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If you're looking for hard drives built to withstand the rigors of network-attached storage, Western Digital has a treat in store for you. The company just expanded its Red line of NAS-ready drives to include 2.5-inch models in 750GB and 1TB capacities; both disks fit into smaller enclosures while maintaining the Red series' power and speed optimizations for always-on media servers. WD is offering a few perks for desktop users, too. The existing 3.5-inch range now includes a high-capacity 4TB drive, and every new Red model ships with NASware 2.0 technology that should improve reliability. All three Red variants are shipping today; the compact 750GB and 1TB disks respectively sell for $79 and $99, while the 4TB behemoth costs $229.
Filed under: Storage, Networking
Source: Western Digital
Rely heavily on a LaCie 5big NAS Pro or 2big NAS? If so, you'll want to carve out a few minutes to inject a bit of new software (tap "Support" in the product's Dashboard). The aforementioned outfit has updated its NAS OS 3 software today, increasing RAID 5 write speeds by 25 percent, expanding hybrid cloud capabilities and adding more professional features. With this update, the LaCie 5big NAS Pro now features RAID 5 write speeds up to 100MB/s on a single LAN, a 25 percent increase from the previous NAS OS version.
In addition to letting users sync data between a computer and the cloud, NAS OS 3.1 now lets users sync data between a computer and the NAS. For the pros in attendance, you'll be pleased to know that the software now features hardware monitoring that alerts the admin in real time of potential issues with the fan, CPU and RAM. The new build (v3.1) is available today for the 5big NAS Pro and will be available in August for the 2big NAS; for more, peek the full presser after the break.
Filed under: Storage, Software
Source: LaCie
The skyscraper? The hauteur router? The dapper WAP? All reasonable nicknames were considered, but in the end, Apple's sticking with "AirPort Extreme." The newest base station -- the one introduced alongside the company's Haswell-infused MacBook Air at WWDC -- takes on a new look and gains 802.11ac support, but that's not what you're here for. You're here for two reasons: first, you want to see this thing reverse engineered, and second, you want to get an idea of just how repairable it is. The gurus over at iFixit have done their usual teardown, offering up a plethora of lovely JPGs and settling on a respectable 8 out of 10 on the Repairability Index. Eager to learn more? Give that source link below a soft tap... with the key word being soft.
Filed under: Networking, Apple
Source: iFixit
With its quad-core ARM processor, the Drobo 5N is capable of much more than just storing files, and you can now grab a Plex app to help it live up to that potential. Once installed, it'll turn the NAS into a full blown media server to distribute up to 16TB of protected media to any of your Plex- or DLNA-supported SmartTVs, handheld devices, Mac or PC computers, set top boxes and gaming consoles. Plex said that the Drobo, while not capable of performing real-time video transcoding, will be able to demux multiple video and audio streams and transcode multi-channel audio to stereo AAC in real-time. If you already shelled out $600 for one of the speedy boxes -- on top of the drives to populate it -- the free cost of the app is probably a relief. You can grab it from your Drobo Dashboard.
Filed under: Storage, Software, HD
Source: Plex, Drobo (Plex product page)
There's been more than a few Atom-based storage servers. Most of them either have to lean on the same Atom processors you'd usually get with nettops, though, which makes them less than ideal for media tasks than a chip dedicated to the job. Intel has just launched a new platform that might be a better fit for home network storage. New NAS arrays from Asustor, Synology, Thecus and others (none yet pictured here) all revolve around a dual-core Atom CE5300 system-on-chip that's better-optimized for media processing duties: it can stream video across the network to multiple devices at once, and can automatically downscale video to accommodate smaller screens. The small chip contributes to a relatively small price at the same time, with NAS boxes starting around $299. Not everyone can suddenly justify a dedicated media server in the home just because the CE5300 is an option, but those that do may at least get more for their money.
Filed under: Storage, Networking, HD, Intel
Source: Intel
Kanex may be more famous as a cable maker, but it still has priors when it comes to knocking out the odd device. meDrive is a small white box that's designed to turn any old USB HDD into a network attached storage (NAS) drive. We're no friend to buzzwords like "private cloud," but as the unit promises to swell the capacity of our microSD-slot lacking iOS devices, we couldn't resist giving it a go. Does this $99 box do all that it promises to do? Find out, after the break.
Filed under: Networking
High-rolling (or just highly nerdy) home theater PC setups often have network-attached storage to hold the reams of video that invariably won't fit on the PC itself. QNAP wonders why we don't just cut to the chase -- both of its TS-x69L and TS-x69 Pro entries in the Turbo NAS range support XBMC's home theater software out of the gate, letting either NAS serve as the front-end as long as they're hooked up through HDMI. They won't be the most powerful when they're powered by dual-core, 2.13GHz Atom chips; that might be forgiven when there's space for as many as eight hard drives shareable across the entire home. The lineups start at $479 for empty two-bay editions and scale up to $1,099 for eight. Not cheap, we know, but they may be relative bargains for any movie-watchers looking to simplify the living room.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Storage, HD
Corsair is very much associated with devices that need a physical connection to work, whether they're thumb drives or memory sticks. It's looking to cut the cord in style through its new Voyager Air. You'll have seen some of what it does with a predecessor like Kingston's Wi-Drive, with media streaming to Android and iOS devices, a WiFi repeater mode and USB 3.0 support, but Corsair's drive goes the extra mile by serving as network attached storage through a gigabit Ethernet link. The 7-hour battery life when completely wireless certainly helps its prospects, at least among its immediate rivals. Corsair plans to ship the Voyager Air by early February in a 500GB version for $199 and 1TB for $229 versions; either price sounds reasonable for a home media server that ultimately doesn't have to stay at home.
Continue reading Corsair outs Voyager Air with WiFi storage, NAS, USB 3.0 and repeater all in one
Filed under: Storage, Networking
Source: Corsair
Tragically, we only learned about Drobo's new 5N after we'd hired a warehouse the size of an aircraft hanger to store our latest, 12 million page novel. If you want to avoid our mistake, then the company's latest NAS might end your own storage woes. The new hardware is part of the same family as the 5D and Drobo Mini, except this one ditches the Thunderbolt connection in favor of a single gigabit-ethernet port. Inside, there's space for five 3.5-inch drives, giving you a maximum capacity of 20TB. An mSATA slot for an SSD drive will let you make use of Drobo's "data-aware tiering" feature, which gives applications like Adobe Lightroom and iTunes faster access to your NAS-stored files. The base model will set you back $600 and will be available in "mid December," which we impatiently hope is a euphemism for "tomorrow."
Continue reading Drobo's new 5N is a speedy $600 NAS for when you need files, stat
Filed under: Storage
Source: Drobo