TSGL: NAS Recommendations?

Tue Feb 26 22:21:43 EST 2008

Yes, but the NAS drives are gone, only USB types left or did I miss 
something?

H Davis

Ethan Bell wrote:
> SimpleTech was purchased by FABRIK. You can see their line of Storage
> products here: http://www.simpletech.com/products/storage/. I saw a 1.5TB
> for around $500.00.
>
> -Ethan
>
> "A person pushed against their will is of the same opinion still."
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: list-bounces at tsgserver.com [mailto:list-bounces at tsgserver.com] On
> Behalf Of H Davis
> Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2008 4:15 PM
> To: Tech Support Guy Mailing List
> Subject: Re: TSGL: NAS Recommendations?
>
> David,
>
> I'm using a SimpleShare NAS 1.1, 500GB by SimpleTech. I've been using it 
> about 6 months and it's worked flawlessly since I installed it. I went 
> to check on the vendor's site and it looks like they've been acquired by 
> someone else and aren't making any network drives any more (sigh). You 
> might still find one around at some of the clearance type vendors. The 
> model # was STI-NAS/500
>
> It's quiet and you can set it to spin down (not power down) after a user 
> specified time. This is an important feature because you really have to 
> leave it on all the time or it's not useful. If it spins down it takes 
> about 3-5 seconds to automatically spin up when you do anything that 
> uses it, and a few things that don't use it (??).
>
> It has 2 USB connectors on the back that can be used for a backup drive. 
> I'm not using those for that purpose. If you use it as a network drive 
> (it actually stores executables and documents that you call up for use 
> on your computers) vs a back up drive (my use) then you might be 
> interested in the ability to attach USB back up drives to it. This is a 
> common feature of NAS drives.
>
> It also has a print server allowing you to plug your USB printer into a 
> USB connector on the back of the unit and print to it from any machine. 
> I use this and it works fine. However, be aware that, as far as I can 
> determine, no print servers support all the functions of the printer 
> which is attached. In my case reporting of the ink status doesn't make 
> it back to the computer. It seems that the information flows only one 
> way, from the computer(s) to the printer. My requirements are minimal so 
> it works for me. A print server is a less common feature of NAS drives.
>
> They also have a feature called iShare which allows you to create a web 
> page/site on the drive which you can access from anywhere through a 
> personal net address routed through the SimpleTech servers, something 
> like yourname.simpletech.com. This gives you access to anything on the 
> drive from anywhere you have web access. I'm not using this either. It 
> requires fixed addressing on your local network. This is also a less 
> common feature of NAS drives and relies on the vendor providing the 
> actual internet interface.
>
> I bought mine from Newegg.com for $142. Although they don't have it any 
> more, the reviews are still there at:
> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822100016
>
> Amazon doesn't have it either but they had it and the reviews are still 
> there at:
> http://www.amazon.com/review/product/B000G18NRA/ref=dp_db_cm_cr_acr_txt?%5Fe
> ncoding=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
>
> There are plenty of mega-featured network drives out there but most cost 
> more than this one. This was a pretty good deal for the money. Remember, 
> speed isn't really a consideration because, unless you're using a 
> gigabit network, the network will be much slower than the drive. Even a 
> USB drive is 4 times faster (480Mb USB vs 100Mb Ethernet vs 56Mb wireless).
>
> When you do get a NAS drive it makes life easier if you map drive 
> letters on your computers to folders on the drive so you can refer to 
> them easily on your computer rather than having to dig deeply into My 
> Network Places all the time. Drives appear at the top levels of the 
> folder tree and are easy to find. You can even rename the drive to give 
> it a meaningful name.
>
> For example, on my NAS drive I have a folder called Common that is 
> mapped to drive Z: on each of my machines. We use this to pass stuff 
> back and forth.
>
> Also on the NAS drive I have folders for each machine that are used for 
> backing up that machine. On each computer drive Y: is mapped to the 
> corresponding folder on the NAS containing the back up for that machine. 
> This way someone else's back up area doesn't appear on your machine and 
> if you use an automated back up scheme it will be the same for each 
> machine because each thinks it's backing up to Y: even though Y: is 
> mapped to different NAS folders on each computer.
>
> If you're interested I can send you a pdf of the instruction manual, 96 
> pages. Seeing some details may be useful even if you aren't going to get 
> this drive.
>
> I've found the NAS easy to set up and immensely useful since I got it. I 
> should have gotten one a long time ago.
>
> HTH
>
> H Davis
>
> David Goldstein wrote:
>   
>> I'm starting to look for a network attached storage device for my home.  I
>> have a desktop Windows XP machine and Mac G4 wired to my router and use a
>> few laptops wirelessly.  I want all these machines to be able to access
>>     
> this
>   
>> device.  I have seen many of these devices advertised but was curious what
>> people on the list have to say on the matter.  Anyone care to make
>> suggestions/recommendations?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Dave
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>>   
>>     
>
>   

-- 
H Davis   hdavis1 at gmail.com