Data Robotics has released an SDK for their Drobo robotic RAID array. The Drobo, which we reviewed in August last year, attempts to make backup and data redundancy straightforward by automating much of the RAID process; while it initially was intended for connection to a single PC, the company subsequently released a networking component called DroboShare. With the SDK, Drobo can already be used for UPnP/DLNA media streaming.
Hard-drive company Seagate have announced their latest network-attached storage (NAS) device, the Maxtor Central Axis network drive. Containing 1TB of storage, the monolithic block supports DLNA and UPnP media streaming and secure remote access via the internet.
Typical, you wait all this time for a straightforward twin-drive RAID array and two turn up on the same day. Well, maybe it’s not something we’ve been actively waiting for, but hot on the heels of Western Digital’s My Book Mirror Edition comes I-O DATA’s HDL2-G. Again, it’s a dual-drive unit offering 1TB or 2TB of storage in RAID-0 Striped format, only this time I-O DATA have done the sensible thing and fitted a gigabit ethernet port as well as USB.
Buffalo has done it again expanding their LinkStation NAS line with a new smaller model. The LinkStation mini uses a pair of those 500GB 2.5” notebook drives that everyone’s been cranking out to make an NAS that you can carry around with you.
Not only does this Icy Box NAS box hold a couple of SATA HDDS, any capacity, and share it all on the network, but it does so much more. For starters, you can set up the two drives to run in RAID 0 or 1, Span, or JBOD configurations.
Data backup falls resolutely at the dreary end of the tech-task scale; periodically market researchers release stats showing how few people take the time to safely copy their accumulated files, usually prompting a guilty DVD burning session which never gets repeated. Apple’s Time Capsule, then, was welcomed with excited upon its announcement; with the slick, careful design Apple are renowned for, could they manage to make even backup sexy? To be fair, it’s a pretty huge challenge. You’ll be hard-pressed to find a nicer looking network hard-drive, or one so straightforward to set up, but Time Capsule undoubtedly has its caveats.
So I met with Buffalo at CES, and then shortly after they were kind enough to send me their LinkStation Pro Duo for review. I must say I am impressed, it is quite squarely aimed at business users, but for home users, it has some fairly useful features as well.
This think got its name partly from its intended use, you see currently you have to have a wired, direct-connected hard drive in order to use Time Machine, but with this thing, you can backup wirelessly, or over a network, if you wanted to, and you can backup directly to this drive instead of some other external drive. If this thing works with PC’s as well as Macs, and if it works as just plain old NAS as well as backup storage, than this will by far be my favorite release that was announced today. It’s also the only announcement where the product isn’t available now, in fact, it won’t be available until February.
First up from Steve Jobs’ Macworld 08 Keynote is a wireless NAS: Time Capsule is an AirPort Extreme complete with a server-grade hard-drive that works seamlessly with OS X’s Time Machine backup software. Available in two capacities, 500GB and 1TB, Time Capsule resembles an Apple TV unit with 802.11n WiFi, and will be priced at $299 and $499 respectively.
Oh, all this WiFi N business makes me chuckle, they don’t even have a set standard, its still in draft stages, and they have been selling the hardware for like a year or something like that, so dumb. Anyways, Linksys is bringing you the latest from Draft 2.0.
It uses a Broadcom chipset for dual-band 802.11n goodness and even had gigabit Ethernet ports. You can even hook up an external USB drive and make it into and NAS as well.
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