NetSwap Network Backup

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The NetSwap Removable Drive backup system is the only Network Connected Removable Drive (NCRD) on the market. It was designed as an alternative to NAS products that allows small business network administrators to backup 1 or more servers. What makes this different than consumer NAS products? A fully integrated bay houses either HR Classic or MPac Removable Drive. What good is a fixed drive NAS if a malicious employee or virus deletes your data and the error is backed up? Or if there is a fire, flood, or theft and the data isn’t off-site?

Other things that differentiate a NetSwap from consumer NAS products include a military rated Intel motherboard, highly available and knowledgeable U.S. based tech support, super quiet cooling. With Netswap you can replace tape. You can also replace (or supplement) expensive monthly cloud strategies. The NetSwap offers SMB connections (a simple Windows share), NFS (easy Linux, Unix, Vmware share), or iSCSI (faster block level drive access that allows backup speeds of 300 Gigabytes/Hr*).

Use any popular browser to configure it. The simple menu driven interface is similar to many popular routers, allowing IP address, machine name, and other basic configuration for easy backup. The NetSwap is ideal for customers that need a small footprint, low power backup solution. Checkout the NetSwap + (coming soon) if you want mirroring (dual copies) of data.

NetSwap with HR Media

NetSwap with MPac Media

The NetSwap is a hot swap backup drive that connects via Gigabit Ethernet and features a removable drive tray housing (up to) a 3TB hard drive. Connect to the device using a network share or iSCSI. NetSwap is the only Network Connected Removable Disk (NCRD) on the market made with connectors designed for daily drive swap!

NetSwap Customers:

Would like Network Attached Storage but want to make multiple copies and have the ability to swap drives plus carry off-site if needed.
Want security. Do not want multiple users or general storage access (Administrative access for backup only).
Need enterprise type, reliable Network Connected Removable Disk (NCRD).
Need fast as possible backup with support for iSCSI & Jumbo frames.
Want enough speed to do FULL backups, in case incremental doesn’t work when needed.
Need local, fast restore
Need faster, more enterprise solution than conventional USB drives.
Want to supplement off-site backup, or can only afford to off-site part of the data set, or simply don’t trust data off-site.
May want the smaller Mpac cartridges with 2.5” for reliability, size and redundancy reasons.
Like the idea of U.S. company with telephone tech support for resellers and good customer service.
May need to restore virtual environments from bare metal, which is hard or impossible to do with USB and eSATA since the stripped down hypervisor O.S. may not provide driver support.
Would consider Highly Reliable Systems DAS (Direct Attached Storage – USB or eSATA) removable drives but has difficulty getting the controllers to work OR has a blade server with no slots and no eSATA.
Does not have the budget for SAN (Storage Area Network) type solutions.

The Netswap is an Ethernet attached backup system designed with support for removable hard drives. Conventional network appliances have fixed internal hard drives or RAID drives with exposed SATA connectors that are intended to be replaced only upon failure. By contrast, the NetSwap system has a fully enclosed removable drive for frequent media swaps, making it possible to create multiple transportable copies of your backup.

By installing the included drive management software on the machine(s) you back up, our Ethernet connected drive can be hot-swapped like a USB drive whether configured as Windows/NFS share or an iSCSI device. Inserted drives will reappear to Windows machines on the network with consistent drive letters, allowing your favorite backup software to send jobs to the removable drive without requiring user intervention or a server reboot.

We know speed is crucial for backup/restore. Using Gigabit Ethernet and our iSCSI software, the removable drive outperforms USB 2 and, when optimized, can attain 75% the speed of a locally attached SATA drive. A powerful Intel processor provides sufficient performance for both physical and virtual environments to restore quickly and easily.

Choose your media type: 3.5” High-Rely classic or the 2.5” mirrored drive MPac. The media can be formatted NTFS (Native Windows format) or EXT4 and will plug into our direct attached (USB3 or ESATA) line of storage products. Use your favorite software for backup and/or additional off-site (cloud) management.

Retain Multiple Copies of Your Data. By simply swapping a new drive in prior to your nightly backup, you can make multiple copies of your data. Transporting your media off-site insures additional protection.
Simple Bare Metal Virtual Machine Restore. Having a Netswap unit provides backup storage that can be accessed using Windows Networking, NFS networking, or iSCSI. Hypervisor environments that won’t easily recognize USB or eSATA quickly attach via Gigabit ethernet.
Two Removable Media Types. 2.5″ or 3.5″ hard drives The Netswap can be ordered one of two ways: 1) Conventional 3.5″ removable drives (High-Rely Classic aluminum trays), or 2) Miniature MPac metal trays that house TWO 2.5″ drives. If you choose the smaller MPac media with 2 2.5″ drives and a RAID0/1 controller integrated inside, you have the additional security of redundant protected data, as well as the benefit of being able to plug your media directly into USB2 for quick access.
Interchangeable. Whether you order the High-Rely Classic or MPac Netswap model, you can plug your media into our conventional Direct Attached Storage products (USB2, USB3, or eSATA connected). This gives you unprecidented ability to verify and restore your backups elsewhere.
High Capacity. Currently up to 3 TB of RAW storage (higher if compressed) per media cartridge. Up to 2TB of RAID0 storage using the smaller MPac drive trays using two 1TB 2.5″ drives. If Mirroring is turned on the maximum size in MPac trays is 1TB
Fully Enclosed. HighRely or MPac Media fully encloses and protects the Hard Drives inside, making them ideal for offsite backup with high cycle usage.
No Drivers Required. Access the NetSwap via conventional UNC path (Windows Networking) or by connecting via iSCSI or NFS via Gigabit Ethernet connectivity.
Free iSCSI and Drive Management Software Included. Our software assists you in safely removing network attached drives, as well as making sure that drive letters stay consistent so that backup jobs run reliably.

If these characteristics are what you’re looking for, the Netswap is the perfect hardware platform for your backup needs.

Available Interfaces	Gigabit Ethernet port (1 Gps). RJ45.
2 Models Available	High-Rely classic trays (3.5” hard drives) or MPac Trays (2.5” Mirrored or Spanned drives). Removable drives sold separately.
Drive Capacity	High-Rely Classic media – up to 3 Terabyte 3.5” MPac media up to 2 Terabyte (using two spanned 2.5” 1 TB drives)
Write Performance	iSCSI Up to 300 Gigabytes/Hr to NTFS In network share mode up to 200Gigabytes/Hr to EXT4 formatted drives and 100Gigabytes/Hr to NTFS formatted drives. Speeds will vary based on environment.
Factory Reset	Includes USB Key for automated emergency Firmware reload
Network Protocols	SMB/CIFS (Windows), NFS, or iSCSI
CPU	Dual Core 1.8Ghz Atom processor passively cooled
Removable Drive File System	NTFS (supports GPT for >2TB) or Ext4.
Client Operating System Support	Windows XP onwards. For iSCSI Windows XP & 2003 need SP2 & the free MS ISCSI Initiator. Linux, Hyper-V, VMWare iSCSI supported with manual mount of swapped drives.
Quiet & Small	Low noise design and small form factor (95 x 280 x 360mm) fits in to any office environment.
Power Supply	Supports 110/220 auto switching and frequency. Approx 30 Watts during access