software you got with your external hard disk, even when you have just one computer (say A). Simply install StoreGrid on A, follow the steps mentioned above, and backup from A to A itself !