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Average user rating:
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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1 out of 1 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Good solution for network-attached backup and simple file-sharing, not for high-bandwidth use"
Pros: Competitively priced, easy setup, low power consumption, no client software required
Cons: Relatively slow
Summary: Some reviews have complained that this unit does not permit sharing of music and movies across a network as advertised, because the connection occasionally resets.
Perhaps it has been resolved with a firmware update, but after a week of continuous testing I simply have not found this to be the case. Transfer speed is more than adequate to stream music or video files across a 10/100 LAN, although performance is anywhere between 10-30% slower than a minimally configured Samba or Windows XP share as measured by IOZone, depending on file size.
While this isn't necessarily an impediment for use as a casual file-server or passive backup drive, it does impose a considerable performance hit if it is necessary to regularly transfer large files to/from the drive. Users who have a spare PC that is always on would be better served by adding an additional internal hard drive for use as a share and save the considerable $/MBpremium that an external hard drive commands.
If an external solution is necessary, this unit has the significant advantage of not requiring any additional software to be installed for client use, as is the case with several other competing products; it shows up on the network as a SMB share just like another PC or Samba share would.
