[OzzyJim]

thanks for your help,

iconoclast, I think I will be taking your advice and when using a mirrored Raid setup - backing up to a USB or pref a firewire / esata drive also. Because of the fact a powersurge can cook computers / external hard disks I had been using for the time being a USB powered portable HDD for backup - I never thought the USB controller may fry it!. I guess if that happens I'd hope the USB - IDE/SATA controller in the HDD case blows rather than the logic board itself so I can recover the data. I will have a look at the link to storgae review later today when I get a chance thanks for that.

I did see a quick video on youtube where FreeNAS was used on an old pc to act as a backup source and that scripts can be written to automate this. As for theft, in my local area it's not too bad actually, more from inside cars than houses at the moment. I will have another look into what software is available for backups.

Thanks,

James.