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 video. We liked the drive's easy setup and support for external USB drives and printers, but found it lacking in advanced features.
Still, for just a few bucks more than the price of a regular old 1TB external drive, you get a NAS that's far more versatile. Definitely worth a look if you're in the market for copious home-friendly storage.
Backup deal: Also at Dell, you can snag one of those Wasabi PZ310 pocket printers, plus a 48-pack of paper, for $39 shipped. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, these things are really fun. Splendid little gift item.
On Sale Now: $128.99 - $179.95
View the latest prices for Iomega Home Media Network Drive (1TB)
Windows Home Server soon gets supercharged to better support Windows 7.
(Credit: Screenshot by Dong Ngo/CNET)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 storage devices by providing a similar management console, features, and file system support to those of the Windows operating system for desktop computers.
According to Windows Home Server Team's blog, the Power Pack 3 will be available next Tuesday in all shipping languages (including Chinese, English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, and Spanish). The pack will be free and can be downloaded via Windows Update.
If you plan to manually download it, the Power Pack 3 requires Windows Home Server with Power Pack 2 already installed. However, if your NAS server is connected to the Internet, Power Pack 3 will be automatically installed as part of automatic updates. Make sure you turn this feature on.
The major improvement the Power Pack 3 delivers is support for Windows 7, especially in the realms of backing up and media playback. The breakdown:
- Windows 7 Libraries integration: Now users can access Windows Home Server shared folder from within Windows 7 libraries.
- Windows 7 Action Center backup warning suppression: Windows 7 Action Center now recognizes Windows Home Server as a legitimate backup solution and stops warning you that a backup has not been set up.
- Windows 7 power settings: Windows Home Server can wake a Windows 7-based computer to do a backup, then put it back to sleep once the backup is done.
- Windows Search: Power Pack 3 includes Windows Search 4, which improves query search times, indexing times, and reliability. Files encrypted with EFS are now supported.
- TV archive: Windows Home Server can automatically archive recorded TV by moving your recordings from a Windows Media Center computer to your home server in the format of your choice. This is actually a very handy feature if you want to play back recorded TV shows to multiple devices, including portable ones.
For the complete details of what you can get from the Power Pack 3, check out the release documentation. It seems if you move to Windows 7, the Power Pack 3 upgrade is a must for your Windows Home Server-based NAS servers.
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.
The new DS410j NAS server from Synology supports Time Machine.
(Credit: Synology)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 NAS server, the DS410j. This new NAS server carries all the features of other Synolgoy NAS servers and, on top of that, support for Apple's popular backup solution. For the first time ever, Mac users can use Time Machine (available in Mac OS 10.5 and later) with a Synology NAS server. Currently, very few NAS servers on the market support this feature.
Beyond that update, according to Synology, the DS410j is designed for busy home networks and entry-level businesses. It can house four 3.5-inch SATA hard drives of up to 2TB each, making the total storage up to 8TB. Like other models, the DS410j supports multiple RAID configurations when used with two or more hard drives. It also comes with automated backup, remote file sharing, and multimedia streaming features and is fully DNLA-compliant.
The DS410j is available now both with and without hard drives. Its price varies depending on the configuration; however, like other Synogloy NAS servers, it will not be cheap. It seems that affordability is something that Synolgoy will continue to miss for a while.
On Sale Now: $389.99 - $399.37
View the latest prices for Synology Disk Station DS409slim
The new StorCenter ix2-200 from Iomega.
(Credit: Iomega)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 moreLike 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.
It's probably time I went wireless myself.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)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
On Sale Now: $169.99 - $224.20
View the latest prices for Linksys WRT610N Simultaneous Dual-N Band Wireless Router
On Sale Now: $109.99 - $165.00
View the latest prices for D-Link Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router DIR-825
On Sale Now: $174.99 - $239.00
View the latest prices for D-Link Xtreme N Storage Router DIR-685
On Sale Now: $294.97
View the latest prices for Apple Time Capsule (1TB, Winter 2009)
Netgear Stora NAS server.
(Credit: Netgear)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, Macs, and Linux computers. It also supports digital media streaming and is Windows Media 7-compliant. It has one USB port that can be used to connect external hard drives for extra storage or to share a USB printer. At 6.90 inches by 5.91 inches by 5.74 inches, the NAS is cube-shaped and weighs about 3 pounds without hard drives.
While I haven't seen the product yet, judging from its specs and photos, Meyer's idea of a NAS platform for everyone seems rather simple. The Stora neither supports RAID0 (which is optimized for speed and large storage capacity), nor does it have eSATA ports. It also doesn't have more than one USB port and it's on the front of the server--not an ideal spot to add a permanent storage device or printer. It's also likely that it doesn't offer advanced home NAS servers functions, such as PC-less download or FTP server.
According to Netgear, the Stora offers remote access via the MyStora Web site where users can do cross-platform file sharing, music listening, movie watching, and photo sharing from any Internet-connected device. Netgear also will offer a yearly premium service to support additional remote access and third-party service integration such as Flickr and mobile phones. The service costs $20 after an initial 30-day trial period.
For the local network, the sever also supports multiple media streaming standards and is able to host digital content for iTunes as well as game consoles such as the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, as well as for smartphones.
The Netgear Stora (MS2110) comes with a 1TB hard drive installed; however, users can put the second hard drive in, on the fly, without any tools and the server will automatically mirror the content of the first hard dive. The Stora also comes with automatic backup utilities for PCs and Macs.
The Netgear Stora is available immediately and costs $229.
Seagate's DockStar can support up to four USB drives
(Credit: Seagate)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 Pogoplug's standalone product is exceptionally simple to set up and easy to use.
The system offers a Web interface for accessing the drive's files from any computer (on your home network, or worldwide via the Internet). The Web interface works on any Web browser, it requires no software installation, and lets you set specific folders for others to access, as well as publish RSS feeds of your files to various social networking sites (Twitter, Facebook, MySpace). Alternately, you can download Pogoplug's software plug-ins for mapping the DockStar to a drive letter on Windows, Mac, and Linux machines. Even better, Pogoplug offers a free iPhone app that lets you access files via iPhones and iPod Touch handhelds.
On the downside, Seagate is charging $30 per year for the capability to access the drive from outside your home network (after one year of free access). That contrasts with Pogoplug's standalone product, which requires no fees. With DockStar and Pogoplug both costing $99, we'd be inclined to go with Pogoplug's instead. That said, Seagate is planning to add SMB drive support to the DockStar via a future firmware update. That feature--not currently available on Pogoplug's standalone product--should allow the DockStar drives to be accessible via non-PC DLNA-compatible network devices, including Seagate's own FreeAgent Theater+.
The Seagate DockStar is available as of Wednesday. (The Pogoplug has been available since early 2009.)
On Sale Now: $69.99 - $103.60
View the latest prices for Seagate FreeAgent DockStar
HP's new Envy laptop: is this the MacBook clone you've been waiting for?
(Credit: HP)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.
(Posted in Crave by Scott Stein)
September 14, 2009, 9:04 p.m. PDT
HP's new business monitors not bad for nonbusiness people
HP announces entertainment-supporting business monitors.
(Posted in Crave by Eric Franklin)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP launches new SmartMedia network storage servers
HP launches new home servers with larger storage, faster processors, and enhanced features for PCs and Macs.
(Posted in Crave by Dong Ngo)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP introduces first nontouch all-in-one
HP's Pavilion All-In-One MS214 is the company's first nontouch all-in-one.
(Posted in Crave by Rich Brown)
September 14, 2009, 9:01 p.m. PDT
HP goes high-end with two new Envy laptops
Ditching the Voodoo branding of the first Envy laptop, HP is aiming at the very upper ends of the market with its new Envy 13 and Envy 15 laptops, both announced today.
(Posted in Crave by Dan Ackerman)
September 14, 2009, 9 p.m. PDT
The new SmartMedia EX495 from HP.
(Credit: Dong Ngo/CNET)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 server.
The servers also come equipped with 2GB of RAM and faster processors. The EX495 sports an Intel Pentium Dual Core CPU, while the budget-line EX490 runs an Intel Celeron CPU.
The first of these two models' new feature is a Video Converter that automatically converts video libraries; including unprotected DVDs. Users then can stream the video, as well as other digital content, from within the home network or over the Internet.
The second new feature is the Media Collector, which allows users to collect media by computer, media type, or file location. This features enable the SmartMedia server to automatically collect and organize media files from across Macs and PCs and store them on the server for later streaming.
Other than that, both the EX490 and the EX495 offer additional features for Mac users, including administration, media collection, and a new disc recovery utility that provides complete recovery on a Mac using Time Machine.
iPod Touch and iPhone users can also download a free app called MediaSmart Server Stream from Apple's App Store to play digital media stored on a new SmartMedia server, be it music or photos or video.
Both new servers can support up to 4 SATA hard dives and a total of up to 7TB of internal storage, plus 10TB of storage via external hard drives (connected via USB and eSATA ports). They are, however, shipped with only one hard drive. The EX490 comes with 1TB of hard disk storage and costs $549, while the EX495 comes with 1.5TB and costs $699.
The servers don't support any RAID configuration but has a duplication feature that keeps data safe in case of hard-drive failure. The omission of RAID support also means you can use hard drives of different capacities with the new servers, without losing their storage space.
The new HP SmartMedia servers will be available by October, but you can preorder them starting today.
(Credit:
Iomega)
It's back-to-school time, and this is something students might get to use without having to pay for.
Iomega announced Thursday the worldwide availability of the quad-drive desktop NAS server, the Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d. EMC, the parent company of Iomega, simultaneously announced that as part of its Academic Alliance Program which has the participation of more than 300 universities and colleges around the world, each school will score a StorCenter ix4-200d NAS appliance.
The new NAS server--which is geared toward small businesses and home office environments--can support four SATA hard drives of up to 2TB each, making the combined storage amount up to 8TB. It supports RAID 5 and RAID 10 (a combination of RAID 1 and RAID 0) as well as JBOD and is said to be so easy to use you can get it up and running via a few mouse clicks.
Other features of the NAS server include:
... Read more
