Iomega StorCenter ix2-dl Review: Network-Attached Storage Can Be Used for Video Surveillance, Too

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Iomega StorCenter ix2-dl Review: Network-Attached Storage Can Be Used for Video Surveillance, Too

The Iomega StorCenter ix2-dl is the company's least expensive two-bay NAS (network-attached storage) product, and a notable step up from its more consumer-oriented Home Media Hard Drive. At $200 without disks, it's a good performer for reading back data, and Iomega's software features are solid, only a notch or two below Synology's and QNAP's.

That said, the ix2-dl's write performance for small files and folders is weak, so this is not a box for backing up more than a couple of networked PCs. Inside, the StorCenter ix2-dl is powered by a 1.6GHz Marvell 3282 CPU and 256MB of memory.

A basic black box, the ix2-dl features only power and status lights on the front panel, plus gigabit ethernet and a single USB 2.0 port on the back. The USB 2.0 port works with external storage drives or printers; or you could plug in a USB camera and use the drive for video surveillance.

The surveillance capabilities are available with the free MindTree SecureMind Surveillance app; you can also use the drive with the Axis Video Hosting System service and application, or with Iomega's own LifeLine Client. I took the first of these, the SecureMind app, for a spin; it's very easy to use and may be controlled locally or via the Web.

Beyond surveillance, the ix2-dl provides interfaces to social sites such as Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube; DLNA and iTunes media serving; bitttorrent downloading, iSCSI, and printer serving; plus integration with Amazon S3, Atmos Backup, and Mozy. The unit also provides its own backup routines as well as access via Iomega's portal-based Personal Cloud service.

For basic home media and storage use, this Iomega StorCenter is a full-featured NAS that will serve you well. Where the ix2-dl lags is in business-related applications such as email, Web, and VPN hosting.

While a decent reader, writing lots of smaller files and folders is the ix2-dl's weakness. With our 10GB mix of files, it wrote at only 20.2MBps—not the worst we've seen, but close to it. Write performance improved to 41.2MBps with our single 10GB file. If you're backing up PCs to the ix2-dl, you should opt for images rather than plain file backup for better speed. The ix2-dl read our 10GB file mix at a competent 35.5MBps and the large 10GB file at a healthy 86.5MBps.

For the average home or SOHO user, the ix2-dl is a two-bay NAS box that is easy to configure and use, and it won't cost you a fortune. Performance is fine for the price, and the features are all that most users will need. But small businesses should take a look at Synology's DiskStation DS212j or QNAP's TS-212, both of which offer cost-reducing server features for about the same price. (Our roundup from earlier this year can tell you more about some current NAS products.)

From PC World. Shop computer and accessories from Amazon here

Network-Attached Storage: Today’s Best Boxes

Synology's two-bay DS212+ NAS drive is a full-featured speedster with an outstanding operating system.The network-attached storage (NAS) box--an external storage device that attaches to your network router rather than directly to your PC--has become an essential tool for any home or small business that deals with shared data and media.

And the breed continues to evolve: Capabilities now extend far beyond simply serving and streaming files to PCs. Today's top NAS boxes also handle backups in conjunction with online storage services, link to mobile devices for sharing, act as video surveillance controllers, and even work as Wi-Fi hotspots.

Since it uses network protocols to transfer data, a NAS box is operating-system-agnostic: Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs alike can use the storage without special drivers. Usually, the connection relies on wired ethernet, but some boxes can connect wirelessly. Most NAS boxes have two to eight hard-drive bays and use RAID for data redundancy. Modern NAS boxes run a full-blown server OS--in most cases Linux, but occasionally Windows Storage Server 2008. Either way, remote management takes place via a Web browser or client software.

The high-performance QNAP TS-459 Pro II earned top ranking on our chart of NAS boxes with three or more bays.To see how far NAS technology has come in recent years, we tested five two-bay NAS boxes and six three-or-more-bay units, and examined their feature sets. Our ranked charts for Network-Attached Storage Devices: One or Two Bays and Network-Attached Storage Devices: Three or More Bays summarize what we found.

The USB 3.0 ports on some premium models are the main outward sign of change. Hardware features tend to vary with the price of the box, but they commonly include USB 2.0 and eSATA ports for sharing printers or backing up to external storage; solo or dual ethernet jacks (dual for connection sharing or redundancy); and direct copy buttons for copying the contents of thumb drives and other storage attached to the NAS box without the need to access the box's HTML interface.

Inside the box, faster CPUs and chipsets, and more memory, have improved performance significantly. Pricier, high-end boxes for small business can now read data at rates up to about 110 MBps and write it at about 100 MBps--almost twice as fast as most internal or direct-attached drives. The jump in performance, however, has yet to fully trickle down to the next tier of consumer-grade NAS boxes from vendors such as LaCie and Buffalo; though far more affordable, these models lack the punch of top-of-the-line products.

In the next year, updated hardware from many vendors should level the playing field again. And few home users need more speed than even the slowest box in this roundup can give them right now. If you only occasionally back up one or two PCs, or stream media, any of the boxes we tested will meet your needs. On the other hand, if you regularly back up multiple PCs in an office, deal with large amounts of data, or stream to multiple locations, you need all the speed you can get, and you'll likely find that high-end performance is worth paying extra for.

Synology's two-bay DS712+ NAS drive can connect to a five-bay expansion unit to grow with your business.Though hardware has evolved gradually, software--including the code than handles RAID functionality--has grown by leaps and bounds. In addition to supporting standard RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 1+0, and so on), some vendors--such as Netgear and Synology--now automatically configure drives into the optimal array, even implementing data redundancy. In most cases you don't have to use like-capacity drives either, though doing so is still optimal.

Software features that were highly advanced two years ago are now considered standard: DLNA-certified media serving, iTunes serving, website serving, and remote access to the NAS interface and files via HTML, FTP, Webdav, and other protocols. Newer features include backup to online storage services, access to files from mobile phones and tablets, and remote backup and synchronization across local networks and the Internet. Being able to easily sync two boxes in two different locations provides offsite backup without your having to pay for online storage.

NAS software interfaces have improved, too. Confusing sets of basic and often ineptly designed HTML pages have largely morphed into stylish, well-organized, easy-to-navigate interfaces. Synology's latest 3.x and 4.x OSs are able to function as windowed operating systems in a browser.

If you're not using a NAS box to manage your company's data and online presence, you're missing out. Feature-rich NAS boxes can save you money in the long run by rendering software services that you formerly had to farm out. Our top pick among two-bay NAS boxes is the Synology DS712+; the top-ranked box with three or more bays is the QNAP TS-459 Pro II.

For complete review of each of the 11 NAS boxes we tested for this article, click the appropriate links below.

Two Bays

• Synology DiskStation DS712+

• Synology DiskStation DS212+

• LaCie 2Big Network 2 2TB

• Western Digital My Book Live Duo 4TB

• Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo 2TB

Three or More Bays

• QNAP TS-459 Pro II

• QNAP TS-879 Pro

• Iomega StorCenter PX6-300d

• LaCie 5Big Network 2

• Western Digital Sentinel DX4000

• Netgear ReadyNAS NV+ v2 (RND4000)

From PCWorld. Visit Amazon Computer and Notebook Center here