Cavalry Storage CAXM Series 500 GB USB / eSATA External Hard Drive CAXM37500 - Includes eSATA Kit Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been using this for a few months and I'm probably going to get another one soon. I've checked out other drives with esata, and they were more expensive and/or didn't have the esata accessories. Also, some of the esata drives didn't have USB 2.0 and just had esata. I don't use USB to connect to the drive but if I need to I'd like the option. Not all motherboards have the hookup. The esata bridge goes directly to one of your slots on the motherboard.
PROS
Definite pros are the speed, size, and cost. Also, consider that you don't have to buy any additional cards to use esata. My machine doesn't have any firewire ports and the cards cost roughly third the cost of this drive. I've read the drive gets hot, but mine is really cool. Maybe this is because I have mine sitting vertically. Also, it's really quiet even with the fan. Esata is roughly 300% faster than USB 2.0, firewire.
CONS
It was slightly tricky to install with Vista. I turned mine off serveral times before I saw the drive.
I reformatted the drive to one FAT32 partition and I couldn't do it from Vista, I had to use a machine with XP. But this is not the drives fault.
The light is really bright. I cover the light up and never really touch the button. My drive is always on.
The esata bridge takes up a PCI slot, sort of as stated before it goes directly to the motherboard not into the PCI slot. There is only one esata port. If I buy a second one I would either use another PCI. However, I bought a bridge that has two esata ports with two cables that plugs to each of my free motherboard sata ports for less than 10 dollars.
I think the MyBooks look better, LOL.
All in all this is a smart buy. The pros definitely outway the minor cons.


Click Here to see more reviews about: Cavalry Storage CAXM Series 500 GB USB / eSATA External Hard Drive CAXM37500 - Includes eSATA Kit

The Cavalry CAXM37500 3.5-Inch 500 GB SATA External Hard Drive is superb external mobile solution for all your data storage needs. The hard drive features an aluminum casing to keep the pre-installed 500 GB SATA hard drive nice and cool to extend the life of the drive. The CAXM37500 supports an incredible transfer rate of 3 Gbps (SATA) and 480 Mbps (USB 2.0), making it easy to add storage to any system with either SATA or USB connectivity. And with it's portable design, and plug and play, hot-swappable connection, Cavalry makes it hassle-free to take your data with you anywhere.
What's in the Box Cavalry CAXM37500 3.5-inch 500GB SATA external hard drive, power adapter, power cord, eSATA to eSATA cable, USB cable, and vertical stand. The latest drivers and resources and be downloaded at http://www.cavalrystorage.com.

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Iomega 2 TB MiniMax Hard Drive 34696 Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this HD for three reasons: 1 - to use as a Time Machine HD for the 4 Macs in the house, 2 - To use as a small USB HUB, and 3 to reduce clutter in my den.
I attached it to my Mac first, created several partitions, then attached it to my Airport Base Station Extreme (ABSE) wireless router. I then used the USB HUB to connect my printer to the ABSE.
Configuring the time machine backups was a problem - the latest firmware update to the ABSE caused it to disconnect the drive several times. I downgraded the firmware a notch and the drives would mount when time machine ran.
The only problem I had was heat - I stacked the ABSE on top of the HD and after a few days the ABSE was very warm - too warm for my taste. So I've put them side by side, but I really wanted to stack them. That is the only reason for the 4 stars.

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MINIMAX Hard DRIVE, FIREWIRE 400/USB 2.0, 2TB

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Western Digital My Book World Edition 2 TB Network Attached Storage Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought the 2TB version of this (but not the version that has two physical drives). I'm not really all that interested in having the redundancy of RAID, weird programs backing up my computer when I'm not around, or software that allows me to connect to it remotely. I just want to throw my data on there from any one of the computers on my network and be able to get it off reasonably quickly, and I want it to go to sleep when I'm not using it. This drive does those things well.
I was looking for a drive that:
1. allows me to ssh in and tweak things by hand if I want
2. goes to sleep when not in use and wakes up without a problem
3. is cheap, quiet, and looks good
4. is fast enough for my needs
5. doesn't have any gotchas that impair its use significantly
In these respects this drive performs well.
The first thing I did when I got it was enable ssh, which you can do through the web menu. Then I logged in and disabled the mionet script. Mionet is the software that allows you to log in remotely, but it's apparently the buggiest and most wasteful program ever. You can supposedly disable this through the menu but it comes back on when you are not looking, so you actually need to physically go in and disable the startup script. I'm a linux guy so this was no problem. There are some howto's on the web that will tell you how to do this.
I played around with twonky, which is the software for playing media through UPnP. I think it's a cool idea, but the truth is that I have no need for it. I don't need/want to stream to anything but computers, and in that case it's easier to just map this drive and play the movie or song from that computer using my normal software. So I disabled twonky as well. It seemed to have a bunch of spawned processes, so this was probably a good thing. This also needs to be done through ssh.
I didn't install any of the software that comes on the CD's or anything. Apparently that software is crap anyway. I'm not sure what I would want it for. This drive works once you stick it on the network...no configuration necessary. I can get to the drive either by referencing its IP address or the hostname I gave it through the web interface.
The drive is silent and unobtrusive. The led white bar on the front slowly flashes on and off if it's sleeping and moves up and down if it's not. You can disable these leds through the web interface so it's even less obtrusive. I was worried that the sleep feature wouldn't work correctly but it works perfectly, which is one big plus about this drive. You don't notice it go to sleep because it's so quiet anyway, but it does after 15 minutes or something of not being used. Then when you try and read from it again it starts up quickly and there's no fuss. No need to turn it off or mess with it in any way, ever. Nice.
Performance is...pretty ok considering the type of device it is. According to the reviews I read, this drive is fast compared with others in its class. If you want something real fast, you have to pay up. Anyway, I have a gigabit network and I do realize you can't ever actually get the theoretical optimal speed. For reference (indicator of how good my network is or isn't), when I copy from one computer to another (both pretty fast computers) using SMB I get about 19.5 MB per second. When I use SMB to copy something onto this NAS I get about 10.8 MB per second. It's not as fast as copying to a computer, but I knew that going in. This is a powersaving and inexpensive device and both of those say it won't match performance of a fast computer with a PCI express gigabit connection. Anyway, when I read from it I get more like 16 MB per second or a little more. That's nearly as fast as a computer-to-computer copy. So I'm satisfied. I can certainly watch movies off of this drive directly without any skipping or anything. If you want a dramatic speed improvement over those, you can use ftp instead of smb (the latter just means mapping the network drive and copying to it through windows for those of you who may not know). I don't need the extra speed, though, and it's more of a hassle to use ftp, so I disabled the ftp server. Some day I may actually upgrade the SMB server the drive comes with. Apparently you can get a significant performance boost doing that but it's much more of a hack than the things I mentioned above. I don't want to risk screwing anything up in this drive now that it's working so flawlessly.
You can still remotely use this drive if you configure your router to pass http requests or ssh requests to it. No need for mionet. That's true of any computer that runs ssh and an http server. I would be crazy to sign up for some service to provide this capability. I didn't look closely at the twonky server, but I got the feeling that it would eventually want you to sign up for something as well. I shouldn't comment too much because I just disabled that garbage.
Things I don't do that apparently this drive can do:
1. Stream movies, pictures, or music to UPnP devices or Ipods
2. ftp, apple protocols
3. remote use using mionet
4. automatic backups
5. utilize an external USB hard drive
6. anything else besides just hold
so you will have to read other reviews for info about these features.
So yeah, I'm more techy than probably the average user, but the few tweaks I used weren't that significant. Since this drive allows ssh access, runs linux, and is popular enough that lots of people have it and have figured out how to tweak it, it's pretty easy to get working perfectly and there are plenty of howtos on the web. I'm real happy with it.
================
Edit: Instructions on how to do the tweaks I did are not available in the instructions. There are a number of sites on the web that describe how and why to do them. Just make sure your tweaks apply to the new "white light" version, which is this one. Some tweaks refer to the old "blue circle" version. Anyway this is what I did: First enable ssh through the web menu and ssh in as root. Default password is welc0me. Use these tips at your own risk obviously.
1. To disable mionet: First disable it through the web menu. Unfortunately the wakeup script will start it up again in 20 minutes or so because of a bug, so we fix it by editing /usr/mionet/monitorCVM.sh using vi. At the top (after the comments) add the following:
# Start of hack to make Mionet obey startup flag
if [ ! -f "/etc/.mionet_on_startup" ]; then
exit 1
fi
# End of hack to make Mionet obey startup flag
2. To disable twonky by moving its startup script to the root home directory:
mv /etc/init.d/S97twonkyserver ~
3. To disable mDNS responder by moving its startup script to the root home directory:
mv /etc/init.d/S9mDNSResponder ~
I disabled ftp through the web menu. There are other things that can be disabled or even upgraded but these are what make the difference and it all works for me. Reboot the NAS after making these tweaks.
If you do a "top" command before these tweaks you will see a number of processes dealing with these three features. After you will see that much less is running and when you copy to and from the NAS you will notice a performance boost. For security you can then disable ssh through the web menu if you want.
=========================


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Simplified set up and best-in-class performance make My Book World Edition Home Network Storage the easy choice for centralizing data and backing up your home computers. Connect the drive to your network router and youre up and running in minutes. Use the included back up software to protect your familys PCs with automatic and continuous backup plans. Store all your digital media in one central location so everyone in the family can have access to it. Compatible with both Mac and Windows files.

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Cisco-Linksys 1 TB Media Hub with LCD Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Everything you read about the features and setup of the LinkSys by Cisco NMH410 MediaHub is true: it is very easy to set up and to configure other computers and it does offer a browser-based way to access your media.
The problem is that most of it doesn't work. The lion's share of the software is broken, buggy, or simply incapable of doing what it is supposed to be doing. A quick glance at the support forums will confirm this, and unfortunately it appears to be endemic for many of the models of MediaHub, not just the NMH410. The problems that you will encounter are:
1) The Media Hub Online tool will not "see" all of your files. They will be physically visible when you use a computer to browse folders, but they will not properly share or index, even if they meet the stringent requirements (no long names, no special characters in the names, must be in one of the supported file formats, etc.).
2) The Hub will continually rebuild its index of your files. In other words, "now you see some files, now you don't". It regularly "forgets" what's on the hub and starts over, one by one, re-reading every file. You have no control over when it does this.
3) The Media Hub will not respond when it is busy. I can play an album that I manually launched from the folder, but if I try to open the File Browser, look at Configuration, or even just click a bit too fast browsing the media, the MediaHub Online will throw me "MediaHub is Disconnected or not Responding" errors and stop taking any commands. I have to randomly try again and hope to get lucky and get in.
4) The website for Remote Sharing (in other words, logging in to your device through the Internet from another location) regularly has Server Timeouts. You never know when it will let you in or when you will just get a dead white page.
5) Some features reboot the hub without warning. You choose the option, it says, "Resetting the MediaHub" and the next thing you know, the browser interface fails, the hub loses all of its indexes, and it starts all over again crawling through your files and not responding to your clicks.
It's very distressing to see aggressive releases of software and firmware updates, whose release notes claim to have solved these problems...only to find that all the "fixed in this version" problems are still there. If these issues really were considered fixed by the company, then Linksys/Cisco's problems are much larger--they may need to consider a recall. Thus far, the only features that truly work are the ability to view files and folders on a computer and the optional computer backup program (which should only be used for files and not as a full system backup).
It should tell you a lot that there are actually two pieces of software embedded in this hub: the Linksys by Cisco software, and a third party tool called "Twonky Media Server". Twonky is better, but still not what this product promises above. Both have really bizarre problems that should never have made it to the sales floor.
I'm reaching the point of complete surrender. I managed to get indirectly engaged with the hardware/software development team and have offered them access to my hub to try whatever it takes to solve the problem.
As of October 19, 2009, my unit was used for the Beta and the new Firmware was released. If you own an NMH and are having the above problems, you should give it a try. Unfortunately for me, the best I have seen with this new firmware is that the fixes are spotty: almost seems to mostly-work one day, then it's back to completely acting up the next. The cruel part is that one day I'll discover an amazing new feature or two that I'd never seen before...and the next day it's gone again. Content appears and disappears, and the system is always rebuilding itself. I have spent many, many hours on and off support calls struggling with this device and I'm sorry I bought it. It's November 19th, 2009, and my NMH410 Media Hub is now back in the original packaging waiting to go out the door back to LinkSys. I've lost over 4 months trying to get this to work and I can't recommend it to anyone.

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Enjoy your digital music, photos, and videos throughout your home! The Linksys Media Hub stores your favorite media files, and lets you view and listen to them on any PC, laptop, or TV in the house, or through the Internet anywhere in the world! The pre-installed hard drive holds thousands of photos or songs, or hundreds of hours of DVD quality video, and the empty second drive bay and two USB ports let you add even more storage as your collection grows.The Media Hub presents your music, photo, and video collections in an attractive "catalog view" from most web browsers. There are no confusing network addresses to remember; give your Media Hub a personalized "name" (i.e., "Smith-Media"), and just type it into your browser to view the catalog. Use the same name to log in to your Media Hub from a web browser anywhere, and get the same easy-to-use access to your media.

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Synology DiskStation 4-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage DS411J (White) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)OK, my review might be biased. Coming from the Drobo, which was absolutely terrible, to this Synology unit was the best technological move I've made since I switched to OSX 10.1 all those years ago. Speeds are fantastic, built-in server features are excellent, and aesthetically the unit is very pleasing.
Unboxing/Installation/Initial Setup:
The unit arrived from Amazon in a large cardboard box along with the two SATA drives that I ordered for it (Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS). The box for the 411j was very sleek and easy to unpack. No weird seals or wire ties to deal with. The unit itself fits well with the IKEA-assisted look of my office. To install the drives, you remove some handscrews off the back and the top/sides of the unit will come off (in the stock photo, the aluminum piece with the logo on it). The drive trays are plastic and slide out of the back of the unit. You just sit the drives into the unit and use the included screws to mount the drive in place. Then, just push the tray back in and the drive will be connected. No cables to connect was a big plus here. After the drives are all installed, push screw the back on and plug in the power and network cables.
One thing that was unexpected was that the unit has no software installed on it initially. Not a bad concept though..it forces you to load the most current version this way. The software from the CD happened to be the current version (major revision in December I think) but that might not always be the case, you it might be better to just download the latest Synology Assistant and DSM software from the company website before you begin. The Synology assistant recognizes the unit on the network and allows you to install the DSM (operating system) onto the unit. This process is pretty quick, and the unit will automatically restart when it's done.
Disk Allocation and Backups:
The recommended data allocation that the Synology makes is to use all the drives that are available, and in the hybrid RAID format. This will allow for one drive to fail (assuming you have more than one in it) and all the data will still be fine. It also lets the drives to be different models/sizes, which isn't compatible with regular RAID. You don't get the full drive size available to you. You actually lose the space of one of the biggest drives in the unit for redundancy. Plus a small formatting loss. The wizard makes the partitioning very simple; you can have multiple volumes if you want. I just went with one and have multiple folders. You can also have USB drives plugged in (and printers too I think, but my AIO HP is already networked) that are treated as an additional volume. One nice feature here is that the device will backup to the external drive on a defined schedule. So actually, the Synology can fail and the data would still be safe on the backup drive.
Shared Folders:
The device is capable of creating multiple shared folders. You can create a very complex multi-user system with individual shared folders if you want to. Or you can go the simple route like I did and just have a couple including the app-generated music and video folders. I also have a Time Machine folder that has the sparsebundle images that I use to backup my two Macs. Only one user with full access rights, and read-only access to everything for guests. In my home setup, this is plenty because the computers are the only devices that write data, and my jailbroken AppleTv2 is the only device that reads from it (for XBMC). As far as allowing guests read-only access to everything, my WiFi is WPA2-encrypted, so only those select few people have access. And those that do I couldn't care less about what data of mine they see.
Applications:
I haven't explored the apps very much aside from the media server. It will create a DLNA environment that allows the PS3 and also some TVs (I think) to play movies directly from the drive. For those of you that use PS3MediaServer for this purpose, it's not foolproof. PS3MediaServer trans codes on the fly those file formats that the PS3 can't naively play. The Synology, however, plays the files directly. This is a hardware restriction. Putting a CPU and enough memory into the unit to handle video transcoding would raise the price to about $1K. You can still use PS3MediaServer and map the videos folder as a file location, but be aware that if you do this wireless there will be bumps. If the computer is plugged directly into the router that the NAS is plugged into, it should be fine.
Misc:
The unit is surprisingly quiet. My old Drobo was too loud to keep on my desk (and ended up on a table in the corner). It's also very fast compared to the Drobo. On this unit, I average ~30Mbps write and up to ~45Mbps read. I use Aperture and have my entire library stored on the unit. It handles this fine and suffers no lag issues. One computer is directly connected to the router where the NAS is. The unit has gigabit ethernet on it, so that's great. Speed from laptops will obviously be slower. Even wireless N speed can only sustain about 15MB from what I've noticed, but that has nothing to do with the unit. On the Drobo, the fan at the back was behind a plate that couldn't be removed. I like to be able to open the unit and clean it if I have to. My home is near an airport, so it can sometimes be quite dusty during the warm months of the year. Overall, I couldn't be more happy with this purchase. The performance improvements over my Drobo were enormous. It's UI is great and has many features that I hope to someday experiment and explore.
Edit: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 - When I purchased the unit, I put the two mentioned drives above into the unit, but I also put two 1TB Green drives from my old Drobo into it. One of those two drives failed last week. The unit sent me an email notification and set off on its warning beeps that the volume was degraded. I immediately Teamviewered into my desktop from my iPhone, and logged into the Synology UI. I was able to discover the serial number of the disabled hard drive and request an RMA from WD. Credit card was authorized for the replacement price, received the new one via UPS 2-Day Air, and returned the old one via UPS ground. For anyone that hasn't done this, you get charged the price of the replacement unit, you buy a discounted UPS shipping label ($6), and send the old one back in the replacement's box. When they receive it, you get refunded the replacement price.
The NAS allowed me to "repair" the volume with the new drive, and a few hours later the unit was back to operating at 100%. Flawless :-D

Click Here to see more reviews about: Synology DiskStation 4-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage DS411J (White)

Synology DiskStation DS411j is designed to provide a cost-effective file storage and backup solution with RAID protection for multi-user home environments. The operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager, delivers rich features for multimedia enjoyments, worry-free backup, Internet sharing, and energy-saving options.

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Buffalo Technology LinkStation Pro 1 TB High Performance Network Attached Storage LS-V1.0TL (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)First I am no techie, I really don't know much about NAS (Network Attached Storage) I just needed to have certain files where all computers could have access to them at all times, regardless if all other computers were turned off.
My setup
2 XP Desktops (Wired)
1 Win 7 32 Laptop (Wireless)
1 Vista Laptop (Wireless)
1 Win 7 64 Desktop (Wired)
1 Linksys Gigabit Wireless Router
1 NetGear switch
1 Arkview USB Server
cable internet
The set up was very simply. It now shows up as drive L on all my computers.
This it tied into the Linksys Router along with 2 Desktops, the Cable modem and the Netgear Switch
a third Desktop and the Arkview Server are tied into the Netgear switch. (Initially I was concerned that the computer on the Netgear would not have access - but it did without a hitch)
I am able to have multiply computers working off the same file on the Linkstation at the same time.
The access time is really pretty good.
Prior to this I had the files stored on Computer A and when computer B went to access them there was a very noticeable delay, the delay now with the Linkstation is barely noticeable (probably about 1/10th of what it was)
There is no delay at all when you go to browse the Linkstation, Acts just like a second hard drive on the computer.
One note: The USB port will work as a print server - but does not handle the multifunction aspects of a multifunction printer.
(No surprise - the specs on the linkstation clearly spell that out - but it would have been nice if it did)
There are an awful lot of other features with this thing that I have yet to explore. For now, for me it does exactly what I bought it for and does it very well
When I get a chance to try out some of the other fatures I will update this review.


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LinkStation Pro LS-VL high performance network storage offers instant storage expansion and file access on your home network and over the Internet. Up to 140% faster than a USB hard drive, LinkStation Pro features a fast 1.6 GHz processor for maximum transfer speeds up to 78 MBps. Simply plug it into any network Ethernet port or into the back of your wireless router and instantly access it on any networked computer in your house. While on the go, use Buffalo's free WebAccess service for remote access to your files over the Internet from any standard Web browser and download the free WebAccess i Apps from the iTunes store to access and share files from your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Included NovaBACKUP Professional software for Windows and Time Machine support provide a whole home backup solution for every PC and Mac on your network. LinkStation Pro makes central storage and backup easy.

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Western Digital My Book Home Edition 500 GB USB 2.0/FireWire 400/eSATA Desktop External Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Pros:
Triple interface with USB 2.0, eSATA, and FireWire 400 ports
Two FireWire 400 ports to support daisy-chaining devices
Relatively quiet, passively cooled design (i.e. no fans)
Automatically powers on/off with your machine, spins down when inactive
3-year warranty, vs. 1-year for the Western Digital 500GB My Book Essential 2.0
Cons:
No boot support for PowerPC-based Macs
Mac software not yet compatible with OS 10.5 (i.e. capacity gauge and power button do not presently work)
*Fixed - see my update, posted as a comment on this review, for details.*
Power button on rear rather than front
Summary:
I bought this drive primarily as a backup drive to be used with the built-in Time Machine backup program in Mac OS 10.5. Providing the pending ButtonManager software update works, I will have no reservations in recommending it for similar usage. Even without the capacity gauge and power button, I am relatively happy with the drive. You should be aware that this drive IS NOT BOOTABLE from PowerPC-based Macs (see WD Support Answer ID 1715), so if you were planning to do that, you need to look elsewhere. It is bootable from Intel-based Macs, though.
In Depth:
As a basic drive, it worked right out of the box. Macintosh installers for "WD Anywhere Backup" and a "ButtonManager" program that enables the capacity gauge and power button are included on the drive, along with documentation in PDF format. I'm using Time Machine and had no interest in the included backup software, so I can't speak to its quality. Installing the ButtonManager seemed to go smoothly. The installer even asks if you want to reformat the disk, and opens Disk Utility if you opt to do so. (See notes on formatting below.)
Upon rebooting, I was initially pleasantly surprised to find no extra processes running related to the ButtonManager... until I discovered that was only because it wasn't working. No capacity gauge, and the power button on the back does nothing. It turns out that the software is currently incompatible with OS 10.5, although on their website Western Digital has promised a fix by the end of January 2008 (WD Support Answer ID 1716). A company representative assured me that this was still the case at MacWorld 2008.
Apparently WD used a StartupItem, which were deprecated in 10.4 in favor of launchd - and no longer work at all in 10.5. Considering that this drive didn't become available until September of 2007 and that StartupItems have been officially deprecated since April 2005, the commitment to Mac compatibility could be stronger. If you are using 10.5, there is no reason to install the ButtonManager at present and the representative I spoke with at MacWorld actually suggested removing it if you did install it.
I don't mind the missing capacity gauge gimmick, but the power button is a bit annoying. After unmounting the drive, it goes into standby mode, but (short of unplugging the power) there is no way to turn it off completely. The only way to remount the drive is to unplug the power and then plug it back in. Being able to just press a button would be much more convenient. Hopefully, the updated software will resolve this issue.
The problem is somewhat mitigated by the drive's automatic power management features. The drive turns off when your computer shuts down or sleeps, and turns back on when your computer does. In addition, the drive spins down and goes into standby mode when it's inactive. Western Digital seems to have intended the drive to remain connected and "on" most of the time, which is reflected in the awkward placement of the (currently non-functional) power button on the back of the drive. For the most part this works, and is actually quite convenient, but there are still times, especially with a laptop, when actually being able to turn the drive off is important.
The somewhat unusual on-end vertical drive mounting results in a relatively small footprint for the case, although its volume is comparable to, if not greater than, that of most other cases. The drive has no fan and is pretty quiet normally, although I found its peak noise (when spinning up and during heavy use) to be slightly more than my other drives.
In my tests transferring a 5 GB folder, the drive averaged 16.42 MB/s write and 20.17 MB/s read using FireWire, and 10.56 MB/s write and 14.12 MB/s read using USB 2.0, making the FireWire interface worthwhile. The inclusion of dual FireWire ports with the ability to daisy-chain another device is also a big plus, especially on a laptop with a single FireWire port. Performance of a daisy-chained drive didn't suffer in my testing and, since the FireWire bus is self-powered, it works even when the My Book is unplugged from power. While I didn't have the ability to test it, the inclusion of eSATA should allow for high performance. Unfortunately, the documentation indicates that the drive's automatic power management features only work with the USB and FireWire interfaces. Also, while 4 foot long FireWire (6-pin to 6-pin) and USB (Type A to Mini) cables are included, eSATA cables have to be purchased separately. If your Mac has FireWire 800 - and performance is an issue, you may want to look into the similar Western Digital 500 GB My Book Studio Edition.
How to format the drive:
If you intend to use the drive with both Macs and PCs regularly, leaving the drive formatted as FAT32 is the best choice. However, if you plan on using the drive exclusively with Macs it should be formatted as HFS+, and this format is required to use Time Machine. Unfortunately, the included PDF documentation doesn't explain how to format the drive, and instead refers you to an online document (WD Support Answer ID 287) which is decent, but a bit out of date. While the WD Support article suggests partitioning the drive using an Apple Partition Map, this is no longer the best choice. If you have an Intel-based Mac, using the GUID Partition Table is a better choice as it allows you to boot from the drive. Since the My Book Home doesn't support booting from a PowerPC machine, there really isn't any reason to use APM unless you use Macs with an OS prior to 10.4.

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Preserve your precious memories with this ideal combination of elegant, reliable storage and automatic backup features. Your baby's first step, your wedding in Bali, all your important milestones...all captured in digital photos and video. What could be more important? Store them safely and keep them backed up on My Book Home Edition external hard drives.

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Western Digital My Book World Edition 1.5 TB Network Attached Storage Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Good device for storing data and media. After updating firmware and connecting via gigabit router, it wirks well with DLNA samsung TV, support farst seek media and control action in video (pause FF, REV).

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Simplified set up and best-in-class performance make My Book World Edition' Home Network Storage the easy choice to store and protect all your family's important digital content and files. Connect the drive to your network router and you're up and running in minutes. Use the included back up software to protect your family's PCs with automatic and continuous backup plans. Store all your digital media in one central location so everyone in the family can have access to it. Compatible with both Windows and Mac files.

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Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Pro 500 GB USB 2.0 Ultra-Portable External Hard Drive STAD500100 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I was not going to write a review for this product initially. However, I received an email from Amazon advertising this product, along with the other GoFlex drives from Seagate and I saw that this component received a one star rating. After reading the one-star rating, I can tell you all emphatically that the rating is NOT deserved.
First off, the initial customer review information about the dock station is inaccurate, way inaccurate. The HD comes with a dock station (with its own wiring) AND a separate portable connection cable, which truly makes it portable since you can have it set to connect to multiple pcs without breaking down a dockstation connection.
Second the USB 2.0 connection is false since both the dock station and connection cable attach to a pc via USB. Now, neither of the connection cables connect to the HD itself via USB, but thats becuz its connects using SATA type connections you would see on the back of an internal hard drive.
The installation software is built into the HD, so when you connect for the first time to a pc, it prompts you to install the drivers. The software is very easy to manage and pretty much begs you back up your files, although escaping that prompt is so easy, its almost amusing.
The best part of the HD is that its not bulky in the least. I am a lifetime Seagate supporter due to my undying love for Maxtor and the fact that Seagate bought them and for a long while, I have been shopping for portable external drives to use with my hp netbook. This HD is the smallest (although in fairness, its not ipod small) I've seen and fits comfortably in my carrying case.
I cant say that this protable HD is the end-all device becuz honestly, I wont ever compare it to anything else other than what eventually becomes its successor in my household. But, I can say that I am uber happy with this purchase and unless youre an eternal hater of the brand or youre looking for something with the device that you already know it doesnt have when you buy it, you will be happy with your purchase as well.

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The GoFlex Pro ultra-portable delivers a premium level of backup, encrypts your data, and has easy plug-and-play USB 2.0 connectivity through a convenient desktop dock with capacity gauge, but this is no ordinary external drive. As the core of the GoFlex Storage System, the GoFlex Pro ultra-portable drive is the world's most upgradable external drive allowing it to deliver a truly customizable experience.Upgrade to USB 3.0, FireWire 800 or eSATA by pairing the drive with the appropriate GoFlex upgrade cable. Extend your content beyond your PC and enjoy it on your TV, over your network or remotely by using it in combination with other GoFlex products.

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Iomega StorCenter 4 TB ix2-200 Network Storage Cloud Edition 35430 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this just a few weeks ago, but am happy to share very positive first impressions. The compact unit is generally cool and quiet, except for the usual SCSI chatter when active. Setup was just as simple as they said it would be, although there is a bit of a learning curve with the new feature set. One mistake I made was to underestimate the volume I needed to back up files from three computers (and three external USB drives) in the house; as a result I got midway through the process before deciding that I really needed to forego the RAID 1 redundancy and just use the whole 2TB as JBOD. Unfortunately, this meant starting all over -- so estimate your storage FIRST and avoid my mistake. I did have one technical issue in the middle of the reformatting, but online and on-phone tech support from Iomega was excellent and got me back on track in short order.
And now everything is just so much simpler! New music and media downloads are instantly accessible to all devices in the house. The backups are scheduled and perform automatically, plus you can configure for each copy job whether you want to trigger it off the front button on the device. This is a great feature, because any time during the day that I want to make an ad hoc backup, all I do is just touch one button and the rest is automatic.
Best of all, now I have my own personal cloud, completely within my control, but without a lot of administrative hassle. I may get a second unit to store at a secondary location to replicate storage -- if you have a lot of sensitive content, this is a great solution. But for now, I am happy to take advantage of my free Amazon Cloud storage, which materialized around the same time. So I actually have a hybrid cloud setup. And to be clear: I am not any technical wiz with this stuff, it's just designed to be really easy.
The only disappointment at all is learning that my current router may not support the bridging required to enable the remote access; but with the cloud configuration I really have all the access I need anyway, and I already use GoToMy PC to get all the remote access I need.
Bottom line: this product has solved every problem and delivered every functionality that I needed it to do, and has taken me to the next level with my own cloud at the same time, all for just a little more than a standard network attached storage solution. I give it all five stars.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega StorCenter 4 TB ix2-200 Network Storage Cloud Edition 35430

The Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 Network Storage, Cloud Edition offers content sharing with advanced security, and is ideal for small and remote offices, workgroups or home networks. Based on enterprise-class EMC storage technology, the StorCenter ix2-200 provides easy file sharing, iSCSI block access, and multiple RAID configurations for optimized data protection. The Iomega Personal Cloud offers unparalleled simplicity and versatility for data sharing and protection. Business users will appreciate the robust data protection features such as UPS support, print serving, folder quotas, rsync device-to-device replication, and user replaceable drives for business continuity and disaster recovery. The easy-to-use interface provides no-hassle management. Active Directory support and remote access round out the comprehensive business features. The StorCenter ix2-200 supports up to five Axis IP security cameras for basic video surveillance. Home users benefit from the advanced media features such as the DLNA certified UPnP AV Media Server, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), torrent download compatibility, and Bluetooth upload. Award-winning backup software is included, and RSA BSAFE encryption ensures protected installs and upgrades. Supports PC, Mac and Linux clients and is VMware certified for NFS and iSCSI.

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Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 - 2 TB Network Attached Storage 34481 (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I have been waiting for this for a long time. This NAS works period!. It works with Apple Time machine. It works with Ubuntu 9.10 (SimpleBackup) and it works with windowsXP (Windows Backup Program).
I wanted a RAID1 NAS storage. RAID standard dictates how hard disks are used. In RAID1 both the hard discs contain the same data. So if one fries the other one will save your day till you replace the broken one with a new disk. I wanted Iomega to act as the backup repository for all my systems which include a macbook (Leopard), ubuntu Linux (9.10) and WindowsXP Pro.
Pros
----
+ For 200+ bucks this offers you RAID1. Which is lot better than over prized Apple Time capsule which has only one hard disk.
+ Works seamlessly with Apple Time machine software
+ Supports FTP Server, UPNP (for media streaming) and SMTP (to send you an emails about diagnostics errors etc)
+ Supports Good Security. Remember once you connect any device to network you should enable user accounts passwords etc.
+ Very Very simple configuration.
+ You can connect external USB storage devices and they are available to all users in your home network. Makes regular usb printers network printers how cool is that ?
+ Very reliable. So far I have transferred 100 Gigs of data over the network and not even once did the network connection drop.
+ Compact and easy to service (in case the hard disk fries).
Cons
None so far
Help Instructions
For Apple Users
Once you install the supplied software the provided TimeMachine folder on the drive is visible to your time machine software as a backup drive. Configuration just involves opening up your time machine preferences and pointing to the NAS timemachine folder. Done! its that simple. I have tried creating a backup and restoring from it and it worked seamlessly.
For Ubuntu
I used the macbook to configure the NAS. Open the admin page in your browser and go to Settings->NetworkServices and Enable NFS. Once you do this the drive will turn on SMB protocol automatically (something that linux and unix worlds love). Now you can either create an additional folder on the drive (like i did or use the existing Backup Folder). Once you decided which folder to use, click on the small "Configure" Spanner icon next to it. This would open up the configuration page. Give a proper name and click next. In this page the software would ask you if you want NFS enabled for the folder. Check the box and give a name. For instance UbuntuBackup. Click ok. Now start your ubuntu computer-> places->Network and the explorer would show you the UbuntuBackup. To let Simple backup store backups here open the System->Administration->SimpleBackup Config-> in destination folder check the second option (SSH or FTP) and enter the following smb://EnterUserName@IOMEGANASNAME/UbuntuBackup (note you have to use username and password only if you have enabled security as i did. Your are done. Do a test backup and restore
Windows
Map the NAS as a drive (assigning a drive letter) and make the backup program use the mapped drive as the destination

Click Here to see more reviews about: Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 - 2 TB Network Attached Storage 34481 (Black)

The Iomega StorCenter ix2-200 Network Storage offers content sharing with advanced security, and is ideal for small and remote offices, workgroups or home networks. Based on enterprise-class EMC storage technology, the StorCenter ix2-200 provides easy file sharing, iSCSI block access, and multiple RAID configurations for optimized data protection. Business users will appreciate the robust data protection features such as UPS support, print serving, folder quotas, rsync device-to-device replication, and user replaceable drives for business continuity and disaster recovery. The easy-to-use interface provides no-hassle management. Active Directory support and remote access round out the comprehensive business features. The StorCenter ix2-200 supports up to five Axis IP security cameras for basic video surveillance. Home users benefit from the advanced media features such as DLNA certified UPnP AV Media Server, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), torrent download compatibility, Bluetooth upload, and Cooliris slide show plug-in. Award-winning EMC Retrospect Express backup software and RSA BSAFE encryption for protected installs and upgrades. Supports PC, Mac, and Linux clients and is VMware certified for NFS and iSCSI. Available in 1TB, 2TB, and 4TB capacities.

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BYTECC USB3-ESATA SuperSpeed USB 3.0 to eSATA 3Gbs Adapter Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)My laptop and desktop have both been upgraded to support USB 3.0 (4.8Gbps). I had an external 2TB drive with USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, but no eSATA ports on my PCs. Used the BYTECC USB3-ESATA adapter and an eSATA cable (purchased separately) to connect the external drive to a USB 3.0 port on my laptop. My backups now write to the external drive more than three times as fast than when using USB 2.0.
I was so pleased that I immediately ordered another BYTECC adapter and another eSATA cable through Amazon for future use.

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Easily connect eSATA devices to Notebook or Desktop PC via SuperSpeed USB (USB 3.0) port

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IOGear 1-Port USB 2.0 Net ShareStation GUIP201 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Hi, I purchased the GUIP201 to solve my home network problems: to be able to access over the home net both printer and scanner and also to access the external HD.
The installation is easy but so you have some surprises: I did not see on any specs that this works for one person at a time. I mean: one person is using the printer, e. g., the others cannot use. First this one that is using needs to disconnect and so the others can use. So, is to share, but not as a printer server.
Second issue: the external HD is not working. Tried already on 2 computers, Vista and XP, and no way to access the external HD.
I tried today to get some support from Iogear but did not solve it.
Keep trying...


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IOGear GUIP201 USB Net ShareStation, IOGEAR new palm-sized USB Net ShareStation enables an external hard drive, flash drive, memory card reader, USB webcam, USB speaker, or USB Multi-Function Printer (MFP) to be shared on a network. With the versatility afforded by the USB Share Station, users can now enjoy their favorite multimedia content stored on their computer from anywhere in their home or office. A user can attach a standard USB webcam to the USB Net ShareStation as a simple and low cost security monitoring solution for their home and/or small office use. The unit includes Multi-Function Printer sharing, any user can print, scan, or fax from any computer in their home. The USB ShareStation also supports a USB 2.0 Hub extension, which can support up to 4 USB devices over your home or office IP network. It complies with USB 2.0 specifications, and provides users with an auto-sensing 10/100Base-T port. The print server will automatically identify your printer make/model upon connection.When connecting IOGEAR USB Net ShareStation to a wireless router, users can access their multimedia content and USB devices wirelessly. The UPnP technology enables quick and easy setup and configuration in a Windows Vista environment. It is a one-stop-shop for multi-functional network peripheral sharing and the number of applications is practically endless.

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Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 2-Bay 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage ST320005LSA10G-RK Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I feel like I'm in a good place to review this item because I own both the Seagate 220 and also the Western Digital MyBook World Edition, and they are competitors. Both are inexpensive network attached storage appropriate for a home office or for home use. For both machines the only feature I use is reading and writing to the hard drive through windows sharing (from either a windows computer or a linux computer). For that reason I will not comment too much on some of the features like automatic backups, media sharing, etc. For the most part on machines of this level those features are gimmicks. They don't work very well and they degrade overall performance of the NAS, as you will be able to read from other people's reviews. When I want to play media from my NAS, I just mount the drive through windows sharing and play what I want. When I want to back up my computer, I copy stuff myself. For the reason I have a generally more favourable view of both of these machines than other people.
Anyway, on with the review. First I will mention two issues I had to overcome before this NAS was reasonably functional for me.
1. This is the big issue I had to fix: This Seagate NAS does not work well with just any gigabit switch. I originally had it plugged in to a TP-Link switch. I could write to the NAS at full speed, but when I wanted to read from it, the speed was horrible. Maybe 1/20th the speed at which I could write to the NAS. After spending a good deal of time researching the issue online I found out the NAS doesn't play well with some routers and switches. Notably it does not work with D-Link switches. Well, I will add TP-Link to the list it doesn't work with. If I plugged the NAS directly into my Linksys router, the problem went away, but that's only a 100-megabit connection. The funny thing is that the traffic still had to go through the TP-Link switch. In other words, the device this is directly plugged into matters, the rest of the network really doesn't. Anyway I tried various solutions (changing the frame size and so forth). They don't work. The only solution was to buy a netgear switch. If your network has a TP-Link or D-Link switch or router that you'd like to plug this into, budget for a netgear gigabit switch. They aren't real expensive, but I was very annoyed at this problem.
2. This is a small issue, and partly windows' fault: If you create a shortcut to this shared drive in windows and then play a movie from the NAS, it will disconnect 20 minutes into the movie. I originally thought this had to do with the NAS going into sleep mode, but I disabled that feature and it didn't change anything. I didn't notice the problem when playing from my linux machine, and the WD NAS doesn't do this. Anyway, the solution is to actually map the drive in "My Computer" instead of just using a shortcut to get to it. You'd think there would be no difference between those two, but the former works and the latter disconnects after 20 minutes.
Having overcome those two problems, the NAS now functions very nicely for me. The main thing I use this NAS for is to play movies that I have ripped from my DVD collection. They play perfectly on any computer in the house and I can even play two movies on two different computers. Actually I'm not sure how many movies I can play at a time. Nor have I tried playing any HD movies yet, so I can't comment on that, but the speed over my gigabit network seems more than adequate for that.
A couple of comparisons with the Western Digital:
1. This machine is significantly faster than the Western Digital. When I upload to this machine from my Linux box I sustain about 18 or 19 megabytes per second. On the Western Digital I get about 11. This may not sound like a big difference here, but when copying a large file or backing up a whole computer, it makes a very noticeable difference. I don't pay a lot of attention to my download copy speed, but it is above 30 MB per second, whereas I get more like 19 from the Western Digital. I am running this in a RAID 0 configuration. However, I also did a speed test using JBOD and the speeds were exactly the same, so the gain is not really from the RAID (the WD I use has only one HD in it, so there's no RAID option).
2. The Seagate is significantly louder than the Western Digital. It's not loud compared to most hardware, but you can hear the drives spinning if you get close and listen, and when they start up or go to sleep you can hear a click that is pretty noticeable. Sometimes it clicks when no one is using it and you would think it would just be sleeping peacefully. At first I thought this was a hardware problem but it turns out that my NAS is fine. It's just louder than expected. Of course, WD sets the bar high for silence. It is almost impossible to tell if the WD machine is on or doing anything if you ignore the lights on the front (or disable them, as I have).
3. The Seagate is much larger physically. It's not big on an absolute scale, and I don't keep it on my desktop, so it's not a problem, but it's much larger than the WD. The WD is just a hair larger than the actual drive inside it. The Seagate looks like a UPS or something. Anyway I think it looks nice, but one should be aware that it's not as minimalist as some others.
4. The Seagate doesn't try to accommodate tweaks from expert users as much, and it has a much smaller and less active user base. Both machines run Linux under the hood, so if there's a problem with them an experienced user could get in and change things up. On the Western Digital you can enable ssh access through the web interface. And there are bunches of tutorials online about how to fix the technical glitches this comes with and even install new hardware on it. Personally I went in and disabled their media playing software and the software that runs an apple network. Apparently on the WD these things run even though you disabled them and they mess the machine up. Anyway, there is no ssh option on the seagate, so in principle you can't go in and change things. There aren't really help pages for experts. However, recently a user did figure out a way to enable ssh. He wrote an update to the firmware. I used it and it works great, but I can see how some users may not feel comfortable upgrading their firmware in order to get ssh access. Anyway after ssh'ing in, I found that there is one windows bug that the NAS wasn't dealing with well. That is, windows clients delete the last character of the share when they are reading and it causes a bunch of errors to the log, though it still seems to work ok. The workaround is to create another share on the NAS that is not visible, called "Publi", which refers to the same directory. So I'm glad to be ssh'ing in now. Still, for tweaking, it's a better bet to go with the WD. It's been vetted by more linux people.
Anyway, this drive works very well for me. It's my larger and higher performance network attached storage and it is quite reliable for me. When I purchased it, this was cheaper than the equivalent capacity in WD (I use the 4 TB version). In part I believe I'm happy with it because I don't try and use the features that get touted in ads. I just use it as network attached storage. That's true of both drives, and it's what I recommend. The forums for both these machines are full of people ranting about how their device doesn't do what they want and that no one at the company seems to care about them---that's why I say just use it as a remote hard drive. Based on my perusal of the forums, Seagate seems to support their NAS customers less (at least on the forums), though neither company is real great in that respect.
I love both of my network storage devices and I use them both all the time. This seagate is a great buy. When I bought it, at least, it was the cheapest NAS available with this capacity and it turns out to be a very good performer. It's really nice to be able to back things up or store all my large files in one place and be able to access them from any computer in my house. If I were to buy a third NAS, it would probably be another Seagate, just because it's cheaper and faster than the competition.
But make sure you plug it into a NETGEAR device, not a TP-Link or D-Link. I'm not sure about other brands.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 2-Bay 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage ST320005LSA10G-RK

Seagate BlackArmor 2 TB NAS 220 Network Attached Storage Server

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Iomega Home Media 1 TB Network Attached Storage 34337 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been using the 1TB media drive for about a month and a half now and have had a very positive experience. I set it up on an XP machine and had little problem connecting to it from my Vista laptop and XP netbook without installing any software. The only feature I haven't used is the USB print server (my printer is located in my office and the hard drive is connected in the living room next to the router and haven't wanted to move either one so they could be physically connected).
My PS3 automatically found the device on the network, and I use the PS3 to watch TV shows stored on the hard drive on my HDTV. This works great. I can't edit files using the PS3, but I can play AVI and MP3 files (I sometimes play music through my stereo system this way as well as TV shows). Formats like .mkv files won't play this way, but that's a function of the PS3 rather than a limitation of the hard drive.
I'm not using the backup software that comes with it; I manually load files to the device from any of my computers. I store my business files, writing, music, etc. on the drive and thus can, for instance, sit outside with my netbook while still accessing all my files (which is handy since the netbook has very little local storage). All my files are in one place and it doesn't matter which computer I'm using.
Uploading files is not much, if any, faster than a USB 2.0 drive in my experience, but download speeds seem very snappy and even very high resolution video files play back over the network with no delay.
For me, this HD solved a lot of problems. I highly recommend it if you have multiple PCs in your house and a collection of media or data files that you want to share, especially if you have a supported device like a PS3 connected to your TV. If you only have one PC and don't want to play media on your TV, you're better off with a 1 TB USB drive since that will be cheaper.Pros
* Decent transfer performance over my network (via both wired and wireless connections)
* Can connect to it via PS3 or Xbox 360 to view/listen to media files
* Pretty painless setup
* Takes up very little space
* Works exactly as advertised and I'm in no danger of filling up the huge 1 TB drive
Cons
* Drive is a little noisy
* Whether it's a factor of my router or the net drive, sometimes my netbook (wireless) and PS3 (wired) lose connection temporarily. I think this is something happening on my network rather than the drive though.
* If I rename a file on the drive using my PC while a file is playing back on my PS3, there is a hiccup on playback: I lose sound for a second, then sound resumes but video playback lags for a few seconds before resuming. Audio and video remain synced when this happens, though.

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Enjoy your digital life! Easily share and access photos, videos and music between your home computers with the Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive. This device provides easy-to-use, yet powerful, network storage for the home user and the three step setup is a breeze, even if you've never used a network drive before. Save all your digital files to one central location and share them between computers on your network. Then play back your pictures, videos and music from digital media adapters such as game consoles, digital picture frames or networked TVs. Built-in iTunes support automatically feeds music into iTunes for easy playback. Easily share one printer over the network. Control which family members have access to certain folders. Plus, secure your memories and backup automatically with award winning EMC Retrospect software (PC/Mac) and for extra protection backup online with MozyHome Online Backup service with 2GB free.


A Great Way to Network Multiple Computers in Your Home Easily share and access photos, videos and music between your home computers with the Iomega ® Home Media Network Hard Drive, Gigabit Ethernet/USB 2.0. This device provides easy-to-use, powerful network storage for the home user, allowing you to save all your digital files to one central location and share them between computers on your network.



Easy to Use, Secure, Fast and Powerful With a three step set-up, sharing your files has never been easier. The Home Media Network Hard Drive uses a Gigabit Ethernet connection for fast performance. And with EMC Retrospect HD software, your critical data is secure.







The Perfect Complement to Your Home Office

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Western Digital My Book World Edition II - 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Let me start off by saying, I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit and only know of how the device works on my setup. The NAS itself is quite nice. It's quiet, energy efficient and very simple to install. You just plug in a network cable and power, and wait until the light stops moving. Then browse to the admin web page and presto you got 3.8TB (RAID0) or 1.8TB(RAID1) to fill up.
Windows 7 instantly saw this thing as a network resource and I was able to browse to it. I didn't know what IP it had taken from my DHCP server, but the index.html file that I saw on the drive redirected me to it without a problem. Overall a nice little NAS that serves up music, movies and stores backups for my whole household.
I use the included Media Center and my wife uses XBMC on her WinXP laptop for movies, and we share a common library for music via iTunes. We can both be accessing different songs and/or movies without a single issue or skip...very nice!
Now the problem...IT IS SLOOOOOOOOW!
Forget what WD says about a 10/100/1000 connection because it just isn't going to happen. Everything I've read on every forum I can find says it's due to the weak processor that WD chose to use to run the Linux OS driving the whole thing. I get 11MB/s max, and that is using TerraCopy and not the even slower included windows explorer copy function. Moving my 130GB music collection (yes, all legal!) took hours. I manage that collection with iTunes and I've made the mistake of trying to update the ID3 tags on an entire genre of music...sloooooooow.
Summary: Don't expect the speed of an external USB or FireWire drive...it just isn't going to happen, but it will serve up music and movies at the same time without missing a beat. The only thing to clear your schedule for is making large data transfers or updates. I recommend getting your music and movies the way you want them locally, and then moving them to this NAS.

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Western Digital presents the WD My Book World II 2TB Network Hard Drive Storage Device - WDG2NC20000N, a superior STORAGE product. Designed for home users, creative professionals, workgroups, and anyone looking for shared storage, WD's My Book World Edition II offers a surprisingly simple and secure way to access and share your data, presentations, and photos at home, in the office and anywhere in the world, even when your local computer is turned off. The dualdrive network storage system combines 2.0 TB of storage, versatile RAID capability, backup software, user-serviceability, and remote access software to make it the most versatile and powerful remote access storage system in its class

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My Book Essential Edition 2.0 WDH1U10000 - Hard drive - 1 TB - external - Hi-Speed USB - buffer: 16 MB Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Paired with Apple's Time Machine backup software (which is part of the current OS X.5 operating system), backup are a breeze! I bought this to use with my MacBook which lives in the living room most of the time but does move around. When I want to run a backup, I just plug in the USB cable from the hard drive to my Mac and the rest is automatic. If you would be using this with a desktop model, you could leave it connected all the time. I just hook it up every few days and it backs up everything that's changed on my computer. (Also, part of the great thing about Time Machine is that it keeps more than just the most recent backup. It keeps all the past backups as well until you start running out of space.)
Also, this drive is whisper quiet which is great since I keep it in the living room. Don't notice it at all!

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They're your photos, your music, your videos, your important files. Make extra room for them and keep them safe on a My Book Mac Edition USB 2.0 external hard drive from WD. This drive is all about simplicity. Plug it into your computer's USB 2.0 port and start saving. It's so simple and integrated that the drive even turns on and off with your computer. With just the essential features for add-on storage it's perfect for all your precious digital assets.

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