Rating: 

Author W. Curtis Preston's writing is very clear, and friendly to boot. You get the feeling you're working with an old hand who's showing you the ropes of this technology. Preston's diagrams are first rate, and his comments on industry hype fun to read. The multitude of practical technical tips are priceless.

Preston provides deep coverage of backup and recovery -- issues often glossed over by vendors and other technical treatments. For example, many storage network users are shocked to learn during a catastrophe that their carefully-backed-up data will take hours or days to restore. Preston's careful design advice helps you avoid such pitfalls.

In contrast, Clark's "Designing Storage Area Networks" focuses on the low-level technical details of storage network hardware and protocols, saying little about day-to-day management.

The books are inexpensive; I recommend you buy both. But if you can only buy one, Preston's is it.