Windows Sever Backup to network storage device

Many Nas devices allow you to connect them to your server as an iscsi drive which would appear as a local drive.  I have several sbs systems doing backup that way.

Not quite sure what devices you have seen a USB device is a lot cal USB device!

@Don
Can you list some names of the manufacturers?

Synology
Western Digital
Drobo
Qnap
Theacus

Can you give sone models that are cost effective (where I can buy inexpensive SATA drives)

Budget and location ?

Otherwise I would be guessing as what is inexpensive to me maybe a fortune to you

"Budget and location ?" --> I am thinking a device where I can put a single 8TB SATA HD on it. All I need is a space where I can perform Windows Server Backup on the same network.

Would something like this work?
WD My Cloud PR2100 8TB 2-Bay NAS Server (2 x 4TB)  MFR # WDBBCL0080JBK-NESN
This comes with qty 2. 4TB HDs in it and I can use them as two separate hard drives or set up RAID 1.

Yes that will work

Check if it supports iSCSI

I've checked the specifications and it does not support iSCSI

You can connect iscsi either to vm as a storage pool, or to the sbs instance directly.  Some Nas boxes are VMware certified for iscsi connection.

I will pick one up this weekend and try to set it up to see if SBS2011 can back up to that device.
I will report back.

You can backup to a CIFS share eg Windows Share Unit most will support Windows Shares

If you need to backup to a local device it will need to support iSCSI

So pick wisely

Nether also makes some lower price point boxes

@Andrew
What make/model supports iSCSI?

What vendor are we referring to?

If you are referring to WD as posted none support iSCSI if you want to backup to local drive

I picked WD because they were available at BestBuy. But if WD NAS products are not going to work for me, then I need to know what you would recommend to see if I can buy one from local stores.

I found out that I can get QNAP 251 Plus Turbo 2-Bay NAS (Part# TS-251PLUS-2G)
Would that work?

I'm not seeing any mention of iscsi support so that model of qnap might not work the way you want it to.  I've used some netgear devices with some success in the past.

@Don
Would something like this work? NETGEAR ReadyNAS 214 4-Bay Network Attached Storage Diskless (RN21400)
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA6ZP3K32726&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-Network+-+Storage-_-9SIA6ZP3K32726&gclid=EAIaIQobChMItIf8uITX2gIVRdbACh2rfQovEAQYASABEgKpwvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

In product description, I don't see a reference to iSCSI compatibility at all. How would you know if it is going to work or not?

ReadyNAS do support iSCSI

If you look in the KB it shows how to create LUNs and connect

What is wrong with using USB attached storage?  You could just buy a USB3 dock (2-4 drives) and rotate drives in and out.

@David,

Can you post a specific make/model ?

Yes, I have that same netgear box attached as both iscsi to vm as a storage pool and as a smb share.  I've also had it connected direct to Windows server via iscsi presenting multiple luns.  Maybe not the fastest box in the world, but it does work.

Don't go down the swap able USB external drive route for backup.  It's a cheap way to do it temporarily , but they will start to fail within a year.

@Don
Since you mentioned "smb share", to me, that comes across as "backing up to a network share" like \\192.168.1.xx\Backup.
I know that I can create a share off any external USB hard drive or any internal hard drive in any computer on the network and perform Windows Server Backup from SBS2011. However if you back up your data to a network share in Windows Server Backup in SBS2011, it will only retain one copy of the backup. In order to keep the history of the backup, in a physical SBS2011, I have an external USB hard drive attached to it. The questions is how to do it in a virtual environment.
I just wanted to make sure that you are aware of that.

Question was answered.