NetworkAttachedStorage
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The best network-attached storage
This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer's guide to the best technology. Read the full article here. After three weeks of research, plus hands-on testing of a half-dozen finalists, we found that the QNAP TS-251 is the best network-attached storage device (NAS) for people who need one. It has a faster processor and more memory than most NAS near its price, and it has flexible, powerful software that does everything most NAS users need and more.
WD's latest cloud tech gives you a reason to forget Dropbox
Let's be honest: the cloud features bundled with hard drives tend to suck. They're seldom more than nice freebies that you ignore while you set up Dropbox, Google Drive or another more sophisticated option. However, WD (aka Western Digital) might give you an incentive to try its in-house offering. It's launching My Cloud OS 3, a platform that gives connected hard drives (including network-attached storage) some of the features you take for granted on dedicated online services. It'll automatically sync not just between PCs, but from the camera rolls of your mobile devices. You'll have web- and app-based access to your storage, as well. True, you can find this kind of syncing elsewhere, but this gives you an alternative that won't leave you feeling pangs of regret... so long as you're using WD storage, at least.
Linksys unveils networked storage and its fastest WiFi router yet
You knew that Linksys wouldn't sit idly by while competitors like ASUS and Netgear rolled out extra-fast WiFi routers -- sure enough, the Belkin-owned networking giant is coming to CES 2015 with some speedy wireless of its own. The company's EA8500 promises brisk, interruption-free 802.11ac at 1.73 Gbps thanks to both multi-user antennas (which keeps the speed up when the network is crowded) and a relatively quick 1.4GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. It's also loaded with frills, such as four Gigabit Ethernet jacks as well as ports to share your eSATA and USB 3.0 storage. The EA8500 will be expensive at $280 when it ships in the spring, but it'll be accompanied by the $180 WRT1200AC if you're willing to settle for "just" 1.3 Gbps while maintaining similar features and hackable firmware.
Toshiba's new drive could take the headaches out of networked storage
There aren't many network-attached hard drives for the home, and those that exist aren't always easy to use... not unless you enjoy drive mapping, anyway. Toshiba may just make the experience simpler with its just-shipped Canvio Home, though. This sequel to the Canvio Personal Cloud takes some of the guesswork out of setting up and finding your storage on your home network; if you just need to drag-and-drop files, you could be up and running within minutes. The Canvio Home also introduces official Mac support. As before, you can access the Canvio Home from anywhere (including Android and iOS apps), and it will stream media to local DLNA-capable gadgets. Toshiba is selling a 2TB version of the new disk for $200, while its 3TB sibling costs $260.
WD upgrades NAS-friendly Red drives with 2.5-inch versions and 4TB desktop model
If you're looking for hard drives built to withstand the rigors of network-attached storage, Western Digital has a treat in store for you. The company just expanded its Red line of NAS-ready drives to include 2.5-inch models in 750GB and 1TB capacities; both disks fit into smaller enclosures while maintaining the Red series' power and speed optimizations for always-on media servers. WD is offering a few perks for desktop users, too. The existing 3.5-inch range now includes a high-capacity 4TB drive, and every new Red model ships with NASware 2.0 technology that should improve reliability. All three Red variants are shipping today; the compact 750GB and 1TB disks respectively sell for $79 and $99, while the 4TB behemoth costs $229.
Plex app now available for Drobo's media-savvy 5N NAS
With its quad-core ARM processor, the Drobo 5N is capable of much more than just storing files, and you can now grab a Plex app to help it live up to that potential. Once installed, it'll turn the NAS into a full blown media server to distribute up to 16TB of protected media to any of your Plex- or DLNA-supported SmartTVs, handheld devices, Mac or PC computers, set top boxes and gaming consoles. Plex said that the Drobo, while not capable of performing real-time video transcoding, will be able to demux multiple video and audio streams and transcode multi-channel audio to stereo AAC in real-time. If you already shelled out $600 for one of the speedy boxes -- on top of the drives to populate it -- the free cost of the app is probably a relief. You can grab it from your Drobo Dashboard.
Seagate Wireless Plus drive appears at the FCC teasing next-gen WiFi storage for Android, iOS
Seagate has jumped into wireless mobile storage with both feet, launching the GoFlex Satellite (now just the Satellite) and even experimenting with an LTE-equipped drive for dedicated road warriors. The FCC has just revealed that Seagate isn't having second thoughts about its strategy anytime soon: a previously unknown Wireless Plus drive has popped up at the US agency carrying 2.4GHz WiFi and a considerably slicker design. We don't know much more, although a handily provided copy of the quick start guide makes clear that the Wireless Plus is still centered on Android and iOS device owners wanting to stream media beyond what's on their internal memory. FCC clearance won't give any clues as to capacities or a ship date, but it suggests that it won't be long before our mobile devices have some added headroom.
Iomega releases two new StorCenter NAS drives to contain that ever-expanding data waistline
If you're an advanced user or small businessperson with a storage shortage, then Iomega's new hardware is probably trying to catch your eye. The StorCenter px2 and ix4 are a pair of full bodied NAS systems that offer a secure and speedy haven for your most important data. Using EMC storage technology, the hardware offers a personal cloud and Time Machine support for Mac using backup-fans. The barebones px2 is $500, with the prices running to $1,200 for a 6TB model, and if you're in need of something heftier, the storage-free ix4 sets you back $600, but can take up to 12TB worth of drive if you splash out $1,300.
Netgear D6300 mates 802.11ac WiFi with ADSL, risks one heck of a mismatch
When Netgear teased a next-generation cable gateway with 802.11ac WiFi, it seemed like a natural fit: WiFi that was a perfect complement to 100Mbps-plus internet speeds. Its new D6300 (not pictured here) isn't necessarily in quite in such equilibrium, depending on just who you have as an internet provider. The hardware is billed as the first ADSL modem and router combo with 802.11ac built-in, but you'll need to use the gigabit Ethernet WAN jack with a fiber or cable internet link to get the most out of that fast wireless at home -- stick to the ADSL2+ and you'll face the wonderfully lopsided combination of a 1.3Gbps WiFi router with a maximum 24Mbps internet pipe. If home network speeds trump what you'll need for the outside world, you'll still get many of the benefits of Netgear's flagship R6300, including USB printer and storage sharing. Netgear starts selling the D6300 through stores in October, although it may be just as likely to come in the arms of a DSL install technician as your own.
Synology launches DiskStation DS413j NAS server for your own private cloud
If you like your data local, but crave remote access, you've now got options like Synology's new DiskStation DS413j -- a network-attached storage (NAS) server for your own private cloud. The feature-packed box has four drive bays for a total of 16TB storage, and you can mix and match HDDs of different sizes without losing the comfort of RAID. Along with what you'd expect from NAS, its media server will stream content to your console or TV via DLNA or UPnP and push tunes to your stereo, with iOS and Android apps for couch DJing. The server will sync your files across computers if you wish, and give you access to all that data on the move via the internet or mobile apps. And, if you need more files, you can download directly using your favorite protocols -- it'll even automate them if you trust RSS feeds to make recommendations. All this can be yours for around $380, depending on the retailer, but don't forget to budget for drives to fill those empty bays. %Gallery-164329%
Toshiba launches Canvio Personal Cloud, network-attached storage with iOS and Android apps
It's been a few years now that Toshiba's been making portable hard drives, so it makes sense that the company would want to venture into larger disks as a next step. Indeed, the company just took the wraps off Canvio Personal Cloud, its first network-attached storage product. The drive itself will be offered in two flavors -- 2TB and 3TB -- but the hook, of course, is that you can use various apps to upload your files and then access them remotely. These applications include desktop software, as well as mobile apps for iOS and Android. In either case, the applications are designed to upload music, video, photos and documents, and all of this content is searchable by date and other filters. The drive will be available sometime next month, starting at $220 for the 2TB version and going up to $250 for 3TB. If you're curious, we've got hands-on photos of the UI past the break.%Gallery-163732%%Gallery-163566%%Gallery-163567%
D-Link unveils Cloud Router 1200 and 2000, dishes out WiFi in tube form
We'll admit: one of the biggest appeals for us in D-Link's new Cloud Router 1200 and 2000 is that tube shape, which is a nice break from the amorphous blobs we're used to as our WiFi routers. Not to say that there aren't convincing technical reasons to like them. Both will let you remotely administrate the 802.11n router's devices from an Android or iOS app, and they both carry four gigabit Ethernet jacks as well as a USB port for some network media storage. The differences lay exclusively in the wireless support, where the single-band 1200 caters to the frugal set at 300Mbps and the simultaneous dual-band 2000 hums along at 600Mbps. Thankfully, the prices of the just-shipping access points are both about right for what you get: the Cloud Router 1200 is a cheap and cheerful $60, and the 2000 won't strain the wallet much more at $100. You can catch the full details of our new cylindrical overlords friends after the break.
Western Digital enters the router market, higher-end models include built-in hard drives
Western Digital is no stranger to media streaming, but until now its specialty has been moving content off a set-top box and onto your television. Now, though, the company is getting into the wireless game as well: it just announced its first networking products, including four dual-band routers and an Ethernet switch. Across the board, the routers use WD's so-called FasTrack technology to prioritize bandwidth-hogging activities like movie streaming, video chats and online gaming. And, like any modern-day router worth its salt, they include options for parental controls, as well as setting up a guest network. At the high end, the N900 Central (pictured) doubles as network-attached storage, suggesting WD was eager to put its hard drive know-how to good use. That'll be available in 1TB and 2TB flavors, and you can use a WD 2 Go website to access the drive remotely. (There are also iOS and Android apps, with a Windows Phone version coming soon.) Rounding out the list, it has four Ethernet ports and one USB connection. Similarly, the N900 router is rated for top speeds of 900 Mbps, except it lacks the built-in storage. In its place, it has seven Gigabit sockets, along with two USB ports. Moving on down the line, the N750 and N600 each have four Ethernet ports and two USB openings, with the N750 maxing out at 750 Mbps and the N600 -- well, you get the idea. Lastly, that switch has eight Gigabit ports if increasing your wired connections is what you're really after. With the exception of the storage-enhanced N900 Central, these are all available today, with prices ranging form $70 for the switch, $80 for the N600, $120 for the N750 and $180 for the N900. The N900 Central won't be available until next quarter, and will cost either $300 or $350 depending on whether you go for the 1TB or 2TB model.
WD TV adds streaming options, tunes televisions near and far to your Slingbox
A raft of goodies has been tacked on to Western Digital's TV Live and TV Live Hub media players including new streams and Vudu movie downloading, but the addition of SlingPlayer might be the most intriguing. Depending on your region, you'll see new channels on the WD set-tops, including The AOL On Network, Red Bull TV, ABC iview (Australia), Acetrax Movies, Maxdome and BILD TV-App. Walmart's Vudu service will also be added, letting domestic and some foreign users buy or rent from a library of 70,000 downloadable films and TV shows. Finally, if you're a frequent traveler, you can pack your WD box and fire up the new SlingPlayer on your hotel TV to watch hometown broadcasts wherever you may be. Provided you've got a Slingbox back home, of course. To find out more and see what's available in your country, check the source or PR below. Show full PR text New International and Domestic Entertainment Options Complement WD TV® Live™ and WD TV® Live Hub™'s 'Play Anything' Popularity IRVINE, Calif., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Western Digital® (NASDAQ: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions and maker of the popular WD TV® media player family, today introduced a variety of new entertainment options for the WD TV Live™ and WD TV Live Hub™ media players. Current and new users can now enjoy Red Bull TV™, ABC iview (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), Acetrax™, Maxdome, the BILD TV-App, and the AOL On Network. They can also watch live and recorded TV with the new SlingPlayer® app and save their premium HD movies to the WD TV Live Hub's internal storage with VUDU. WD's new entertainment choices add to the WD TV media player family's prodigious ability to play personal content such as videos, photos and music by supporting a wide range of media formats. Users can watch content located on any networked PC or Mac® computer in the home, from a network drive such as WD's My Book® Live™ personal cloud storage, and from any directly connected digital camcorder, camera, or USB drive. WD TV Live Hub owners can also save and share pictures and videos from outside the home, using the WD Photos™ app for iPhone®, iPad® and Android™ mobile devices. "WD continuously listens to its customers, and adds the content options they want," said Scott Vouri, vice president and general manager, WD connected home solutions. "With today's addition of hot international and domestic channels, live TV through SlingPlayer, and HD movie rentals, purchases and downloads through VUDU, the WD TV media players truly provide the most entertainment." The WD TV Live Hub is the only media player to offer direct HD movie download service for today's hottest new movie releases purchased from VUDU's large library of movies and TV shows. VUDU is a subscription-free, HD video streaming service, which offers more than 70,000 blockbuster titles including new releases, Hollywood classics, independent films, and TV shows. Because it has an integrated 1TB hard drive, the WD TV Live Hub can save and play back purchased digital content from VUDU, including the high-quality HDX™ video format that features 1080p Full HD and rich Dolby Digital Plus™ 7.1 audio. "By centralizing their entertainment on the WD TV Live Hub, our customers get high-performance full-HD movie playback without overloading their home network or cluttering up the hard drives of other PCs in the house," added Vouri. From "Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol" to "The Muppets" WD brings today's top movies to the WD TV Live Hub for a cinema-like experience at home through the available VUDU service. New Services[1] Now Available: SlingPlayer (worldwide) – With a Slingbox® connected in your home, the SlingPlayer app brings your living room TV experience to your connected device in any room – around the home or around the world. The AOL On Network (US) – The AOL HD app, part of The AOL On Network, features high-definition technology, lifestyle, celebrity and entertainment content updated daily from The AOL On Network, which features video from brands like Engadget, TechCrunch, The Huffington Post and Moviefone. Red Bull TV (worldwide) – A unique online portal offering exclusive high quality programs from the World of Red Bull in HD. Available to nearly all devices – Red Bull TV offers worldwide live webcasts and a thematic catalogue of VODs complementing exclusive shows of the multimedia content of redbull.com. ABC iview (Australia) – ABC iview is Australia's most popular catch-up TV service and is run by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). It features 14-day catch-up from channels ABC1, ABC2, ABC3, ABC4Kids and ABC News 24. Acetrax movies (UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, France, Italy and Austria) – Available on the WD TV Live only, this service offers blockbuster new release and library movies from the major Hollywood studios. maxdome (Germany) – Available on the WD TV Live only, the most popular German video-on-demand service maxdome delivers over 45,000 major film and TV titles. BILD TV-App (Germany) – With the BILD TV-App users navigate easily and comfortably with the remote control through Germany's largest news and entertainment portal. The application offers the latest news and videos from politics, lifestyle, entertainment and sports, as well as the pictures of the day. Availability The WD TV Live and WD TV Live Hub can be purchased at select retailers and online at wdstore.com. About WD WD, a storage industry pioneer and long-time leader, provides products and services for people and organizations that collect, manage and use digital information. The company designs and produces reliable, high-performance hard drives and solid state drives that keep users' data accessible and secure from loss. Its storage technologies serve a wide range of host applications including client and enterprise computing, embedded systems and consumer electronics, as well as its own storage systems. Its home entertainment products enable rich engagement with stored digital content. WD was founded in 1970. The company's products are marketed to leading OEMs, systems manufacturers, selected resellers and retailers under the Western Digital®, WD® and HGST™ brand names. Visit the Investor section of the company's website (www.westerndigital.com) to access a variety of financial and investor information. Western Digital, WD, the WD logo, WD TV, and My Book are registered trademarks in the U.S. and other countries; WD TV Live and My Book Live are trademarks of Western Digital Technologies, Inc. Other marks may be mentioned herein that belong to other companies. Pictures shown may vary from actual products. Not all products may be available in all regions of the world. All product and packaging specifications subject to change without notice. As used for storage capacity, one terabyte (TB) = one trillion bytes. Total accessible capacity varies depending on operating environment. Source: PR Newswire (http://s.tt/1dpR0)
LaCie's new 100MB/s NAS is 2big, resists that second scone (video)
Gallic storage outfit LaCie is nonchalantly unveiling its 2big double-bay NAS that's purportedly capable of pumping data around your network at 100MB/s. Designed for small businesses, it'll remind any passers by of HAL or GLaDOS, depending on their age. Sporting a 2GHz processor and the company's NAS OS2, it'll also happily interact with Windows 7 Backup or Time Machine and you can access your files on the go with the company's iOS app. It's available from today, prices starting from $299 (£187 in the UK) with a three year warranty. If you'd like to know more, then we've got a short film and some PR after the jump.
Synology outs DS412+, DS112 NAS drives, feeds the data hungry
If you're looking for somewhere to house all those high ISO shots you just took, then perhaps one of these new NAS drives from Synology will see you right. The DS412+ will be the one appealing to the big data hoarders, with four bays each capable of storing a 4TB drive (for a max total of 16). The box itself being is powered by a 2.13 GHz chip and 1GB RAM, which gives it top read / write speeds of 202.63 MB/s and 179.15 MB/s. A built-in redundancy mechanism comprising two 92 mm system fans should help prevent losing all your precious media. If you're not needing quite so much back-up, then the DS112 might be more your thing. A max capacity of 4TB ticks over with 1.6GHz processor and 256 RAM, and will take 3.5" or 2.5" drives. Both have USB 3.0 and eSata ports and run the firm's DSM4.0 operating system. You can start pouring your data inside them today, assuming you've got the $720 or $380, respectively, needed to pick one up.
How-To: Set up a home file server using FreeNAS
Ask Engadget: What's the best budget NAS? Kingston Wi-Drive for iOS hits stores today, lets you create your own portable music server for $130 Tilera sees sense in the server wars, puts just 36 cores in its newest processorIn today's digital world we've all got data, and lots of it. Our libraries are also growing rapidly: where you used to get by setting aside a few bookshelves for your books, CDs, DVDs and VHS tapes, we now require untold server space to preserve our beloved media in digitized form. We also want our data to be itinerant, or at least seem that way. That is, if you want to take a book or disc to another room of your abode, you pull it from the bookshelf and take it with you. Similarly, if you're working on a document upstairs on your desktop and you want to move to the den with your laptop, you'll need the proper infrastructure working in the background to enable that kind of wizardry. So, how can we create this "digital bookshelf?" Can you go out and buy it now? Can you build it in your garage? As it turns out, the answer is "yes" on all counts. You could go out and buy a Drobo device but in this case, we're going to assemble our own. And we're going to do that with the help of an open source storage platform called FreeNAS. So how involved a process is that? Meet us after the break to find out.
Cloud Engines updates Pogoplug's software-only version with OneView, enhanced iOS support
The smoke from Cloud Engines' Pogoplug Video recall (Pogo-un-plugged?) may still be settling, but on a better note, today the company has announced the first major update to its software-based version. To refresh your memory, it essentially turns any network-connected computer into a Pogoplug, allowing it to be accessed like a NAS drive (think iCloud, but with your drives). The new version's main advantage is OneView, which can display every connected computer's drives separately or compiled together sans duplicates -- iOS devices are also supported in this feature. You'll be pleased to know that the service is free, excluding video and off-LAN music streaming. Those features can be enabled by purchasing the premium version for a one-time fee of 29 bones, and unlike before, a single purchase will take care of your entire stable of devices. You'll find some screenshots of the software below, as well as a PR crash course in 'personal cloud management' just after the break. %Gallery-126839%
Apple unveils updated Time Capsule, bumps storage to 3TB
It's been a good long while since Apple unveiled a new Time Capsule, almost two years since the 2TB model rolled out. At the time that was a volume of storage that you couldn't possibly fill up -- even if you ripped your entire Peter Gabriel collection in lossless. Now, nearly 24 months later, you're out of room for the latest Greatest Hits compilations, never mind Scratch My Back and the subsequent buddy album. Now Apple has your back, releasing an updated Time Capsule offering up to 3TB of storage for all your former Genesis frontman listening needs. Update: The new Time Capsules have finally hit the Apple Store and prices haven't changed -- now you just get more for your money. The 2TB model slides into the $299 slot while the 3TB takes over the $499 position.
Cloud Engines recalls potentially flammable Pogoplug Video (update)
Looks like sharing videos over the cloud may be a risky task -- if you're using the box shown here on the left, that is. The Pogoplug Video hit the retail scene about two months ago, but Cloud Engines has already issued a recall after two devices nearly went up in flames. According to The Official Pogoplug Blog, the internal chip that handles video encoding can experience "thermal runaways" after long periods of use, which could cause the device to reach unsafe temperatures; this despite having a fan to keep things cool. The affected model numbers include Pogo P-11 through 14, and the company asks that owners get in contact to setup a return and refund. In the meantime, it also suggests that the units be unplugged -- a good idea if you want to avoid possibly burning the house down. Update: It appears that Cloud Engines' initial statement has been condensed and slightly modified. Zenverge, the chip's manufacturer, has also informed us that the silicon itself isn't exactly the problem. The end result remains the same, however: this Pogoplug is too hot for video.
