Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 2-Bay 2TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage ST320005LSA10G-RK

I've worked in IT since 1983. I've had lots of units (Western Digital - UGH!) and this Seagate unit has been the best of it's kind, though it's not for the technologically challenged. If you are looking for a drive you can plug in and use, you'll need to do a bit of work to get this up and running, but once configured - it's hands off for everything else. I would not recommend this to someone who doesn't have a good understanding of setting up disk shares/users/groups or isn't willing to read up on these subjects to configure the device. It's relatively easy to setup for the technically savvy but not so easy to setup if you're a computer novice. The machine plugs directly on your home network (router/hub) and can be accessed by any device that will connect to a 'shared' drive. It does not have wireless connectivity, but if you connect it into a wireless hub, you can access it via a wireless device (e.g. a wireless laptop running iTunes or Windows Media or just as a shared drive). This unit has a 'media service' that lets you publish a share as a music source and access it from iTunes on other computers. It can be accessed via a variety of file sharing protocols so if you've got a mixed environment at home (Windows, MAC, Linux), this machine is great. It also has a wiki feature - though I can't find a use for it at home but might work in a small office environment or if you keep track of things (recipes??) and need a storage mechanism. This unit also can be configured to send e-mail alerts for various events (reboot, shutdown) and has a web interface for configuration. It comes with a utility for Windows PCs to detect the unit on the network - but the web interface must be used to configure the device so if you're using MAC/LINUX, you'll need to know how to look at your router to figure out what IP address the machine got, if you have automatic IP addressing (DHCP) on your router/hub. From there you use the IP address to get to the device via a web browser. The Windows utility does this easily, but it's not too difficult if you know how to do the above. For those who are not technologically savvy (I'm trying to leave out most of the technobabble here), some of the settings may be a bit daunting (NFS, CIFS, FTP) and the concept of creating 'shares' and setting access levels and creating user accounts. However, if you are using this in a family setting and you want to setup separate areas for each member of the family (or create a 'private' area only accessible to a select group) then this unit can do this - but you need to know what you are doing. This unit comes with two-2 terabyte drives which can used separately or be configured in a mirror formation (a.k.a. RAID 1). If you don't use mirroring, you get 4 terabytes of space but if you lose a drive due to failure, you lose the data on that drive. By using mirroring, both disks have exactly the same information on them which will always give you a backup if one of the drives fails. The only downside of mirroring is that you lose half of the space since both drives 'mirror' each other and contain exactly the same information. I highly recommend using mirroring - This way, if either one of the drives fails, you can replace it and not lose your data. This was an important feature for me - I rely on it to store the bulk of my data without having to do regular backups (who does those at home??). Compared to Western Digital, Seagate (in my opinion and experience) has much more reliable disk drives. I've bought and lost two Western Digital units (USB/Firewire) and will never buy another. If you want to have a unit that you can use for all of your data and store your iTunes on it (and access it from MAC and Windows and Linux as I do), then this unit is an excellent option. If you have someone in your family who's good with computers, ask for assistance to set it up - it's worth getting this unit especially in a multi-user environment. If you're by yourself and/or know very little about computers and don't need the device to be accessible by any other than one PC, consider something you can connect directly to your PC instead.

Its a shame because this box is a very attractive looking piece of equipment, has no downtime (and mine has been up for over a year now), and didn't have any bugs you needed to sort out before you began using it. Unfortunately, the biggest killer for this device is its speed. I'm using an Asus RT-N66U router and wired to it to give this thing the best advantage it can have, but regardless of whether you are wired to it or on wireless, I cannot eek out more than 5 MB/sec across the network in basic file transfers. It works, and for small files this ends up being nothing, but if you are going to move large amounts of individual files, you definitely need to compress them first. I tried moving 1,000 various files in a folder (pictures, documents, etc) and it took FOREVER, every time it goes to initiate a new file down the line there is a big lag in between. This is a killer for anyone backing up either large files or lots of small ones. The other pit is the interface. It works well, but you need to know how to use it. I would definitely NOT recommend this product unless you are technically inclined, as setting up user accounts and FTP access does require a bit of know-how, and the most baffling thing of all is in how you go about setting up their GLOBAL ACCESS. You cannot do it from the administration login. you must do it from a subordinate user account and for EACH subordinate account, I set it up in the event my ip changed (it rarely does but get caught with your pants down once and you know why you set these things up, as it goes over the internet and your box broadcasts to their servers; as long as its on the internet it can't get lost). Unfortunately, the global access is painfully slow because its adds a middleman in the routing process, which is Seagate's servers. Overall, if you are looking for a (relatively) cheap way to set your self up with a basic way to access your info on the go or centralized network access and don't mind a lunch break to do it, give this a thought. It works, and it works consistently, just don't think about either a.) attempting this venture if you haven't looked up some port forwarding information in the past or ever worked something needing forwarding, and b.) if you think you are reasonably going to use their global access, its far too slow. FTP is the only way to go with this product. I have read that the Synology (I hope I spelled that right) brand of network storage drives has wonderful products, I never used one but it might be worth a look.