Cloud Hosting

GCN LAB REVIEWS

When an old system is replaced in the office, usually one of two things happens to it. The IT guys might keep it around as a spare unit, or they will cannibalize it for certain components before giving it the final send off.

Since many computer technologies have changed within the last five years, most components are not worth keeping from much older systems. However, hard drives, while gettingmore capaciousand faster, have used the same interface for about eight years now. The industry sticking with Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) for this long means that you are more likely to find use for the hard drive from an old system than any other type of component.

Of course, since new systems already come with hard drives, the IT storage room tends to fill up with the old ones. These SATA drives technically are usable, so most IT people are loathe to simply throw them away. But it would be nice to find a use for one or two of them, say, as a cloud server, for instance.

Akitio Cloud Hybrid

Pros: Can access from anywhere, use any drive.

Cons: Tools required for setup, interface less than intuitive.

Performance: A

Ease of Use: B+

Features: B+

Read more:
Got old hard drives? Turn them into cloud servers.