Dlink DNS-321 NAS $98 A/R

[Modelworks]

Good deal for someone needing a NAS.
Ships free from amazon for $118 + $20 rebate.
http://www.amazon.com/D-Link-Network...ductPromotions

You can also hack this one to access the linux OS running on it to run torrents, nzb files, etc.

 

[DaveSimmons]

This sounds good (a user review):
"Pros:
. Runs cool & quiet.
. Spins down the HD when idle to conserve power.
. Rock-solid operation (no reboots necessary in the month I've had it). "


If you get this be sure to update the firmware, from the user comments at Amazon older firmware has data corruption bugs.

 

[WHipLAsh13]

Newegg has the same offer http://www.newegg.com/product/produc...82E16822155009

 

[mikeford]

Firmware 1.03 10/09/2009 at
http://www.dlink.ca/products/?pid=DNS-321&tab=3

Been awhile since I looked at this, and now can't remember why I didn't buy it.

 

[etrin]

here is a review.
seems to be a few years ago.
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/nas/nas-reviews/30521-move-over-dns-323-d-link-dns-321-reviewed

 

[mikeford]

Amazon had a few current reviews, within the last few months, and they were generally good with the following points.

Dlink tech support has no clue about the product.
Throughput is only about 12 MB/sec even with a gigabit connection.
Must update firmware.
Larger drives can take a LONG time or have issues formatting.
Email notification is locked to port 25 which some ISP block.

I hate rebates, so I may wait til after 4/30 when the current rebate ends to see if price changes.

 

[Barnaby W. Füi]

I own one with two 1TB drives in RAID 1 and am happy with it. I even installed the bittorent plugin which works well but is a bit clunky/ugly/simplistic. Good if you want to shut off your PC and have some downloads keep going though.

I've also noticed that throughput seems to be less than ideal, but it's fast enough to not bother me. The price is great and the unit works well in general.

edit: The bittorrent plugin actually comes straight from D-Link and doesn't require any hacking or tinkering.

 

[tolleyjenkins]

Pardon the newbie question, but will this work with a MAC/PC household? I've been in the market for a cheap NAS for simple file storage/sharing/backup within the household (don't do much in the way of media anymore other than itunes) but unfortunately I've got a macbook pro on top of some desktops and other laptops that are running windows.

 

[Corland]

Pardon the newbie question, but will this work with a MAC/PC household? I've been in the market for a cheap NAS for simple file storage/sharing/backup within the household (don't do much in the way of media anymore other than itunes) but unfortunately I've got a macbook pro on top of some desktops and other laptops that are running windows.

Yes- looks like the 321 can be setup as either an SMB or NFS server, which should be visible to a mac on your home network. Note it also has an iTunes server.

There's an emulator of the admin tool for the 321 you can check out here:
http://www.support.dlink.com/emulators/dns321/

 

[notposting]

Pardon the newbie question, but will this work with a MAC/PC household? I've been in the market for a cheap NAS for simple file storage/sharing/backup within the household (don't do much in the way of media anymore other than itunes) but unfortunately I've got a macbook pro on top of some desktops and other laptops that are running windows.

Could be worth checking out an HP WHS system, I'm pretty sure they have Time Machine support plus the standard Windows backup. Plus all the usual server goodies that go with it. Cost more but could be worth it.