D-link DNS232 NAS.

Ease · 19 Jan 2010 at 11:21

D-link DNS323 NAS.

Just got one of these this morning. Really nice looking unit! Second hand, so only £70, and minus a bit of dust in the USB port it looked virtually brand new! I'm planning on putting in a Samsung F1 1Tb that I'm already using in my computer (and is filled to the brim with my media) and a Samsung F2 1.5Tb that I've recently bought from a competitor to sooth myself after the Seagate 2Tb Promo debocal here. Unfortunately I had to go to work as soon as I had opened the package, so have been unable to test it out until this evening. Stayed tuned!

Oh, and for those that are curious, here are the specs:

* 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet Port
* USB Print Server Port
* Built-In Fan Included
* Two Hard Drive Bays for 3.5″ SATA Hard Drives of Any Capacity
* Simplified Hard Drive Installation Process - No Tools Required
* Four Hard Drive Configurations: Standard, JBOD (Linear), RAID 0, and RAID 1
* High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Connectivity (Up to 23/15MBps or 184/120Mbps Read/Write)
* Built-in FTP Server for File Access from Over the Internet
* Scheduled Downloads from Web or FTP Sites
* Full or Incremental Backups
* Real Time Backups With the Included Backup Software
* Users and Groups Can Be Assigned to Folders with Read or Read/Write Permissions
* Quotas For Users and Groups
* Automatic E-Mail Notifications
* Scandisk and Defragment Utilities
* Power Management for Conserving Energy and Extending Hard Drive Life
* UPnP AV Server for Streaming Music, Photos, and Video to Compatible Media Players
* iTunes Software will be able to automatically find and play music directly from the DNS-323
* Built-in USB Print Server for printing from any PC on the Network
* D-Link Easy Search Utility
* Configurable by Web Browser

ANDARIAL · 19 Jan 2010 at 21:24

Be aware that if you update the firmware you may have to reformat(i did

)
So look into this before you fill up the hdd
Not certain but a possiblity.And the gigabit part is a joke (transfers to and from at a headymax of 19mbs for me lol )

Ease · 27 Jan 2010 at 11:21

So I finally got the power cable last night! As I said before it is a very nice little box, and installing a new hard drive was a breeze! Literally just drop in and click. I then proceeded to copy over 400Gb of media... and wow, that took a LONG LONG time. It was going at 6MB/s at best, which I was not too impressed with. So in the end I think it took about 22 hours! Not yet done any reading from it, as it was still copying when I went to work.

Anyone know why the write time would be so long? The hard drive (Samsung F3) has a write speed way above that (mimimum 70 MB/s) and obviously Gigabit ethernet should not be bottlenecking it either. I'll get back to you with more of a review tonight!

Ease · 28 Jan 2010 at 23:05

Loving this NAS now. It linked up with my PS3 easier than my Windows 7 machine, which was surprising after reading a lot of online comments about it being hard to stream media to a PS3 from a NAS without a PC conduit. Also, I love the built in BitTorrent client! I almost never need to have my PC on! Love it. Still a bit puzzled about the insanely slow write time (moving some movies over at the moment, and still only going at 7MB/s!!!).

Mel_P · 28 Jan 2010 at 23:10

PS do you mean a DNS323. If so:

I use mine with homeplugs to play DVDs via a Helios 3000 media player (now defunct) - stutters on HD mpegs - I expect due to homeplugs. I have 2 x 500GBs in Raid 1 (mirrored) and would like to go to 2 x 1TBs but as noted this will need a reformat - sucks!

Has worked OK for about 3 years. Only quibble is drives get warm and the "little" cooling fan makes quite an annoying whirring sound compared to my "built for quietness" PCs.

Mel

Ease · 29 Jan 2010 at 11:01

Yeah, I meant the DNS323 =P My bad!
I have mine sitting in my hallway, a closed door away from either my computer or my lounge, so I've never heard that little fan ^_^. I've only got a 1.5TB in there at the moment, but I am considering Raid 0 soon... if that will increase my read/write speed and it is not an unavoidable bottleneck 'built in' to the DNS323. My "Movies" folder (of my own ripped DVDs) has been copying for 18 hours and still is predicting a day left! It's faster for me to copy them to a USB medium!

I have noticed any stuttering at all though when streaming to my PS3.

Ease · 27 Feb 2010 at 09:59

So I've had this device about a month now, and it has completely changed my day-to-day life. Some of the media files I had on my computer, when streamed to my PS3, were missing audio (I assume because of lack of codecs). But with these all on my DNS-323, they now play fine! I assume the DNS steps in somewhere, and provides some elementary codec function?

It's also great not having to troop through the house to turn on, and log into, my PC every time I want to watch something. The DNS-323 has been on non-stop since I got it, and hasn't had a blip of misbehaviour.

With it now allowing me to keep my power-hungry PC off whenever I would've had it on (for both streaming and torrenting) not only is it keeping my electricity bill down, but I'm also saving our environment!