What do you think about this disk enclosure?

[ghidu]

Agestar Disk Enclosure
- store data on the network and use it as a print server.

 

[MichaelD]

I like the material it's constructed from.

Material: Pain Aluminum

Seriously; it's ordinary, really. Do they have a SATA model? You're much better off with a SATA drive...unless you already have a large IDE drive you're wanting to install?

The fact it's got an ethernet port and can get an IP address via DHCP is nice...almost makes it a "mini-NAS appliance" of sorts. You will be able to access all your files on it from any system on your network. Convenient.

A few concerns though.

First, this is only a single-drive enclosure. Which means if the drive inside dies, you lose everything. Either buy a proper 2-drive appliance with RAID1 capability OR make backups!

Another thing that concerns me is that you want to use it as a "print server." I don't think this device has another USB port which to directly plug your USB printer into. So, unless you have a network-capable printer, you won't be using this as a print server. Notice the description says "Supports network print server?"

A print server has a few different functions:

- Holds spooled jobs from the various PCs on a network until the chosen printer is available to print them
- Can spool/control the jobs to various printers attached to the network
- Allows the ability to print to any printer, from any PC, on that network
- Holds the drivers for all printers attached to it so any PC can get those drivers instantly in order to print to the chosen printer

My US Robotics Gateway Router/Switch is a USB Print Server; and that function works like crap on it. You attach the USB cable from the printer to it, and all PCs attached to the switch should be able to print. "Should" being the key word. :roll:

Not saying it definitely won't work; just saying it might not work as well as you are hoping. But for network attached storage, go for it. Hope this helps.

 

[JackMDS]

This is Not a Disk Enclosure it is a Network Accessed Storage Device (NAS).

The most important things about this Device are:

1. What is the real Speed of transfer that it provides over the Network.

2. How (if any) is the support to NTFS.

3. Are the security arrangements flexible enough for your need.

4. Is it really Hot swapper (Many of these devices need special formatting to begin with).

5. How compatible is the printer server (3rd party printer server usually provide only 1 way simple printing).

If one does not understand the pointers above it means that you need a simple Enclosure and Not a NAS.

As for this specific device. That is the first time I see it, and beside the vendor?s site search does not yield more information. It is probably very new.

 

[ghidu]

@ MichaelD: it supports both IDE and SATA
At the moment I can't get any more information on it because the store is closed, but judging by the price I think it's pretty basic. Can you recommend a resonably priced one?