Small Business > StorageEssentials

Maxtor's Central Axis (US$319.99) offers a new way to add a centralized, always-available terabyte of storage to your local network, whether you install it at home to share media files or set it up at work to share proposals among your colleagues. You can even stream your media to UPnP AV-compatible (Universal Plug and Play Audio/Visual) networked entertainment systems without using a computer. Best of all, by setting up an account with Seagate Global Access, you can store and retrieve files from the Central Axis device over the Internet.

Lenovo and EMC this week announced an effort to free small businesses from the hassles of data backup by offering an unlimited Mozy storage service for Lenovo's SL series laptops.

How much would you pay for a portable hard drive that lets you tote around 160GB in a shirt pocket -- with no need for a power brick? Apricorn is betting you'll be willing to spring for upward of US$260 for its 160GB Aegis Mini. However, it remains to be seen how many are willing to pay that price for portability.

Symantec unveiled Symantec Online Backup and Symantec Online Storage for Backup Exec, a set of encrypted services designed to provide hosted data storage and disaster recovery services for small and midsize businesses.

The scoop: HP MediaSmart Server, by HP, starts at US$600 (AU$687) (costs vary depending on storage capacity chosen).

Western Digital this week launched external hard drive that allows users of Apple Macintosh computers to easily store and backup data directly from their systems. The dual-drive My Book Studio Edition II storage device is currently shipping and offers up to 2TB storage capacity.

Buffalo Technology has given a UK launch to what is possibly the world's smallest network-attached server (NAS), the diminutive LinkStation Mini.