Review Buffalo Technology’s latest Nas box, the Linkstation Duo has been targeted to meet the ever-increasing multimedia and storage needs of home and small office users. Offered in 1TB, 2TB and 4TB capacities, it sports two Sata II hard drives that can be easily swapped out for user upgrades.
Sturdy storage: Buffalo’s Linkstation Duo
The 1TB edition we reviewed utilises two 3.5in Samsung HD502HI EcoGreen drives running at 5400RPM and was preconfigured in RAID 0 mode, allowing for 902.9GB of true storage. Also configurable to RAID 1 and it performs are a DLNA-certified media server, with support for iTunes, Apple’s Time Machine and even the hooks up with the iPhone.
Other features include remote operation with WebAccess as well as FTP and USB print server use and power saving modes. The Linkstation Duo uses an external 110/240v PSU and comes with both UK and EU mains leads, and a 2m flat Ethernet cable. The setup CD also includes Memeo Autobackup for both Windows and Mac. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Buffalo has been making NAS boxes for years and the LinkStation Pro is its latest iteration for home and small office use. Housed in a sleek and shiny black unit, the model we tested includes 1TB hard drive – other options are 1.5 and 2TB.
An easy option? Buffalo’s Linkstation Pro
The front has a blue LED at the top and a ‘Function’ button near the bottom. On the rear panel there is Gigabit Ethernet, a USB port, power switch and socket with an external PSU.
As you’d expect in a network hard drive, there’s support for sharing files using CIFS/SMB, and also with AFP, and an FTP server is provided too. Additional features include printer sharing from the USB port on the rear, a DLNA-certified media streamer, iTunes server, BitTorrent client, plus support for Apple’s Time Machine and remote access to your files. Read the rest of this entry »
Review While most low-price NAS products tend to target domestic use separately from serious small office installations, the Buffalo Linkstation Quad attempts to straddle both these markets, albeit, with a price hike. Yet it offers home users a faster, beefier file store and media server, together with RAID redundancy, Internet-wide data access and high-capacity backup to satisfy office environments.
Buffalo’s Linkstation Quad: appears imposing, but is small and unobtrusive
The device is a gigabit Ethernet NAS server – supporting 10, 100 and 1000BaseTX network connections ¬– and contains a stack of four SATA hard disk drives, all encased in a compact and tough black box sized 150x150x230mm. A quieter-than-expected fan keeps the drives cool.
The Linkstation Quad has two USB 2.0 ports: one at the front and the other at the rear. You can attach a high-capacity USB external drive to either and back up your Linkstation Quad data to it. Alternatively, you can attach any external storage device, such as a portable disk drive, a USB flash memory or a digital Camera, and back up all its media files to the Linkstation Quad in one step by pressing the ‘Function’ button on the front. You can even attach a standard USB printer – although not a multifunctional printer – and share it between Windows clients, using the Linkstation Quad to manage the network print queue. Read the rest of this entry »
Review Heading Buffalo’s Terastation range of Nas boxes, the new Terastation III is aimed at demanding users and businesses. It certainly feels heavy duty, weighing in at 6.3kg with a locking door to secure its drive bays.
Secure storage: Buffalo’s Terastation III
A greyscale LCD on the front reveals a variety of information including disk status, usage, Raid type, Ethernet speeds and host IP address – you can even configure what is displayed using the browser-based control panel. This monitoring feature, together with the two Lan ports round the back, suggest a Nas box intended for serious users. Read the rest of this entry »
