What’s the Best OS for Data Storage and Stability?

I think that the best place to store your data on any place where ZFS file system is used which are used in Open Solaris. ZFS in my eyes provides the best way to keep your hard drive safe. But if there was a 0% chance of data loss then I would store it on OS X because of its great apps for data management cough*** iTunes, iPhoto

Great advice, theres really differant os for differant people
Mac os X is great but i dont see many like average users gettin a mac cause they dont do much on a computer and macs are slightly pricey for them
But Power users i have seen on a mac
No matter what system you are on you are always at risk of some kind of failure
I think in the end it comes down to personal opinion

it depends on how you want to use your data.

win2k3 when coupled with active directory will allow you to set up permissions based on an active directory logon. You can create a DFS share so that you can tie multiple shares (which could be physically separate HDDs or just folders) into a single, easy to navigate share.
You can use EFS to encrypt the data as well as employing a quota system to share out capacity between multiple users and you can use many other features within active directory to provide different services that utilise your storage.

At home I have a couple of HDD’s in my win2k3 domain controller as well as a thecus YES box that runs integrated linux and acts as a pure nas box using an intel xscale based system to keep the energy use at a minimum.

For most home users, a linux based system is more than enough. So, if you have an old box kicking around, then you can easily throw some HDD’s into it and install freenas (a stripped down linux distro) to turn it into a cheap file server, but be careful as it might chew up loads of energy.

But in all honesty, win2k3 is more than adequate for file serving and I haven’t had any problems in the 5 years we have been using it as our front end server for our SAN.
If you are a business, then I’d highly recommend using win2k3 because you will prolly have active directory running.. for the home, you won’t be needing to apply much in the way of permissions so linux is just as capable and doesn’t come with the expensive license fee.

About five years ago, I used Windows solely. It was until I started tinkering with Linux, I started to like it. As time went on, I came to love Linux, and the whole open source evolution.

Buck then I only had a couple of Pentium 2 400 MHz(6 GB hard drive), later I got a Pentium 4 2Ghz, and wasn’t until 6 months ago I got a laptop. Now I use Linux solely.

Interesting. I have had this Dell Inspiron 1150 for the last four years. It is soon to be replaced through no fault of its own with a new MacBook, but for now it houses my life. Not to say my ‘life’ isn’t backed up properly, but I trust old Delly and XP with all my files– my ‘life’. Enough said.

I have systems running Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows XP Professional, Windows HP Home, Mac OS X Leopard, Mac OS X Tiger, Ubuntu 7.10, and Ubuntu 8.04 and in my personal opinion, I feel that Mac OS X Leopard is the best OS for data storage and stability. Relying on only built-in features, Mac OS X Leopard has the best backup feature; Time Machine. Windows Vista Ultimate comes in a distant second place with Shadow Copies, but that requires System Restore to be activated, and also requires that you have access to the operating system to restore a backup. Time Machine in Mac OS X automatically does hourly backups of everything on an external hard drive. This means that if your internal hard drive crashes, you data is relatively safe and secure and capable of being restored.

As Chris has stated several times, “no OS is perfect.” With the current state of hardware that is affordable and available to the general public, Mac OS X Leopard is where it is at.

Dear Mister Pirillo,

Hmmm….. I’m a little out of my league here when it comes to discussing the best operating system.

However, would you please allow me to give you my opinion on the world’s worst operating system?

My parents currently own a Pentium III machine. (Gag). As if that weren’t bad enough, they also have Windows ME (Millennium Edition) on it. (Vomits).

For those of you who have never used Windows ME before, just imagine what it would be like if an elephant kicked you in the groin, knocked you down, lit you on fire and then defecated on you. (Seriously, that’s pretty much what it’s like).

I do agree with you that the “Time Machine” feature of OS X is an ultra-important one. A lot of times when I attempt to use the backup function in Windows, it fails me. (Not good).

Oh, and when it comes to using the system restore feature on my parents machine, well…. let’s just say that we don’t even bother to try.

Living with mom,
James Gia

hi chris,

the OS that i trust right now would have to be Windows XP because Vista just doesnt cut it for me with all the bugs it still has and i have used Mac OS X and i would like to use it but everyone in the town i live only ever uses windows…so XP i think is the best at the moment…
the windows i have in my house right now are
1 Windows 95 Desktop
1 Windows Media Center Desktop
2 Windows XP Home Laptop
and
2 Windows Vista Laptops

all the computers are connected to the internet but not the windows 95 because i think it would not be able to cope with broad band and i wouldnt be able to put a anti-virus program on it and it would just crash…the XP and Media center computers copr very well and havent had a problem with them yet..i have up graded my RAM and it is alot faster but the Media Center is slow with only 512MB ram and the Media Center i would have to say is the computer i would trust the most…i trust it with the 56.8GB of videos i have on there so i think The Media Center…thanks

Free BSD and a RAID 5 (A PC at each site). You get insane stability and your files are all backed up.

Hello,

I have found Microsoft Windows’ NTFS file system to very reliable for storing data on desktop systems, however, if I were building a SAN or other type of networked storage device, I would not automatically choose Microsoft Windows as the operating system or NTFS as the file system. While they do have the edge on ease of use because of their familiarity to me, I would also need to look at TCO (e.g., support and maintenance costs), compatibility with other operating systems and the lifecycle/roadmap for future versions of the operating system and hardware running it.

There are quite a few storage systems that are based on BSD and Linux, and I would definitely include those in my evaluation.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

I Like mac os x for organization of data, it is very easy to find things with spotlight, and also time machine is simple backup.

I still rely on old Xp, and i know there is a large crowd of people that will back me up on this. I personally do not like Vista because its just to different for me than Xp. Why not a Mac? Well their also way to different and wow money. I wish i knew more about linux because i honestly don’t know much.
and i just got to the part in the video where Chris says if you’ve never changed your sad. And the only change I’ve made is from ‘98 to Xp =P

I will make one comment reguarding OSX and file storage.

OSX has “problems” accessing folders that contain large numbers of files.

You will get a spinning pinwheel for a very long length of time of you open a folder that has thousands of files in it. On the MS side of the fence, it takes hundreds of thousands of files in a single folder before this starts to happen.

Heres the thing time machine or internet/google docks. it will work and it will stay safe.

II can see why you were a teacher. This was like taking a class ( I took notes) As far as changing my mind about OS systems I really want to get into the Mac world. I don’t really know much about PC’s but I have had this HP desk top for two years now and all I get is problems with it. I don’t have much money so when I send it I want to spend it on things that are high quality and if something does happen to it I can at least get good if not great customer service. Also, I want to enjoy my experience in using it. With this pc all the joy is GONE! hopefully with a Mac I can get some back.

i personally wish that i could just scrap all of my windows machines at my house but i my parents dont know how to use macs and they dont want to buy all new computers. i just think for what i do i prefer mac os X rather that Vista or XP

There is no best OS. You are totally right Chris.

However if you are talking about data storage I would use Linux hands down. I love how it works, the simplicity, the “openness”, and just the general way the UI works.

I use Vista on a regular basis, and hate the way it backs up your data. Hate it. I don’t like it when System Restore is automatically turned on. I was freaked out when I was just loosing Gigs of Hard Drive space every hour because of this annoying feature.

Also the OS X time machine is a great . Wow. It’s just another example of how Apple ingeniously inter greats software and hardware in one beautiful package.

I have found that both linux and unix are both quite reliable and my website runs on a umix server

Yea Chris, I would have to see that I can’t really tell which one is best for data storage. I would probably just pick Linux since it is the least amount of money to use. But for stability I would probably choose Mac OS X but for all about relativeness to the real world I would have to choose windows basically just because 90% of people in the developed world knows how to use one. If you put a linux machine in front of my grandmother in Rhode Island she would turn it on and have no clue how to turn it off. But yes I would have to choose Windows XP, not Windows Vista.

I don’t have much to say on this subject… just that the best OS is the OS that you feel most at home in while using, the one you can operate with ease… after all, if you can’t operate your operating system then it’s just a system.

even tho i use Windows and never touched or even smelled a Mac, i’d have to say Mac would be the choice. Windows is more known to be unstable. as far as i know of, i haven’t heard much about Mac’s crashing.

Lucky that i know how to use a computer lol!

Hard to say which OS is best. Their best in both their way.

Personally i would recommend OS X. But that´s only because I have never used Linux or other OS´except for Windows. Which i don´t recommend. I don´t have numbers for how many time I´ve experienced pain killing bugs in Windows.

Hey Chris,

Fairly New View said i didn’t find this sooner..

Anyway Just wanted to put in my two cents, I am a Windows Fan boy allways have been, but have really become Disappointed with there new OS Vista.. its a cool idea and all but when it comes down to it, do i really need all those little gadgets at the expence of down clocking my Computer.. I’ve gone back to XP which i believe that at this point in its life it has become the most Solid OS out

anyone else having Down Clocking problems?

New Fan
DanePete

Best OS…
Agh I see this EVERY day in the world of #Chris.
“Mac Or PC!” Well, I would have to agree. Depends all in you…
Power users want something that can handle them, home users want something for their everyday documents and blah blah blah, the story continues.
I use XP as of right now, since I wanted to do some tweaking, but if I didnt have to I would have kept Vista.
use the OS that fits YOU is what i would say If i was asked that.
-Ruben

i think the mac is the best because you can put all the os’s on it and run them legally

While I am far more comfortable in Windows(x) than linux, and do not view linux as ‘cool’ (I see a foot massage machine as ‘cool’ - I see in an OS its’ function) - I have to admit, if I had critical data to secure and ensure its health..I would go with linux. (I cannot comment on OSX from personal experience).

Linux is well documented to be far more reliable and stable for long term. The community on the whole (collective between all distros) has built such an all encompassing knowledge base across the web-o-sphere, that it is often, if not almost always, easier to solve something on the rare occaisions that it does go dreadfully wrong. Having myself jumped through the hoops of windows support (from language barriers to scripted responses which only vaguely apply to what you are attempting to achieve in your call in the first place, to advice which ends up making things worse)-windows ’support’ is often not half as educated as free, online linux instruction.

I will continue to use windows day in and day out because of the development tendencies of software and workplace demands - but i will never be without a linux pc, at least a dual boot if not pure linux, within arms length at home, because when windows goes wrong - and it will - linux will still be there for you to do what needs done.

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if it were a question of security and stability, i’d use debian as a server over windows any day. Wut server 2003 is so much more like “home” to me. i’ve been using windows ever since windows 3.1. I admit, the only reason i was drawn into linux was compiz fusion, but i soon realized that linux, is an operating system. compiz fusion, is not.

Choosing the best, the right OS for you is very very hard to say, as i always say you never know which is the best if you never tried it and compared many different OS’s , it is like ice cream, my is vanilla , i can’t decide for you that vanilla is the best for you, you may like strawberry more but you will never know that you like strawberry ice-cream more if you never had it. Once i was like that too, i asked in community which monitor is the best, i asked that because i was unsure and i wanted to get a great monitor,afterward i got headache and was more unsure then ever, i got 1 millon different answers, not all have the same taste or preferences.
At last i had to choose a monitor that majority said, it wasn’t much like 2 ½ votes, but the other option (monitor) might have been better.

As far as stability goes, at the moment I would trust mac os. If it were import files and photos I would also use time machine on an external drive just in case. But like you said, a year from now that might be different.

Well for file storage I have a server that runs a form of linux called FreeNAS its great and is ONLY for file storage. As far as stability I would trust OSX over windows and Linux over OSX. I only say this because I have both Linux and Windows servers. The linux server has an uptime of well over a year. The windows server however needs restarted every week. I wouldn’t know how well OSX is for uptime but I do know its more reliable than windows.