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Products => Storage => : winger July 23, 2009, 11:16:39 AM

: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 23, 2009, 11:16:39 AM
   

Considering purchasing a LinkStation Quad 4TB and have several questions if folks would not mind answering.

 

1) we have 5 pcs in the house. on each pc (win xp pro, vista home)...each of us has a logon userid and pwd.  for security access, how easy (or is it possible) to set certain folders on the LS to be read only, or read/write for specific users ?   I am currently able to this with my fileserver (running windows server 2003).

 

2) I see this LS is setup to easily format videos and stream to iphones. well I am a BlackBerry and Winmo user.  Can I easily stream videos (and songs) from the LS to my BB and Winmo devices (in the correct format)?  

 

3) I plan to keep the LS in a closet that has a fan that pulls air into the attic.  How well does the LS do when ambient air is say in the 80-90 degrees F range?

 

4) what are the unit's drives' manufacturer (and spins and access speeds) 

 

5) why is the price of this unit so much less than competitors of the same capacity (like Netgeat, Linksys(Cisco) ) ?

 

6) How often does the drives go to sleep mode (stops spinning) - is this configurable?

 

7) I've read somewhere that the LS can maybe be user-programmed to turn off and on at specific times ?  Is this true ?  Like, I would like to turn this off every night from 1AM and turn on at 6AM.

 

 

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: Colin137 July 23, 2009, 04:17:59 PM

1. You can set up access restrictions on the root level shared folders, using different usernames and passwords. You cannot set up access restrictions on subfolders under the shares.

 

2. As long as the video files are in the correct format, you'll be able to download and play videos on PCs. It should work with a Blackberry, but we haven't tested that particular scenario.

 

3. The operating environment should be between 41 and 95 degrees F. The hotter it is, the more likely it is to fail.

 

4. I can't really say... we buy our drives in lots from the major manufacturers: Seagate, Hitachi, Western Digital, Samsung, etc.

 

5. I'm not too familiar with other vendors' products. Could you give me an example, like a model number or something?

 

6. I believe it's after 30 minutes, and it is not configurable. You can disable the feature, though.

 

7. Yes, you can set up a schedule for the device to sleep and wake at particular times.

Message Edited by drmemory on 09-17-2009 01:49 PM
: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 23, 2009, 05:26:19 PM
   

1) if set up at the root level, when a user (example username(on his PC): Joe  Pwd(on his PC):sunnyday )  goes to his PC's Windows Explorer and opens that a particular share folder, does the LS recognize his username and pwd ?  or is this something the user needs to type in EACH TIME he access that shared folder?

 

5)  i forget but at Frys Electronics, all the NAS devices were in the same area. So I saw Buffalo, Iomega, Netgear, Linksys (Cisco), etc. I just compared prices strictly on capacity. Sorry, no specific make/models.  

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: Colin137 July 23, 2009, 05:40:10 PM

1. It depends on the OS... XP pro can store the username/password for the share. XP home can't. Once the share is mapped, the user will not have to enter in a password again until the computer is restarted, or the user logs out.

 

5. Capacity isn't a good thing to go on when deciding which product to purchase, since most commercial NAS devices use regular hard drives. The differences in price are most likely due to performance and feature differences.

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 23, 2009, 07:52:27 PM
   

On #5, so since the LS was the least expensive out of all the comparable units, I can assume the LS is the slowest and most basic (feature-wise) of them all ? :smileyhappy:

 

Honestly though, I knew squat last night on NAS except capacity. 

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: Colin137 July 23, 2009, 09:37:12 PM
5. I'd have to see what the competitors' devices are capable of :)
: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 24, 2009, 12:06:13 PM
   

Two (2) additional questions.  

Does the unit allow users (with built-in software) to:

 

1) partion each drive/array into multiple drives?  For example - I like to create drives C, D, E, F and G on my LS unit.

 

2) setup/designate Shares like we can do in Windows so PCs on the network can map networked PC's drives to these shares?  

For example - currently on my Win 2003 Server named "smithserver" (just a Workgroup network, no fancy AD or NT security) I assigned folder C:/data/quickendata as "privatequickendata" share and I assigned folder C:/data/pictures/ as "importantpics" share.  

On each PC connected to my networks, I have the following drives mapped -  drive Q: to \\smithserver\privatequickendata

and  drive P to \\smithserver\privatepictures

 

 

 

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: Colin137 July 25, 2009, 02:26:33 PM

1. Not quite... You can create different shared folders on the array, but not different partitions.

 

2. You can map any shared folder on the LS to a drive letter on a Windows machine, just like with your server.

: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 26, 2009, 12:45:05 PM
   Colin137 wrote:
5. I'd have to see what the competitors' devices are capable of :) ok I am interested in comparing the LS Quad with ReadyNAS NV+.

mind to compare the two?

one thing that the Buffalo rep mentioned is if I swapped/added drives on the LS Quad within the one year warranty period (ReadyNAS is five years BTW), I void the warranty! also, the LS Quad is not hot swappable. these are two differences I have found
: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: rinthos July 27, 2009, 06:36:35 PM
   Ok hope this helps (posting from bberry so short version). Quad 1 year warranty, nv+ 5yr, quad comes with 4 drives, nv+ typically 2, both share same featuresets in general...buffalo provides their own dns resolution option, nv+ requires free dyndns account. Nv+ can host web server for wordpress, mysql, email server, more photo sharing options, more backup options, also includes memeo premium, buffalo has memeo standard. Nv+ also has upgradable ram and allows you to use a large number of drive types, buffalo reqs you use only the original, no ram upgrades supported. Hope this helps.
: Re: LinkStation Quad 4TB-Features
: winger July 27, 2009, 11:00:36 PM
   Yep, helps a bundle.  Thanks