nas

Sigh. I should have known this morning's Best Buy Netbook would sell out. Grumble, grumble. Well, here's something just as good, IMHO.

Dell has the Iomega 1TB Home Media Network Hard Drive for $114.99 shipped. That's one of the best NAS deals I've ever seen.

An NAS (network-attached storage) system is great for backing up and sharing media between multiple household computers. It also makes any selected data available over the Internet--nice for sharing, say, photo slideshows with distant relatives.

Be sure to read CNET's review of the Iomega drive and watch the above … Read more

Microsoft announced Thursday its latest update to the Windows Home Server, the Power Pack 3. Originally, this upgrade was planned to be rolled out prior to the launch of Windows 7, but it was delayed due to a problem found during testing.

Power Pack 3 is much like a service pack to Windows Home Server, which is a special version of the Windows operating system designed specially for network-attached storage devices, such as the HP MediaSmart servers.

Judging from a few Windows Home Server-based NAS servers we've reviewed, Windows Home Server significantly helps new consumers familiarize themselves with network-attached … Read more

It's fair to say that so far Synology is the NAS maker with the fewest misses. Ever since the company joined the network storage arena in early 2008, it has earned three CNET Editors' Choice awards, with the newest one being the DS409Slim.

Synology NAS servers offer a vast number of features; signature among those are the advanced surveillance system, sophisticated photo sharing/managing capability, and a robust user interface. And now Synolgoy has overcome one of its only former missteps: by adding support for Apple's Time Machine.

The company announced Wednesday the launch of its new four-bay … Read more

If you like the StorCenter ix2 NAS server, Iomega has some news for you.

The company announced Thursday the next generation of the server, the Iomega StorCenter ix2-200. This is a dual-bay NAS server that can be set up in RAID 1 configuration for data protection.

Like the previous version, the new server doesn't offer a quick way to replace the hard drive. You will have to use quite a bit of screwdriving work to get this done, which means no hot-swapping, either. Some other two-bay NAS servers, such as the QNAP TS-239 Pro, offer a tool-free way to do this. The new Iomega NAS server also lacks an eSATA port for external storage.

To make up for this, it has Bluetooth support, which has been the unique feature of Iomega NAS servers, and comes with three USB ports that can be used with both USB external hard drives and printers. The server is powered by EMC's Linux-based proprietary firmware, which offers a generous set of network storage features, including:… Read more

Like most editors at CNET, I often receive questions from CNET readers about specific problems. Here are a few that were brought up to me in the last month.

Q: My laptop's Wireless-N adapter only caps at 130Mbps even though my D-Link DIR-855 can offer 300Mbps speeds. What can I do to boost the wireless speed of the laptop?

A: That might already be the best you can get. Wireless-N (802.11n) comes in different "tiers" with different amounts of streams (also referred to as antennae). Each stream offers a throughput speed up to 150Mbps.

While most routers are dual-stream and cap at 300Mbps (future ones can even support multistream, offering speeds up to 450Mbps or even 600Mbps), a lot of adapters built in to laptop and notebook computers to conserve the battery life use the single-stream standard. This means they cap at 150Mbps (which translates into something around 130Mbps, which is plenty fast, by the way). Also note that the throughput decreases as you increase the range. Generally the optimal range for the Wireless-N is between 15 feet and 70 feet away.

Q: Does my laptop have to have a dual-band adapter to take advantage of dual-band routers, such as the Linksys WRT610n, the Apple Airport Extreme or the D-Link DIR-825?

A: No, it doesn't matter how many bands an adapter supports; wireless networking devices only connect to one another in one band at a time.… Read more

Thinking that its Ready NAS line of storage devices is too business-centric, Netgear on Monday announced a line of its network-attached storage servers, the Netgear Stora, that Drew Meyer, director of marketing for Netgear's NAS unit, called "most definitely a platform for everyone."

The new NAS server is a two-bay storage device that can hold two internal SATA hard drives of any capacity. For now, that means drives offering up to 2TB of storage in RAID1 (mirrored) configuration. This RAID configuration mirrors data on two drives for protection against a hard drive failure.

The server supports PCs, … Read more

Do you want to turn a USB hard drive into a cheap, easy network-attached storage device? Seagate's DockStar is designed to let you do just that. Like the preceding Dock+ model, the DockStar can host a FreeAgent Go drive in its cradle, plus up to three other USB drives. However, instead of linking to your PC via USB, the DockStar uses its Ethernet port to live on your home network.

Network access is enabled via technology Seagate has licensed from Pogoplug--in other words, it's just a Seagate-skinned version of Pogoplug's interface. That's a good thing, since … Read more

HP announced its fall lineup today, which included new Windows 7 laptops, an Ion-powered Netbook, SmartMedia network storage products, an all-in-one desktop, and an assortment of business-centric monitors.

HP gets an Ion-powered HD Netbook With a Nvidia Ion processor and a 1,366x768 11.6-inch screen, the HP Mini 311 looks to be the type of souped-up HD Netbook we've been waiting for. (Posted in Crave by Scott Stein) September 14, 2009, 9:06 p.m. PDT

HP 13-inch laptops bring on aluminum and affordability Just in time for Windows 7 comes HP's new Windows 7-preinstalled 13-inch thin-and-lights. (… Read more

I reviewed the HP MediaSmart LX190 a while ago, and though I wished it had more storage, I still gave it the editors' choice award for its great performance. And now both the storage and performance have been increased.

HP launched Monday the two new models of the MediaSmart EX490 and MediaSmart EX495 Home Servers, offering increased capacity, high-performance processors, and more features.

Similar to previous models, both new servers are based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform. However, they both now have a refined user interface and a Web-based home page that further facilitates accessing and using the … Read more