Buffalo Technology TeraStation III 8.0 TB (4 x 2 TB) Network Attached Storage TS-X8.0TL/R5 Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This is the first time I've ever taken the time to write a review, but I'm here to buy yet another one of these units, and I felt compelled to respond to a couple of the negative reviews here.
First off, this is the Terastation III, not the Pro as referenced in another review. Additionally, I own a medium sized video and animation facility, with up to 7 artists accessing one of our three Terastation IIIs at all times for video, animation, and rendering, and this unit IS compatible with Apple OS. Configuration is done via a web browser, not a PC. We're cross platform here, and PC vs. Mac has nothing to do with this unit. As for Mac, since it doesn't use drive lettering, you do have to know how to set it up as a server, by IP address, in MAC OS. PC is much easier in terms of mapping the drive, but either way it works fine regardless of platform.
These drives are fast, particularly if you set up port trunking, which is a very high end feature for a NAS in this price range. By using port trunking (which uses 2 network ports to effectively double the network connection speed), we have been able to eliminate several of our NAS units in favor of just a few Terastation IIIs. Multiple users can access the drive simultaneously with no problems.
As for reliability, we did have one DOA unit, which Amazon promptly replaced at no cost (not even shipping). Other than that, we've had absolutely no problems. Having said that, we ALWAYS back up nightly (that's an easy thing to set up in the web browser based config panel), and there's no substitute for that no matter what kind of NAS you buy.
As for Buffalo in general, we have used several different models of Terastations and Linkstations, some of which ran continuously for 4 and 5 years without failing before we removed them from service. In fact, the only Terastation that has failed on us, wasn't even the unit itself; it was one of the drives. 5 years isn't an unusual life span for a hard drive that runs day and night.
So I give this 5 stars, and Buffalo tech support is pretty much the best I've experienced. When you call, the phone is answered by a real person at Buffalo's service center (in Texas, I believe), and they always know pretty much everything about their products without having to read it from a computer screen. Hold times vary, but support is top notch.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Buffalo Technology TeraStation III 8.0 TB (4 x 2 TB) Network Attached Storage TS-X8.0TL/R5

Buffalo's TeraStation III Series is the ideal choice for businesses or demanding users looking to implement a RAID based Network Attached Storage solution. As Buffalo's flagship NAS product the TeraStation III includes all firmware features presently found in the Buffalo lineup of NAS products. Especially, business oriented features, such Active Directory support, DFS support, disk quota support, a share level replication feature and port trunking make the TeraStation III a top choice for small to medium sized businesses. Hardware features like hot swap and dual Ethernet ports add to the list of new features. Reliability and performance are again the key design criteria for the TeraStaion III. A heavy-duty power supply and oversized cooling system, as well as vastly improved CPU speed guarantee excellent and reliable performance. It is the clear choice for those users who desire maximum reliability and robust features.

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

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(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

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(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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D-Link DNS-343 4-Bay Network Attached Storage Enclosure Review

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(More customer reviews)This is my third D-Link NAS. I bought a DNS-323 one year ago and it has been on ever since, serving up files reliably to my PC/Mac home network, downloading torrents, and streaming videos to my PS3/XBOX 360 (after installing Twonky Media Server). Based on my mostly positive experience with D-link products and price-to-features ratio, I decided to stick with the brand. I had wasted money on a Galaxy Metal Gear NAS, and read mostly lukewarm reviews for Netgear, Iomega, Linksys, and other makers. Other NAS devices like the DLNA-enabled Buffalo Technology LinkStation Live were attractive, but their price point or storage capacity was not. I need a large number of bays to create a centralized media server.
When I outgrew the DNS-323, I bought a DNS321 2-bay when I really should have applied that $130 toward this 4-bay product instead. I wanted to consolidate the half dozen 1 TB external drives I had sitting around and network them so I didn't have to keep plugging and unplugging USB cables when I wanted to retrieve files. My home network is heterogeneous and I also needed the ability to write large files (4 GB+) to the drives. FAT32 is the only mutually writable format across XP and Mac, but it has a 4 GB filesize limit, making it impractical for my movie storage needs. The D-Link uses a Linux file system (ext2 or ext3, your choice), so filesize concerns are now gone.
I've had this product for a week, and so far so good. The device can be configured from any web browser, so you don't need the CD (which is a Windows-only configuration app). I have 1 TB Hitachi and WD drives inside. Build quality is solid (made of thick aluminum). It's a brick of a device and looks quite durable.
For the price, I am not expecting world class security and many bells and whistles. I just need it for storing my personal files and media on my home network, and stream them, and for that, it works to my satisfaction. The iTunes server works very nicely. For file transfers, I FTP to it and do all my copying that way. For some reason, the Mac is a lot faster (20MB/sec) than copying from XP (10MB/sec). Vista is the worse, and I usually get 5MB/sec.
It would've been really great for D-link to include BitTorrent support for this, like the DNS-323. Maybe in a future firmware update.
All in all, I'm quite happy with this product. I don't place heavy expectations on it and don't demand $1,500 server performance from a $370 device. It was the cheapest 4-bay NAS I could find for the features I wanted and gives great overall performance for the price. You can install telnet on it (look for Fonz's funplug) and open the device up to more hacking if you are so inclined.
Will update this review as I use the device more.

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The D-Link ShareCenter 4-Bay Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-343) connects to your network instead of to a computer so everyone on your network can back up content to one central location. Plus, it lets you share your stored content across your network and over the Internet so family members, friends and employees can access it no matter where they are.

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

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(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 World Edition 1.5 TB Network Attached Storage Review

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(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).

Click Here to see more reviews about: Western Digital My Book World Edition 1.5 TB Network Attached Storage

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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NETDISK SOLO NewFAST - Enclosure 351UNE Review

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(More customer reviews)
The Iocell NetDisk 351UNE is a poor product. The name makes everyone believe this device is a "Network Attached storage" device (commonly called a NAS device). This is NOT a NAS device. This device is a 'NDAS' device.
A NDAS device is a made-up word by Iocell/Ximeta to mean their version of a networked storage device. With the Netdisk 351UNE - Using NDAS- the storage device requires every computer to install the 'Netdisk' install utility.
Once done only ONE computer with THEIR software installed write to the drive. The rest can only READ from the drive. With newer versions of their software multiple people may have permissions (beta version). With the upgraded beta versions of the software- the 'host' computer (first computer to have write access while installed) must ALWAYS-BE-ON for other drives to access the data and write to the drive. The included software that ships with the drive only allows for ONE computer to write and is only compatible with Win98/2000/2003 Server for network access. Vista drivers included are only for e-sata/usb.
The Netdisk 351UNE does not support ftp/bit torrent servers/ ect as there is no IP address assigned to the networked drive ever. There is no configuration web page available and no drive statistics to view. To 'mount' and 'unmount' the drive you click on the drive icon available in the task-bar at all times.
Summary:
Do not buy this expecting a NAS device (A drive enclosure that you could simply turn on and have a drive available on the network to save files to retrieve files). The NetDisk 351UNE is not a NAS device. The NetDisk 351UNE is a network gimmick for a poor-mans networked hard-drive at a comparable price.


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3.5" USB/eSATA/Ethernet Enclosure For USB or Network Storage

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

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(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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Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 2-Bay 4 TB (2 x 2 TB) Network Attached Storage ST340005LSA10G-RK Review

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(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.

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4TB Blackarmor NAS220

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HP X280N MediaSmart Connect Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)August 3rd, 2008
I have been using a home built media center for about 1.5 years. It holds most of the kids movies (DIVX & XVID) and does recording of SD and HDTV. The main issue I had was that it was Noisy and generated a lot of heat in the media cabinet where system and other components were mounted. My goal was to move my MCE to the basement and use extenders in the house. I had a couple of requirements before I would switch this out for an extender.
1) WIFE Friendly
2) Support HDTV
2) Must play Amazon UNBOX Files
3) Must play DIVX (XVID) formats.
4) Must be able to schedule recordings from the Extender
Thursday I got the MediaSmart Connect and started with the install... When I first set it up, I installed the HP Software and went through the procedure for connecting the extender to the my Vista MCE system. Initially I was a little disappointed, it was slow and Amazon Unbox videos would not play. I also noticed that my MCE system was Locking up. I decided that this might be more due to my MCE system. So Friday night, I completely re-installed vista, MCE, but did not install the HP software.
Once the system was running (YOU MUST INSTALL SP1), my VISTA MCE system found the extender automatically. It worked GREAT... The MediaSmart Connect was much more responsive, MCE no longer locked up. And best of all Amazon Unbox video's will play through my MediaSmart Connect. I gave it the Wife test last night and she loved it... The with the Main MCE system moved to the basement and only the MediaSmart Connect visible, she was happy. No more noisy fans running and we can now close the doors of the media cabinet with out worrying about overheating.
A couple of Notes:
1) The Media Smart will Play Unbox videos from your MCE Machine, but if you move the storage of the Unbox files to somewhere other then the installed location you may have problems.
2) I am using a wired connection, I have not tested the performance of the wireless side.
3) I am not using the HP software, it is extender mode only.
If you are currently using a Media Center, this system is EASY to add on.... So far I am very pleased, will update this again with any issues I have after I have had a chance to run it for a week or two.


Click Here to see more reviews about: HP X280N MediaSmart Connect

HP X280N MediaSmart Receiver. The HP MediaSmart Receiver enables browsing of your entire library of digital photos, music, and HD video even across multiple PCs Access thousands of the best and latest movies, TV shows, videos, and songs from online media. HPs simple interface enables you to search for movies, order them, and begin watching them moments after downloading has begun. Unlike other receivers that allow you to access media from only one server at a time, HPs MediaSmart receiver automatically aggregates and displays content from all connected PCs or media servers in your home network. Enjoy a full Microsoft Media Center Experience with a single click on your remote. Watch live or pre-recorded TV and access Microsofts online services through the HP MediaSmart Receiver. Integrated 802.11a/b/g/n wireless networking, enables the streaming of high definition video while providing compatibility to existing Wi-Fi networks. A built in HP Pocket Media Drive bay and two USB ports allow direct access to your content stored in mass storage media. HDMI, component, and analog and digital audio outputs provide simple connectivity to your HDTV and audio equipment. The MediaSmart receiver features a dramatic, pianoblack, high gloss, exterior with an HP exclusive Zen imprint pattern. Blends into the living room and adds elegance to any entertainment system. The receiver includes a universal remote control. Use it to access all your content, order movies, or control up to four more entertainment devices.

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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

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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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HP EX495 1.5 TB MediaSmart Home Server (Black) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I'm technically inclined, but not an engineer. I have some experience with this topic... I first built my own server with spare parts and run it at my home. I am reviewing this because I bought it for my parents and installed it.
Preface - as of 2010, I've seen a lot of heartache about Mac Compatibility. Please, do some research before purchasing this product for a Mac to see if this will fit your needs. There is a TON of outside forum support about this. Otherwise my original review still stands:
Part 1: The software, and what HP brings to the party:
Windows Home Server is actually a program (based on Windows Server 2003 with enhancements, optimized and pre-configured), and is easy to use in a home. And it is good, all by itself. HP's contributions by adding on its own 'add-ins' make the software better.
As a sample of what this means for you, an example: If you are recording tv shows on in Windows 7 media center you can offload your shows here, and still stream them giving you instant access anytime over your home network from a windows 7 PC. The new update to the software also makes it so you can set windows 7 up to offload your recordings from your Windows 7 pc to the server automatically so you don't tie up your computer's storage space. If you want to take a look at what that kind of pc setup might look like, just search listmania for "Win 7 HTPC build"; I'm the first search hit.
So what does HP bring to this? If you have media files that you want to convert for viewing on a mobile device, HP bundled an add-in transcoding software on this so you can offload that work to server's CPU and not tie up your computer while you'd rather be surfing or playing games or whatever else you do to make things better (Note: HP's transcoding will NOT remove DRM). There are a lot more add-ins they bundle with this, but it's exhaustive and there isn't the space.
Bottom line, there are plenty of 'WHS' solutions. But my take is that HP has put a lot behind making this a great software bundle, and I have to say I'm impressed with the bonus they bring. Emphasis on the word Bonus, because they are 'nice to have-s' not designed for the people who consider them 'must-have-s'. The core functionality of streaming video, storing shares and back-up is what this is designed for. Part deux: What's so great about the hardware.
The pictures make it look big. But it is small - about the size of a small bread box turned on end. I was surprised when I unboxed it. It's also easy to add hard drives. It comes with one, but you'll get hooked and want to add one. Just take out a tray, pop in a recent generation "SATA II" drive and replace the tray in the server and it self configures. I recommend buying one straight away anyway because then you can turn on 'file duplication'. That means the server at your specific direction will keep duplicate copies of folders you select on two separate hard drives in the server as insurance against mechanical failure.
You can also back up the system drive, which I'm learning how to do, and you need an external USB drive to do that.
Energy-wise It pulls about 4 to 6 watts under normal operation. Yet another reason to buy this if you are power conscious. Don't let that figure fool you. There's plenty of hardware oomph for most people's needs.
Part Three - Documentation.
There is a lot of documentation! Just not in the box that comes with the server. WHS started out of a user community/company initiative that blossomed into a server software product that now you are seeing hardware being made for. So, if you aren't sure if this is for you - please take a look online about what other uses this is for and what alternatives are out there.
Summary:
Good build, solid software, continuous integration to Windows backed by a very committed enthusiast community that makes it so you don't have to think 'what if my hard drive crashes/computer shorts out/child vandalizes my computer?
It's automated and low/no maintenance. For a commited user: a 'no-brainer'. For someone who needs to purchase tech support from a computer vendor, I suggest that a home server is not likely a good fit for you. You are probably better off with an online backup service for your needs.
I like this one because it has extra drive bays. There are configurations that just use one hard drive, but I would pass on that.
If you are buying an add on drive, a Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 32 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD1001FALS should work just fine. Update - 7/9/10 WHS (the program, not the HP MediaSmart server) does random things when stuff starts failing, meaning if you ever get random restarts, can't find drives or things like that, it's not the software it's just not that robust to tell you when something is broken. On my HOMEMADE server, I had a stick of ram go bad and it gave me random errors until I figured it out. (But that's no different than any standard computer, just thought it was good to update about how its going)
Also, MSFT is working on a new version of WHS software called "Vail" that is in beta right now. It should handle errors like dying hard drives a bit more cleanly than what some folks are experiencing now...For those of you who are adventurous, I've put a listmania list together for you on how to build your own. http://www.amazon.com/lm/R1NJKRJG6H78L6/ref=cm_lm_pthnk_view?ie=UTF8&lm_bb=

Click Here to see more reviews about: HP EX495 1.5 TB MediaSmart Home Server (Black)

The HP EX495 Media Smart Server is the all-in-one solution to manage your media: a home server that can automatically backup and protect your digital memories, centralize your media and content for sharing with family and friends, and enable you to enjoy your digital media while at home or away.Network-based backup of PCs using Windows Home Server as well as Macs using Apple's Time Machine.Media streaming of photos, music and videos to PCs, the entertainment center and remote devices including the iPhone.What's in the box: HP EX495 (1.5TB plus 3 unused expansion bays) MediaSmart Server,Power cord, Ethernet cable, Software installation disc , PC restore disc, Server recovery disc and Setup Poster and HP support guides.One year limited warranty and our dedicated software technical support available from date of purchase both online and by phone.

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D-Link DSM-G600 Wireless G Network Storage Enclosure Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you don't mind wired speeds of 5.8-6 Megabytes / Second or Wireless 54g speeds of 1.5 Megabytes / Second then this is the device for you. D-link should not market this as Gigabit, it's just not true. I have a gigabit network infrastructure and from computer to computer or computer to other gigabit storage devices I get real-world speeds of 20-22 Megabytes per second transfer rates, BUT going from the same computer using the same network, the transfer speed to the DSM-G600 is 5.8 Megabytes per second. This is awful if you plan on doing anything useful with this device.
I thought I got a bad one, so I even took it back to get a new one and I get the same speed. I verified this with a friend who has the same model, same 6MB/Sec speed. I spoke w/ D-link level 3 support and they told me today that 6MB/Sec is what they have seen with this device and that if a firmware upgrade was available; it would only marginally improve this. There are reports on the internet of speeds between 20-25MB/Sec, so something is going on and D-Link needs to address this issue. BTW, I have Hardware Rev B1, Firmware 1.00
Other than that, the idea for this product is great and the price is right, just don't expect gigabit performance, heck it doesn't even reach 100 megabit speeds. What a shame.
The choice is yours.
11/22/2006 - I thought I owed everyone an update on this box. Since Jan I've been messing w/ this thing just trying to get it to work as advertised. I have tried all 3 Rev. B firmware: 1.00, 1.01, 1.02 (just released) and unfortunately 1.01 and 1.02 are worse than 1.00 - you will experience the web-gui pages only loading ½ way before the box reboots on you. So, now I'm stuck because I can't edit my wireless settings because the box won't stay alive long enough to edit anything. As usual, I will have to downgrade to 1.00 for it to be somewhat functional, although that kills uploading any file > 2gb. I really gave d-link a try on this one, but I would advise people to just stay away from this thing and wait for something better from some other company who offers true support and more frequent and accurate firmware updates or check out freenas, google "freenas" and build your own NAS box for free (minus the hardware) or if you are stuck w/ this google "fun_plug" to at least make this thing somewhat useful. Too many cons on this one:
1.Poor Tech Support
2.Lack of quality, tested firmware
3.Very long delays between firmware revisions
4.NOT GB speeds, way too slow for anything useful except word documents, etc.
5.Wireless has issues with WPA w/ TKIP and sometimes WEP (depending on what firmware you are running)
6.Hard drive doesn't spin down, so you waste energy and hard drive life
7.Very noisy, the fan is so loud you have to keep far away
8.Power button doesn't work right, they tried to fix it in firmware 1.02..
9.List goes on..


Click Here to see more reviews about: D-Link DSM-G600 Wireless G Network Storage Enclosure

Share files and digital media with everyone on the home or office networkAttach up to 2 USB 2.0/1.1 drives for additional storageGigabit Ethernet portAccess point functionality - creates an 802.11g wireless networkBuilt-in FTP serverProtect important files by making regular backupsIncludes detachable antenna power adapter Cat-5 UTP Ethernet cable and software

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Cisco-Linksys Network Storage System with 2 Bays (NAS200) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The others have said it as well as I can. I agree with almost everything written (except the brief 2 line review that says it stinks). But here is my pro/con/comment report:
Pros: Very easy to setup. Very easy to install SATA drives (no cables, just slide in like a hot-swappable scsi drive). NO CLIENT SOFTWARE needed to map drives (just connect to \\nas200\sharename). Web based configuration so no software needed to manage. Option to power down hard drives after 10/20 minutes of inactivity, then another option to power down internal fan 10/20 minutes AFTER hard drives power down (to allow case to cool, I guess. This option makes the unit completely silent when not in use (this wasn't mentioned in other reviews). Inserting a USB hard drive (even one previously formatted as NTFS) results in instant detection, AND instant default share created (\\nas200\disk_1_1 for USB1). (to remove the usb external drive while the NAS is running press the small eject button next to the appropriate USB port. If you pull the cable or shut down the external drive, the NAS needs to be reset to see ALL shares). RAID1 option for protecting that precious data (it recommends configuring as individual drives, but no way would I do that. Why wouldn't you select RAID1 if available? Protect those precious family pictures, guys!). Small footprint, stacks with other linksys gear (routers, switches, APs, etc). Option to automatically shutdown every day or a given day of week at a set time. As nice as that is, the fact that the drives and then fan shutdown after inactivity makes it quiet and power saving anyway. Smaller and quieter and easier than using a separate computer (if you were considering making a Linux file "server" out of that spare tower case you had lying around). You don't need client software to map drives, however, the included client software, if you choose to install it, is very helpful and makes mapping drives very easy (adds a system tray icon to quickly map/unmap drives). Also, the software lets you attach the external USB drives from the NAS as if they were local USB drives (which I thought was very cool).
Cons: somewhat slow. I did 6GB in 30 minutes, so figure over an hour for 10-12GB of data over the 100Mb network. I think people are expecting too much from FastEthernet. Especially if you are using wireless! Here are the numbers: 100Megabits per second = 12.5megabytes per second = 750megabytes/minute = 45,000megabytes/minute = 44(real)Gigabytes/minute (assume 40 because FastEthernet really only gets around 90Mb/s in real world). So this unit is running around 25Mb instead of 100. But I wouldn't throw it out because of that. Also, if you are on wireless, well then your network is only really going around 12Mb/s at its best (over 802.11g) real world numbers. To display the list of files in an explorer window sometimes takes 10-20 seconds (but sometimes the files pop right up in a few seconds). When you have gigabit file sharing at work, the NAS is excruciatingly slow. No support for usb printer (the SLUG unit that linksys sells, basically this device with only 2 external USB drive support, has an active community writing Linux firmware that adds all kinds of features, including print server and firewall. I wonder if anyone is working on open source firmware for the nas200?). I digress. More cons: no provision to backup internal drives to external drives (another item on my Linux wishlist). For some reason, I thought that was mentioned on the spec sheet. If you pull an external drive, all shares disappear and you have to power cycle the unit. Takes almost 2 minutes to boot up. No option to power down external USB drives after inactivity, so even when the nas200 fan and internal drives shutdown, the external drives are still humming along. Not as feature rich as making a Linux file server out of that spare computer case you have lying around ;-).
Conclusion: I like the unit. I think it's really 3.5 stars. Its a little slow, but quiet and small, and it holds as much as you put in (I got two 320GB SATA drives, $80 each). If the USB ports could be print servers, that would be one less device in my linksys "stack". If the box could automatically backup internal drives to the external USB, that would be a little more peace of mind. I use it as my picture, document, and MP3 primary storage. The raid1 protects my data, and I use external USB drives to backup (but it's combersome because I simply map drive letters to both the internal drives and the external drives, then copy from one to the other. It would be nice if that feature was built-in). Its nice to have a unified file storage system at home, where I have 4 laptops and a desktop (for gaming :-), and to do it for about $300. Considering the small outlay, its worth getting to fool around with. If in the end, the speed is too slow for your home/SOHO network...you are only out $140 (and you can put the SATA drives in your beefy gaming rig).

Click Here to see more reviews about: Cisco-Linksys Network Storage System with 2 Bays (NAS200)

Now you can quickly and easily add storage space onto your network with the Linksys Network Storage System. This stand-alone network appliance features two available SATA hard drive bays so you can attach as much storage as you need now, and add more later as your storage needs grow. For even more expandability, there are two USB ports that let you connect readily available USB 2.0 hard drives for even more storage space -- or plug in a USB flash disk for a convenient way of accessing your portable data files.

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NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Well I purchased 4 of these units, hoping to make this stack of 40GB, 80GB and 120GB drives I have laying around the house useful again. So far, buying these was not a good idea. I attribute most of my problems to there not being enough real technical review of the product available, and all documentation simply glosses over technical details in exchange for sales-speak. First, I'll say these are niftily crafted units that might have been pretty slick if they'd worked the way I expected them to. Problems encountered and gripes mounted include:
* These are not NAS devices, as some of the documentation might lead you to believe. A NAS device (network attached storage) typically offers clients the ability to connect to the device, using it's native fileshare method. CIFS for Windows, NFS for Linux/Unix, etc. These devices offer none of that.
* Device is available to Windows clients on the network only. If that's not bad enough, check the following gripe.
* Every PC that wants to access the device needs to have the software CD installed. Usually a NAS device will offer a shared filesystem that can be mounted in the OS's native method. With this box, all the PCs need to have a driver installed in order to see the device.
* DHCP only. There is no option to have a static IP address on the device. It is DHCP only.
* On first install, lamely worded error message hindered the install. After installing the device and the driver, it kept failing with the error "Unable to enumerate drive". The help file was useless. After an hour of messing with it and finally deleting all of my mapped drives, the installation suceeded and I was able to use the device.
* You MUST use the included software. Although the device seems to be listening on port 80, there is no web interface to configure it. The included software, running on Windows is the only way.
* Non-Windows systems are out of luck. This is a Windows only device. Do not try to connect to it with Mac OSX or Linux (both of which I have). The device can be connected and re-shared by a Windows PC, allowing Macs and Linux to get to it, but this has proved painstakingly slow.
* Painstakingly slow. I connected the device to an older Windows PC and the best sustained data transfer I could get (read or write) was around 3MB/s. Hardly a speed demon. My linux fileserver on the same network can easily sustain 10MB/s. I am going to connect the device to a faster Xeon based system and see how speedy it is then.
* Simple security. I saw no method of creating usernames or any kind of security on the device other than the single password that can be setup to access the device. Probably because this is designed for the home where there are not a bunch of users and passwords to manage.
Now this is a pretty new product, so hopefully it will get better with time. It seemed like such a good idea (obviously, I bought 4 of them), but I'm not convinced it was the best execution. Buyer beware.

Click Here to see more reviews about: NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central

The NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central is an expandable storage system that allows shared access by all computers on your network. With space for two IDE hard drives, you can set the device up to mirror each other so you have a backup of all your files in case either one fails.
Excellent Value and Easy Setup Unlike other network-attached storage (NAS) devices, the SC101 does not come with any drives but requires you to purchase your own. This allows for considerable cost savings. Opening up the SC101 only requires turning a latch that can be done with a quarter; no tools are needed. Attach the power connectors and IDE cables, set the jumpers, and slide the drive into place, and that's it.
After the hard drives are installed, plug the device in, attach it to the network, and install the included software. The software guides you through setup step by step. When everything is ready to go, it looks like a new hard drive has been installed on your PC and you use it just as you would any other hard drive. Backup software is included for users who don't already have their own preferred software. Please note that the SC101 is only compatible with Windows machines and won't work with Macs or Linux.
Outstanding Performance with Various Storage Options The SC101 connects to your network via a 10/100 Mbps Ethernet connection for fast data transfers. When you connect two drives to the device, you have the option of having them "mirrored" or "spanned." Mirrored storage lets you keep two copies of every file, one on each drive, so that everything is backed up in case of drive failure. When two drives are set to span, they appear as one volume so they are easy to work with and the device will automatically find your data across both drives.
The front panel has three LEDs to let you know the status of the power, hard disk and network at a glance. The NETGEAR SC101 Storage Central is backed by a 1-year warranty.
What's in the Box SC101 Storage Central, resource CD, power adapter, Ethernet cable, installation guide, SmartSync Pro Backup Software CD, and warranty/support information card.

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

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(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.

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Seagate BlackArmor 2 TB NAS 220 Network Attached Storage Server

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Synology DiskStation 2-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage DS211J (White) Review

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(More customer reviews)This thing is fast/scalable/reliable/configurable/expandable/bulletproof and worth ten times what it costs. For the money you get a full function NAS with two drive bays, Linux OS with plenty of really top shelf apps, support for raid arrays and JBOD, thru-the-internet accessability, dlna media server, audio and video apps, excellent disk management apps, solid group/user creation and mgmt, a web server app, ddns with 'no-ip' support and a host of other very useful file/data sharing utilities. Call Synology tech spt and you won't get a tier-1 zombie - rather you get a very knowledgeable competent tech who knows the product inside and out - very impressed! I've used most of the network apps and so far they work perfectly.
Cons: This is not a con but be advised: if you're populating the NAS with large drives (I populated my NAS with two, 2TB drives for a max capacity of 4TB), initial drive preperation will take 8-10 hours to complete - for each drive! I called Synology tech spt to find out if there might be a problem and they explained that the NAS drive prep utility goes thru an excruciatingly detailed surface scan at the outset thereby eliminating issues with bad sectors and other related problems once the drive is placed into operation. THere is a less time consuming drive prep offering but they recommended the full scan - and so do I. Find something else to do while the scan is running. Also; I bought my NAS to use primarily as a DLNA media streamer. It does that flawlessly - this thing is bulletproof, I have purposely tried to add and delete shares/folders/users/etc etc to try and confuse this box. It continues to operate flawlessly - I'm amazed and impressed! The Synology folks surely did their homework.
Other Thoughts: There is one anomaly I found with the DLNA function that I find rather annoying; Once the DLNA server is activated in the command interface, it creates three separate media folders (Audio and Video and Photo) and places them at the root level of Volume 1 (ie disk 1). The DLNA server will only look into these folders to find media to serve up. So, unless you Raid-0 your two drives and create one large volume, you will be stuck storing all your media files on only one drive - OR WILL YOU. There are several workarounds for this, and they work (although a little cumbersome). Once the three media folders have been placed on your vol 1, you can manually move one or more of them to vol2 and the op sys will work just as effectively with the folder on vol 2. You can also use a 'root' login to access the linux opsys and mount pointers to other shares you've created on vol2. Both techniques are explained on the Synology website. Maybe an update to DLNA file structure and searching is due Synology(hint hint).
Network streaming speed is more than ample. I have the NAS attached to a gig switch which is then attached (gig enet uplink) to a Linksys 3000 gateway. As a network bandwidth and NAS performance test I have run the following: one HD video stream to Samsung dlna enabled TV -and- one HD video stream to second TV using HP DLNA-enabled client -and- one audio stream to my Iphone (Wireless) -and- a second audio stream to my dlna-enabled V-Tech radio (also Wireless), all streams were running concurrently without any hesitation, skipping, pauses or any other anomalies. THis, plus all the other very useful functions make this box a real keeper!

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Synology DiskStation DS211j is designed to provide a cost-effective file storage and backup solution with RAID protection for your 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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