Maximum PC network attached storage RSS Feed

LG Unveils New 2TB NAS with Built-In DVD burner

Ryan Whitwam — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 21:16:24 -0500

LG has chosen CEDIA as the venue to show off its new N2R1 NAS box. The product’s aim, according to the press release, is to protect digital media files. The unit is capable of up to 2TB of RAID storage, and has a built-in DVD burner. Other specs include DLNA, Ethernet, and WiFi. Unfortunately, the wireless networking is limited to 802.11g. With 2TB of storage, you might want to wire this one in via Ethernet.

The system has remote access support, allowing consumers to access their files from any internet connection. The N2R1 is fully compatible with Windows, Linux, and Mac operating systems. LG’s new NAS will be available sometime this fall with a price of $299 for the 1TB version, or $399 for 2TB.

Shiny! Gaze Upon Our Maxtor Central Axis NAS Unboxing Photos

Norman Chan — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 16:15:58 -0500

We just received a retail sample of Maxtor's recently announced Central Axis Network storage server sent to the office, and wanted to share with you some photos of the packaging and physical unit. The monolithic storage device sports a familiar-looking enclosure design with single USB (as opposed to two, as listed on the official website), Ethernet, and AC power connectors on the back. Replacing a "one-touch" backup button on the front are three lights to indicate power, hard disk activity, and drive status. We also found a reset button on the base of the unit. The terabyte drive spins at 7200rpm, sports 32Mb of buffer cache, and weighs in at just over a pound and a half.

The Central Axis goes on sale later this month for $290, and keep an eye out for our full review later.

QNAP TS-109 Pro

David Murphy — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 19:54:32 -0600

We’ll get the bad news out of the way first. QNAP’s TS-109 Pro NAS device is more an enclosure than a NAS box–the storage part of the equation is BYO. Thankfully, NAS devices’ speeds are primarily determined by the connection and the interface of the device itself–purchase a decent hard drive, you’ll be sticking it into one of the fastest NAS boxes we’ve tested.

That said, we’re impressed with the features packed in this enclosure. And boy, what a list! A veritable cornucopia of network-attached storage, the TS-109 functions as a file server, a backup server, a web server, a media server, and a download server. Throughout our testing, we found that each element was as easy to use and helpful as the others. In fact, some were downright awesome: The file downloading application is a great alternative to keeping a loud, energy-sucking computer on overnight. But that’s just a single example. There’s no poison apple in the TS-109’s bucket of features.

We did have a bit of trouble getting the included installation CD to work. But once the “find my NAS device” application installs, accessing the TS-109 isn’t too taxing a process. Again, we had trouble browsing to the device in our network, but after typing in the TS-109’s name in the address bar (\\test, in this case), it appeared without fuss.

It’s a minor deficit in an otherwise useful device. No, not just useful–extraordinary. We have yet to find a NAS box that’s as speedy and feature-packed as this one, so much so that it makes the lack of an accompanying hard drive quite forgivable.

OWC NASPerform

David Murphy — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 15:27:44 -0600

Installing the OWC NASPerform to a computer via a network is a confusing mix of simple and complicated. The installer program itself is a welcome relief from the typically agonizing process of having to play with IP address and configuration screens. But that doesn’t mean OWC has spared you from a headache: You have to not only type in a 20-digit device ID just to connect the NAS box to your rig but also input a “write key,” which is printed on a label on the enclosure, if you want more than read-only access. So much for simply dragging and dropping files or controlling users via a handy web interface!

We’re used to doing a little legwork to get a NAS device to work, so the NASPerform’s configuration wouldn’t normally draw our ire. However, the entire system works on a mount-unmount interface. To edit the read/write settings, you have to unmount the drive first–which caused Windows XP to crash each and every time we attempted to do so. In fact, we never did get the drive unmounted. By some act of divine power, we were able to uninstall the program, if deleting the program can really be considered a solution.

The device comes with no additional features whatsoever. It’s a storage box. End of discussion. Its speeds are painful—the device rivals the Buffalo TeraStation Live for the coveted Slowest Data Transfer Speeds award.

And really, that’s all she wrote. The NASPerform comes only in sizes up to 750GB, so you can kiss away your dreams of having a terabyte of network-attached storage. That’s if you buy this device, which we hardly recommend as an ideal solution for your network-themed storage needs.

Asus WL-700gE Wireless Storage Router

Michael Brown — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 14:38:44 -0500

Asus has solved one of the most common problems download junkies face: By marrying a Wi-Fi router with a hard drive and built-in BitTorrent client, the company has eliminated the need for you to leave your power-hungry PC running 24/7.

Asus doesn’t limit you to BitTorrent, of course; the device is capable of using ftp or http for file transfers, too. It’s also a decent solution for anyone interested in hosting their own website, blog, or online photo album. But with the wide availability of free solutions for the latter, peer-to-peer file sharing is this router’s obvious raison d’Ãªtre.

It’s equally obvious, however, that Asus didn’t spend much time designing the client software—optimistically called Download Master—which comes preloaded on the router’s 160GB PATA hard drive: The user interface is crude and there’s virtually no documentation. It’s easy enough to figure out if you know the basics, but green-peas will be lost.

Asus’s Photo Album Exporter is only slightly more refined: It allows you to create a crude online photo site by transferring digital photos from your PC or a USB memory key onto the router’s hard drive. Once there, you can add captions and then organize the images into albums. You can’t add borders or anything else, but the software does automatically rotate and resize every photo. In fact, you don’t need to fire up your PC to transfer files from a USB thumb drive, either—plug a thumb drive into one of the router’s three USB ports, push a button, and the router automatically sucks up the drive’s contents. Upgrading the router’s built-in hard drive voids the product’s two-year warranty, but you can plug in a USB drive or two to create a rudimentary array.

As a router and wireless access point, the WL-700gE is a solid, no-nonsense part. Asus shunned the shifting sands of Draft 802.11n in favor of the more predictable performance of 802.11g, and it installed a staid four-port 10/100Mb/s switch in the back instead of a sexier gigabit switch. One thing the WL-700gE is not is cheap: At press time, we found it street priced at $235.

Month Reviewed: February 2007
Verdict: 7
URL: www.asus.com