As with all consumer electronics, the computer gets smaller and faster every day. The same applies to those gigantic rack servers that take up entire rooms. While the large companies may rely on these massive servers, the small businesses don't have to. At least not anymore.... Thanks to products like Seagate's Mirra Personal Server, small business and even home networks can have automatic backup servers to protect their data without taking up valuable space with a rack server or another full tower. While the Mirra in it's current configuration isn't quite ready to take over the conventional server world, it does have some big advantages such as low cost, small size, low power consumption, easy to use access software, and FREE web access to your data anywhere in the world. However, these are just a few of the good points right here, right now. Over time I can see the Mirra evolve into something far more powerful that will blur the line between a conventional server and the personal backup system. But before I talk about the possible future of the Mirra, let's take a look at what it has to offer us today.

     Above is a picture of the Mirra Personal Server on it's side. The Mirra has rubber feet on both sides and the bottom so you can put the Mirra just about anywhere you have space. As for it's size, the Mirra is only a fraction of the size of a small tower case. In reality, the Mirra is housed in a mini tower case. The case even has a CD ROM bay in the front, but it's not functional. There are two USB ports as well. The are connected and powered, but like the CD ROM bay, they are not functional.

     Above is a view of the back side of the Mirra. When I first saw the sound, USB, video, and printer ports I started to get a little excited. Does the Mirra have something to hide? Are these ports functional? If this is a network only appliance, what is all of this? The truth is other than the video port, non of the other ports are functional...in it's current configuration. Before any of us jump to conclusions, let's press on and look at the Mirra for what it was intended for. Just try to ignore all the media ports for now.

     To function, the Mirra only needs a power cord and a network cable. (See the image above) Even though there is a video out, you don't need a monitor. Again, the Mirra only needs power and to be plugged into your network as shown above. Other than installing the easy to use Mirra software, that's all there is to setting up the Mirra. The Mirra Personal Server had to be the easiest piece of computer equipment that I have ever installed and setup. I've had bigger challenges from USB flash drives or mice.

Mirra side view.