Backup Basics

Drives fail: it’s a fact of life. Many people upgrade their PC or laptop more frequently than the average HDD/SSD lifespan, but there’s always the possibility of a spontaneous hardware failure to really put a dampener on your day. Then there are accidents – dropping your laptop, spilling coffee into it, having it stolen or simply losing it – and user errors, such as inadvertently deleting files that subsequently turn out to be vital. With many media collections being entirely digital these days, it’s important to have a second copy just in case the worst should happen.

There are several ways to make that second copy, some local and some remote. The “cloud” – or basically somebody else’s servers that you access through the internet – is a fashionable option today, though can grow expensive the more space you take up, and can be slow depending on the speed of your broadband connection.

More common is local backup: some sort of secondary drive that you use to store a copy of your primary data. A few years back you could squeeze most of your important files onto a DVD or a Blu-ray; now, with ever-growing quantities of digital content, optical media is generally insufficient. Instead a second drive (or a number of drives) come into play, the simplest setup being a USB/eSATA/FireWire/Thunderbolt/etc external HDD directly connected to a single computer, or else network-attached storage (NAS) which hooks into your local network and performs backups from one or more computers over ethernet or WiFi.

The benefit of a NAS is that it’s readily shared between several computers: with enough storage, you can replicate the contents of a number of drives with a single unit. They’re also more likely to feature drive redundancy, where two or more HDD/SSDs are used to keep mirrored copies of your data. If a backup drive subsequently fails, the entire backup isn’t lost. That’s where the DS411slim comes in.

Hardware

The DS411slim may be – at 120 x 105 x 142 mm and 660g – smaller and lighter than most of the company’s other NAS, but it doesn’t stint on power. Inside the black plastic chassis there’s a 1.6GHz processor with 256MB of RAM, while in addition to the four 2.5-inch HDD bays you get a pair of USB 2.0 ports (one upfront with a dedicated copy button to instantly backup a USB drive) and an eSATA port to add storage or share USB printers across your network. A single gigabit ethernet port gets the NAS online.

Opting for notebook drives keeps the DS411slim small; Synology is also keen to point out that HDDs intended for laptops are usually quieter and cooler, suffer less vibration, can have increased MTBF (mean time before failure) and are more resilient to bumps than desktop drives. On the flip side, they’re more expensive per gigabyte than 3.5-inch drives and offer a reduced maximum capacity: most models top out at 1TB, versus the 3TB of the physically larger versions.

Of course, since the DS411slim has four bays, that’s a maximum of 4TB supported. Each drive screws into a snap-in plastic tray and slots into the NAS itself. They’re cooled by a 60mm fan that, in general, proved so quiet as to be unobtrusive: even under load, it was only when we got up close to the Synology that we could really hear it.

Software

Like other Synology products we’ve reviewed, the DS411slim runs the company’s DSM 3.2 software, and it’s one of the SlashGear team’s favorites for NAS management. Laid out across a Windows/OS X style desktop, each aspect of DSM’s functionality – and there are plenty – lives in its own draggable, multitasking window. Out of the box there’s support for multiple user accounts (with optional usage limits), site and mail server hosting, DLNA/UPnP media streaming to your PS3, Xbox 360, computer or PMP, standalone downloads (including BitTorrents), printer sharing (for up to two printers) and FTP support.

Optionally, the DS411slim can be turned into a VPN server, a Squeezebox or iTunes media server, various types of enterprise-focused drive, or – with various free iOS and Android apps – offer up its content to your phone or tablet.

DSM 3.2 supports regular RAID – including Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6 and RAID 10 – but we opted for Synology’s own Hybrid RAID system. This can create a redundant array across multiple drives of different sizes, and automatically adapts if a new drive is added: that means you can start off with two HDDs and then, as you need more space, add more as necessary, without having to start your RAID array again from scratch.

Setting up the NAS to work with Time Machine on OS X was straightforward. By creating backup-specific user accounts – one for each computer – with individual limits on how much HDD space they could take up, we stopped Time Machine from running amok and consuming the entire array. Incremental backups happen automatically, and even over a WiFi 802.11n connection were not too intrusive to other network use. Windows users, meanwhile, get a copy of Synology Data Replicator 3 on the bundled DVD, allowing PCs to do the same thing.

Performance

We installed two 1TB Toshiba 5,400rpm hard-drives, and let the DS411slim set up a Hybrid RAID array: we ended up with 912.45GB of available space. Should one of the drives fail, our data would still be safe on the other, and after installing a new drive the NAS would automatically rebuild its array. It’s worth noting that the drive bays aren’t hot-swappable, so you need to shut down the DS411slim in order to swap out or add in disks.

Over a gigabit ethernet connection, the DS411slim managed 43.2 MB/s write speeds and 59.6 MB/s read speeds. You’ll get faster speeds if you set the NAS up as a RAID 1 array, but no drive redundancy. It’s worth noting that the bottleneck for most users is unlikely to be the core drive speed itself, but the network: with more and more home users relying on WiFi, sheer network throughput is going to have the biggest impact on things like backup times.

Wrap-Up

There’s a price/performance/convenience balance to be made with the DiskStation DS411slim. The barebones RRP of $319.99/£232.99 compares well to other four-drive NAS, but you’ll spend more on drives and get less maximum capacity too. On the flip side, your backup system will likely be quieter and smaller than most of those rivals.

In the end, while business users and those with a taste for HD video may want to look to a NAS that accommodates 3.5-inch drives, the DS411slim holds plenty of appeal for the regular consumer. Backup support for multiple PCs and Macs, a wealth of media sharing features and DSM’s software flexibility to turn the DiskStation into a mini server, webhost, ‘Torrent station or jukebox add up to a system with broad appeal and flexibility. Factor in the straightforward UI and compact footprint and you can see why the Synology DiskStation DS411slim comes highly recommended.

Hardware

Netgear’s chassis is sober but sturdy, with a blocky metal casing that’s larger than some rivals thanks to its use of regular 3.5-inch desktop hard-drives rather than smaller – generally more expensive and lower capacity – 2.5-inch mobile drives. Up front there’s a USB 2.0 port with a dedicated “backup” button that pulls the content of any removable storage plugged in off and to a preset folder, along with a power button, activity and drive lights.

As the Duo name suggests, this particular ReadyNAS supports a pair of HDDs which are hot-swappable. Storage can be set up as either RAID 0 “striped” for speed without redundancy, or RAID 1 “mirrored” for data redundancy but half the capacity. However, extra capacity can be added using the two USB 3.0 ports on the back of the ReadyNAS, a welcome update over the more typical USB 2.0 connections.

Inside, Netgear has updated the processor to a 1.6GHz Marvell chip paired with 256MB of RAM. The company reckons that makes the Duo v2 twice as fast as its predecessor, with file transfers and higher-bitrate media streaming each said to benefit from the extra performance.

Netgear will offer three versions of the ReadyNAS Duo v2. Cheapest is the empty, barebones shell, intended for those wanting to use their own hard-drives, and priced at $199. Then there are 1TB and 2TB versions – each with a single drive – at $269 and $299 respectively. Our review unit was supplied with two 1TB Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 7K1000.C SATA 3.0Gb/s drives, spinning at 7,200 rpm with 32MB of cache.

Software

Backup isn’t really sexy, and so a home NAS needs to be easy to use if owners are going to stick with it through not only setup but taking advantage of the various value-adds Netgear and others throw in. The ReadyNAS Duo v2 gets a double-whammy: Netgear has updated its RAIDiator 5 setup software to reduce complexity, and throws in a three year warranty too. For the first 90 days users get access to 24/7 customer service to help them set the NAS up; after that, three years of 24/7 support and hardware replacement is $99. If that seems too rich, three years of hardware replacement alone – within seven business days of a fault being diagnosed – is $29.

We didn’t need to call for help, however, and we doubt most reasonably confident home users would need to either. Once the ReadyNAS boots for the first time, a simple browser-based setup wizard walks you through formatting your drives in either RAID 0 or 1, and then drops you in a straightforward GUI.

As well as access to documentation and Netgear’s online support, RAIDiator 5 consists of various panes for setting up user accounts and shared folders, monitoring the “health” of the NAS including temperature and fan-speed, and checking which “Add-ons” have been installed. For most, the latter will consist of ReadyNAS Remote, which allows you to use Netgear’s iOS and Android apps to log in from your smartphone, browse through folders and download content, and ReadyNAS Photos II, for hosting your own Flickr alternative directly from the NAS.

The Remote app works well, though since you’re accessing your files from your own “personal” cloud – i.e. through your home broadband connection – the speed at which they filter through to your smartphone (or indeed the standalone OS X and Windows software) depends on your home upload speed. That’s less of an issue for photos and most documents, but may make accessing video and higher-bitrate music files a struggle. Still, being able to remotely grab a missing file while you’re at the office or in a meeting can be a very useful thing.

ReadyNAS Photos II bills itself as a free, more controllable alternative to Flickr: since the storage is all on your end there are no hosting fees, and it’s entirely private. Only those you share the link with can access them, and there are various options for limiting visibility to those with accounts or opening them to unregistered guests.

Finally there’s native UPnP/DLNA streaming support, meaning the ReadyNAS Duo v2 can send multimedia across your network to an Xbox 360 or PS3, your digital TV set-top box streamer, iTunes, SONOS kit or Logitech’s Squeezbox platform. Netgear has over 100 different Add-ons – some of its own creation, others from third-party developers – to download, allowing owners to enhance the capabilities of their NAS. Power users may prefer the more advanced “desktop” layout of Synology’s DSM software, which allows multiple add-ons and other windows to be seen simultaneously, but home users will likely find the simple panes of the Netgear interface easily navigable.

Performance

We started off testing the ReadyNAS Duo v2 with a single drive installed. Transferring a single 5GB file to and from the system saw 36.5 MB/s write rates and 100 MB/s read rates. Transferring 5GB worth of 20MB files saw write speeds stay the same, at 36.5 MB/s, but read rates dropped to 85.6 MB/s.

We then installed the second drive in a RAID 1 “mirroring” array, which basically provides drive redundancy. With the 5GB single file, write speed rose slightly to 39 MB/s, though read speed dipped to 94.4 MB/s. For the 5GB of 20MB files, writes took place at 36.2 MB/s and reads at 84.8 MB/s.

Finally, we used the two drives as a RAID 0 “striped” array, which bypasses data redundancy in the name of speed. In this setup, the 5GB single file wrote at 41.3 MB/s and read at 90 MB/s, while the 5GB of 20MB files wrote at 40 MB/s and read at 79.4 MB/s.

Given the relative price and capacity of 3.5-inch drives (compared to 2.5-inch drives) we’d recommend most home users opt for RAID 1 with as big a pair of drives as they can afford. That will provide the best balance of data security and speed.

Wrap-Up

Persuading home users to invest in backup can be difficult, and so the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2′s sub-$200 – albeit drive-free – sets the NAS off to a good start. The company’s home user focus extends to the straightforward setup and the reassurance of the helpdesk support, and those looking for more sophisticated functionality, such as remote access, can have that too thanks to the iOS and Android apps.

The only real potential pain-point is the speed, with the ReadyNAS Duo v2 falling behind what we saw from the Synology DiskStation DS211 (With Diskstation V3.x). Still, Synology’s barebones DS211 is around $100 more expensive than the Netgear, and for general backup and media access many home users won’t particularly notice the difference.

Compromises, then, but acceptable ones when you consider the overall package. Small business and more advanced home users may want to look elsewhere where more expensive NAS offer stronger performance, but for its balance of usability and accessibility the Netgear ReadyNAS Duo v2 hits the consumer spot.

Each accepts 3.5-inch desktop hard-drives, and comes with a front USB 2.0 port (with a dedicated copy button) along with two USB 3.0 ports on the rear for adding extra external storage. Although most home users are unlikely to have the network bandwidth to take advantage of USB 3.0 versus USB 2.0 data rates, Netgear tells us the new NAS should be its entry-level options for at least 12-18 months, and expects home networking speeds to catch up somewhat in that period. A single gigabit ethernet port hooks the ReadyNAS to your router.

Netgear has refreshed its setup wizard and browser-based UI, RAIDiator 5, and now claims it’s less than eight steps from plugging in to being up and running. Up to 96 MBps read rates and 60 MBps write rates are claimed – for real-world performance testing, check out our ReadyNAS Duo v2 review – with hot-swappable drive bays allowing you to replace a faulty drive or add a new one without powering down the NAS. The X-RAID2 software can automatically expand your RAID volume if a new drive is added, with no downtime.

Netgear is particularly keen on its ReadyNAS Photos II app, which basically allows you to turn your “personal cloud” into a private Flickr or Picasa. Custom URLs can be created, to invite friends and family to view certain galleries, or you can throw open the door to public access. Because you’re hosting it, not somebody else’s servers, you can offer full resolution pictures – something many sites demand subscription fees for – though, as ReadyNAS senior product marketing manager Matt Pahnke explained to us, what viewers actually see will depend on their device and connection.

“Photos II automatically optimizes resolution based on the network speed of the consuming device” Pahnke told us. “The goal here is to provide all users with an efficient way to enjoy the photos stored on the ReadyNAS without having to endure lengthy download times. If a user with a sub-optimal connection would like to view the photos at a higher resolution, they do have the option of overriding the optimization.”

There’s also a Remote Access app, available for Windows, OS X, Android and iOS, allowing for browsing and downloading over a secure VPN connection to your ReadyNAS at home. In the future, Pahnke confirmed, Netgear intends to add support for its Netgear Vault cloud storage service (already available for the company’s more advanced NAS) so that ReadyNAS owners will be able to mirror some or all of their content in true cloud backup.

The ReadyNAS Duo v2 will be priced at $199 as a diskless drive, or at $269 pre-fitted with a single 1TB drive. A version with a single 2TB drive will be $299. As for the ReadyNAS NV+ v2, that will be $399 diskless, $499 for a 2TB version and $599 for a 4TB version. Netgear says that, while the cost of hard-drives may rise as supplies grow temporarily scarce, it has secured storage to cater for estimated demand this quarter and will only be passing on its own increased costs, nothing more (the diskless models will remain the same price). They’re all available from today.

The DS212 is aimed at the home and business workgroup user. Both of the devices have read speeds of over 109 MB/s and write speeds over 54 MB/sec. Both of the devices use a RAID 1 configuration and have USB 3.0 ports. The NAS devices also have drive noise damping features with noise output of 19.8 dB.

Both of the devices also have a SD card slot that allows a plug and save function for memory cards. The difference between the two units is that the DS212+ adds a single eSATA port as another connectivity option. Both drives support hot swap storage and need no more than 19W of power in operation and under 8W in hibernation mode. Both models are shipping globally at undisclosed pricing.

Hardware

Synology’s design language tends toward the subtle, and the DS712+ is no exception: a 157 x 103.5 x 232 mm box clad in matte and glossy black plastic. Under the hood, the DS712+ is powered by a 1.8Ghz CPU and 1GB DDR3 Memory. The twin 3.5-inch drive bays are accessible from the front (and can be used with 2.5-inch drives too), each with an LED indicator to show activity. Each hinged bay-door has a lock, too, though it’s more to prevent accidental drive removal rather than a real security feature.

Other front-panel lights include two LAN LEDs – the DS712+ has a pair of gigabit ethernet ports – and a status indicator, while there’s also a power button/light and a dedicated copy button that pulls the content from an external drive plugged into the front USB 2.0 port to a preset folder. The rear panel is dominated by a 92mm fan, but there’s also a pair of USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port along with the power input and dual Gigabit ethernet ports.

Installation is straightforward: slot in one or two drives, each up to 3TB in capacity, and then plug into your network. Synology allows the two ethernet ports to offer either link aggregation or network failover: you can either double-up with two connections to a single network, for faster throughput, or have the DS712+ linked to two separate networks so as to be accessible even if one goes down.

Synology’s fan is temperature controlled, running slowly if the DS712+ isn’t under load. During our throughput tests it spun up to a solid hum – though was still quieter than a desktop computer – whereas under normal use it was barely noticeable amid the rest of the hardware in our test area.

If two drives aren’t enough for you, the DS712+ is compatible with Synology’s DX510 Expansion Unit, offering a further five bays. The DX510 plugs in via eSATA and makes for a maximum possible total of 21TB. It’s not a particularly cheap setup, however: the DS712+ has a list price of $499.99, and a DX510 is a further $499.99, neither coming with actual drives.

Software

Both Synology’s home and business NAS use the company’s excellent Synology DiskStation Manager software, a custom-built interface accessed through the browser and which is head and shoulders above the clunky UIs of rival products. DiskStation Manager (DSM) resembles a Windows or OS X desktop, offering various tools and apps that can be accessed simultaneously with a windowed layout. It’s also extensible, with Synology offering various “packages” that can add extra functionality to the box.

At its core, DSM allows you to set up a pair of drives in the DS712+ as either two separate disks, JBOD (i.e. one large disk that combines the capacity of both), RAID 0 or RAID 1, or Synology’s own Hybrid RAID. The latter is arguably the most useful: not only does it provide storage redundancy (i.e. with two 3TB drives you get 3TB of total storage, one mirroring the other in case of HDD failure) but you can use it with mismatched drives. So, if you have a 3TB drive and an older 2TB drive lying around, you can combine them into a Hybrid RAID setup and still have some redundancy (DSM figures out exactly what data security can be offered, in the case of mismatched drives).

Beyond that there’s functionality for just about everything you might want to use a NAS for, whether business, pleasure or a combination of the two. Basic things like user accounts (with optional capacity limits) are obviously supported, as is Windows and Mac backup; Synology offer a PC backup app, and DSM is Apple Time Machine compatible. There’s remote access – either limited to the local network or over the internet – and the ability to use the DS712+ as a standalone FTP, mail and web server, as well as a standalone BitTorrent downloader. Two USB printers can be plugged in and shared across the network too.

Multimedia use, meanwhile, sees the DS712+ step up as an iTunes server, a photo/video/audio streaming station, Squeezebox Server for those using Logitech’s distributed audio system, and as a way of pulling in internet radio. DSM has its own music playback app too, also living in the browser, and there’s DLNA/UPnP support for serving content to a PS3, Xbox 360 or other compliant device. Finally, there are streaming media and remote file access apps for iPhone and Android, allowing you to remotely access your content and documents without filling up your phone’s memory.

Other NAS devices offer some of this functionality, but what sets DSM apart is how straightforward to use it is. It’s definitely the most multimedia-friendly NAS software we’ve seen, but it doesn’t stint on advanced features. For instance, the DS712+ can transcode audio files on the fly, in case your UPnP client doesn’t support a certain file-type, as well as transcoding MKV video for playback on your PS3.

Performance

All that flexibility would be pointless if the DS712+ didn’t deliver on network performance, but happily that’s not the case. Synology claim up to 97.04 MB/sec write speeds and up to 107.09 MB/sec read speeds when transferring a 5GB file; if you use link aggregation, bonding the two ethernet ports, those rates jump to 105.59 MB/sec write and 180.91 MB/sec read.

We tested both setups, and found Synology’s figures to be surprisingly accurate. With a bonded network setup of the two gigabit ethernet ports, transferring 80.56GB to the DS712+ took 17 minutes and 22 seconds, reaching 103.62 MB/sec write rate. Copying files back from the NAS hit 183 MB/sec.

With just a single ethernet port in use, we saw 91 MB/sec write speeds to the NAS, and then 101.02 MB/sec read speeds, again both using Rsync to copy files to and from our computer. That’s considerably better than the DiskStation DS211 we tested last, though the DS712+ is more expensive.

Wrap-Up

It’s hard to argue with the DS712+’s performance and software flexibility. The hardware is compact and easy to set up, quiet in operation, and the data throughput – especially if you bond the twin gigabit ports – is strong. Synology’s DiskStation Manager is hands-down the best NAS interface we’ve seen, combining advanced features with a user-friendly UI.

Our only concern would be capacity, the dual drive bays and pricey DX510 expansion unit meaning adding storage beyond the 6TB maximum of the DS712+ itself could quickly get expensive. Still, Synology also offers the DiskStation DS411+II, with similar quoted performance figures but four internal drive bays and a $649.99 price, for those who think they’ll want more capacity from the outset.

6TB is plenty for many home and small business users, however, and on that basis the small footprint of the Synology DiskStation DS712+ and easy usability make it another impressive product from an impressive company.

Gallery

Various traditional RAID setups are supported, along with Synology’s own Hybrid RAID system which allows drives of different sizes to be used. The company’s DSM3.1 OS is also present, a straightforward way to access UPnP/DLNA media streaming, backup, file sharing, site hosting, standalone BitTorrent downloads and more.

Connectivity consists of a single gigabit ethernet port, along with two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA for adding external drives or sharing a printer across your network. If you have network CCTV cameras then the DS411 supports remote monitoring and recording, and Synology offers Android, iOS and mobile apps for other platforms.

The Synology DiskStation DS411 is available now, though pricing is only confirmed at “under $500.”

Backup Basics

Generally speaking, there’s local backup and remote backup. Local, as the word suggests, is on-site: anything from burning a DVD of important files and keeping it in your desk drawer, to a USB (or eSATA, or FireWire, or some other connection) hard-drive you plug in directly, or a network-attached storage (NAS) device that serves one or more computers on your local wired or wireless network. Remote backup could be as simple as leaving a copy of your home DVD or HDD files at work or with a friend, or – more commonly now – online in some sort of “cloud” repository.

Redundancy is another key part of backup: basically, how resilient the backup system itself is to hardware failure (and other issues, like theft or damage). Burning two DVDs rather than one is redundancy, but more common is using a so-called array of drives (either directly-connected or NAS) that each carry a copy of your data. If one drive dies, the data is safe on the second (or third, or fourth, etc.) and can be repopulated on the new drive you slot in to replace it.

Increasingly popular is a hybrid of local and remote backup, and that’s where the LaCie CloudBox comes in. It consists of both a local NAS drive and a companion online cloud store, automatically copying anything placed onto the drive up into the cloud.

Hardware

LaCie’s favorite designer, Neil Poulton, does the honors with the CloudBox, though the external drive itself is probably more a case of what was left out than what’s been included. A compact 4.6 x 4.6 x 1.5 inch black plastic box, the only real elements of interest are the recessed status LED in a notch under the leading edge (which flickers blue with varying degrees of frequency while active, and red when frustrated) along with a gigabit ethernet port, power input and button on the back, the latter the only physical control and used to turn the CloudBox on or off.

Inside is a 100GB 2.5-inch hard-drive, non-user-accessible. That sounds small and, indeed, it is. Even the most humble of netbooks of recent years have offered more storage, and with some desktop-replacement laptops packing 1TB+ the CloudBox seems hopelessly naive at first glance.

LaCie’s intention, though, is seemingly to force a sense of perspective on the would-be user. Local storage can be capacious and swift; cloud storage is generally more expensive and, being limited by the narrow-bore upload pipe of most home internet connections, time-consuming to shuttle files up to ‘net-based safety. There’s no choice as to which files get replicated online: everything placed onto the local drive is copied to the cloud. Sure, you could dump all of your video files onto the CloudBox, but it’s really more for vital documents: your email backup, your tax returns and all those Word files you’d be distraught to lose; your final year project or your latest work report.

Noise levels from the box, even when the hard-drive is active, are very low. There’s no warning on heat levels, beyond the on-device logs, though the CloudBox will email you notifications when space is running low.

Software and Performance

As you’d hope from a product with simplicity as its watchword, setup of the CloudBox is straightforward. Physically, it’s a case of plugging it into a spare ethernet port on your router with the bundled cable, plugging in the power supply and then waiting for the light to steady on blue.

A bundled CD offers LaCie’s Network Assistant tool, basically a CloudBox-seeker which lives in the system tray of your PC or Mac and works as a shortcut to the browser-based setup page. More adept users will bypass it altogether and surf to either http://cloudbox or its IP address (assigned and revealed by your router). First up there’s the Setup Wizard, used to establish an administrator username and password as well as punch in the contract number for the complimentary 12-month subscription to the cloud storage service.

From that point on, anything more complex is optional. You can simply begin dropping files onto the CloudBox – mounting it as a network drive in your OS of choice makes this easier – and relax in the knowledge that they’re being funneled up into the cloud shortly after. By pairing local and remote storage, your computer needn’t be on while the time-consuming upload process takes place: the CloudBox itself handles all that. We whipped out the power cable during the initial upload, then turned the NAS back on and it automatically picked up where it had left off. Obviously, had we taken an axe to the local drive before it had finished uploading, our data would be in so many unrecoverable slices, but simple power failures needn’t be a headache.

There are plenty more settings to be tinkered with in the LaCie CloudBox dashboard, however, including a simple counter showing how many out of the 100GB have been done, and when the most recent cloud upload took place. Some network information, details on user accounts – you can set up multiple users, each having access to their own files but nobody else’s, and optionally with a set quota of the total storage that they can use – together with log records, a countdown to when your cloud backup plan expires and the option to manually set upload and download speed limits so as not to saturate your broadband connection are also easily accessed.

Then there are the restore buttons, either to selectively restore certain files from the cloud to your computer, or to fully restore everything in the cloud to the CloudBox. The latter is useful if the hard-drive in the local NAS dies, and you want to repopulate its replacement (your user settings are also restored). The cloud storage keeps the last ten complete backups, so you can step back through previous versions of files: handy if you discover a file was recently corrupted and that the most recent backup has preserved that corrupted file.

What you can’t do, however, is log into the cloud store and access files remotely. Unlike most cloud-based backup systems, LaCie makes no provision for grabbing files while on the move, either using a browser-based interface or a smartphone app of some sort. The cloud, instead, is resolutely intended as another layer of redundancy; 128-bit AES encryption is applied as standard by the CloudBox itself – before the files ever leave your home or office network – and only your username and password can unlock them.

Pricing and Value

At $199 (in the US; £179.90 in the UK) for 100GB, the CloudBox is hardly the cheapest external drive we’ve ever seen. For the same amount, or less, you could have a 2TB+ NAS with drive redundancy, though obviously you’d then lack the cloud element of the LaCie option. It’s worth bearing in mind that many NAS drives support online backup too, though you’ll have to set up – and pay for – a cloud backup account; it’s all less straightforward than the CloudBox makes things.

That, then, is what you’re really paying for: simplicity. The CloudBox forces a conscious decision about which files are really important, locks them up with AES encryption automatically, and mirrors up to ten versions online, all after a few minutes setup. A further 12 months of cloud rental is priced at €99 in Europe.

Wrap-Up

Most users with any amount of network proficiency would probably be able to piece together a cheaper, more flexible local/cloud backup system than the CloudBox. That’s not to say LaCie’s drive misses the mark, however. Whereas a regular NAS might be a weekend’s frustration for basic users – arguably the most likely to avoid backing-up altogether – the CloudBox’s convenience makes it a plug & play option in which the “plug” aspect doesn’t demand a degree in computer science to complete. You could reasonably mail your tech-naive family or friends a CloudBox and expect them to have their essential files secured with minor effort.

What is true is that the CloudBox will most likely only work as one part of a backup solution. 100GB is insufficient for most individual users to fully backup their entire digital lives; share that out with several people, as LaCie makes easy, and that’s an even smaller proportion of each hard-drive covered. Dollar for gigabyte, it’s a wasteful way of preserving all but the rarest of digital music and video collections. A workable system might include the CloudBox for securing documents, precious digital photo originals and email backups, while cheaper external drives (either directly connected or networked) handle space-hungry multimedia. Yes, there’s an extra element of risk, but then that’s the implicit balance you find with any backup strategy.

The drives are hot-swappable, and the DS24+ supports Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6 and RAID 10, as well as Synology’s own Hybrid RAID system. The company reckons you’ll see 165 MB/sec write and 195 MB/sec read speeds on average, and the impressively comprehensive DSM 3.1 software supports Apple Time Machine and other backup systems, along with various server options, control of network cameras, network printing and UPnP streaming.

Power consumption is listed as 38.5W in hibernation and 104.5W when active, though that’s perhaps no surprise given all those drive bays. It’s shipping now, priced at $1,699.99 for the disk-free DS2411+, while the DX1211 expansion module is around $1,299.99.

The exact definition for what comprises “server grade” isn’t clear, though it’s generally acknowledged to include a MTBF (mean time between failures) in excess of 1m hours. Unfortunately, Western Digital doesn’t quote MTBF figures for its regular consumer desktop drives, into which category the WD20EARS HDD Apple has used falls, and the company’s press team couldn’t give us a figure. What they did say was that there are specific feature sets for the server market that enterprise-class drives are geared for, and that the requirements needed between desktop- and enterprise-class drivers are definitely different.

Where that leaves the Apple Time Capsule is uncertain. This isn’t a new issue: the original Time Capsule claimed “server grade” drives but used models from Hitachi’s Deskstar range. At the time, Apple said that the HDDs were the same 7,200rpm models as used in the Xserve servers, with a higher (but unspecified) MTBF.

Any single-drive solution is always going to be less safe than a RAID array with multi-drive redundancy, so a Time Capsule shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all of your backup strategy. Still, we’d like to see more accurate figures for how long the drive inside is expected to last; 3TB certainly implies that buyers will be using it for some time.

Background

Pogoplug started off with a basic Marvell Plug Computer design back in 2009, offering a simple way to share a USB hard-drive over the internet. The second-gen model boosted the number of ports to four, and subsequent updates threw in cloud printing support, WiFi and a sober business version dressed all in black.

The company’s premise was straightforward: a sixty second setup experience, made ultra-streamlined with automatic network discovery, sensible default sharing options and a convenient web interface. Mobile apps for iOS and Android meant you could access files and multimedia from home rather than store them locally.

In fact, the only real hurdle was the price: $99 for the magic box itself. Now, with Pogoplug Software, the company is taking on Dropbox and others with a hybrid of the web-accessible cloud model, using local storage and a browser/app-based interface.

Setup and Usability

Rather than plugging in a physical Pogoplug box there’s an app to be downloaded instead, available for both PC (roughly 36MB) and Mac (roughly 16MB). That walks you through setting up a new (free) Pogoplug account or logging into your existing one; multiple Pogoplug boxes and app installs can be linked to the same account. Next there’s the option to share various preset folders – for instance Movies, Pictures, Desktop and Documents on OS X – and then a quick seven pane tour of the main features.

Finally, there’s a link to the my.pogoplug.com site, which pops up in your browser already logged in and showing what folders you’ve shared from your computer. As well as the software client, Pogoplug has updated the web interface and it’s much cleaner than before. Any Pogoplug connections – hardware or software – show up in the left hand column, with tabs for basic file manager view, a Jukebox of music files, Gallery for images, Cinema for video, Sharing for any files or folders you’ve enabled third-party access to, and Backup for automatically copying folders between drives.

Active Copy isn’t new to Pogoplug – the company has offered it on its hardware devices before now – but it gets a whole lot more affordable with the software app. Previously, you’d need a separate Pogoplug device if, say, you wanted to keep an offsite backup of certain files on your computer; now, all you need is the free Pogoplug app.

You don’t have to access files via the website; the Pogoplug app also adds a folder to your computer through which you can easily see any files that have been shared with you. Sharing was one of the easier elements of the Pogoplug experience, and that’s carried forward with the new software. Hit the share button, choose the folder(s) you want to grant access to and then enter one or more email addresses and, optionally, a personal message.

The recipient of a sharing email can, depending on how you’ve set up the invite, be prompted to create a (free) Pogoplug account or, alternatively, access the files simply by clicking on the link. It’s all browser-based, and galleries are automatically animated into neat, parent-friendly slideshows.

You can also automatically add a link to the folder on your Facebook friends’ walls, by logging in with your account details and then choosing their names. Alternatively, you can publish a public link to Twitter or MySpace, or indeed open up the folder completely and even create an RSS feed so that people can keep up to date in their reader app.

There are plenty of neat touches. “One View” automatically hides duplicated files from your various Pogoplug drives (physical or software) to make browsing more straightforward, while you can also share folders by simply right-clicking on them, as long as the local settings app is running. That app also allows you to turn on and off remote access, add folders to Pogoplug, choose to share locally-attached printers, manage the Active Copy backup, and set other Pogoplug units to show up as local drives on your current computer.

Streaming and Apps

Although Pogoplug allows you to access files in any folder, it can also stream directly to a mobile device. The company offers an iPad app, an iPhone/iPod touch app and an Android app, from which you can browse your folders as normal or stream photos, music and video without having to store them on your phone or tablet.

Photo streaming is included in the free package, but there’s a one-time, $29 fee if you want to stream music and video. That’s per Pogoplug account, not per computer, so you can feasibly install the app on multiple PCs and Macs and only pay the fee once. Physical Pogoplug units include music and video streaming in the purchase price, incidentally.

It has to be said, the iOS apps show more polish than the Android app. The latter is very list-based, and we had a couple of forced-closes during testing. In contrast, the iOS app looks great and makes it very easy to navigate through files and streaming media. There’s the choice to share files directly from the app itself, and thumbnails are loaded progressively so as not to slow the whole experience down unnecessarily.

Usability and Security

Pogoplug’s usefulness has always been constrained by the size of your pipe. That is, the upload speed your home or office connection has, since you’re basically hosting your own cloud. It’s fine for documents and photos, but videos and music and be a stretch. Streaming quality it automatically adjusted depending on what upload and download speeds are available, but you definitely won’t get the same 1080p experience remotely accessing Full HD video files as if they were stored locally. Similarly, opening up several folders for sharing can, if multiple people take you up on the invite, clog up your connection.

The recent DropBox security debacle has left many wary of cloud-based storage and who might inadvertently gain access to their files. While Pogoplug leaves all your content stored locally, rather than putting it into the cloud, the web-based login does mean that it’s potentially vulnerable to hacks and similar. Still, if the worst happens, you can always deauthorize your computer with a single click.

Wrap-Up

Back when we reviewed the second-gen Pogoplug, we praised its ease of use but bemoaned the speed bottlenecks of home network connections and USB 2.0 drives. The new Pogoplug Software carried forward that easy setup and remote access, and while the network limitations are still present, the external drive speed issue isn’t necessarily a problem any more.

The obvious competitor is Dropbox, and each service has its compromises. With Dropbox, once you’ve uploaded files any subsequent downloads are reliant on the service’s own fat internet pipe; however, you’re also either stuck with a relatively small amount of free space, or paying a monthly fee for a bigger virtual drive. The Pogoplug app gives you as much space as you have local drives, but the limit shifts to being your broadband upload speeds.

Both offer free starter options, though, and as such there’s nothing stopping you from using each of them as the situation demands. If you’re looking for a straightforward way to remotely access your files and don’t want the cloud in-between, then the Pogoplug software is a great way of doing it. Just make sure you have the upload bandwidth before you pay for the $29 audio and video streaming upgrade.

Want to save $29 and get a free premium upgrade? Pogoplug has offered 200 SlashGear readers a free upgrade: click this link for more details. Be quick, though – once they’re gone, they’re gone! Update: All of the free upgrades have been snapped up, but Pogoplug is offering a $10 discount for SlashGear readers. Click the link to get premium service for just $19!

They each have a gigabit WAN port, too, for hooking up to your cable or DSL modem, along with three gigabit ethernet ports for wired computers. A USB port allows you to hook up external storage or a printer, and share it across the network.

Other specifications are broadly in-line with the first-gen Time Capsule. You get native Time Machine support for backing up your Macs, along with MAC address filtering, NAS firewall, and WEP/WPA/WP2 wireless encryption. There’s also support for time-based access control, to allow guests temporary access to your network.

So, no integrated iCloud functionality, unless Apple has some surprises up its sleeve when iSO 5 arrives. Pricing is yet to be confirmed for the new models.

Update: Ouch. The 2TB model is $299, while the 3TB model is a whopping $499. Both ship within 24hrs.

We got to spend some time with the Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive, Cloud Edition, and have to say the idea is compelling. If you have a large amount of data, you get to quickly store and back it up locally to the Iomega NAS without bandwidth limitations that could make uploading all your data to an actual cloud storage extremely time consuming. But what makes this Iomega “Cloud Edition” hard drive special is that it can be setup as your “personal cloud.” And by this, we mean that the drive can be shared and accessed from anywhere there’s an internet connection, much like you can with a typical cloud solution. So again, the idea is great, but the execution could use some improvement and the entire setup and operation could run smoother.

Hardware

The build of the Iomega Home Media Cloud Edition is fairly basic. The upright case is entirely black with metal all around and a vented front. The front face has the Iomega logo and four LED status lights, a “QuikTransfer” button, and one USB port. The back side offers a smaller vent with a power button, reset button, DC plug, a USB 2.0 port, and a LAN RJ45 ethernet port. The device measures 7.8 x 4.9 x 1.6 inches and weighs 2.5 pounds. Inside is a dual-core processor with one 3.5-inch SATA-II Hard Disk Drive. Overall, the black enclosure isn’t fussy and should blend in well with any home office.

Setup

Software setup is pretty straightforward. After we installed the Storage Manager software, it self-discovered the NAS and took roughly 40 seconds to locate and display folders on the Mac Pro we were using. Next, we were prompted to configure it into a cloud network drive, and that part wasn’t as straightforward. It required a small tweak to our router to establish connection by port forwarding the device’s IP address. Once configured, reapplying the setting again triggered the application to check if the NAS was ready. If you’re unfamiliar with networking, here’s the step-by-step instructions on setting up your router.

For advanced settings, users with an admin role will get access to a huge list of features including security, shares, backups, drive management, social media and many more settings you don’t normally expect from a consumer NAS drive. The “personal cloud” feature of the drive gives you remote access from the internet as well as from mobile apps for the iPad and iPhone. To enable a free one year TZO DNS service you’ll need to turn on Remote Access and enable UPnP on your router. We had a hard time establishing the connection as the Airport Extreme doesn’t support UPnP, so tough luck if you have one of those shiny Mac routers. A 5-year old Linksys came to the rescue eventually, and we were able to place TZO Dynamic DNS in service with UPnP feature turned on.

If you plan on sharing the personal cloud with a friend or just having it setup so that you can have access from your laptop, you will need to setup clients on each computer needing access to the drive. Invitations to join the personal cloud are sent via email with a unique and self-generated key code. The email will contain a link from where to download the client for installation. Upon signing in with the key code, shared drives appear instantly on the desktop or home portal view, which also provides an in-browser photo slide show if you have photos stored. Image content in the slideshow can be changed, removed, or turned off from the admin settings. Your shared folders will appear in a tree-view.

Software

The software interface is fairly intuitive and provides a couple of options when it comes to sharing folders. At the most basic level, sharing is set so that every invited user can access every shared folder. If you need to set different permissions per user, settings can be changed to account-based access where each user will have to enter a username and password.

As for backups, we setup a job to copy a folder from the device onto an attached external hard drive. With a press of the QuikTransfer button located on the front of the device, we were able to trigger the backup job immediately. You can also create more than one backup job and set different schedules for automatic backups.

iPhone/iPad App

We were given a beta version of the iPhone/iPad Universal app for preview called IomegaLink. Much like the Iomega Superhero iPhone app, it’s fairly basic in terms of features. You can back up and restore photos and contacts to and from the drive, but unlike Superhero, connectivity is via WiFi instead of USB. That means there’s no speed restriction by iAP (iPod Access Protocol) but the transfer speed will depend entirely on your WiFi speed. Furthermore, the app supports multitasking, meaning it will be able to run in the background should you need to take a call or access another app.

On first load, it searched for the NAS drive in auto discovery mode. If the server and mobile client are connected within the local WiFi network, auto discovery should pick up the server instantly. However, for remote access, the router must have UPnP feature enabled and you would need to set the server preference manually.

Uploading photos is fast. Unfortunately, there’s no cancel function to abort the long uploading progress. This can be trouble if you have a batch of large images on a slow network. You do have the option to select individual photos for upload, but if you accidentally select uploading an entire album, you won’t be able to abandon the process. Also, images that are transferred to the NAS show up in the Backups folder.

On the iPhone app, we encountered a couple of issues that were quite irritating. On batch upload, the task wouldn’t complete even though all images were successfully residing on the server. As mentioned above, since there’s no cancel button to terminate the progress, to get back to the app, you will be forced to reboot your phone to restart the app. Unfortunately, this is a common issue for iOS apps with a resume feature. It was fine on selective single images though. Also, video streaming on big or small files failed to load content, it will stay on loading and then crash after a long wait.

At the time of our testing, the app is still in beta. Iomega told us a much more stable version of the app would address most of the kinks when it’s available on iTunes sometime this month. For Android users, it’s on the roadmap, so be patient.

Performance

Within the local network, we did a test to hard measure file transfer speed. A 4GB chunk of test files were written at the rate of 8.32 MB/s to the NAS while read speed was recorded twice as slow at 3.87MB/s.

On Xbench, we are getting about 7MB/s uncached random and sequential write speed [256K blocks].

Issues

During our tests, we experienced some quirky issues with the device. After we left the device idle for a few days, it would become unresponsive, requiring a hard reset to bring it back to life. We were also unable to connect to the device on a number of occasions. Login failed to authenticate and a soft restart was required.

Most of the hiccups we experienced were easily solved with resetting the NAS, especially if it resulted from the device sitting idle for a few days. Although a system reboot is all that’s needed, it does take slightly over 6 minutes and 30 seconds to come back online. Also, TZO DNS service was hit and miss. The system would indicate router-connecting problem and then come back to life on a good day.

One incident that was truly frustrating was not being able to launch the Storage Manager software. It would shut off on boot, despite reinstating the software. A closer look revealed “IomegaStorageManager-[user]” user preference file was created on the root of the user folder and we were able to get things running again by dumping the file in the trash bin.

If the device malfunctions, such as shutting down improperly, it sends out an email notification accordingly. That part did work correctly; we have had to hard reset a number of times.

Again, Iomega informed us an updated version of the Storage Manager 3.1.2 for HMNHD-CE should be around July, and could bring some new improvements.

Wrap-Up

Overall, the Iomega Home Media Hard Drive, Cloud Edition is a promising NAS for personal use that is feature-rich, but still has several kinks to be worked out. The buggy issues we experienced with the device becoming unresponsive after a period of idle time should be resolved by a software update to version 3.1.2 scheduled for release in July. The iPhone and iPad apps will also be getting an update that should fix most of the issues we’ve raised. Otherwise, the device is very easy to use and can be simple to setup if you don’t run into similar router issues as we did, and the pricing is very affordable. The 1TB model is listed at $169.99 while the 3TB is at $349.99. However, a quick search around the web reveals that the 1TB model is being listed as low as $130.

The DNS-320 – which was actually announced for the UK market all the way back in December 2010 – has an 800MHz processor and 128MB of RAM. As for the DNS-325, that has a 1.2GHz processor and 256MB of RAM.

Both have standalone P2P functionality, internet photo sharing, FTP, various forms of RAID support and more. Pricing is $109.99 for the DNS-320 and $199.99 for the DNS-325, drive-free, while 1TB pre-configs will be $199.99 for the DSN-320-110 and $279.99 for the DNS-325-110 following on in May 2011.

Press Release:

D-Link® ShareCenter® Solutions Offer Easy Backup, File Sharing, Media Streaming, and Remote Access for Today’s Digital Home

New 2-Bay Network Storage Solutions with Superior Performance, Re-designed Interface and Enhanced Media Functionality for Home Users Now Shipping

FOUNTAIN VALLEY, Calif. – April 6, 2011 – D-Link today announced the availability of its ShareCenter® 2-Bay Network Storage devices, the DNS-320 and DNS-325. With shared storage serving as an essential element in today’s digital home, these network-attached storage (NAS) solutions feature an upgraded hardware platform and intuitive user interface, enabling consumers to easily share documents, files and digital media with everyone on a home network[i].

The next generation of the award-winning DNS-321 and DNS-323, the new DNS-320 and DNS-325 provide users with centralized storage to help protect, manage, share, stream and remotely access data. Both products feature two SATA HD bays for 3.5-inch drives of either 1TB or 2TB capacities, ensuring plenty of storage for today’s home users. Whether streaming movies, sharing files, or storing video from a network camera, D-Link® ShareCenter storage solutions are designed to let consumers work, play, and share from any room in the home or from a remote location, over the Internet. A complementary piece to D-Link’s digital home solutions, consumers can utilize ShareCenter products for a number of applications – whether it’s connecting directly to the wireless router, storing video from mydlink-enabled IP cameras, or streaming video to your TV using the Boxee Box by D-Link.

“From music for your iPod to photos from your digital SLR to videos for streaming, the need for centralized storage has increased dramatically in today’s connected households,” said Daniel Kelley, associate vice president of consumer marketing, D-Link North America. “Our new ShareCenter products enable users to easily backup their digital lives with added capabilities and advanced technology to get the most out of their home networks.”

Installation of ShareCenter devices is simple, and if more storage is needed, easy expansion allows consumers to add additional hard drives without using tools or attaching any cables. Both solutions include Farstone’s Total Recovery Pro Backup software to manage scheduled and incremental network backups, enabling users to backup all the computers in their home without having to hassle with physically connecting each device to a USB drive. In addition to content back-up and RAID support for data protection, the DNS-320 and DNS-325 also feature remote access to files through a built-in web file server app and FTP server. With the included remote backup application, users can easily backup content to a second storage device at another location to protect against data loss in the event of a catastrophe. And, using the USB port in each device, users can share a single printer among all of the computers in a household over the network. Additionally, users can automatically download content from the web without powering on a PC with the integrated Peer-to-Peer Downloader or access their files at top speeds without bottlenecking with the Gigabit Ethernet port.

The DNS-320 includes its own internal 800 MHz processor, a simplified interface and software for finding and managing files. The DNS-325 features increased speeds due to its upgraded 1.2 GHz processor. Its rugged, compact design makes for easy desktop placement. It also includes applications, such as a photo gallery, an audio streamer and a Blog application that allows users to host their own blogs directly from the device, making the DNS-325 an ideal solution for not only storage, but also for streaming media over a home network. It can also support additional add-on applications as they are developed. Both products also feature AFP and Time Machine support for Mac users.

The DNLA-certified DNS-320 and DNS-325 both feature an upgraded warranty of three years, compared with the one year warranty of prior ShareCenter products.

Availability and Pricing
The DNS-320 and DNS-325 are currently available throughout the D-Link network of retail and e-tail outlets in North America, including Fry’s Electronics, Micro Center, J&R, Amazon, Tiger Direct, NewEgg, Buy.com, and at the company’s online store, http://www.dlinkshop.com. Street prices for the DNS-320 and DNS-325 are $109.99 and $199.99, respectively. In addition, D-Link will also launch the DSN-320-110 and DNS-325-110 (pre-configured with a 1TB disk drive) in May 2011 for $199.99 and $279.99, respectively.

About D-Link
D-Link is the global leader in connectivity for home, small business, mid- to large-sized enterprise environments, and service providers. An award-winning designer, developer, and manufacturer, D-Link implements and supports unified network solutions that integrate capabilities in switching, wireless, broadband, storage, IP Surveillance, and cloud-based network management. For more information visit www.dlink.com or connect with D-Link on Facebook (www.facebook/dlink) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/dlink).

The Pogoplug Video automatically transcodes video streaming on-the-fly so that no matter what device you’re using to remotely access the content, you should be able to play it. It’ll also support the usual multiple USB hard-drives – in Pogoplug’s unusually-shaped, but this time black chassis – for file and multimedia access.

As for the Buffalo CloudStor, that will be available as the 1TB CloudStor (CS-WX1.0TL) for $149.99, the 2TB CloudStor (CS-WX2.0TL) for $209.99 and the 2TB CloudStor Pro (CS-WV2.0TL) for $249.99. It pairs internal storage, a gigabit ethernet port, a USB port (for adding external storage) and a spare internal drive bay (for adding internal storage and optionally setting up a RAID array) with the same cloud-access as on the Pogoplug Video.

More details on Pogoplug in our review.

Press Release:

BUFFALO SHIPS THE REVOLUTIONARY CLOUDSTOR

Seamlessly Access and Share Content with Anyone, Anywhere with No Fees

AUSTIN, TX – April 4, 2011 – Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking and network and direct attached storage solutions, today announced the highly anticipated, revolutionary Buffalo CloudStor™ personal storage solution is now shipping. First revealed at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, CloudStor goes beyond simple storage, creating a portal to freely access and share photos, videos, music and much more with anyone, anywhere through the cloud. Unlike online storage services, CloudStor has no capacity or service fees. Just plug it in, turn it on and create your free account at mycloudstor.com. CloudStor comes with everything you need to get started. You just have to be free to share.

“Digital content consumption has moved beyond traditional channels along with how it is stored and accessed,” said Ralph Spagnola, vice president of sales at Buffalo Technology. “Bringing CloudStor to market delivers on Buffalo’s promise of simplifying data mobility, allowing you to access and share your content freely, with anyone, anywhere.”

At the center of every CloudStor is the Pogoplug® cloud service. The popular service connects users to their storage and allows them to freely access and share their storage anywhere in the world. CloudStor is the first and only Pogoplug device with integrated storage. Files are securely shared between people and there is no need for user setup; just email a link to your family and friends. Consumers’ digital content always resides on CloudStor and the online service is only used to connect users and guests to specified files on the device.

In addition, CloudStor offers many traditional consumer network attached storage features including private share support for LAN based network sharing and pairing with the popular µTorrent™ client, allowing users to offload the task of downloading torrent files from computers to CloudStor. Buffalo CloudStor can also stream to popular media devices, including Sony PlayStation® 3 and Xbox 360®. Plus, CloudStor has an integrated Time Machine® backup system that allows Mac® users to use Time Machine to backup their systems to CloudStor when at home.

Pricing and Availability

The Buffalo CloudStor is backed by a limited one-year warranty that includes toll-free 24/7 US based technical support. CloudStor is now available at an estimated street price of $149.99 for the 1 TB CloudStor (CS-WX1.0TL), $209.99 for the 2 TB CloudStor (CS-WX2.0TL) and $249.99 for the 2 TB CloudStor Pro (CS-WV2.0TL). Buffalo products can be purchased through distribution, online resellers and Buffalo’s ecommerce website. For more information about Buffalo Technology and its products, please visit the company’s web site at www.buffalotech.com

The device claims to be the industry’s first business-class NAS deice with next generation tech inside like support for 6Gb/s SATA III ports. The enclosure supports up to five hot swap 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA HDDs up to 3TB each for a total capacity of 15TB. The device has 1GB of DDR3 RAM inside and that RAM can be updated to 3GB.

The NAS enclosure supports both eSATA and USB 3.0 ports with dual gigabit Ethernet interfaces with load balancing and fail over. It will also support multiple RAID levels including RAID 0, 1, 10, 5, 6, 10+hot spare, 5+hot spare, or 6+hot spare. The device also supports virtualization with advanced iSCSI services.

“Thunderbolt technology is a breakthrough in I/O technology and represents the future of mobile computing. Soon you will be able to carry workstation-class power and functionality in compact devices,” said Philippe Spruch, Chairman and General Manager, LaCie. “LaCie is excited to be one of the first to deliver Thunderbolt technology with the LaCie Little Big Disk.”

The Little Big Disk was designed to store large audio and video files and now with the new Thunderbolt technology, data can truly be transferred to and from the device at lightening speeds. This boosts the performance of creative workflows with ultra-fast data transfer, complete system backup in minutes, and faster content editing than ever before.

Press Release:

LaCie Introduces Little Big Disk,
Featuring High-Speed Thunderbolt Technology

LaCie today announced the LaCie Little Big Disk featuring the all-new Thunderbolt™ technology, developed by Intel® and brought to market with collaboration from Apple®. Designed to store large audio and video files, the LaCie Little Big Disk will bring a new level of performance to creative workflows with ultra-fast data transfer, complete system backup in minutes, and faster content editing than ever before.

“Thunderbolt technology is a breakthrough in I/O technology and represents the future of mobile computing. Soon you will be able to carry workstation-class power and functionality in compact devices,” said Philippe Spruch, Chairman and General Manager, LaCie. “LaCie is excited to be one of the first to deliver Thunderbolt technology with the LaCie Little Big Disk.”

“Intel believes Thunderbolt technology in combination with LaCie’s unique portfolio of storage products and displays will drive new levels of performance and simplicity for consumers,” said Jason Ziller, Director, Thunderbolt Planning and Marketing, Intel Corporation.

Thunderbolt technology delivers incredible bandwidth at 10Gbps and runs two protocols (PCI Express and DisplayPort) simultaneously over a single cable for connectivity to high performance peripherals like the LaCie Little Disk and high-resolution displays. Created with mobile and media professionals in mind, Thunderbolt technology moves content with blazing speed and facilitates complete system backups in minutes. Using a single Thunderbolt cable, users can connect their notebooks to high resolution displays, cameras and storage — all at the same time — for a fast, simple, and portable computing environment.

The LaCie Little Big Disk can deliver multiple streams of HD video and offload hours of content in minutes without compromising bandwidth and performance. With the LaCie Little Big Disk, speeds that previously were only available from rack mounted storage arrays are now possible with a portable computer – including Apple’s MacBook® Pro, the first notebook to feature Thunderbolt technology. Users will be able to edit on-set during a day of filming, and then transfer all of the assets for the edit suite within seconds. The LaCie Little Big Disk can even be daisy chained for storage expansion or connecting other peripherals.

AVAILABILITY

The LaCie Little Big Disk will be the first in a range of storage and peripherals solutions from LaCie that feature Thunderbolt technology. The Little Big Disk will be available by summer 2011 from the LaCie Online Store (www.lacie.com), the Apple Store (www.apple.com) and authorized resellers. For more information please visit www.lacie.com.

About LaCie

With operations in the Americas, Europe and Asia, LaCie is the leading manufacturer of storage devices for PC, Apple, and Linux. LaCie has differentiated itself through sleek design and remarkable technical performance. Find out more about our products at www.lacie.com .

There’s support for Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint and other business applications, as well as file-sharing and offsite backup, server virtualization and VMware. As well as the twelve internal bays, there are three iSCSI ports on the back for attaching external arrays.

Redundant power supply support and a new business-oriented dashboard round out the main specs. The Drobo B1200i will arrive in Q2 2011, price tba.

Press Release:

Drobo Means Business

New Drobo Business Line Delivers ‘Big Storage in a Small Box’ – Unprecedented Combination of Technical Sophistication, Ease of Use and Affordability for Small and Medium Businesses

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Feb. 8, 2011 – Drobo, makers of the award-winning data storage products for businesses and professionals, today introduced a new line of sophisticated yet easy-to-use and affordable storage solutions for small and medium businesses (SMBs). Designed specifically for customers who need critical business storage capacity without the complexity and price of legacy storage solutions, the new Drobo business systems are optimal as primary and secondary storage for Microsoft Exchange®, Sharepoint®, and similar business applications, as well as departmental file-sharing or offsite backup, and server virtualization deployments including those using VMware solutions.

“VMware recognizes the importance of affordable storage alternatives for firms implementing virtualization as they continue on the path toward IT as a service,” explained Parag Patel, vice president, global strategic alliances, VMware. “Like larger organizations, SMBs are looking for ways to improve productivity and lower IT costs. Drobo streamlines VMware-virtualized storage for SMBs by delivering storage that is simple, scalable and automated – all with an affordable price tag.”

With more than 150,000 customers worldwide, Drobo has been embraced by individual professionals and small businesses globally. The new Drobo business systems up the ante with improved system performance and redundancy, a new business-oriented dashboard and control panel and upgraded business support options – all while maintaining Drobo’s breakthrough ease-of-use and the BeyondRAIDTM data protection capabilities that define the Drobo brand.

“A complex quote, full of techno-babble and corporate speak, wouldn’t represent Drobo fairly,” said Mark Peters, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “Now available for SMBs, Drobo is what it has always been – surprisingly advanced and scalable storage, packaged and priced for people who don’t need to have doctorates or second mortgages to have easy, functional and sophisticated capabilities at their fingertips.”

“Our customers aren’t shy; they have tried Drobo for themselves and are now demanding more units for the rest of their business,” said Tom Buiocchi, CEO at Drobo. “Our new Drobo for business family continues to meld even more big technology and Drobo ease-of-use for the best storage experience ever.”

Today’s announcement covers a new Drobo family of products designed with business in mind. These products include:

8-bay file sharing Drobo with remote backup (Available now)
8-bay SAN (iSCSI-attached) Drobo (Available now)
12-bay SAN (iSCSI-attached) Drobo with expanded redundancy features, support for thin provisioning and deprovisioning and new data-aware tiering technology (Reserve now, shipping Q2-11)
Drobo’s new business line also includes performance enhancements, new management software and extended business support and services, in addition to the existing ease of use, affordable capacity and storage features that set Drobo apart from any other storage product on the market. The systems are based on the patented BeyondRAIDTM technology and are certified for VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Exchange and Symantec backup. Prices start just above $2K. The new line of business products is available for purchase at http://www.Drobo.com.

Drobo also announced its new Business Premier partner program and customer milestone of 150,000 sold. Both press releases can be accessed online at http://www.drobo.com/news/press_releases.

About Drobo
Drobo makes award-winning data storage products for Small and Medium Businesses and Individual professionals that provide an unprecedented combination of sophisticated data protection and management features, affordable capacity, and ease-of-use. Based on the patented and proven BeyondRAIDTM technology, Drobo�s ability to deliver “Big Storage in a Small Box” creates the best storage experience ever for small and medium businesses and hundreds of thousands of individual professionals worldwide, who use it to support their file backup and media archiving, server virtualization, and email application needs. To learn more, visit http://www.drobo.com or follow us on Twitter @drobo.

Hardware

Considering there are no internal speakers, the iXtreamer is a pretty imposing slab. Measuring 242.1 x 251.3 x 65.7 mm, it’s finished in silver and black plastic with chromed highlights. Physical controls are limited to a power/standby button on the front. On top is the docking connector, with a suitably broad cut-out so that an iPad can slot in; a piece of plastic roughly the size of a PCMCIA card pulls out the side of the iXtreamer and slots in behind the iPad, giving it a rubber-padded place to lean against. Alternatively, there’s an included dock adapter for your iPhone. A sliding panel can cover up the dock if you’re not using it.

On the right side is a door hiding the 3.5-inch SATA drive bay (and the only less-than-solid part of the unit’s construction); some iXtreamer SKUs include a preloaded drive, but the basic model comes empty for you to fit your own. A pair of drive rails and the necessary screws are supplied, and up to 3TB HDDs are supported (with the current latest firmware, v2.6.0). It’s worth noting that you don’t actually need an internal HDD in place in order to use the iXtreamer; you can also stream content across a network instead.

That’s courtesy of the 10/100 ethernet port, which shares a crowded rear panel with two USB 2.0 Host ports, a single USB 2.0 Device port (for hooking up the iXtreamer to a computer and accessing its internal drive), HDMI, composite and component audio/video, and optical/coaxial digital audio outputs. No integrated wireless, but Xtreamer does offer a USB WiFi b/g/n adapter separately.

On the bottom is a 50mm fan, which generally remained relatively quiet. Xtreamer offer an optional IceCube passive cooler kit in case the fan noise is still too frustrating, and which basically slots in instead. The IceCube was not supplied with our review unit.

As well as the iXtreamer, there’s an HDMI cable, composite video cable (though not component), the drive mounting kit, iPhone dock adapter, a USB cable for mounting the iXtreamer as an external drive, and the PSU (which came with a European power cord, despite this being a UK unit). There’s also a comprehensive remote (including batteries) which is a big improvement over the tiny credit-card sized zappers most iPod docks get. It’s not exactly handsome but it’s full-featured, and the buttons glow in the dark; you can even use it to turn off the LED indicator light on the iXtreamer itself.

Software

Unlike most iPod docks, the iXtreamer is really several products bundled into one. At its most basic, it’s offers access to audio, video and photos stored on the iOS device docked on top, but there’s also a separate streaming, internet video and multimedia jukebox component, Xtreamer, with its own firmware.

The basic functionality is straightforward: dock your iPod, iPhone or iPad and it starts charging; hit the iPod Mode button on the remote (or choose Dock from the main menu) and you can choose from audio, video or images. The former work as you’d expect, offering a regular list of what titles you have stored on the iOS device, and you can also load playlists (including Genius playlists).

Photos are less successful. For a start, you can’t simply browse the various albums on your device; instead, you have to choose a slideshow, get it playing, and then the images will display on your TV. Once it’s running, you can pause it or skip forward or back through the images, and background music can also be heard; however, if you want to change album, you need to go back to the iPad display and do it there. We’re also unimpressed with the resolution the iXtreamer shows images: while the system UI is smooth and jag-free in 1080p mode, the slideshow images look to be shown in the same resolution that the iPad displays rather than their full quality, meaning it’s jagged and uninspiring.

The Xtreamer software, meanwhile, is a whole lot more complex. Our review unit came running v2.5.0 but that had already seen at least two incremental updates at Xtreamer’s site. We had a few headaches dealing with the firmware update process; the automatic on-device updater wouldn’t recognize a network connection, so we turned to the manual download of v2.6.0 instead. Unfortunately, unzip the file on a Mac and splits it into multiple separate files, which the iXtreamer can’t handle. Instead, we had to use a PC to unzip as a single .IXTR file.

The basic homescreen has six options, Favorites, Media Library, Dock, Xtreamering, File Manager and Settings. Along the bottom of the display, the IP address (assuming you have a network connection) and status icons are shown, illuminating when there are USB drives attached, network shares, an internal HDD, network connectivity and other system elements. The settings page is comprehensive, though all we needed to tweak initially was the output resolution (which sensibly defaults to the 480p lowest common denominator) to suit our TV. However, there are options for subtitles (with user-assignable fonts), slideshow transitions, aspect ratio, brightness/contrast/hue/saturation, Dynamic Noise Reduction and more, including a choice of DTS/Dolby TrueHD/Dolby D+ audio, DTS/Dolby D 2.1CH audio, or AAC/FLAC/OGG 5.1CH audio. You can also toggle on or off the NAS, UPnP streaming, web server and FTP server functionality.

Favorites is populated by your own shortcuts to most-accessed sources, along with your recently viewed media. Media Library, meanwhile, offers the full range of sources, depending on what you have hooked up or shared to the iXtreamer. As well as USB and internal HDD access, there are network shares, internet content, UPnP streamed media, content on Xtreamer’s own eTRAYz NAS, iRadio and DVD playback, the latter assuming you have a USB DVD player plugged in.

We were successfully able to play content both from a plugged in USB drive, an internal drive in the iXtreamer’s HDD bay, and across a wired network connection (we didn’t have the official USB adapter). The company’s main selling point is the range of codecs and formats it supports, at up to 1080p Full HD resolution and with various audio codecs to match:

Video containers:

MPEG1/2/4 Elementary (M1V, M2V, M4V)
MPEG1/2 PS (M2P, MPG)
MPEG2 Transport Stream (TS, TP, TRP, M2T, M2TS, MTS)
VOB
AVI, ASF, WMV
Matroska (MKV) (H.264)
AVC HD
MOV (H.264), MP4, RMP4
FLV – Flash Video
VP6 Codec h.264 Streaming FLV
Video codecs:
Audio containers:
AAC, M4A
MPEG audio (MP1, MP2, MP3, MPA)
WAV
WMA
FLAC
OGG
RMP4
FLC
PCM
PLSX

Audio codecs:

Audio Down Mix : DTS, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR
Audio Passthrough 5.1 CH : DTS, DTS-HD MA, DTS-HD HR 5.1 CH -
Audio Passthrough 7.1CH – Dolby TrueHD , DTS HD-MA
Photo formats : JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, HD JPEG
Other formats: ISO, IFO, FLV, RM, RA, RAM
Subtitle formats : SRT, SMI, SUB, SSA, IDX
Streaming formats : RTSP, FLV, FLV HD (VP6)

We had no issues with ISOs, HD MKV files, AVI and MP4 clips we’d downloaded or ripped, all playing back smoothly and offering full fast-forward/slow-motion control (down to half-speed or up to 32x in various increments). The quality was on a par with what we’ve seen from a regular DVD or Blu-ray player, or indeed an HTPC hooked up via HDMI. Best of all, even with HD footage the fan was relatively quiet and unobtrusive.

Xtreamering is actually made up of multiple apps, many of which are developed by the Xtreamer community. By default some come uninstalled, too, which led to a few hiccups from the off; each can be loaded individually, and while some downloaded with no problems, others were unable to find the required installation files and threw up network errors. A global install option failed, despite other apps finding the network connection with no problems. After each (successful) installation the box restarts.

Of those that worked, the experience was generally good. The News app has content from BBC, CNN and others, pulling in text-only stories (with a thumbnail image) which can be browsed first by headline and then the full story shown (albeit with an intervening “summary” stage which seems to serve no real purpose). The YouTube player, like we’ve seen from smartphone YouTube apps, allows for searches, browsing the recently added, most watched and most highly-rated clips.

YouTube isn’t the only streaming video, however. There’s also content from IPTV feeds like the TED talks and from MAKE, as well as a “Golden Oldies” channel that promises full length classic movies. The problem again is that this unofficial content has a habit of disappearing after it’s been uploaded; some movies worked, others didn’t, but none had thumbnails in the gallery, instead leaving you to navigate by the tiny text at the bottom of the screen. Without search functionality, you’re left paging through a few hundred screens, hitting play and hoping the stream will work. A Netflix option at the bottom of the page got us excited, but all it says is “Comming [sic] Soon.”

Wrap-Up

The iXtreamer is an interesting mixture of hardware and software, some elements more successful than others. Although it’s billed primarily as an iPhone/iPod/iPad dock, that functionality lacks the simplicity of more dedicated rivals; viewing photos from an iPad seemed particularly inelegant. Still, it works, and iPad-compatible docks are still relatively rare compared to their iPod/iPhone brethren. Xtreamer hope to add iOS app support, but all that depends on Apple and we can’t see that it’s especially likely at this stage.

The Xtreamering software also feels like a work in progress, perhaps because it actually is. As with any community-led media player environment, it can be broken and over-ambitious in places, together with functional and useful in others. The YouTube viewer is straightforward to use, while the news app is surprisingly good; frustrating installation processes threaten to sour the overall experience, however. If you view it as an added extra, on top of the solid media playback base, then it’s an interesting project worth keeping an eye on, but we wouldn’t buy the iXtreamer solely for the Xtreamering functionality.

That leads up nicely to the iXtreamer’s real strength: its abilities as an HTPC replacement. There’s no live TV, nor Netflix, Hulu, iPlayer or 4oD, but you do get a huge range of codec support that should handle just about any media file, disc or stream you can throw at it. The internal hard-drive bay – which handles up to 3TB with the latest firmware – is a great option, and given you can also stream content locally and as an FTP server from files hosted on the iXtreamer, it makes for an excellent media NAS too. A BitTorrent download client would be a nice touch.

Xtreamer has plenty of ideas for where the iXtreamer might develop – there’s apparently an Opera browser port in the works, complete with Flash support – and seem prompt in their release of new firmware versions, addressing bugs and adding features as they go. Even if you don’t need the iPad/iPhone functionality, you can get the same core hardware and software in other units, like a DVD player or a standalone streaming box. As with most HTPC-style media players, this isn’t for the faint of heart, and there are easier ways to view the most common files (on your computer, on your iPod or on an external drive) with your HDTV, but they generally lack the iXtreamer’s huge flexibility and upgrade potential. If you’ve the patience to work around the half-baked elements, and a demanding media library to play, at £159 ($258) the iXtreamer is a whole lot more affordable than a dedicated media PC.

Thanks to Advanced MP3 Players for the loan of the iXtreamer

The TS-112 is the baby of the range, a single-drive box which can be expanded via USB or eSATA, and works as a home file server, DLNA/UPnP streamer, USB printer sharer – for up to three printers – and SqueezeServer functionality. There’s also optional standalone wireless use, with a USB WiFi dongle, together with a gigabit ethernet port.

The TS-212 does much the same as the TS-112 but accommodates two drives with data protection. It has the same feature set as the one-drive version, including Full HD 1080p movie streaming. Finally, the TS-412 packs a full four drive bays and offers a choice of Single Disk, JBOD, RAID 0/ 1/ 5/ 6/ 5 + hot spare setups. No word on pricing at this stage, but all three will go on sale in February 2011.

Press Release:

QNAP Debuts New Affordable High Performance Turbo NAS Server Family for Emerging HOME, SOHO, and Prosumer Users

New TS-x12 Lineup Includes 1, 2, and 4-drive Models Featuring Embedded Marvell 1.2GHz CPU and 256MB of DDRII RAM, Delivering Great All-around Performance, Low Power Consumption, and a Wealth of Applications for Home Networks.

Taipei, Taiwan, January, 2011 – QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Media Players today announced the TS-x12 lineup of affordable high performance Turbo NAS servers intended for the fast-growing home and SOHO market segment. The new models utilize the latest Marvell 1.2GHz processor and include 256MB of DDRII memory and Gigabit LAN ports, offering up to 8TB of networked storage with a unique blend of solid performance, high reliability, and advanced features at very affordable price points. The TS-x12 series includes the 1-drive TS-112, 2-drive TS-212, and 4-drive TS-412.

NAS is becoming a popular addition to home networks as they solve the problem of how to centrally store and share digital content among computers in the home – especially in mixed Windows/Mac networks. QNAP’s new TS-x12 models are easy to attach to existing networks and provides easy file sharing within the network, centralized backup of all networked computers, website hosting, printer sharing, even recording of surveillance video from IP cameras.

“The new TS-x12 series Turbo NAS servers offer affordable high performance coupled with ultra-low power consumption and virtually noise-free operation,” said Tony Lu, Product Manager from QNAP. “Home users no longer need to sacrifice performance for lower cost NAS; and the new TS-x12 series offers advanced features like RAID and iSCSI support, making them an incredible value for the money.”

The new TS-x12 models also improve the multimedia experience and capabilities for home users. The built-in UPnP media server (TwonkyMedia) feature of the TS-x12 series supports numerous UPnP-compliant media players such as the Sony® PS3 and Microsoft® Xbox 360 gaming consoles. Users can even use their iPhone and Android phone to stream music and video or view digital photos stored on the NAS in real-time from anywhere they have a Wi-Fi or 3G connection.

Availability
The TS-x12 series will be available starting in February through popular commercial distributors, resellers, and retailers globally.

The MyDitto USB key loads a special management app and automatically negotiates the encrypted link between whichever computer you’re on and the NAS back home. Rather than having to remember passwords and login URLs, it’s a simple case of jamming in the stick and browsing the directories as if you were on your home network. Up to thirty keys can be registered to any one MyDitto unit (supporting four active simultaneously).

There’s also a pair of USB 2.0 ports for hooking up external storage, a gigabit ethernet port for your network, and UPNP/DLNA and iTunes server support. Princeton also offer an iOS app for remote access from your iPhone. The Princeton MyDitto DE-MD2H2T is available in Japan now, priced at 39,800 yen ($484) for the main NAS (with two keys); twin packs of extra keys are 2,980 yen each ($36).

[via Akihabara News]

Up to four 1TB drives can be installed, and thanks to Synology’s own Hybrid RAID (SHR) system you can have redundant storage without all of the HDDs being the same capacity. Alternatively there’s manual control over Basic, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 5+Spare, RAID 6 or RAID 10 arrays. External USB or eSATA drives can be added, and there’s Amazon S3 support for cloud backup; network connectivity is via a single gigabit ethernet port.

Time Machine integration, bundled PC backup software and DLNA/UPnP streaming wrap up the main functionality, but Synology’s management app also means you can turn the DS411slim into an iTunes server, FTP or BitTorrent box, IP camera recorder, printer server (for one or two printers), Squeezebox server, or more. It’s also compatible with Synology’s iOS and Android remote apps, and the new DSM beta adds Apple AirPrint support.

The Synology DiskStation DS411slim will go on sale in mid-February; pricing will be announced closer to release.

Press Release:

Synology Announces Its Newest Small Form-factor DiskStation, the DS411slim; Now, iPad® App Ready

Redmond, Washington- Synology America Corp. today announced the release of its latest DiskStation for home and small office use, the DS411slim. Using 2.5” drives, the compact form-factor DiskStation allows for full RAID redundancy while minimizing energy usage and noise. Utilizing Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR), users can easily create redundant volumes up to 3TB.The energy-efficient DiskStation consumes fewer than 17 watts in use, and a scant 9.6 watts in hibernation.

The DS411slim boasts a faster processor than the previous DS409slim, and more RAM (now 256MB). These enhancements allow users to do more with their DiskStation and do it more quickly. Like its predecessor, it can still fit in the palm of one hand.

Bundled with Synology’s renowned DiskStation Manager (DSM) 3.0, the DS411slim is a feature-rich network attached storage solution, offering numerous tools to home users. In addition to the expected file sharing and backup, DSM 3.0 includes an integrated DLNA-certified media server to effortlessly stream music and videos to compatible media players.

“Don’t let the small size fool you. This is a full-fledged NAS server,” said Jason Bonoan, Product Marketing Manager at Synology America Corp. “From the breadth of integrated features to the ease of remote access, this comprises an incredible suite of solutions that mere DAS devices just can’t match.”

Surveillance Station 5, Synology’s included network video recorder (NVR) software, lets users quickly turn their DiskStation into a surveillance system. Compatible with over 750 models of IP camera, Surveillance Station 5 makes it easy for home users to monitor their homes when away, for either protection of the premises or as a nanny-cam.

In addition to the depth of features currently offered in DSM 3.0, the upcoming DSM 3.1 (now in public beta) will further expand the capabilities of the DiskStation. Among the enhancements will be:
DS File for iPhone- a new app to ease file access
DS Photo+ and DS Audio are released for iPad to manage photos and stream your entire music collection from the DiskStation
Airprint support- allows wireless printing from iPad/iPhone

For more information, please visit: http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS411slim/index.php

Availability: The DS411slim is scheduled to be available for purchase in mid-February. The price will be announced at its release.

According to the ScreenPlay DX HD Media Player product page, the box has a 2TB hard-drive inside and comes with a WiFi USB dongle for wireless network connectivity. There’s also up to 1080p Full HD playback, DLNA support and an optical digital output. Supported file types include H.264, WMV, RMVB, MPEG-1/2/4 (part 2, ASP), DivX, DivX Plus HD (MKV),  XviD, AVI(Xvid, AVC, MPEG1/2/4), ISO, VOB, MP4, MOV and MKV.

We can’t spot a product page for the ScreenPlay TV Link DX HD Media Player, but it has fewer output options and no USB device port; we’re guessing that means it lacks onboard storage. Iomega will likely make these two media players official any time now, so we’ll update when we known more.

The new cloud-edition drives get iTunes server and UPnP DLNA support, along with automatic posting of photos and video to Facebook, YouTube and Flickr. It’s also possible to do device-to-device copying, either locally or remotely, and there are two USB 2.0 ports for adding external drives. If you have a Mozy or Amazon S3 cloud storage account, you can link those in too.

Iomega’s Boxee-based Iomega TV also uses the same system, and can also link in with the Personal Cloud Technology setup. The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition drives will arrive later in January 2011, priced at $169.99 for the 1TB and $229.99 for the 2TB.

Press Release:

Iomega Announces Exciting New Personal Cloud Technology And New Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition

Iomega Personal Cloud turns your Iomega NAS into a Cloud Server that:
Enables you to backup remotely to your own Personal Cloud
Host your own Cloud to share with friends, family or for business
Free remote access
All this and more with every Iomega NAS Drive in 2011

SAN DIEGO, January 4, 2011 – — Iomega, an EMC company (NYSE: EMC) and a global leader in data protection, today announced the new Iomega® Personal Cloud technology, the ultimate data protection and remote access solution for small businesses and consumers that gives you the control of your own Personal Cloud without complexities and extra costs.

Iomega’s Personal Cloud is a revolutionary web-based computing architecture that connects your Iomega network storage device to other individuals and/or devices via the Internet. Unlike most public and private cloud applications, Iomega’s Personal Cloud technology is completely self-owned – the content and accessibility is always under your control. Best of all, there are never any usage fees or subscription charges; instead, Iomega gives small businesses and consumers a great value for cloud access and protection.

“Iomega’s new Personal Cloud is an innovative technology that separates our network storage products from the competition,” said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega. “Utilizing the expertise of EMC, the world’s leader in cloud technology, we have transformed our next generation NAS devices into cloud servers that users can access anywhere, anytime. In addition, by buying two or more of our NAS products, you can remotely backup your onsite data to an alternate location – be it your office, home or some other location – giving consumers and small businesses the ideal disaster recovery plan that’s easy to implement and economical, too. You’re not going to find this level of innovation or value from any of our competitors.”

Iomega Personal Cloud will be available worldwide beginning this month with the launch of the new single-drive Iomega® Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition.

Iomega Personal Cloud is also a built-in feature in the new Iomega TV with Boxee, launching in February.

“There are tremendous opportunities in 2011 for NAS device OEMs to refine easy-to-use basic features as well as integrate innovative technologies”, said Benjamin S. Woo, Program Vice President, WW Storage Systems, IDC. “Iomega’s new Personal Cloud technology brings news and innovation to the consumer and small business NAS markets that will differentiate from competing NAS devices. The Personal Cloud functionality will accelerate the adoption and growth of the consumer and small business NAS markets.”

Iomega is unveiling its new Personal Cloud technology for the first time this week, January 6-9, 2011, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. Iomega’s tradeshow booth is located in the South Hall 3 (booth # 31553).

How the Iomega Personal Cloud Works
Users of Iomega’s new NAS devices can create their own Personal Cloud in just minutes. The onscreen Personal Cloud setup page asks you to name your Personal Cloud and then confirms creation of your Personal Cloud. You can invite up to 250 members (devices) into your Personal Cloud, giving your business contacts, co-workers or personal friends and family around the globe the ability – determined by you – to copy and share files directly between computers as though they were all together on a local network.

Benefits and Features of the using the Iomega Personal Cloud
Simple. No IT expertise is needed to set up and manage your Personal Cloud. Set up in minutes! When you invite others into your Personal Cloud, they receive an email with a link and an authorization code that automatically installs the Iomega Storage Manager which creates a shared drive letter on their desktop. Simply click on the drive letter for access to the Personal Cloud.

Affordable. For zero additional investment outside purchasing an Iomega StorCenter network storage device, Iomega’s Personal Cloud is the most economical way for a small- to medium-sized business to protect and share their data, and for consumers to share their digital life with family and friends.

Synchronization. Users around the globe can sync files directly between computers as though they were on a local network. Many SMBs still keep key files on local hard drives; Iomega’s Personal Cloud means no more sneaker-net or emailing files around the office.

Collaboration. Business users can view and edit documents (such as spreadsheets, presentations and word processing documents), which helps geographically dispersed workers collaborate in real time. Consumers can immediately share their family photos, videos and other digital files.

Secure transfer of large or confidential files. Large video, audio, and graphic art files can quickly choke a small company’s e-mail system. E-mailing sensitive files can raise security concerns. Iomega Personal Cloud offers drag-and-drop functionality that makes it easy to securely transfer large or confidential files.

Security and a Disaster Recovery Plan. At smaller companies, locally stored files are at risk from theft, fire, software problems, and hardware failure. The Iomega Personal Cloud offers built in redundancy at every level: hard drive, server, and datacenter. Should disaster strike, with two Iomega StorCenter devices and the Personal Cloud backing up your company storage offsite, you have a disaster recovery plan that allows easy copying of files so that you are up and running in no time.

Secure Access. Data is accessible only on the Personal Cloud by those who have the appropriate permissions to access it. Safeguards, such as AES 128-bit encryption, can be enabled to protect your data while in transit on the Internet. Secure logins also protect your data stored in the personal cloud from being accessed by the unintended recipients and hackers while in transit on the Internet.

Low Maintenance. Once the system is set up there is almost no maintenance. You still have to manage user accounts, but jobs like array maintenance and monitoring the health of your data storage are no longer needed.

Archiving. Archiving older files to a remote StorCenter frees up space on your primary StorCenter device for day-to-day business needs. Less capacity required for primary storage saves you money.

New Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition
Launching worldwide this month in 1TB* and 2TB capacities, the new single-drive Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition is the latest generation of the award-winning original that makes it easy for home users and small businesses to share work files, photo slideshows, music libraries and other files with co-workers, friends and families anywhere in the world (with an Internet connection).

With improved performance, easy menus and settings, and lots of new features over the previous generation of the product, the new model is the ideal centerpiece of any home or small office network that also can benefit from having its own economical cloud. Iomega’s new Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition is so simple to use that even those who have never used network storage will find it a breeze to set up and impossible to do without.

Benefits and Features of the new Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition
The new Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition utilizes the acclaimed EMC LifeLine™ software, a fully-developed Linux operating environment and suite of applications designed for seamless cross-platform support with Windows®, Mac® and Linux computers.

Among the many features of the new Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition:

Gigabit Ethernet connecting directly to your router
Remote access from anywhere in the world
Built-in iTunes® server for easy playback
UPnP™ DLNA Certified AV Media Server provides the ability to stream photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices, such as game consoles (Microsoft Xbox® 360, Sony PlayStation® 3), audio bridges, iTunes® players, networked TVs and digital picture frames, Iomega® ScreenPlay™ products and more.
Automatically post files to your Facebook®, YouTube® & Flickr® accounts
Device-to-device Copy Jobs for data protection allows you to define a job to copy and/or synchronize files to and from the connected USB drives or any other shared storage on your network.
One-touch copying with the QuikTransfer button on the front panel.
Low power, fan-less design, with drive spin-down feature
Public cloud connections to Mozy and Amazon S3 online storage
Two USB 2.0 ports to add storage capacity connecting external USB drives
Device-to-device replication for data protection allows you to define a job to copy and/or synchronize files to and from the connected USB drives or any other shared storage on your network. Print Serving with intelligent print sharing capability for up to two USB printers.
Time Machine support allows Apple users to easily backup any Mac computers running OS X (10.5 or later) using Time Machine.
Picture Transfer Protocol (PTP) provides no touch, automatic transfer of photos from digital cameras via one of the two USB ports.
Availability and Warranty
Iomega Personal Cloud technology will be available worldwide beginning this month with the launch of the Iomega® Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition. Iomega Personal Cloud is also a built-in feature in the new Iomega TV with Boxee, launching in February.

The new Iomega® Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition will be available worldwide later this month in two capacities: a 1TB model for $169.99, and a 2TB model for $229.99. (All pricing is U.S. suggested retail.)

For more information on the new Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Cloud Edition, please go to www.iomega-personal-cloud.com/.

As with the D-Link, the Iomega TV will be powered by Intel’ Atom CE4100, which means 1080P HD video support along with Adobe Flash 10.1. Three hardware SKUs will be on offer, either diskless ($229) or with a 1TB ($299) or 2TB ($349) drive pre-installed. Ports include HDMI and a digital audio output.

Of course, you can also access cloud-based storage, as well as use the Iomega TV as a NAS on your network with either wired or WiFi b/g/n connections and DLNA streaming. A dual-sided remote control with a QWERTY keyboard is also included, and Boxee expect the Iomega TV to hit retail in February 2011.

Each of the drive bays are hot-swappable, and there are twin gigabit LAN ports for hooking up to your network. Keeping things churning are a 1.8GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM (3GB supported), and there are four USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA for hooking up external drives or using the DS1511+ for printer sharing duties.

Despite the storage potential, Synology reckons the DS1511+ only gobbles down 68W in use, and since it runs the same great software as we reviewed on the Synology DiskStation DS211, you can set it up as everything from a basic network drive to a media server, mail server, FTP store, IP camera station and more. It’s available now, priced at around $870 for the drive-free DS1511+ unit itself, or in various pre-configured forms.

Press Release:

Synology® Unveils High-Performance DiskStation DS1511+ with Greater Scalability and Full-Featured NAS Solution for SMB Users

Taipei, Taiwan—Dec 21, 2010—Synology® Inc. today unveiled DiskStation DS1511+, a high-performance NAS server that offers greater scalability, significant storage capacity and full-featured business NAS solutions for SMB users.

As information data increases exponentially by the minute, the performance of data transmission becomes a predominant requirement for setting up a centralized file server in a business environment. “With link aggregation, the DS1511+ surpasses its predecessor to deliver an astonishing 197 MB/sec in reading speed under RAID 5 configuration in a Windows® environment, and 165 MB/sec in writing,” said Chad Chiang, the product manager of Synology Inc. The 2 LAN structure with failover support coupled with hot-swappable drives thus ensure high data availability.

The DS1511+ provides space for five hard drives – with a single drive reaching a 3TB capacity – that can be scaled up to a total of 15 drives for a maximum of 45TB by connecting with two Synology DX510 expansion units. The default 1GB RAM can also be upgraded to 3GB to enhance work process performance. Running on a 1.8GHz dual-core processor, the DS1511+ only consumes 68 watts of power during operation, while the multiples scheduled on/off, wake on LAN/WAN and hard drive hibernation facilitate energy saving and low operating cost. The reliability of DS1511+ is solidified by Synology’s 3-year limited warranty.

Blessed by the Synology DiskStation Manager 3.0 (DSM 3.0) operation system, the DS1511+ can fit to a business environment easily. Windows ACL support allows for customized privilege setup on files and folders through existing Windows user interface. Moreover, user account can be managed more efficiently and productively by utilizing the Windows ADS integration to reduce burden of IT administration.

For anyone seeking an alternative of Storage-Area-Network (SAN), the affordable and cost-effective iSCSI support in DSM 3.0 allows SMB users to consolidate storage into data center storage arrays while providing hosts with the illusion of locally-attached disks. The DS1511+ also serves as a seamless storage solution for virtualization servers, such as VMware® vSphereTM, Microsoft Hyper-VTM, and Citrix® XenServerTM.

The Synology DS1511+ has many features that enhance the effectiveness of resource sharing. The comprehensive network protocol support assures seamless file sharing across Windows, Mac® and Linux platforms, while file access on the Internet is simplified by the encrypted FTP server and the web-based file browser. In terms of security protection, the presence of HTTPS, firewall, IP auto-block and AES 256-bit encryption engine provides users with a peace-of-mind during file sharing.

Availability

The Synology DS1511+ is now shipping globally.

The latest equipment deserves the latest software, and Synology has included it with the DiskStation DS211+. They’ve thrown in DiskStation Manager (DSM) 3.0 with the latest hardware, providing those who use the new DiskStation DS211+ with an intuitive interface, making it easier than ever to manage the server. The new DiskStation is also priced at around $400, and features the ability for drives to be hot-swapped, so that there’s a minimal amount of downtime in the chance that there’s a failure in a certain drive.

It’s a 2-bay NAS server, and supports drives that come in 3TB, providing up to 6TB of space in total. That should be plenty of space for a small business, and especially the average user that wants something of this caliber. There’s also an integrated SD card reader for good measure. Check out the full press release below for more information about the new DiskStation DS211+.

Press Release

Synology Launches Budget-Friendly, Business-Grade NAS DiskStation DS211+

REDMOND, Wash., Dec. 14, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Synology America Corp. today launched the DiskStation DS211+, a high-performance and full-featured 2-bay NAS server for office and enthusiast users to share files, centralize backup, and protect data. The latest addition to the professional class of DiskStations comes with Synology’s distinctive DiskStation Manager (DSM) 3.0 software to provide an intuitive interface for managing the server.

As part of the revamped design, the DS211+ offers hot-swap drive bays, which will help businesses to minimize downtime in the event of a drive failure. Priced around $400, this is the first DiskStation to offer this feature at this price point. For photographers, it also offers an integrated SD card reader, making for easier transfers to the NAS.

“When you factor in the benefits of the newer hardware on productivity, this is just a great answer to the needs of small businesses,” said Jason Bonoan, Product Marketing Manager at Synology America. “With support for 3TB drives, that allows for volumes up to 6TB, plenty of space for many small businesses. This new model just represents a value unmatched by DAS so-called ‘solutions.’” In addition to the expected NAS duties, such as file sharing and remote access and management, Surveillance Station 5 allows the DiskStation to become an NVR solution. As a surveillance solution, it supports up to 12 IP channels at once, chosen from a list of over 700 camera models.

With DSM 3.0, it offers business users such features as: ADS integration (with support for domains up to 100,000 users and groups) Enhanced iSCSI support (including persistent reservations) Hardware encryption engine with 256 bit AES share-level encryption Using the intuitive DSM 3.0 interface, it is simple to manage all aspects of the server. Synology Hybrid RAID (SHR) allows users to easily create a redundant volume, protecting their data against disk failure without requiring expertise with RAID technology. In addition, the DS211+ is backed by a competitive 2-year warranty and in-house technical support with no extra charge.

Visit http://www.synology.com/us/products/DS211+/index.php for more product information.

About Synology Founded in April of 2000, Synology Inc. is a leader in next-generation Network Attached Storage (NAS) servers for the home and small to medium sized business markets. Specializing in both hardware and software for network attached storage devices; Synology products are feature-rich, easy-to-use, energy-efficient, reliable and affordable. All Synology product investments are enhanced with product warranties, free software upgrades and 24/7 online support. Visit http://www.synology.com for more information Synology has a global presence with regional offices in the US (Redmond, Washington) and the UK (London, England) and Taiwan (Taipei).

Press Contact Doug Self marketing.us@synology.com Synology America Corp.

They include hard-drive hibernation and “Green Ethernet”, which intelligently controls networking power consumption based on the state of your cabling, together with a smart fan that automatically adjusts according to temperature. You can also schedule fixed downtime, turning the NAS off when you won’t be needing it, and use it with Apple’s Time Machine backup.

Despite the consumer focus, there’s FTP server support and user quotas, along with print server and USB backup (with a one-touch button) functionality; you do only get one gigabit ethernet and one USB 2.0 port, however. It’ll go on sale in the UK today, priced at £89.99 ($141) with no drives.

Press Release:

D-Link launches first new product from its ShareCenterTM storage range

ShareCenter Pulse let you easily share, stream and protect your digital content

London – 6th December 2010 –To help consumers access and secure their Digital Home content, D-Link today announces the launch of its ShareCenterTM Pulse (DNS-320) network storage solution, which is primed to capitalise on the increasing market demand for digital storage in the home. ShareCenter Pulse is the first product in D-Link’s new storage range, recognising how today’s consumers require reliable and easy-to-use storage as they are creating and purchasing more digital content (including photos, music, movies and work files) than ever before.

“The appetite for digital content today is already staggering and this will only grow as consumer behaviour continues to evolve,” said Chris Davies, general manager D-Link UK and Ireland. “Our new ShareCenter products will provide home users with easy-to-manage, plug & play storage capability that will enable them to share and back-up their personal digital content. With our Boxee Box now on the market, ShareCenter Pulse is an ideal complementary product for users looking to access and share content over the network or the Internet.”

Access, share, stream, protect

D-Link’s ShareCenter Pulse (DNS-320) allows consumers to centralise, secure and share all of their files in an easy and convenient way. ShareCenter effectively acts as a central digital hub users can treat as a bank for their digital content, which they can top up or withdraw from in any location. Every ShareCenter product connects directly to a home network by plugging into the router and allows files to be accessed from any networked device in a home, as well as offering remote access to friends and family.
Digital content, such as music or movies that have been downloaded or streamed from the Internet, can be saved directly onto ShareCenter before being shared, or watched from the comfort of the home. Important files, like photos, music, movies and documents, are automatically backed up and protected with built-in ShareCenter backup, while managing content stored on the device is simple through the user-friendly interface. As consumers begin to increasingly rely on digital content, the home storage experience must be optimised for all their needs while being easy to use. As such, D-Link is committed to making storage technology accessible for all consumers, irrespective of their technical expertise.

Product specification:

ShareCenter Pulse (DNS-320):
Two 3.5″ SATA HDD bays
Direct media streaming with UPnP Media Server
FTP server for remote access to files across the Internet
iTunes server
Built-in BitTorrent client to download without a PC
User quotas for security and confidentiality
ShareCenter Pulse is also an eco-friendly NAS appliance with the following energy saving features:
- Hard drive hibernation – which helps to reduce power consumption and noise, and also extends the life of the hard drives
- Low power consumption – the device is powered by low power consumption CPUs and therefore consumes less power
- Smart fan design – fan speed automatically adjusts based on the internal temperature to efficiently dissipate heat and conserve power
- D-Link Green Ethernet – the device supports D-Link Green Ethernet allowing the device to optimise power usage based on dynamic cable detection
- Schedule power off – the schedule power off feature offers the ability to power down the device when not in use
Pulse is available from the 6th December for a RRP of £89.99 including VAT, and can be purchased from D-Link’s network of partners, including Amazon, Dabs and ebuyer.
END OF ANNOUNCEMENT

About D-Link
D-Link is one of the world’s leading networking companies, delivering innovative, high-performing and intuitive products for consumers. D-Link’s consumer products sit at the heart of the Digital Home ranging from wireless routers, media players, storage devices, PowerLine and the award-winning Boxee Box (CES 2010 ‘Last Gadget Standing’), its entertainment gateway which brings the power of the Internet to the TV. D-Link is very committed to standards-based products and is DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) certified. This gives consumers the confidence that their network will work with a multitude of devices now and in the future.

For more information, please visit www.dlink.co.uk

Hardware

Unlike its more sober – and expensive – siblings from the Synology line-up, the DS211 comes with a crisp white chassis and a bright LED panel on the fascia. At 161 x 218 x 88 mm it’s not too large to sit in the corner on your desk, and Synology include the necessary AC adapter, installation kit and a 2m ethernet cable to get you wired up. You’ll also need at least one hard-drive: the DS211 will take either 2.5- or 3.5-inch drives, each up to 2TB, for a total of 4TB altogether.

Ports include a single gigabit ethernet, two USB 2.0 on the back and a single USB 2.0 on the front. There are indicator lights for overall status, network status, each drive and power. Like the DS411+ NAS we reviewed back in July, fitting the drives requires opening up the chassis rather than simply slotting in a couple of caddies at the back; a pair of screws hold the casing in place. A single 70mm fan keeps everything cool, including the 1.6GHz processor paired with 256MB of memory.

Software

The DS211 runs Synology’s DiskStation Manager 3.0 (DSM 3.0) OS, and it’s a comprehensive platform that covers more than just multi-PC backup. As with most network-attached devices, setup and control is managed via your browser; however, DSM 3.0 gets a new, multitasking UI with various independently draggable windows that can be viewed in a single browser tab. The whole thing looks like a blend of Windows 7 and OS X, complete with drop-down task menus and desktop icons, and it’s even possible to reskin it with different color themes.

While having a more aesthetically-pleasing NAS UI might not seem the best use of Synology’s resources, it does make using the DS211′s media functionality more pleasant. Load your multimedia, and the NAS has its own audio player that also supports internet radio; meanwhile there’s also DLNA/UPnP streaming to funnel that content around your home to compatible computers, HDTVs and STBs.

By default, with two drives the DS211 will set up a mirrored array that provides redundancy for your data: should one drive die, the other will still keep the data safe. Alternatively you can choose to bypass redundancy and set the two up as a single volume. With only two bays – unlike Synology’s larger NAS units – there’s no more complex arrays possible; however, you can add external drives via USB, or use the DS211 as a print server with a USB printer.

For backups, Synology provide their Data Replicator for PC users and Time Machine compatibility for Mac OS X. The front panel USB port has a Copy button which automatically pulls backs-up the contents of any camera, USB drive or memory stick you plug in. An app on the NAS itself makes for straightforward secondary backups, copying all the data on the array over to a local USB drive or a remote DiskStation or rsync station. Unlike with Data Robotics’ DroboProFS, you can remotely back-up to any server, not just an identical NAS.

There are many more apps on offer, including standalone BitTorrent downloads, photo and video slideshows – with companion apps for iPhone and Android – and SqueezeCenter compatibility for those using Logitech’s streaming audio system. Small office users, meanwhile, get the same security camera monitoring, virtual web host, PHP/MySQL, mail server and other business-friendly options as in Synology’s more expensive models. We were able to easily set up media streaming, simply by loading some audio files into a folder and ticking a few boxes, and even creating a web server was surprisingly straightforward.

Performance

Despite the relatively low amount of RAM Synology has outfitted the DiskStation DS211 with, we had no issues with performance. Set up as a RAID 1 array, the DS211 managed 101.37 MB/sec read rates and 56.12 MB/sec write rates, when tested with a 1.5GB file. That makes it roughly on a par with the DS411+ when it comes to read speeds, though around half as fast when writing data.

Wrap-Up

There’s a huge amount to like about the Synology DiskStation DS211. Not only is the NAS well made and compact, the DiskStation Manager 3.0 software stands head and shoulders above rivals for not only ease of initial setup but for ongoing use.

We’d like to have seen integrated wireless, too, though Synology do provide a list of compatible third-party USB WiFi adapters that can be used. Still, having it fitted as standard – even with the ensuing throughput limitations – would make for more flexible placement for home users willing to sacrifice some speed.

The data transfer speeds may not match Synology’s faster models, but then the DS211 is also half the price of the DS411+. Small businesses may want to look to models with more drive bays for greater future-proofing – and still get DSM 3.0 – but home users wanting not only data security but stable media access and more should definitely have the DiskStation DS211 on their shortlist.

There’s also optional 256-bit encryption and a “Snapshot Backup Utility” which can apparently grab an image of the current data setup for restoring should the active copy subsequently melt. Plextor is also talking up the PX-NAS4′s eco-credentials, saying it uses 60-percent of the power of a typical NAS (58W in full access mode; 25W in standby). It will go on sale at the end of the month, priced at $399.99 drive-free.

Press Release:

New PX-NAS4 Network-Attached Storage from Plextor

Plextor announces a new four-bay, 8TB NAS device

(Fremont, CA – November 17, 2010) – Plextor LLC (www.plextor.com ), a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, announces the PX-NAS4, its latest network-attached storage (NAS) device. The PX-NAS4 offers an exceptional performance, massive storage capacity, high data reliability and security, and low power consumption, making it a perfect solution for today’s small and medium sized business environment.

With dual LAN ports, the PX-NAS4 provides substantial bandwidth up to 2Gbps data access to support the increasing data demands and needs of small and medium-sized businesses. PX-NAS4 has the capacity to store up to 8TB of data across four hot-swap drive bays. Also, the PX-NAS4 has a storage expansion option available via built-in eSATA and USB ports which allow for the connection of additional external hard drives to meet continuous storage demand.

The PX-NAS4 offers the convenience of iSCSI, making its storage available as consolidated network storage over existing low cost networks. Valuable data stored in the PX-NAS4 is always protected with an advanced volume encryption using an AES 256-bit algorithm. PX-NAS4 is password-protected allowing only authorized users’ access.

“With today’s increasing amount of digital data, businesses need to save such data in a secure and accessible area,” said Clifford Sun, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Plextor, “Plextor is excited to offer our next phase of network-attached storage providing a reliable, secure and convenient storage solution for small and medium businesses.”

The PX-NAS4 offers multiple disk configurations: JBOD, RAID0, RAID1, RAID5 or RAID10, with a hot spare bay provided for immediate drive replacement if a drive fails (RAID 1 & 5 only). The PX-NAS4 also features Snapshot Backup Utility, a method of backup that takes a picture of the current state of the NAS, to protect and safeguard precious data.

A low-power consumption design makes the PX-NAS4 Energy Star compliant and reduces the energy demands to 58 Watts in full access mode (25 Watts in standby). The device requires only 60 percent of the power of a typical 200 Watt NAS, saving electricity and running costs.

The PX-NAS4 will be available end of November with an MSRP of $399.99.

Meanwhile there’s also Drobo Sync, included free with the DroboPro FS (i.e. the networked version of the DroboPro), which supports simple off-site backup. It’s worth remembering, though, that it seems to require another DroboPro FS at the other site, which could end up expensive.

The new Drobo S v.2 will go on sale today, priced at $799 for the base unit (with no drives); alternatively it will be available with 5TB, 7.5TB or 10TB of storage pre-loaded, for $1,299, $1,549 or $1,799 respectively. It will also be available through HP from November 18.

Press Release:

Drobo Continues to Fuel Exceptional Growth with Advanced New Products and Channel Expansion to Include HP Small Business Direct

Drobo Introduces Most Expandable USB 3.0 System and World’s Easiest-to-Use Remote Backup

SANTA CLARA, CA – November 16, 2010 – Data Robotics, Inc. (“Drobo”), the company that delivers the best storage experience ever, today announced a major new product, breakthrough data protection capabilities and channel expansion to include HP® Small Business Direct, HP’s online store focused on small businesses. These announcements come on the heels of record sales of the Drobo product family to small and medium-sized organizations worldwide.

“Today’s announcements will serve to further accelerate what our customers and partners fondly call the ‘Drobo Invasion,’” said Tom Buiocchi, chief executive officer, Drobo. “Our quest to provide the best storage experience for small and medium-sized businesses just progressed significantly with today’s new product advancements and our growing partnerships in the industry.”

Drobo has unveiled its new Drobo S system to provide a number of industry firsts and breakthroughs by leveraging USB 3.0 technology. The company is also announcing the immediate availability of Drobo Sync, the world’s easiest-to-use remote backup for small and medium-sized businesses, which is available with the company’s new DroboPro FS system. All Drobo systems feature patented BeyondRAID ™ technology which enables greater ease-of-use, data safety, affordability, and expandability for organizations who rely on digital storage but who do not have deep storage expertise.

Breakthrough Features and Benefits Delivered by New Drobo S
The Drobo S is currently the most expandable USB 3.0 product in the market, with “industry first” support for multiple storage volumes and capacity of up to 32TB and beyond
The accelerated performance of the Drobo S is up to 10X faster than existing USB 2.0 solutions
The new Drobo S also features enhanced backwards compatibility with USB 2.0 systems (laptops, PCs and servers) to provide further investment protection and “future-proofing”

“When USB 3.0 was released, many storage vendors simply added a basic connector to their systems, but that precluded small and medium-sized businesses from taking full advantage of its promise,” said Mark Peters, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “In contrast, by specifically engineering the Drobo S to incorporate USB 3.0, Drobo has been able to optimize performance and ease-of-use, both of which being characteristics that such businesses will appreciate.”

Simple but Powerful Remote Backup
Drobo also announced the immediate availability of Drobo Sync, the easiest to use remote backup software, for its new DroboPro FS product family. Drobo Sync can be configured in just minutes with a few mouse clicks, and is included free of charge with all new DroboPro FS models to provide small businesses, resellers, and service providers with a cost-effective alternative to cloud-based solutions for backing up terabytes of data.

Pricing and Availability
The new Drobo S is available at a starting price of $799 MSRP with multiple configurations up to $1,799 MSRP for a 10TB bundle. Drobo Sync is included for free with the purchase of any new DroboPro FS and is available as a free software upgrade to existing DroboPro FS customers. The DroboPro FS is available at a starting price of $1,999 MSRP with multiple configurations up to $3,299 MSRP for a 16TB bundle.

Both products are immediately available from select partners worldwide and will be available from HP Small Business Direct online store (www.shopping.hp.com/deals/drobo) starting November 18. For a complete list of partners, please visit www.drobo.com/where_to_buy.

Additional Resources
• Review the specifics on the new Drobo S and learn more at http://www.drobo.com/products/drobo-s.php
• Review the specifics of DroboPro FS with Drobo Sync capabilities and learn more at
http://www.drobo.com/products/drobopro-fs.php
• Follow Drobo on Twitter http://twitter.com/drobo
• Follow Drobo on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Drobo/54443011765

About Data Robotics
Data Robotics, Inc., the company that delivers the best storage experience ever, develops the award-winning Drobo family of automated storage products that are designed to ensure data is always protected, accessible and simple to manage. Based on the patented and proven BeyondRAID technology, Drobo provides an unprecedented combination of advanced data protection features and ease-of-use. For more information, visit Data Robotics at www.drobo.com.

The new NAS servers have a Marvell 1.6GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM. The server also has a Gigabit LAN port for fast access with data transfer rates as high as 100MB/sec. The line includes the 1-drive TS-119P+, 2-drive TS-219P+ and 4-drive TS-419P+ NAS devices. The drives allow smartphone users to remotely access files and stream music stored on the NAS devices.

They are all compatible with PC, Mac, Linux, and Unix operating systems. The storage devices are appropriate for backing up computers, hosting websites, home surveillance recording, and lots more. They can also be stand-alone servers for hosting various file types. Supported drives include both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch SATA offerings with up to 2TB of storage each. The dual and quad drive version supports RAID 0/1/5/6 and the single drive version supports RAID 0/1.

As with other Data Robotics products there is single or dual drive redundancy using the company’s BeyondRAID system. There’s also a new Drobo Sync application for automating backups across multiple machines, while the DroboPro FS supports simultaneous off-site replication to a remote unit as well.

The basic unit starts at $1,999 without drives, but various preconfigured packages will also be available.  These will top out at $3,299 for a full 16TB unit made up of eight 2TB hard-drives.

Press Release:

DATA ROBOTICS CONTINUES INNOVATION FOR SMALL BUSINESS WITH BREAKTHROUGH FILE SHARING AND OFFSITE BACKUP SOLUTION

New DroboPro FS Leverages Proven BeyondRAID Technology and Drobo Sync Backup Application to Deliver Unprecedented Ease, Affordability, and Data Safety

SANTA CLARA, CA – October 5, 2010 – Data Robotics, Inc. (“Drobo”), the company that is changing the way the world stores and protects digital content, today introduced DroboPro FS, the newest member of the Drobo family of automated storage products. Building on the success of the award-winning Drobo FS (introduced in April, 2010), the DroboPro FS with the newly integrated Drobo Sync application is tailored to enable small businesses to deploy network storage and offsite backup without complexity. DroboPro FS is ideal for any small office environment that requires a simple, safe, and affordable device for sharing and backing up files over the network.

“There is a significant need for simple, expandable storage solutions that address the relentless data growth happening within personal and small to medium business markets,” said Liz Conner, Senior Research Analyst, Storage Systems and Personal Storage at IDC. “Data Robotics has had success in addressing the personal and SOHO storage market with its Drobo FS. The company is aiming to meet the increasingly rigid requirements for data availability with its DroboPro FS by enabling off-site backups while preserving its simple-to-use nature that can scale with the capacity needs of its users.”

“We are reinventing storage solutions that meet the specific requirements of small business owners,” said Tom Buiocchi, chief executive officer, Data Robotics. “Your typical small business needs data storage and protection, but has limited budget and technical resources. We provide the smart alternative to the overly complex and expensive solutions being offered. The DroboPro FS delivers ease of use, functionality, and affordability that many small businesses did not know could exist in a single solution.”

DroboPro FS Features and Benefits

BeyondRAID Technology for The Best Storage Experience Ever: Like all Drobo products, the new DroboPro FS is based on patented BeyondRAID technology, which provides unprecedented and unmatched ease of use, affordability, self-healing data protection, and expandability.
Pay-as-you-Grow Storage Capacity – Small businesses with growing storage requirements can easily and affordably add data capacity by simply inserting a new SATA hard drive or by replacing the smallest drive with a larger one, even when all eight drive bays of the DroboPro FS are full.
Network File Sharing: The DroboPro FS connects directly to any Gigabit Ethernet network for a true plug in and share set-up experience, supporting Microsoft, Apple, and Linux computer systems.
Automated Backup: Every DroboPro FS includes the new Drobo Sync application that will automatically backup (locally or remotely) all data to another DroboPro FS. Drobo Sync is both efficient and flexible, only transmitting portions of files that have changed and allowing backups to be conveniently scheduled.
Redundant Network Connections for High Availability: DroboPro FS provides two Gigabit Ethernet ports with network protection mode to ensure the highest data availability over the network.
Automated and Continuous Thin Provisioning: Unlike any competitive storage system in the market, the new DroboPro FS provides automated and perpetual thin provisioning to customers, allowing users to further stretch their storage investment and utilization.

“Our SMB customers are looking for a cost-effective storage product like the DroboPro FS that combines key features including instant expansion, self-healing technology, and offsite backup and recovery. Data Robotics clearly understands the needs of SMBs and we’re excited to be the preferred launch partner for the DroboPro FS”.

Pricing and Availability

DroboPro FS is currently available from select partners worldwide, including preferred launch partner CDW (www.cdw.com) at a starting price of $1,999 MSRP and multiple configurations to $3,299 MSRP for a 16TB bundle. For a complete list of partners, please visit www.drobo.com/where_to_buy.

On the back there are three gigabit ethernet ports – which will work as a switch – and an upstream gigabit port, together with a pair of USB 2.0 ports for hooking up external drives or printers.  Another USB 2.0 port is on the opposite edge, while inside there’s 2.4GHz single-band WiFi b/g/n and either a 1TB or 2TB hard-drive.

Media – whether photos, audio or video – loaded onto the Wireless Space can be shared easily using UPnP or DLNA, and Mac users can set it up with Time Machine as if it actually were a Time Capsule; it’ll function as an iTunes library, too.  It’s available today, priced at £179.90 ($281) for the 1TB.

Update: US pricing is $229.99 for the 1TB and $349.99 for the 2TB.

Press Release:

LaCie Wireless Space: Versatile Wireless Storage

LONDON, UK (Thursday 16th September, 2010) – Today, LaCie introduces its first network-attached storage solution to feature Wi-Fi. The LaCie Wireless Space can operate as a file or media server for multiple Mac® and PC users, from anywhere in the home – making it the most compatible and multifunctional network hard drive on the market.

Leveraging Wi-Fi technology, the Wireless Space can connect to your existing Wi-Fi network, allowing you to access files wirelessly throughout the home, and can serve as a central storage solution for all your backups. If you wish to increase your Wi-Fi performance, the Wireless Space can also act as a b/g/n access point, and even serve as a full-featured router.

“There are a variety of network devices you need to buy to have a full solution to connect your computers, share media and back up your files,” remarked Julien Ott, Product Manager for Network Attached Storage, LaCie. “LaCie is thrilled to bring Wi-Fi connectivity to the Wireless Space and deliver a truly all-in-one solution for the varying different network needs of any home.”

For users with a large media library, the Wireless Space can also act as a media server. It’s compatible with UPnP/DLNA and iTunes, and you can stream music, movies and photos from a central location and play them on any device.

Additionally, the Wireless Space is Time Machine compatible, so Mac users can use it as a target for their automatic backups and be confident that all important files and media are safely protected. LaCie also delivers Genie Timeline Software for scheduled backups on the PC.

Designed exclusively for LaCie, Neil Poulton’s sleek, polished black design is engineered for natural heat dissipation and near-silent operation. The sophisticated design and Wi-Fi functionality of the Wireless Space makes it a perfect addition to any home network.

Availability
The LaCie Wireless Space is available as of today, in 1TB and 2TB capacity through the LaCie Online Store, LaCie Corner, and LaCie Reseller+ starting at £179.90. For more product information, visit www.lacie.com/uk.

Find out how to get a free Pogoplug Wireless Extender after the cut

To celebrate the price reduction, Pogoplug are offering existing owners a free Wireless Extender dongle.  To find out more, check out the company’s Facebook page; basically, you email them with your purchase details from a registered Pogoplug device address.

We’re checking on when the Pogoplug Wireless Extender will begin shipping, and the company tells us the price reduction on the Pogoplug itself should take place online sometime later today.  More details on the Pogoplug in our review.

Press Release:

Pogoplug Gets a Wireless “Little Buddy”

Our #1 requested feature now resolved: Wireless Adapter enables Pogoplugs to be placed anywhere in the home; existing users can get it for free!
Pogoplug is giving people what they want. Our customers have bombarded us with requests to add wireless connectivity to the Pogoplug, and we heard the message, loud and clear. Starting today, anyone can pre-order the Pogoplug Wireless Extender that makes any existing Pogoplug fully WiFi-enabled. Now users can place the Pogoplug anywhere in their homes without having to permanently connect it to a network router or wired Ethernet port.
The Pogoplug Wireless Extender is compatible with all previous versions of Pogoplugs and the recently announced Pogoplug Biz. Other recent improvements we’ve added to the Pogoplug include cloud printing, the updated Pogoplug Android application, the ability to share and collaborate on documents directly on the Pogoplug, and a very simple system of email upload. We are constantly striving to make the Pogoplug even better, and we would love to hear what your experience has been and how we can improve it. Keep sending those emails!
The Pogoplug Wireless Extender will work on 802.11 b/g/n networks and is available for pre-order now for $29.
In addition to the introduction of the new Wireless Extender, we are reducing the price of the current Pogoplug from $129 to $99.
Because of this price move and as a thank you to existing Pogoplug owners there is a special limited time offer; any existing owner of a Pogoplug can receive a promo code to get the new Wireless Adapter for free. To find out how, visit our Facebook page or our website support page.
The standard model Pogoplug can be ordered starting today for $99 at www.pogoplug.com.

These two new Intel Atom processors have been optimized for storage, as well as faster processing speeds, as well as an upcoming memory technology called DDR3 SODIMM. As we mentioned back in March, there are already plenty of manufacturers out there jumping on board, with LaCie, LG Electronics, NETGEAR, ONAP, Super Micro, and Synology still making full use of the old, and new processors.

Details wise, the processors are clocked at 1.8GHz. The D425 is a single core, while the D525 is of the dual-core variety. As we mentioned above, they are meant to boost the overall performance, all at higher CPU frequencies for faster storage processing. They’re also going to support the new memory technology, double-data-rate three small outline dual in-line memory modules, or DDR3 SODIMM. Furthermore, both processors will be teamed up with a new I/O controller, called the 82801 IR I/O. It sounds like the D425 and D525 are a great addition to the already strong family, which started with the D410 and D510 processors, back in March. Full press release below.

Press Release

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 16, 2010 – Backed by industry support of the Intel® Atom™ processor optimized for networked storage appliances for the home and small business, Intel Corporation has added two new Intel Atom processors to further boost the company’s focus on the platform.

Since Intel’s initial foray in this area in March, leading storage manufacturers, including Acer*, Cisco*, LaCie*, LG Electronics*, NETGEAR*, QNAP*, Super Micro*, Synology* and Thecus* have announced products based on the energy-efficient Intel Atom processor platform.

Broadening its offerings for consumer and small business storage appliances, Intel is introducing the 1.8GHz Intel Atom processor D425 single-core and D525 dual-core. These processors boost performance with higher CPU frequencies for faster storage processing and will support the new memory technology, double-data-rate three small outline dual in-line memory modules, also known as DDR3 SODIMM.

The new Intel Atom processors (D425 and D525) are paired with the Intel® 82801 IR I/O Controller that delivers the input/output (I/O) connectivity to satisfy the growing throughput demands of leading storage vendors. Both additions to the storage platform offer the flexibility to support Microsoft Windows Home Server* and open source Linux operating systems.

“Networked storage appliances based on the Intel Atom processor platform enable consumers and businesses to organize, manage, protect and share documents, photos, videos and music throughout the home or office,” said Dinesh Rao, product line manager, Intel Storage Group. “The versatile Atom processor, which is at the heart of a growing variety of small, innovative, Internet-connected devices, makes it possible for storage vendors to develop low-power appliances that can innocuously sit on a desk or shelf while keeping digital content safe and available anytime, anywhere.”

Since March, storage manufacturers have adopted the Intel Atom processor D410 single-core and D510 dual-core, each paired with the Intel 82801 IR I/O Controller, to power these affordable network-attached storage (NAS) appliances for the home and small business. Storage vendor products featuring the Intel Atom processor-based platform are currently available and additional devices will be released later this year.

“LaCie recently introduced two storage servers that leverage Intel’s Atom processor technology to deliver enterprise-level storage capabilities to small and medium businesses that were previously only experienced in large, corporate environments,” said Erwan Girard, LaCie Solutions business unit manager. “The new servers include the perfect mix of corporate-grade features and intuitive management software, enclosed in an award-winning 5big design for your desktop, allowing these products to fit seamlessly into any business environment.”
The updated Intel Atom processors for consumer and small business NAS appliances are currently shipping. Additional information is available at intel.com/go/storage.

About Intel
Intel (NASDAQ: INTC), the world leader in silicon innovation, develops technologies, products and initiatives to continually advance how people work and live. Additional information about Intel is available at www.intel.com/pressroom and blogs.intel.com.

This isn’t the first time we’ve looked at one of HP’s Data Vaults; back in November 2009 we reviewed the X510, a business-centric version of the MediaSmart EX487. The biggest changes are inside, with the StorageWorks X300 throwing out the Celeron and Pentium processors of its siblings and replacing it with a frugal dual-core Intel Atom CPU running at 1.6GHz. That’s paired with 2GB of RAM and four 3.5-inch SATA drive bays, all in a short tower case. Along the bottom front edge are the clear status lights, showing drive health for each HDD, power and network status, and overall Home Server health.

OS is Microsoft’s Windows Home Server, a straightforward system for sharing files, managing various user accounts – with differing degrees of access – and handling media streaming for iTunes libraries and via Windows Media Connector. The 1TB version of the StorageWorks X300, the X310 (using a single 1TB hard-drive) has a street price of $349.99, around $240 less than their X510. Connectivity includes four USB 2.0 ports and a single eSATA port, all of which can be used to attach external drives; altogether, a single X300/X310 system can offer 17TB.

That’s plenty, considering you can have up to ten PC users (and unlimited Mac clients); after all, those with more ambitious demands are expected to look to the more expensive units. HP’s focus is data protection and disaster recovery (with the X300 paired with their KeepVault online backup service); they provide their own HP Control Center app which, when installed onto each client machine, can be used to perform automated backups, folder duplications and online synchronisation. The X300 will also work with Apple’s Time Machine backup system.

Also bundled is a year’s subscription to an online file access system, which offers a custom domain for logging in and checking your files wherever there’s an internet connection and browser. Unlike a regular RAID array, Windows Home Server uses Microsoft’s own “Drive Extender” technology: that’s not standardized, but it it does allow for non-identical HDDs to be used, plus external drives being included in the overall array. Setup is straightforward, with WHS automatically establishing the data pool, and you can selectively pick which files or folders are duplicated across multiple HDDs or designate an entire drive as an automatic backup mirror.

Unlike some servers, the X300 only has a single gigabit ethernet port for network connectivity; still, with normal backup use and media streaming we found other network bottlenecks were generally more of an impediment to speed than the StorageWorks’ one port. We were able to quickly set up user accounts with varying degrees of access privileges: anything from full read/write through read-only to no-access, individually selectable to different folders if necessary.

As with previous HP WHS products we’ve tested, there’s a reasonable range of online and local media sharing options, including the ability to automatically publish photos to an online gallery, and serve up images, video and music to consoles like the Xbox 360 or PS3. However, the automatic media collector and video convertor we used on the X510 has been removed, as has the Twonky DLNA Media Server functionality, and it’s now no longer possible to easily stream content to web or iPhone clients. That’s part of HP’s focus on backup, it seems, though you can add in third-party plugins to introduce alternative functionality.

In practice, the StorageWorks X300 kept up with the several simultaneous backup jobs we asked of it, shuffling across files from a number of PCs and Macs at the same time. However Windows Media Connector is only really of use if you have a PC, and we missed broader DLNA support for streaming content simply to our Mac. At HP’s $520 MRSP we perhaps wouldn’t be convinced, but with the street price being $170 less than that it pushes the StorageWorks X300 into regular NAS territory. In that sort of arena, Windows Home Server holds its own as a capable piece of software, and with some careful add-in planning it’s possible to easily tailor the X300 into an affordable and flexible backup and media server system.

We weren’t joking when we described the DS411+ as sober. A charcoal gray box measuring 168 x 184 x 230 mm, the front panel has little of note aside from the power button and indicator lights for status, LAN and each of the four hard-drive bays. There’s certainly no LCD display to tell you how much capacity is left. On the back there are two 80mm fans and then power, gigabit ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports and an eSATA port, together with a Kensington lock hole.

There are also four thumbscrews, which when removed allow you to slide off the top section of the chassis. Unfortunately, that’s what’s required every time you want to access the four internal 3.5-inch hard-drive bays. We’d prefer to have some sort of front or rear accessed caddy system instead, which would make for easier hot-swapping. Up to 8TB can be installed (four 2TB drives) with a choice of RAID 0, 1, 5, 5+Spare, 6, 10 or JBOD.

The DS411+’s processing is taken care of by an Intel Atom D510 1.67GHz processor paired with 1GB of RAM, while the software is flexible enough to do plenty more than just network backup. In addition to mirrored storage there’s the usual DLNA/UPnP media server streaming for audio, video and image files (including to PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles), standalone BitTorrent downloads, FTP and PHP/MySQL website hosting and iTunes server functionality. You can also use the DS411+ to monitor up to twenty IP webcams (as long as they’re compatible models), network-share two USB printers, and load various optional “Synology Packages” that turn the NAS into a SqueezeCenter or email server. Unsurprisingly there’s customizable user quotas for shared storage, Time Machine compatibility and all the usual NAS flexibility, while the two USB ports and the eSATA port can be used to add external drives.

All that would be for naught if the DiskStation DS411+ fell short in its performance; happily, it does not. We slotted in four Seagate 1TB hard-drives in RAID 5 configuration, and then measured transfer speeds with 1GB and 5GB files. Reading, the DS411+ managed 102MB/sec with the 1GB files and 110MB/sec with the 5GB files. Writing, the DS411+ managed 94MB/sec with the 1GB and 98MB/sec with the 5GB. That’s surprisingly close to the quoted 112MB/sec read and 106MB/sec write from the official specifications.

The front panel of the DS411+ may not be especially noticeable, but then neither is the sound; obviously it’ll depend to a large extent on which hard-drives you pick, but Synology’s fans are relatively quiet despite keeping the NAS cool to the touch. They’re also secured in place using regular Philips-head screws, so replacing them yourself shouldn’t be too arduous a task.

In all, we’re highly impressed with the Synology DiskStation DS411+. Not only does it get within spitting distance of its quoted specifications, it has the backup and multimedia flexibility to suit both home and small-business users. While we’d like to have seen a more accessible chassis, and the front panel could benefit from a status display, there’s no arguing with the NAS’ performance. At $650 for the barebones drive it’s not cheap, but if you need reliable, consistent speed then it’s at the top of the pile.

Alternatively there’s a USB 2.0 port which can be used to add external drives, or to share a USB printer across the home network.  Digital media files can be streamed around the network – there’s an ethernet port built in, but you’ll need to hook up a wireless router if you want WiFi support – and the GoFlex Home is compatible with both PC and Mac for backup purposes.

As for remote access, like we’ve seen on the Pogoplug you can share photo albums, videos and documents with friends and family via an invite-only webpage; Seagate also offer an optional premium version of the service, Seagate Share Pro, which allows for remote cellphone access, Facebook and Flickr integration, and RSS updates to new content.  The Seagate GoFlex Home is available today, priced at $159.99 for the 1TB model and $229.99 for the 2TB model.

Press Release:

SEAGATE DEBUTS GOFLEX HOME: EASY-TO-USE CENTRALIZED STORAGE FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY

Wireless Backup, Sharing and Streaming of Music, Photos, Movies and More
from Multiple Computers in the Home

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – July 19, 2010 – Seagate today unveiled the newest
addition to its

GoFlexT family of hard drives-the GoFlex
T Home network storage system. When this easy-to-use device is
connected to a wireless router, an entire household can centrally store,
easily access and continuously back up files wirelessly from both WindowsR
and Mac OSR X operating systems on the home[1] network. The new centralized
storage system simplifies the backup process by being compatible with AppleR
Time MachineR, as well as including a version of the backup application for
both Windows and Mac OS X operating systems. With the GoFlex
Home storage system, families can also wirelessly stream photos,
movies and music to most network connected DLNA devices, such as game
consoles or a
GoFlexT TV HD media player, from any room in the house. With just two
cable connections and a simple, illustrated, step-by-step installation tool
that gets the device up and running in minutes, the GoFlex
Home system solves the household storage puzzle in a snap.

Available in 1TB and 2TB capacities, the GoFlex
Home storage system provides plenty of room to help safeguard precious
digital memories for the whole family and is ideal for use with home
laptops, netbooks, or other devices
with limited storage. Unlike other single-drive network solutions, its
modular design also enables the included drive to be upgraded when needed by
simply removing the drive from the base (no tools required) and replacing it
with a higher capacity GoFlex
T Desk hard drive. Families can also add more storage to
the GoFlex
Home system by simply connecting additional drives to the USB port.
Additionally, this same USB port can be used to wirelessly share a USB
printer with every computer on the network.

“With broadband and home networks reaching higher levels of penetration and
operating at higher speeds, consumers are increasingly downloading and
streaming content into their home and wanting to access that content from
anywhere,” said Darcy Clarkson, Seagate vice president of Retail Sales and
Marketing. “The GoFlex
T Home system makes it easy for families wanting to quickly and
effortlessly backup, enjoy, and share their favorite home movies music or
photos from any room in the house. We spent a lot of time focusing on
simplicity with this product and believe people will find it very intuitive
to set-up and get started. With the GoFlex
T Home system, now home networking is within reach for today’s digital
households.”

A recent report by In-Stat predicts the consumer network storage market will
continue to grow between 25 and 50 percent over the next five years. In
addition, the number of devices connected to the home network, and the
number of devices that are mobile or portable, are creating desire for
consumers to move in and out of their home networking environment2 with
their content. Using the included remote access and file sharing service on
GoFlex
Home system called Seagate ShareT service, families can easily access
movies, music or photo files stored on their GoFlex
Home system from any internet connected computer in the world. The
Seagate Share service also allows families to share photo albums, home
movies and documents with friends by simply selecting the files or folders
they want to share and typing in an email address. Those friends will
receive a notification with a direct link to a customized webpage where they
can view the shared files.

“Consumers are showing increased interest in downloading and streaming
content from the Internet into the home, connecting devices in the home to
social networks, and demanding easy access to content both within the
household and beyond the reach of home networks,” said Norm Bogen, vice
president, Research, Digital Entertainment with In-Stat. “Solutions designed
to help access content from multiple devices in the home, distribute it over
the home network and stream to other devices and products, will be appealing
to active digital media consumers.”

The GoFlex
Home system also offers a premium service option-the Seagate Share Pro
remote access service-that allows families to access content stored on the
drive from mobile devices such as an iPhoneR, iPadT or BlackBerryR,
integrate photos or files with FacebookR and FlickrR, and keep friends and
relatives updated with the latest shared files using Integrated RSS (Really
Simple Syndication) notifications.

In addition to delivering quick and easy wireless, file access, streaming
and multi-computer backup of digital files, the GoFlex
Home network storage system has been designed with the cost and
environmentally conscious households in mind. The GoFlex
Home system also includes a power saving (idle) mode that
automatically runs after 30-minutes of inactivity and a power switch that
allows it to be shut off while families are away for extended periods.

All three models have four 3.5-inch drive bays and support various levels of RAID configuration.  The DS411+ runs an Intel Atom D510 processor and sucks up 60.5W during use, while the RS810+ uses 68W; both support wake-on-LAN, HDD hibernation and power scheduling.  Meanwhile the RackStation RS810RP+ gets a second, redundant power supply.  Both it and the RS810+ support hot-swapping of drives, can have their 1GB of standard RAM expanded to 3GB, and have modular motherboards for easier maintenance and repair.

Of course, as well as backup there’s web hosting functionality – each unit can host up to 30 different sites simultaneously – and IP camera control, Windows ADS compliance and more.  The diskless DS411+ will be priced at $650 and carry a 2 year warranty. The diskless RS810+ is $1399, RS810RP+ is $1899, and RX410 expansion system (which can boost storage to up to 16TB) is $550; all 3 rackmounts carry at 5 year warranty.

Press Release:

Synology® Unleashes Scalable RackStation RS810+ and DiskStation DS411+ High-performance NAS Servers with Extensive Functionality for SMB Users

Redmond, Washington—July 16, 2010— Synology® America Corp. today officially launched the RackStation RS810+ and DiskStation DS411+, 4-bay NAS servers with rich, business-oriented features, appealing to SMBs that demand flexibility and great performing network attached storage solutions.

Businesses need a strong foundation to face mission-critical tasks, and can rely on the Synology RS810+ and DS411+ to deliver high-performance. Tested in a RAID 5 configuration in a Windows® environment, the Synology RS810+ and DS411+ deliver an average of 112MB/sec reading speed while RS810+ writes at 107MB/sec and DS411+ writes at 106MB/sec. The web server responsiveness rates are remarkable; the Synology RS810+ and DS410+ take less than 32 seconds to handle 1,000 simultaneous requests.

For forward-thinking and continuously expanding SMBs, the Synology RS810+ offers scalable storage up to 16 TB with the RX410, and is expandable to up to 3 GB RAM. The Synology RS810+ was certified to be VMware® ready, delivering a reliable storage solution for virtualization deployment. The hard drives are hot-swappable to ensure continuous service uptime when a drive needs replacement. The modular design allows for rapid in situ replacement of the motherboard. For businesses that require uninterrupted data sharing and protection, the Synology RS810RP+ comes with a redundant power supply, which optimizes data availability and safety.

The Synology RS810+ operates at 68 watts while DS411+ draws at 60.5 watts. With energy conservation features such as Wake on LAN/WAN, scheduled power on/off, and hard drive hibernation, users are not only able to reduce monthly bills, but also reduce their carbon footprint.

“The Synology RS810+ and DS411+ run on the award-winning operating system, Synology DiskStation Manager 2.3 (DSM 2.3), and are specifically designed for businesses that want an affordable alternative to various network devices or costly PC servers,” said Rosiel Lee, product manager at Synology Inc. The Synology RS810+ and DS411+ will host up to 30 websites with Web Station, become affordable NVR solutions, supporting up to 20 IP cameras with Surveillance Station, and act as mail servers with Mail Station. In addition, comprehensive business- oriented features are provided, including cross-platform data sharing, encrypted data storage and transmission, all-round backup solution, iSCSI capability and Windows ADS integration.

Availability

The Synology RS810+, RS810RP+, RX410 and DS411+ are now shipping worldwide.

Connectivity includes twin gigabit ethernet and four USB 2.0 ports, which can be used to add extra external storage.  It’s also straightforward to backup external content to the BlackArmor array, or vice-versa, and you can use it to perform Bare Metal Restores across your home or office network.

DLNA, an iTunes server, remote access, various degrees of access control and quota settings, and ten user licenses of Windows-only backup software round out the deal.  The Seagate BlackArmor NAS 400 is available either as a barebones unit for $399.99, or in 4TB, 6TB or 8TB pre-configurations for $899.99, $1,199.99 or $1,499.99 respectively.

Press Release:

Seagate Unveils Customizable Small Business Network Storage Server
New BlackArmor® NAS 400 Server Delivers Protection, Performance and Flexibility

SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – July 13, 2010 – Seagate (NASDAQ: STX) today introduced the BlackArmor® NAS 400 network storage server, a secure, scalable and reliable 4-bay network storage enclosure designed for the growing storage needs of small businesses and households. This newest addition to the Seagate BlackArmor family of storage solutions allows customers to customize the box to meet their specific requirements and add more storage as needed. Available immediately through Seagate.com and CDW, the BlackArmor NAS 400 server can be purchased for a manufacturer’s suggested retail price (MSRP) of $399.99.

The BlackArmor NAS 400 server gives customers the option to install the disk drives of their choice, selecting from an variety of Seagate-certified products¹ including Seagate Barracuda® low power drives, Barracuda 3.5-inch 7200 RPM drives or the new Barracuda® XT hybrid drive for maximum performance. A scalable solution, the BlackArmor NAS 400 server allows customers to start by inserting one drive and add up to three more as their business grows.

Similar to Seagate’s other two-and-four bay NAS solutions, the BlackArmor NAS 400 network storage server includes:

Backup and protection tools for up to 50² network-connected PCs with incremental and full-system, automatic backup.
User-configurable RAID 0/1/5/10 & JBOD capabilities, providing a variety of data protection options to help avoid data loss due to hard drive failure.
Hot-swappable drives — no tools required.
Microsoft® Active Directory 2003/2008 support.
Secure remote access with intuitive, web-based management interface, allowing customers to designate user access manually or integrate with Microsoft® Active Directory 2003/2008.
Windows 7 certification.
Ability to centralize, stream and share media files and documents from computers on a network, share them with other DLNA® compliant devices and computers on the network running iTunes® software.
Full system recovery of the operating system, programs and settings, in the event of a system crash or failure with SafetyDrill+™ software.
Event notification to help prevent and manage drive errors or disruption.
Four additional USB ports to connect extra USB storage, share a USB printer or connect an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) to safeguard from power failure.
A 3-year limited warranty.
The BlackArmor NAS 400 server completes Seagate’s full-line of small and home office business solutions, providing customers with an variety of either plug-and-play or customizable four-bay NAS products from which to choose. With products ranging from 1TB to 8TB, businesses and advanced consumers can buy what they need now and have the confidence that their storage capacity can scale as their business or storage needs grow.