Buffalo unveils LS-WTGL/R1 NAS: up to 2TB in size

Merely a fortnight after Buffalo cranked out a couple more no-frills units in its ever-expanding NAS lineup, along comes the LS-WTGL/R1 to take over as the new kid on the block. Available in a trio of sizes -- 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB -- these drives all feature a USB socket, gigabit Ethernet jack and web-access abilities. Nothing fancy beyond that, but these bad boys will run you just ¥56,200 ($490), ¥95,600 ($835), and ¥126,500 ($1,105), respectively. Pick the smallest one up later this month, or hold out 'til mid-December if your heart desires one of the larger two.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

[huh @ Nov 7th 2007 10:20AM]

The #1 question is does it run Linux? That means there will be an active third party market of upgrades and additional functionality.

[E71 @ Nov 7th 2007 7:50PM]

Spent less than $1000 -- built a 2TB Micro-ATX Gigabit LAN fileserver. So for less money it can not only act as an NAS, it can be used as my server for whatever (http, bittorrent etc.). Why would I want to pay to get the standalone NAS? Lack of space?

[huh @ Nov 9th 2007 12:35PM]

Yeah, yeah, I did the same, but I think Engadget should include this information as part of the specs list - they sometimes do.

[Sam @ Nov 7th 2007 10:24AM]

so like...won't this huge size (2TB!!) cost about 40 bucks in 2-3 years?

[akatsuki @ Nov 7th 2007 10:43AM]

Why get this over an Netgear/Infrant?

[crescentdavid @ Nov 7th 2007 11:00AM]

I just don't see it ... given the price of the TerraStations, which also offer RAID 5- at comparable prices. ?

[tundraboy @ Nov 7th 2007 11:21AM]

As long as Buffalo is unable to supply a 5 dollar replacement fan that started to go kaput on my LinkStation when it was but 14 months old, I will keep mentioning on Buffalo product reviews that BUFFALO HAS POOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

KEEP AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. They don't stand behind their products. Because of poor replacement parts stocking, a freaking $5 fan has rendered a $300 product virtually useless 14 months after I bought it!

[cbhwr @ Nov 8th 2007 1:57AM]

Good thing that there is such a thing as a 2-year standard warrant by law in civilized countries - should cover dead fans in most cases.

[John @ Nov 7th 2007 11:31AM]

Why does the 2 TB one cost MORE than double the 1TB one?

[dzhiurgis @ Nov 7th 2007 11:38AM]

This is gonna be my christmass present!

[Sam @ Nov 7th 2007 11:56AM]

really, because I'm getting your mom as MY xmas present.
so have fun storing your porn!..i mean time machine updates.

[jimmy @ Nov 7th 2007 1:37PM]

$1105 for 2TB?

Try this:
500gb drive $100 X 4==> 2TB for $400 (more like $240 if you can catch a sale)
Cheap PC to serve as a server $200 max (more like $150 /w shipping at geeks.com)
Router + Network card + IDE/SATA card (probably don't need, many pc's can run 4 drives out of box) =$100 max
Load your fav operating system and share the drives across your network

Total: $500-$700. Save at least $400 plus you get nice server that you can run anything you want on it and easy to keep adding storage.

[Typhoid Mary @ Nov 7th 2007 9:08PM]

Many people don't want a full sized box thats going to gobble up electricity just to share files. They want something simple, that doesn't really need updating or screwing with (like most OSes do). Thats were a NAS comes in.

Also you forgot to add the cost of an OS (unless you pick Linux or plan on torrenting it ;) )

[jimmy @ Nov 7th 2007 10:36PM]

I don't think this will eat up too much electricity:
http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=D530-SFF-6B&cat=SYS

Besides, you can set it up to power down at night and wake up in the morning, or do wake on LAN. Add a wireless card and you can put it in your attic and never worry about it. Many options, totally configurable, which you really can't say about the Buffalo unit.

Setting up linux to serve files should not be that difficult.
http://www.melbpc.org.au/pcupdate/2403/2403article7.htm


Yes, it's not just plug and play, you need to do some work to get it running. But for a $400 price difference, it's worth it. I don't think it would take more than 2 hours to install and set up filesharing on linux.