NASLite Network Attached Storage

One thing I don't understand about this product is the three versions -- I get the fact that some people would prefer to have a CD copy and run off of that, likewise a HD version and a USB version. I guess there is not a floppy version of v.2, not a big deal.

But why? Why not just simply have a single version that you can use on all three platforms? In each of these forums, I see the same questions asked, albeit of different "versions" and it's insanely confusing! All questions would be better served if there was a single version and a single version of the forum (for v.2).

Now to my real question -- I've decided to get a copy of this for my workshop server. Are there any benefits to being able to boot from a CD versus having the HD version? Again -- I'm just really confused as to WHY Server Elements decided to have three separate "but equal" versions of this software. I would think in my case that I should go with the HD version, but then what if I move it to another server? Is there a way I can burn the HD version to a CD for use later on?

Thanks in advance, and sorry for the small rant. Keep up the good work!

*I reserve the right to ask these questions in another forum, as they all appear to be very similar

That is a very good question and has been asked by a number of people in the past. The reasons are both technical and historical. Originally, NASlite was a floppy only distribution optimized for the boot media. As it evolved, we found that ensuring stability was heavily dependent on strict control of the boot process. The initialization code in each version is different and best suited for the boot it targets.

This approach however has resulted in the condition that you are describing and has drawbacks both developmentally as well as commercially.

We are working to correct that by providing a single distro to accommodate all boot methods with the hopes to eliminate the need for CDD, HDD and USB variants in the future.

Ideally, NASLite's intent was to completely isolate the OS from the data making the package fully portable with respect to hardware. That is the primary benefit of CDD or USB over HDD. HDD can be used in symilar manner however when booting from CF via IDE.