iSCSI - what is it good for and how to use?

Yes. Some apps only work well with local storage. iSCSI is very handy for such scenario.

Take a look at http://www.ReadyNAS.com/iSCSI

Thanks, that is a very helpful link. Have a great day!

Some key things to remember about iscsi is;

- an iscsi volume is attached to a single PC like an external drive (ie its a virtual drive stored on the nas).
- an iscsi volume is *not* normally shared between multiple PC's, this will pretty much corrupt the volume when 1 computer overwrites data from another pc (that said, iscsi volumes can be shared between 'clustered' servers that are designed to avoid simultanious access problems)

- iscsi is useful for things that will not normally work on a network connection (like database files, some versions of windows backup, various accounting softwares, etc).

- data on iscsi volumes can be shared *by the PC*, but the iscsi volume itself can not be shared (see above)
- if you have ever worked with virtual pc or vm ware or other virtualization, iscsi is like a virtual hard disk file, but is stored on the nas and goes through the iscsi protocol instead of being accessed directly on a hard drive.

Thanks TeknoJnky,

It is great to get such good direct info :) Live long and Prosper!

TeknoJnky wrote:
- iscsi is useful for things that will not normally work on a network connection (like database files, some versions of windows backup,

Thanks TeknoJnky, I can't believe I had completely overlooked that as an option for running W7 Starter BACKUP in that manner. :oops: