Bay Area Help Needed for Networking

[Kirstie]

I need to find someone in the SF Bay Area to come to my shop and network the new Dell and the Wizard computer, as well as the Mac upstairs. I need the person to set up a RAID configuration on the Dell so it will bakc up the other computers. No one in the shop knows how to do this. I know I need external back up as well.

Any advice on finidng a trustworthy person who won't charge me a fortune?

Years ago I had a Mac "expert" come to my house and the results were disastrous--paid a lot of money and he did not get the job done properly, so I'm IT shy. Since then I have done everything myself with the help of my web guy, my stop manager. But this is beyone him as he has only Mac knowlege.

Thanks.

 

[Mike Labbe]

Much of this can be done for free through the chat system.

Just make sure ethernet wires are run from each computer, back to a central location where your cablemodem or DSL lives. From there, they plug into a router (about $59), and from the router to your cable or DSL.

The function of RAID is not to back up your computers. It is for redundant behavior within a single pc. (if one drive fails, the other can keep you limping along until a replacement can be bought) Although it's possible to set that computer up as a file server that holds important documents the other computers use (word processing, etc), in this way.

A back up device is equally, if not more important, than raid. If you're doing this with a POS such as LifeSaver, a series of USB backup memory chips will do the trick. I suggest 7 of them, one for each day of the week. This will give you 7 generations of backups, and let you go back one week. (some shops use more)

Once you plug the 3 machines into the router, they should pretty much automatically see the internet and configure themselves to use it. If you want to share common drives or printers, we can walk you through that in the chat system.

Since they will be using the internet, Antivirus software is a must for all 3.

Mike

Here's a crude diagram. Imagine pc1 as your new machine, pc2 as your cmc, and pc3 as your mac.