Sans Digital offers up AccuNAS AN2L 2-bay NAS enclosure

Sans Digital caught our eyes earlier this month with a simple, albeit remarkably nifty CF to SATA adapter, and now it's doing so again with a 2-bay NAS enclosure. The AccuNAS AN2L is a RAID 0/1 chassis that supports file sharing in Windows, OS X and Linux, and it also enables playback of files via a PS3 / Xbox 360 or any other UPnP / DLNA-certified device. You'll also find that this thing doubles triples as an iTunes music server and BitTorrent client, which makes it all the more tempting, does it not? No word on pricing at the moment, but if you're strangely uncomfortable with loading in your own HDDs, the outfit will be selling these with 500GB to 2TB pre-installed for an undisclosed premium.

[John @ Jul 12th 2008 10:58AM]

Neat.

[Joshua @ Jul 12th 2008 10:59AM]

The prices are listed on the site when you click "buy now"

It's $362 with no drives,
add $190 for 2 250GB drives,
or $300 more for 2 500GB drives
or $600 more for 2 750GB drives
or $890 more for 2 1TB drives

[Joseph @ Jul 12th 2008 9:52PM]

This is stupid when i can use FreeNAS and build it myself in a shuttle.

If the case was

[Jazazze @ Jul 12th 2008 10:59AM]

$362 for the diskless version, apparently - http://bit.ly/AccuNAS

[fh @ Jul 12th 2008 10:59AM]

I hope they change the name before they make a 4-bay model.

[Don-Don @ Jul 12th 2008 11:13AM]

It's certainly one way of drawing attention to your product.

[THJ @ Jul 12th 2008 2:47PM]

No way, I've been saving up for some AN4L.

[polvadis @ Jul 12th 2008 4:44PM]

It took my polish brain a second to get that... and another second to just say, WOW.

[vannyx @ Jul 12th 2008 11:11AM]

why do these units cost so much on the base. I know they are small but they tend to overheat and break down. Now if i had a little more it would be a full size computer case but i can create a nas lite server with 4 time the storage capacity for less than the cost of the deluxe model.

[Rhino @ Jul 12th 2008 1:09PM]

Absolutely agree with you, vannyx
The price of all these NAS systems are totaly unacceptable. Think about Netgear's NASs(>1000), you can use that money to build a entry level Xeon Server with even more space!($500 for the system and $500 for hard drives)
$362 just for a box with some software you can get it free from Linux(and you can also add emule if you need). Based on most reviews online, the speed of most NASs are also poor. Copmanies should pay more time to optimize their softwares and offer much better speed. Moreover, I think they can try to add a small built-in UPS just for protecting the user's data.

[TRLK @ Jul 12th 2008 11:45AM]

Not sure about the music playback on PS3/XBOX but aren't all the other features realiezed by other NAS products? They're not unheard of... (and I mean all in one package, not seperatelly)

[CF.electro @ Jul 12th 2008 2:55PM]

exactly. would be nice if it was 3 drivers and supported raid5 at this price point.

[XenoX101 @ Jul 12th 2008 12:18PM]

That's a kinky name.

[KEROLiUKAS @ Jul 12th 2008 12:37PM]

anyone else thought it said ANAL @ first?

[srue @ Jul 12th 2008 1:17PM]

Don't be so AN2L retentive.

[Johnny Bravo @ Jul 12th 2008 12:58PM]

Jesus that thing looks almost IDENTICAL to my Synology DS-207+. I mean, there's no "C" button to auto-copy the contents of the USB drive on the front port, and the lights are different, but aside from that the shell, the feet, the ports and back structure, the number of ports (except the eSATA port) and overall dimensions are IDENTICAL.

-rt

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 12th 2008 2:26PM]

No firewire? Awww.

I am not sure if its a difference between mac or pc, as well as a difference in the hard drive, but Firewire transfers for me are crazy fast.

[Haikibutsu @ Jul 12th 2008 2:27PM]

Not to mention I don't have to waste another USB port. I have 3 USB hubs daisy-chained, and even so I am using all 9 of my ports (excluding my ports for the hubs themselves.

[Johniv @ Jul 12th 2008 8:00PM]

Are you limited to 10 users at a time such as with windows, or can as many people log on at once that are on the LAN. I'm looking to get rid of my server (Windows XP prof) since I have more than 10 users and as it stands now someone has to log off to allow someone to log on.

[MetalMan @ Jul 12th 2008 8:10PM]

WOW How much is this? Was there a price mentioned?

[Jamus @ Jul 12th 2008 9:44PM]

Finally glad to see a company putting some mirroring on these things.

[Ed T @ Jul 12th 2008 11:16PM]

Now if Apple would just tweak OS X to play nice with NAS, buying hardware like this might make sense. As it stands now support for NAS is minimal and network file transfers in OS X are slow and plagued with naming and "illegal" character issues.

[Joseph @ Jul 13th 2008 1:21AM]

FreeNAS uses other protocols and File systems. 48hrs of uptime and i am telling everyone i know about it. that is how good it is.

[Haas @ Jul 14th 2008 7:11PM]

I've been running FreeNAS for atleast a year, probably even 2. It is rock solid. I have 2 machines running it, a 300mhz PII and a 550 PIII, works great. I never turn them off, they only turn off when the power goes out and if that happens that come right back up anyways.

[essentis @ Jul 13th 2008 1:24AM]

The casing is very similar to DLink DNS323 NAS...... is the casing outsourced from the same chinese company?

[Evan @ Jul 13th 2008 8:24AM]

Sounds perfect... except the price. Seriously, WTF? My Buffalo Linkstation, which I easily hacked to add the same functionality, was a 1/3rd the price!

[Rabbitinpumpkin @ Jul 14th 2008 12:33PM]

I just bought a Synology DS-107, which is single bay and does all the same (BT, itunes, etc...). The two bay ones are about the same as the Sans Digital. However it also supports eSATA which will come in handy for upgrading externally.