The LinkStation Pro 2TB is a sleek single-disk NAS device
that's about the size of a typical router. Unlike larger devices, it’s not
designed to be opened or upgraded. It has a Gigabit Ethernet port and a USB
port to which you can connect an additional drive to boost its capacity. The
on/ off switch also includes an auto mode that lets the NAS device power down
when it's not in use and power back up as soon as a connected PC tries to
browse its contents.
Buffalo linkstation pro 2TB
Configuration is easy. Clicking a big install button maps
the NAS device as a network drive and prompts you to install Buffalo's NAS
Navigator configuration tool. It also gives you the option of installing
utilities such as Network-USB Navigator, which automatically detects and
provides access to USB drives when you connect them to the NAS device. Another,
TurboPC, purportedly increases transfer speeds between the NAS device and your
PC, while TurboCopy supposedly makes Windows file copies faster, and NovaBackup
lets you schedule backups.
We were pleased to find that we could detect the NAS device
on our network and access its web interface from our browser without installing
any software. The web interface provides all the tools you need to configure your
device, from formatting its hard disk to creating users and giving them
different access privileges.
The LinkStation
Pro is one of the most feature-packed NAS devices around, offering a wealth of
extra features that range from the commonplace
The LinkStation Pro is one of the most feature-packed NAS
devices around, offering a wealth of extra features that range from the
commonplace, such as remote web access, to an array of popular media-streaming
options that let you share your stored movies and music. It can also act as a
Squeezebox, DLNA or iTunes server. The USB port on its back panel can be used
to share extra storage across your network or connect a USB printer. Other
features include the ability to upload pictures in a designated directory to Flickr,
connect an Eye-Fi wireless SD card, and back up content to the NAS device from
Apple devices using Time Machine. It even has a BitTorrent client that lets you
download items without having to leave your PC switched on.
Unfortunately, the LinkStation Pro is also remarkable for
its extremely slow file transfer speeds. It's at its fastest if you install
Buffalo's speed-enhancing tools on the computer from which you're copying. This
software uses your PC's memory to cache data during transfer, but even when we
used this we measured an average transfer speed of just 37MB/S in our
large-file transfer test and 6.4MB/s in our small-file test. Without using the
software, transfer speeds dropped to 27.4MB/s and 6MB/s respectively. Although
its slow speeds are likely to be a problem if you regularly run large backups
or stream media to multiple devices, you’ll have no problems streaming
standard-desfinition movies or audio to a single client.
The LinkStation Pro 2TB costs around 9p per gigabyte, and
its single 2TB drive means that you can’t set up redundant storage on a second
drive. Despite its comparatively low price of $214, we recommend buying a
two-drive device, such as Western digital’s my book live Duo 4TB.
|
Info
Price: $214
Details: www.buffalo-technology.com
Verdict: This single-drive NAS device is easy to use, but
it's slow
Network storage device: 2TB hard disk, 10/100/1 ,000Mbit/s
network connection, 1 USB port, UPnP media, iTunes, print, USB disk, web, FTP
servers
|
