Freecom's SilverStore 2-Drive NAS 2TB isn’t your
run-of-the-mill black box. Instead, its metal chassis is silver. Unfortunately,
this bold move doesn't do much for its looks, but at least it feels tough. The
same can’t be said for the disk caddies, as the pop-out plastic handles used to
pull the drives from the device are flimsy and uncomfortable to grip. We were
also unhappy with quite how much force we had to exert just to get the drives
out.
SilverStore 2-drive NAS 2TB
On the front of the device is a power switch, a bank of
status lights and a USB3 port. At the back, there’s a USB port and the usual
Gigabit Ethernet port. It’s a little noisier than most NAS devices, producing a
low hum that vibrated through our desk until we put a magazine under it.
The NAS device showed up on our network as a storage and
media device, but its hard disks didn't immediately appear as an accessible
share. You must first configure it using either the device's web interface,
which Windows users can access by double-clicking the SilverStore icon in their
file manager’s network browser screen, or the Freecom Network Storage Assistant
(FNSA) program, which is supplied on an installation disc.
The FNSA software simplifies basic configuration, such as
changing the NAS device's IP address, and there are also handy tools for
mapping its network share to the drive letter of your choice and even adding a
USB printer that you've connected to it. More advanced configuration must be
carried out through the web interface, to which the application provides a
shortcut. The FNSA isn’t essential by any means, as its options are available
from the NAS device's web interface, but the software is helpful and well
designed.
The device uses
Raid 0 by default, but we also ran speed tests using the more secure Raid 1
configuration, which mirrors your data
The web interface is also clearly designed, with its various
features filed under tabs. A backup manager lets you back up the contents of
the NAS device to a connected USB disk, and there's a downloader tab that's
home to the device's rintegrated BitTorrent client. It supports the Tonido
remote access service, which lets you access the contents of the SilverStore
NAS 2TB via a web browser or a mobile phone app wherever you are. The
SilverStore also has the usual UPnP and iTunes media servers, plus access and
quota restriction options to limit the actions of users and groups you've set
up. Unfortunately, it can’t act as a print server for USB printers.
The device uses Raid 0 by default, but we also ran speed
tests using the more secure Raid 1 configuration, which mirrors your data; it
provides less storage space but greater security against data loss if one of
the drives fails. Unusually, the SilverStore 2TB was faster in Raid 1 mode. In
Raid 0 mode, the average speed of our large-file read and write tests was
32MB/s, which rose to 39.8MB/s in Raid 1 mode. Similarly, small files
transferred at an average rate of 8.6MB/s in Raid 0 configurations, and
12.1MB/s when using the Raid 1 configuration.
These fast transfer speeds make it one of the best
performing NAS devices we’ve reviewed, but it’s poor value for storage. For
$360 you get just two 1TB disks, whereas you get two 2TB drives in Western
digital’s superior my book live Duo 4TB.
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Info
Price: $360
Details: www.freecom.com
Verdict: This slightly cheap-looking NAS device is faster
than many rivals, but it's expensive for the amount of storage it provides
Network storage device: 2x 1TB hard disk,
10/100/1000Mbit/s network connection, 2 USB ports, UPnP media, iTunes, USB
disk, FTP servers
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