LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Before I take the plunge and buy one, I thought I'd run this by you guys and girls...and Zing.

What are your comments on this NAS? Good VFM?

Anybody got one?

LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS From Dabs.com

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

We have some of those at work, theyre pretty good but you can get better value for money elsewhere

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Think of it as this:

500Gb Hard Drive: £60.00
That means the Caddy with NAS is being charged at £73.24

Surely there are cheaper alternatives?

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

The first question is: do you need one? if you want to share files, just enable sharing of the container folder then map directly to that ip.

That is not vfm at all, you can get barebones nas and get a 500 gb hard disk for less.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I got one 2-3 weeks ago. Very fast and looks good. I have it 60m away, in the summer house, cat5 cable, 1gigabit ethernet. The setup was just plug in and it works. I do back-ups overnight.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

True - but this is an intelligent caddy!

---------- Post added at 12:21 ---------- Previous post was at 12:19 ----------

It's mainly for backup of my hard disk - I'm paranoid about lossing my photos / data etc.

So it's a good way to back them up away from the the PC and with the option to share them out.

OK - examples then please?

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I have a Buffalo Linkstation 250Gig which works a dream. The 500Gig version is £10 more expensive than the Lacie you linked to.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I was going to buy a LinkStation Live untill I read a review on dabs.com.

That has put me off it!

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I see what you mean. I've not had any problems with my linkstation :shrug:

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

XP or Vista?

Are you using any of the supplied software?

I'd like to use the auto-backup software that's shipped with it but it's compatibale - aparently.

Suppose I could always use Volume Shadow Copy Service!

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I've got two XP machines (one XP Pro, one Media Center) and one Mac OS X machine. I don't use the supplied software, and simply backup to it (manually) when I feel like it.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

The Lacie Nas has Linux as OS and the disk is in XFS format. I use windows XP backup.

I have not used the Lacie backup software.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Cool...

Does XFS has any file limitations like it won't store >2GB files?

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

No limitations. I just stored a 22GB file, and 44GB file on it

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I've been using a Bufallo linkstation for years. Just about to pull it apart and put a 500Gb HDD in it.
Only maintainance it has needed is some oil on the fan.
Some of the newer ones have louder fans. The linkstation is pretty quiet. The WD MyBook with an ethernet socket has had comments about how loud it can be with the fan on.
The FTP server function on it is great. I have all external FTP requests to my IP directed to the linkstation which then directs them to a specific folder on the linkstation. That can then either by anonymous or authenticated and read only or read write.
Never really worked with the printer functionality though.
It has my outlook.pst folders on it, my iTunes and i have not had any performance issues, though at the moment it is complaining about me backing up the content of the drive to its attached USB drive while also backing that up to a USB drive attached to the PC!

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

So.....a choice between the Lacie and Buffallo!

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Well I went for the Buffalo LinkStation Live in the end.

Got it yesterday - installed and a quick play last night. It's going to be a bit painfull copying the first backup to it but once that's done it's just a case of copying the changed / new files.

All good so far!

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

How much data are you wanting to backup?

Like you, I'm getting more and more paranoid about loosing my data. I've created a sub-domain at Dream Host and set a backup program to upload an incremental backup of my paperwork and photos to it. Totals about 10GB but worth it (I have 200GB with them)

It was a pain sending the first backup but after that, the increments go in seconds. I know I'll always have an off site copy now too. :)

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

About ~250GB - ~300GB

Thats also a good idea - I have unlimited disk space on my webserver (aparently) - I could do the same there!

What software do you use? Standard FTP? How do you handle the new / changed files and how do you automate it?

So many questions!! :rolleyes:

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I've been thinking about buying something like the above so that several of my family can share music, video and documents.

I friend at work mentioned a Western Digital My Book World Edition.

Is it any good?

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Not had any experience with them, but I did look at them whist trying to decide on what to buy!

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/Products.asp?DriveID=278

I think they all have (mostly) the same features. You can get them with high capicity - ~1TB

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

amazon.com reviews slate it as slow with buggy backup software (though you don't have to use that), buggy firmware (which you are stuck with), noisy fan and poor support of long file names.

Also some funky thing about how you access it from offsite.

I gave up and am in the process of upgrading my linkstation. Pulling the 240Gb drive from it and putting a 500Gb in. This will be the second time I have pulled it apart (last time to oil the fan).

All I and friends need to do to get to my linkstation is type ftp://xx.xx.xx.xx and they are there. As my CM is never switched off it is a rare day when my IP changes. I have told my router to forward all port 21 requests to the linkstation and it then directs them to the publicly available FTP folder on the drive set up with the web based interface.

I have a second firewire drive that the really important stuff is also on. I keep that in my work desk drawer (offsite) when I am not backing up. Gets updated once a month or so, but losing a month of financial records, photos etc is better than a lifetime. That drive will be getting the 240Gb out of the Linkstation when that upgrade is done and the 120 that is in there will be going to another home to become my dads backup drive.

Amazon.co.uk reviews
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digi...5545112&sr=8-1
Amazon.com reviews
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digita...5545263&sr=1-2

I have a 'my book' hooked into the USB port of the my linkstation so this is not me slating WD products. I have also just bought a WD HDD as the replacement 500Gb HDD.

The LaCie gets better feedback.

My Linkstation is pretty fast. I have my outlook PST files on there. I run an accounting application compiled in MS Access from there and it holds my iTunes library. I see about 25-35% througput on my 100Mb ethernet card via a v1.1 WRT54G

The only app I don't run off it is video editing but that is why I have a RAID0 in my desktop.

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Or they can get too it byt typing: http://buffalonas.com/<linkstationname>

:D

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

That is a cool feature, my linkstation does not have it and it does not support upload, but I like it. I don't think Buffalo do linkstation firmware updates. [edit - they do... http://www.buffalotech.com/support/downloads/ ]

This is the one I have

http://www.amazon.com/Buffalo-HD-H25.../dp/B0002ICEIQ

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Yes they do!

Support Downloads

Although I don't see yours listed...

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Have just looked at Amazon and yes the WD My Book doesn't get good reviews, one of the main ones is the speed transfer issue some reporting speeds of 4MB/s (How can this be?)

On the other hand the LinkStation has a reported speed of 35MB/s

Can anyone recommend anything to compare with the LinkStation or is this the best one to get

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Give me a few days and I'll tell you what speeds I get..

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

That makes sense. Task manager shows my 100Mbps card operating at about 25-40% utilisation. Moving many little files cripples the speed (i guess all those acks).
I have no experience of the other devices. I was looking at the World Book Terastations in J&R last week, the look nice, but never used one. Glad this thread came along. I never looked at opinions on them until now and that kinda puts me off them.
On the Linkstation, the noise problem is down to the fan bearings needing oil. It is a fiddly fix. I looked to replace the fan, but it is actually quite hard to get hold of the specific fan as it is a variable speed. Most, and the two I bought 40*40*10 fans were not varispeed. Since the 3in1 sorted the problem out that seemed the easier fix that a solder iron / new fan.

Anyone here know were you can get a 40*40*10 varispeed fan that draws around 0.07A?

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

I use the attached piece of "cardware"

I find it great - just wish you could password the zip files too :)

Re: LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS
 

Well I've finally took the plunge and ordered myself a LaCie 500GB Ethernet Disk Mini Gigabit NAS from Amazon, instead of the Buffalo one.

I liked the idea that it is quite and the power supply was separate, also it works fine with Linux, Apple and Windows.

I will review it once it arrives and is installed with all my i-tunes, pictures and movies.