Not so long ago, a TV with a remote control seemed to many an overseas wonder. And now a secretary in the office casually asks a coworker how to connect a “zombie TV” in the kitchen to Wi Fi… One generation has flashed through several digital eras: VHS, CD, LCD, 3G, 4G, tablets, SMART and the dot is not yet put. But, as they say, the further into the woods the bigger the firewood: where to store your favorite video files, favorite photos, TV shows, winning matches and just files from the torrent, and without dusty archives, so that everything is always at hand – turn it on, choose, watch. On your computer, tablet, smartphone, or TV. So it’s time to talk about the powerful BUFFALO LS420D-EU: LinkStation™ home cloud storage device.
Specifications:
Number of HDDs – 2
Processor – Marvell ARMADA 370 1.2 GHz.
RAM – 512 MB
LAN -Transmission speed10/100/1000Mbps
RAID-0,1, JBOD modes supported.
NTP time synchronization protocol, hot-swappable HDD, 1xUSB2 support.0, 1Gb 1xRJ45.
Desktop form factor.
Weight- 2,4 kg
At the time of writing, the price of a device with two 3-drive form factor.5″ with SATA connector, – two TB each, is 17,990 t.r. Considering the cost of the drives alone is about 6,000.r. for both, it begs the question, would you buy something cheaper??
Really, you can get something for 3000 to 5000 t.r., – Or even less, and self-equipped with hard drives.
But you should be ready for “dancing with bamboozles under the voices of technical support”, and here we offer a ready-made solution in fact “plug and play”.
We can say that this is the case when you have to pay for the convenience – so it’s no coincidence that we focused on the process of adjustment.
Not so long ago Buffalo released a new line of network storage for home.
The entire lineup is logically represented by several models. There are a total of three in the new lineup: LinkStation 410, LinkStation 420, and LinkStation 421.
LS410D-EU: The LinkStation™ comes with a SATA hard drive and features a 4TB capacity, the highest capacity offered on the market today.
LS420D-EU: LinkStation™ and LS421DE-EU: LinkStation™ is “more serious” in that it is a single unit capable of carrying two SATA 3.5 form factor drives up to 4TB each. The difference is that the 421 comes “empty”, which makes it possible to install any drive size – including smaller drives – and therefore customise the final system for you. By the way, such solution is convenient if a user has limited means.
Package, Appearance
Our editorial team received the eldest unit in the line, the Buffalo LS420D-EU: LinkStation™.
In the box, besides the device itself, there is a manual, an installation disk, a network cable and a wire with LAN-connectors.
The device, according to the claimed data, weighs 2.4 kg, which, subjectively, feels a bit much for its volume.
When you open the front lid it becomes clear what gives the unit its weight: Most of the interior space is taken by two SATA hard drives. With the average weight of a 4TB drive being 0.6 – 0.7Kg, the chassis itself weighs about 1Kg.
Almost the entire interface is on the back panel, with LAN ports, USB 2 and HDX ports.0 and a slot for a power adapter.
At the back of the device there are also a power slot and a power switch.
You can see different opinions on the feasibility of such a location in the forums. Personally, I think it makes sense to put the interface on the back, since the NAS is only plugged in and only needs to be switched on once. So, let all the cords and keys stay in the back, away from curious people, especially as one of the possible places for this device to be located is in a small office. In case you need to make a quick copy of something, there is another USB 2 socket on the front panel.0.
Features
The device is equipped with a 1200 megabyte dual-core Marvell processor and comes with 512MB of DDR3 memory preinstalled. It seems relatively “modest” by today’s standards, but for the home, it’s just right. impressions of the work.
It is clear that NAS devices are not purchased for “stupidly pouring” all the information into them, they have to be able to do something else.
1. Web Access
The implementation of this technology allows you to access the unit regardless of its physical location.
In other words, if you are somewhere else – in fact, anywhere in the world – you can browse the files contained in this NAS. In addition, you can send links, allowing you to view the selected material, to your friends clients, partners ,
If we consider that virtual offices are increasingly replacing physical offices – and for a small company the LS420D-EU will also do, then the possibility of remote access is not unreasonable at all.
2. BitTorrent Client
Those times are over, by the way, not so long ago, when manufacturers especially large “serious” companies avoided in every possible way the integration of functions supporting free content distribution on the Internet, in other words, piracy. It went so far that some media players deliberately did not support playback of mkv, a popular container for HD quality video files.
Surprisingly, the more legislation is passed against torrent trackers, the more the device’s downloading ability grows.
Moreover, the absence of these very abilities is considered as archaism, – copyright support gave way to market appeal.
LS420D-EU in this light shows advanced abilities, – it knows how to download large files with a built-in BitTorrent ™ client by itself – without a computer. Of course you have to select the content – the device doesn’t know how to do that yet, but the computer, of course, will not be busy with “whatnot” while downloading, freeing its power for more urgent things.
3.Playback of DSD files.
The software interface allows to play high-quality audio files DSD-files directly from the LS420D-EU. Of course, the audio system should be able to integrate into your home network, connecting to the NAS through a router. Considering that more than half of AV receivers on the market today can do this, it’s a nice feature.
Of course, to play SACD quality audio files, stereo systems are more suitable, but many audiophiles use media players in their audio packages, and these devices already have network functionality in the vast majority of them. 4. NovaStor NovaBACKUP backup software included. In 1997 I went broke buying a 1GB internal hard drive, which was a lot at the time. Nowadays plus or minus 100 GB will not make a difference for you when buying a disk.
As practice shows, no matter how much free space you have, after a short time it will be gone, especially if there is a built-in BitTorrent Client, i.e. the size of the disk is of little importance. So it makes sense to “empty” one of the two hard drives for the backup.
Of course, in this case – as it often happens – common sense will fight greed, but the possibility of backup in this device is – the package includes software NovaStor NovaBACKUP. I had only one crash of a 320 GB harddrive, but that was it, so to speak. Most of it, though, was movies and music, but the valuable documents were in the computer.
Software installation.
So, the device is connected to the router via LAN, and then the network is configured on the computer.
When you start the installation disk, you will be prompted to install the connection wizard – Link Navigator, or choose other features.
Rice .1.
By the way, there is also a manual in American.
Figure.2.
Starting the installation. The files are installed quickly and the process is no different from any other similar operation and ends with congratulations:
Rice. 3. p
he icon on the desktop appears.
Installing additional utilities.
At one stage of the installation is a proposal to install additional programs.
Fig.4.
When the appropriate selection is made, a menu comes up:
Rice.5.
The first two utilities are actually standard for such devices:
NAS NAS is the primary interface for network attached storage, the NETWORK USB Navigator is responsible for operating the devices attached to the LinkStation via the USB port.
And NOVA BUCKUP, the backup utility, is implemented as follows:
Fig.6.
Rice. 7
Fig. 8
The work of
When you open your network, you can see there the equipment.
Fig. 9.
But to access it, you
You need the PIN-code of your router.
Figure. 10.
Not going too much into details, we should say that it is not always available and, if it is your case, the adjustment can turn into “brain washing” of those.Support for your ISP and Buffalo.
Of course one of the most important factors – but not the only one – is speed. The 420’s claimed specs allow it to transfer data at speeds of up to 100 MB/s. We deliberately did not take measurements for one reason – under different conditions NAS can behave differently and measurements will not show anything.
The speed depends not only on the device itself, but also on the number of computers it can handle, the amount of information it can handle, its fragmentation, etc.d.
Of course, the initial slow device is not much faster, but the 420 doesn’t seem to have any “brakes” or “slow response” to subjective sensations.
At least “heavy” mkv were played without any slowdowns or artifacts, I have no claims to uncompressed and multi-channel audio as well.
I don’t have any problems with heat dissipation – the surface heats up to 35 degrees. In the slots noticeable two fans – but, of course, do not put it next to the battery.
Conclusions.
The device is positioned as a high-performance networking device for home and small office – and it fits the bill perfectly. Price is a little higher than the competitors, which is due to the ease of setup and therefore saves time.
What are the specific features that distinguish LS420D-EU network storage as an ideal home cloud drive? Can it efficiently handle multiple devices simultaneously and provide seamless remote access to files and data?