D-Link DNS-323 NAS

Benchmark Reviews has been lucky enough to receive the D-Link DNS-323. I won't leave much room for surprise: this SATA RAID Gigabit NAS is one hot little number, with plenty of features and performance available at an incredibly affordable price. Are you looking to compare network attached storage devices, or ready to buy? You had better read about the DNS-323 before you make that decision!

The D-Link DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure, when used with internal SATA drives, enables you to share documents, files, and digital media such as music, photos, and video with everyone on the home or office network. Remotely accessing files through the Internet is also possible with the built-in FTP server. Whether you are allowing access locally or over the Internet, keep data safe by only giving rights to specific users or groups. When configuring the DNS-323, you can create users and groups and assign them to folders with either read or read/write permissions. This is ideal for an office environment with employee-specific sensitive data or for the home where you can ensure your children will only have access to age appropriate material. The DNS-323 will be available to any computer (PC, MAC, or Linux-based) on your network, without the need to install any software on the client-side computer.

Back up your music, photo, and video collections to the DNS-323 for safekeeping. Then, enjoy the benefits of the built-in UPnP AV media server as you stream digital content to compatible media players (such as those found in D-Link's MediaLounge product line). This feature is highly convenient as it allows you to turn off a computer that would normally be needed for the same function. It is also an excellent addition to any HTPC setup.

The availability of four different hard drive modes (Standard, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID1) allows you to choose the configuration best suited to your needs. Standard mode creates two separately accessible hard drives. JBOD combines both drives in linear fashion for maximum space efficiency. RAID 0 combines both drives in a ‘striped' configuration, which provides the highest performance, enabling speeds up to 23MBps-Read and 15MBps-Write (MBps: Megabytes per second) when using a Gigabit Ethernet connection. RAID 1 causes the drives to mirror each other, providing maximum protection. This means that if one drive fails while configured as RAID 1, the unaffected drive continues to function as a single drive until the failed drive is replaced. The new drive will then be re-mirrored, allowing the DNS-323 to return to its full protection.

The included CD contains D-Link's Easy Search Utility. This utility allows you to easily locate the DNS-323 anywhere on the network. Once located, use the utility to map the hard drive(s) so they will appear in My Computer on your PC.

Backup software is also included on the CD. This will allow the back up of valuable files from a computer to the DNS-323 manually, by a schedule, or in real-time. Real-time backups are a great way to safeguard against unfortunate accidents that may result in the loss of precious files.

About the company: D-Link

D-Link is an award-winning designer, developer and manufacturer of networking, broadband, digital electronics, voice, data and video communications solutions for the digital home, Small Office/Home Office (SOHO), Small to Medium Business (SMB), and Workgroup to Enterprise environments.

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