Buffalo Technology NAS Linkstation 250GB Network Storage Center

I had this product installed and running in less t ...

Strengths: Very easy to install and configure. Very small footprint. Enough status LEDs to inform you, but not confuse you.

Weaknesses: Software doesn't adjust fonts/etc well to differing screen sizes. Some menus/buttons can't be read.

Summary: I had this product installed and running in less than 10 minutes. The web interface is easy to use, and it comes ready to go. Of course, one should always change the defaults and add a password for security.

The web interface is intuitive and easy to navigate. The software installation was easy, but the fonts were very oversized on my machine, making many of the buttons illegible. With the little Quick Setup Guide, it was still easy to run through quickly.

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I am definitely happy with this device and would r ...

Strengths: -Easy network storage setup (though not for the print server) -Fairly quick -Looks great -Great value -On and off button (not all NAS have this feature!)

Weaknesses: -Setting up the print server aspect is not for a beginner -Documentation not the best (but not needed much) -Will not recognize a USB thumb drive when used with the USB port (Tech Sup confirmed this

Summary: 2005-04-04 15:28:40 I am definitely happy with this device and would recommend it for anyone needing a good NAS device. The print server is a nice bonus even if not that easy to setup for a newbie. Great style and value make it a winner. Complaints are listed above and fairly minor.

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Good price, good product

Strengths: EASY TO USE AND SETUP!!! Fairly quiet, good speed, full of features

Weaknesses: FTP access problem - group access does not work, use individual access FTP access problem - 'timed out' message; change IE settings, see below...

Summary: Product is good all rounder - I agree with the general reviews that you read here.

VERY EASY TO USE - if you want to be up and running in seconds, this is the product for you.

Setup: Netgear DG824M, wireless laptops, and this baby connected directly to the netgear box.

1) Connect up the buffalo box.

2) Pop into your Netgear router admin pages, and here I just setup a static IP to give the buffalo each time.

3) Pop into your Buffalo box admin pages (web-based, easy to use!) and setup your users (and passwords) for the directories and so on.

4) That's it! Simply map a drive on your laptop to the static IP that you gave it and connect using your username and password you set up in 3) and that's it.

I successfully use mine for all my music CDs, and to store all that data that gathers on my work laptop, that I shouldn't really cart around with me in case I drop it!...

The only thing I did notice was that on setting up the FTP features. Just pop into the Netgear and setup inbound and outbound firewall rules for FTP (there's a dropdown list on the netgear ports 20, 21) and forward them to the static IP you gave your Buffalo box. I turned the ftp feature on in the Buffalo box admin pages, and setup users to it, etc. You can now access your new ftp site like this by typing ftp:/// in your browser. Here though, I noticed first off that the FTP user groups did not work and wouldn't allow access. I phoned Buffalo tech support and they told me that you should only allow access for individuals for the FTP folder access, and not to put 'group access' to the ftp folder.... This done, it fixed the access problems.

Next, FTP problem! -- it was then apparent that some users could access the folders from some PCs, but not from other PCs! It was showing as a "operation timed out" error. Hmmm, this is odd, and another call to tech-support revealed that there is a sneaky IE setting that you need to change if you are using IE to access your ftp shares. The setting is:

*** FOR FTP ACCESS - BUFFALO NAS ***

Internet Explorer, go to the menu, Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab, scroll down to Browsing.

Untick the box next to 'Use Passive FTP (for firewall and DSL modem compatibility)'.

...And magically the ftp:/// will now suddenly work!

So, after the two glitches (which could be addressed by Buffalo logging these on their site or providing them in the FAQ or something....) I am running smoothingly with it all and enjoying the features!

Great product, good price too. Just thought you might need to know the above because otherwise you'll be pulling your hair out like I was for a few days!

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Great Value NAS Storage Device

Strengths: Cheapest NAS Device; Hackable; Good value per GB; network print server

Weaknesses: Slow; Noisy; Poor install instruction; external Hard Drive cannot be formatted in NTFS

Summary: 2006-02-28 17:14:14 I have now had this baby for over a year, and in general, am quite happy. It provides Network Attached Storage (NAS) at a good price point. When I purchased this, there was not alot of competition out there, so the price was higher. However, now that Linksys, Netgear, WesternDigital, etc. have jumped on board, the prices have come down. This unit allows you to have an "always on" network storage. Your laptop now has access to storing and backing up data, without the need for wires (assuming this unit is attached to a wired network, and your laptop connects wirelessly to that network via an Access Point). This solution is somewhat slow, but it does work. There must be alot of bi-directional handshaking that slows things down in the wireless laptop connection case. From a wired computer, it is faster, but certainly not as fast as an internal drive or external USB2.0 drive. Some nice addon features are a USB2.0 print server and a USB2.0 port for an external USB Hard Drive. A downside to the USB hard drive is that the drive must be formatted in a Linux format, and not in the NTFS format that a Windows XP PC expects. So, you can't just hook up an external hard drive that was working with your computer, as it would need to be completely reformatted, and you would lose existing data. Same goes for if you wanted to go the other way.

Setting up a print server was relatively easy. Just follow the instructions. Speaking of instructions, they are not the best! The setup will not necessarily be "out of the box", and some tweaking will be required. It is important that you have your windows XP setup for home networking for this to work at all.

One really nice thing (for some) is the ability to hack into the box and use the existing Linux OS to do other things, like set up a web-server, FTP server or even a music server/streamer! Look at linkstationwiki web-site for useful info. I currently have ssh up and running, along with slimserver, thus allowing me to stream my MP3 over the internet!! Be warned that this is for people comfortable with hacking, and not for the unitiated!!

Overall, I have been very satisfied. While somewhat slow, it does allow me to keep common data on one hard drive, which can be accessed by many computers, without requiring any of those computers to be on. I also very much like the built-in print server. The downside is that data transfer are kind of slow and the box is itself kind of noisy, and not really recommended for a bedroom environment (the fan is always running).

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Convenient product for file sharing and data backup

Strengths: Compact, large storage, low power, built-in FTP server

Weaknesses: Fan is slightly louder than expected

Summary: I needed an easy solution for making backup copies of data from multiple computers without using CDs or DVDs. The hassle of removable media kept me from backing up data in any timely manner. After the hard drive failed in my wife's laptop, I realized I must have an easy solution. The LinkStation fills that need by allowing multiple, wireless laptops to backup data to one place without connecting any cables to the computers. Although the LinkStation doesn't directly support wireless networking, the Ethernet port can be easily connected to a spare Ethernet port of a wireless router. I didn't like the backup software which came with the unit (30 day trial) for my uses. Instead, I backup data to the LinkStation using file sync software (BestSync from download.com). I still plan to backup the data on the LinkStation to DVD but only once a quarter in case of a large disaster. It helps to have all important data in one location.

The LinkStation can be subdivided into multiple shares which appear as different drives over the home network. Disk space is not pre-allocated between the shares so I assume the space is allocated to a share on an as needed basis. I setup shares for backup, music, pictures, and public.

An added bonus of the unit is the FTP server. I opened up TCP port 21 on my home router to the Internet and now family members can access data from my LinkStation without having any of my computers on. I just provide the current IP address assigned from the cable provider (myipaddress.com) and a userid/password to family to grab files. The IP address will change if I have a power outage or cable network outage, but it is fortunately rare. The FTP server can only access one of the shares. I assigned public as the share visible via FTP. Family can also copy files onto my public share via FTP so data sharing can go both directions. For security reasons, I don't place any sensitive information on the public share.

The LinkStation has the ability to shutdown/wake the unit once per day at the same time to save power (selectable).

A basic USB printer can be attached to the LinkStation to behave as a print server. I have not tried this feature. Multi-function printers are not supported.

After researching other network drive units in a similar price range, I found the LinkStation to have less complaints than any of its competitors. It has performed very well for the time I have owned it.

Overall, I am very pleased with the unit. It meets my needs for making simple backups, sharing data within my home, and also for sharing large amounts of data over the Internet with family.

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• I just bought this device and it's connected to my Dlink wireless...

Great product that's worth the money

Strengths: versatility, decent pricing, work as advertised

Weaknesses: inability to handle more than 1 foreign language in file names, firmware upgrades have to be obtained via tech-support

Summary: The unit arrived and works as advertised. Even though the manual tells you to run the setup utitlity. But if you have windows xp, all you have to do is map the drive in windows explorer. That way, you don't have to pop the CD in for all your computers on the network.

If you want to change any settings for the unit, just access the html interface after locating the IP for the unit on your router.

FTP over the internet works after figuring out how to setup port forwarding on my router. However, I get error messages from it sometimes saying I have no permission to access certain file. Usually after a re-try, it would work.

Overall, this is a great buy. Even though the $/GB ratio is very high, but I think if you were to buy an Argosy Ethernet enclosure plus a 250GB HD, it would probably come out close to the price of a Linkstation 250GB, but you won't get the level of integration, features, and tech-support.

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This product works as I wanted. I got it to act as ...

Strengths: Very easy to setup and use. Got it working as network file storage in less than 30 mins.

Weaknesses: Manual, typos in program dialog boxes

Summary: This product works as I wanted. I got it to act as a file server so I could synchronize data between laptop and desktop using Windows XP briefcase. Setup was very easy, pop in a disk, change name of drive, update time and date, create a network place. So far it works very well.

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Buffalo Technology NAS Linkstation 250GB Network Storage Center

Strengths: Price, capacity & features

Weaknesses: none so far

Summary: I own the 120GB version of this product and my experiences with that unit are the reasons I bought this larger sized unit (in addition to price).

I have a five computer network, and I find these network drives the most convenient and economical means to make data available to all computers on the network.

I have a dedicated print server so I'm not sure I'll use that feature quite yet.

My 120GB unit has worked 24-7 for the past 1 1/2 years with no problems what so ever.

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No joy if you have file names that aren't English or that have non-English Alphabetic characters

Strengths: -Only consumer-oriented NAS drive that supports FTP (that I'm aware of). -File transfers via ethernet are very quick. -Setup is easy.

Weaknesses: -A big one: the drive does not permit files with non-English names or with some non-alphabetic characters (e.g., apostrophes, parentheses, underscores, dashes).

Summary: 2006-09-07 14:48:34 This NAS drive would be perfect, save for the fact that it doesn't permit file names that:

1.) are not in English (it choked when I tried to copy over French, German and Greek file names. When I renamed the files using English only, using only alphabetic characters, the drive had no problems);

2.) contain non-Alphabetic characters (apostrophes, parenthetical marks, underscores, and sometimes dashes).

This problem with file names is a real pain and makes transfering such files over to the LinkStation a slow and agonizing process (as one has to rename the files to something the LinkStation will accept). It's odd behavior too, since Windows XP doesn't seem to have any problems with these types of file names. I don't see why the Linux file system the drive uses should either. Buffalo does not indicate the problem with file names exists in any of its documentation.

The solutions that Buffalo posts in its online FAQ here

www.buffalo-technology...

and here

www.buffalo-technology...

do not work at all (the LinkStation configuration page doesn't even -have- an option to change the Windows Client Language (only the TeraStation does)).

Save for the file name problem (which makes the drive unusable for my purposes), this was not a bad product. Quiet, easy to set up (don't forget to forward your router's port 21 to your LinkStation's DNS address on your local LAN) - if Buffalo could only fix the file name problem, I could recommend it with no hesitation. As it is, I can only give it 2 out of 5 stars.

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The Buffalo technologies LinkStation HD-H250LAN is ...

Strengths: NA

Weaknesses: NA

Summary: The Buffalo technologies LinkStation HD-H250LAN is a good product, but it is not perfect for everyone, as I describe below.

The product has many features and I am reviewing it just in terms of how well it meets my needs. I have a LAN with a half-dozen computers attached, all of which are Windows or Linux based. The LinkStation documentation states that it can also be configured to accommodate Macs. I had been backing up my data to a server and backing up the server to a removable USB hard drive. The advantage of this is that if the server were to die, data from the USB drive could be recovered on any computer.

The LinkStation seemed like a good alternative that would free up the server for other duties. It sits there, very quietly, and looks like a network drive. I now use it not just as backup, but as the primary location for shared files. (I could have done this with the server, but didn’t.) I have it set up to turn itself off and wake up at a given time each day. It does NOT automatically go to sleep and wake up based on demand.

As promised, setting up the device was easy. I plugged it into the network and it discovered the network and grabbed an IP. The system is controlled via its onboard web server. The web server purpose in life is to let the user configure the device. It does NOT let the user set up homepages. You have to put up with some strange English on the web server, in the documentation, and in the programs.

While the LinkStation does not let you set up web pages, it will let you set up Internet FTP to your files. Each directory (share) can have one or more username/passwords associated with it so you or your users can access your files from anywhere on the Internet.

However, the level of control over data is limited. A user either has full control over the data in a share or no access. There is no read-only access or file-level access control.

I perceive that the LinkStation provides slower access to files than did my server. If this is correct, increasing the Ethernet bandwidth will not improve anything.

Second, the backup software that is included is very limited. Of course, you can use any backup software to backup data to it.

The LinkStation also has a USB port that can be used to control a USB printer and a different port that can be used to control as USB disk. I cannot report on the USB printer port. But I was most disappointed to discover that to use a USB disk drive (either for extra capacity or as to backup the LinkStation to), it must be formatted by the LinkStation to its own proprietary format. This means that if the LinkStation goes bad, you have no access to your backup data without buying a spare LinkStation.

Overall, I am happy with the LinkStation, but I wish that other reviews had been more forthcoming about its limitations.

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Worth the price

Strengths: FTP capable, usb print server, easy to learn interface, large storage, price per gig, ability to daisy chain another external hard drive for more storage, small design, quiet operation

Weaknesses: Still looking for one

Summary: I shopped around and read all sorts of reviews for a network storage device. It seemed that every product had mixed reviews, either about price or performance.

After buying this product, someone would have to be deaf, dumb, blind, or ugly not to be able to get it to work.

I am a college student that commutes everyday to class. Since I do my homework at home, I thought this product would be a solution to avoid lugging a laptop to class everyday in case I needed to print something. Now that I have the Linkstation, I can be at school and still access my files at home. I can also add files to the Linkstation from school. The ftp function really sets this apart from any other product. To add on to that, the usb print server that is built-in adds to the value of the product.

The setup of the product is simple. Plug the device into your router or switch, insert the setup disk into each of your home computers (in my case 5), run the software to find the linkstation (it assigned the L drive as the linkstation, and you're off and running.

To set up the ftp server, all that is needed is that you turn the ftp server on in the product setup screen (that is in Internet Explorer). If you are using a firewalled router, enable port forwarding to the specific port that your linkstation is assigned to. Port forwarding can be toggled by entering your router setup screen (the disk that your router came with will guide you). Once those tasks have been done, Go to www.whatismyip.com to find your ip address. To access the linkstation from another location, type ftp:// (then your ip address) and you should be in the device.

I could continue to ramble on, but take my word for it and you will be pleased with your purchase.

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Frustrated

Strengths: well-priced

Weaknesses: need more technical solutions on site or from Buffalo's unfriendly reps

Summary: I just bought this device and it's connected to my Dlink wireless router. I tried using some of the steps from fellow reviewers but I am still unable to get a handshake. I called Buffalo tech, waited 40 minutes before I get a rep however his suggestions ended no way. furthermore Buffalo's website is mediocre at best on this issue. I was able to set a new IP address for the buffalo device and that was it. Everytime I tried connecting using IP Utility, it kept giving me an error code " linkstation is not connected". Please assist either Buffalo or any technical gurus out there. Thanks

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Buffalo Linkstation 250GB Network Storage Center

Strengths: * LAN connection / Networking capabilities * USB2.0 * Quiet * Sleek design * Back-up software * Fast transfer rates at network speeds * Built-in print server and FTP server

Weaknesses: * Power-saving mode seems odd to me * Like most drives, only a 1-year manufacturer's warranty * I read complaints about the security, which is currently not a concern for me. * expensive

Summary: External hard drives are becoming affordable for most wallet-sizes. While a hard drive of similar size (250 GB) for about a $100, I paid a premium (about $200) in order to have the ethernet transfer rate (100 Mbps) because I was limited to a USB 1.1 at the time. I've seen the item retail for about $300. The instruction manual is unimpressive but the tech support (if you can get through) was extremely helpful!. It took me nearly an hour to make it through the tech support queue. I had called as the result of a minor oversight when connecting the external drive directly to my laptop and neglected to manually change my IP address.

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I bricked mine when I tried to do a firmware upgrade...

Strengths: Worked great until I tried to do a firmware upgrade. Buffalo customer support recommended I do this upgrade.

Weaknesses: Cannot upgrade firmware Customer Support is of no help.

Summary: After the firmware upgrade, I had absolutely no way to get the device working again as a NAS. I had to take the unit apart and use it as a USB drive. In any case, now I have an Apple TimeCapsule, which works great.

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Buffalo Linkstation 250GB Network Storage Center

Strengths: Very Easy Install, Fast Data Transfer, Huge Storage compacity, Very Quiet and sleek looking.

Weaknesses: None that i have found so far.

Summary: I purchased the Buffalo 250 Gb Network Storage Center to use as a Media Server for my household network. I store all my media (Mp3,Pictures, and Video). It works great as a Media Server, Even on a wireless network as i have. I haven't used the Print server feature as of writing this review, but plan on it. This is an Excellent Network storage solution. I will definately purchase another Buffalo storage center, when i fill this one.

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