![]() #Linksys network kit Pc(It does this on every PC running the utility simultaneously, which might be somewhat annoying for people who don’t need access to the drive.) Linksys includes a special utility that detects when a Flash drive is inserted and pops up a dialog box letting you map the device to a drive letter. I noticed a slight but perceptible delay in certain operations - saving files took a bit longer than normal, and it took a few additional seconds to open folders.Īs mentioned previously, you can use one of the NSLU2’s USB ports to provide access to a USB Flash drive. Because of the overhead introduced by the network and the device itself, a USB drive connected to the NSLU2 isn’t as fast as if it were connected directly to a PC. You can also specify a WINS server if you want shares to be accessible on other network segments. #Linksys network kit windowsThe NSLU2 displays any shared folders you create in the Windows Network Neighborhood, provided the unit is set to be a member of the same workgroup. It doesn’t include a disk defrag option, however, and that could degrade performance since fragmentation inevitably occurs over time. Since you can’t use Windows-based disk utilities on NSLU2-connected hard drives, the device comes with its own scandisk function. Disk drives are not hot swappable, so you must first power down the unit before connecting or disconnecting one. Furthermore, if you’re planning to use an external drive that already has data on it, be sure to off-load the files to your PC - otherwise you’ll lose the data during the formatting process.Īlso, once you connect a USB drive to the NSLU2 you may as well consider it to be internal. The NSLU2’s file system is not Windows-compatible, so once you format a drive, you can no longer access it directly by connecting it to a Windows PC via the USB port. In order to use a disk with the NSLU2 (I tested with two USB 2.0 hard drives from different vendors - an Iomega 80GB unit and a Maxtor 40GB drive), you must first format it with the device’s built-in formatting tool. The NSLU2 automatically obtains an address from a DHCP server, but it’s always preferable to use a static address or at least a reserved DHCP address so you can locate the device easily locatable for administration purposes. ![]() Linksys includes a setup utility with the NSLU2 that didn’t have any difficulty locating the device even though its default IP settings were different than my network settings. (Linksys says the NSLU2 currently supports up to 250MB drives, with larger drives to be supported in future firmware updates.) You can also plug a USB Flash drive can be plugged into NSLU2 (the second USB port only). The rear of the unit sports a 100 Mbps LAN port and two USB ports, both of which can accommodate USB 2.0 or 1.1 hard drives. The NSLU2 has very small dimensions - the unit is actually less than half the size of the typical USB hard drive - and the device can be used in a horizontal orientation or vertically (with the included stand). Unfortunately, a badly designed interface and other problems mar the overall usability and value of the product. Teamed with one or two USB drives, the NSLU2 is a very inexpensive way to serve up large amounts of network storage capacity. In lieu of fixed internal storage capacity, you can connect up two USB hard disk drives to the NSLU2 and share access to them over a network. The $99 Linksys NSLU2 Network Storage Link offers an alternative to traditional NAS - you can consider the unit to essentially be a NAS device without the built-in hard drives. But while NAS devices can be considerably cheaper than such servers, they can still be relatively pricey for a small business, easy to outgrow and difficult or impossible to upgrade. Network-attached storage (NAS) devices are a good way to add storage to a network without the costs and hassles of upgrading (or buying) a general-purpose server. ![]() #Linksys network kit upgradePros: Inexpensive, easy to upgrade storage capacity. ![]()
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