PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
As more people collect vast amounts of data from movies to photos, consumers and small businesses are increasingly looking for a personal server for the home or office.
PCR takes a look at what’s available in the ever-evolving NAS market.
IOMEGA STORCENTER IX2 NETWORK STORAGE – £119 – £499
Distributor: Computer 2000
THEY SAY: The Iomega StorCenter ix2 Network Storage 2-bay is a compact desktop network storage device that is perfect for small businesses, home offices or advanced home networks, offering content sharing, data protection and basic video surveillance capabilities
SPECS: The easy-to-use interface provides no-hassle management. Active Directory support and remote access. Supports up to five Axis IP security cameras for basic video surveillance. Advanced media features such as the DLNA certified UPnP AV Media Server, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), torrent download compatibility, and Bluetooth upload.
SHUTTLE KD20 – £135.60
Distributor: Entatech
THEY SAY: The OMNINAS KD20 is an user-friendly 2-bay network attached-storage, designed to become your hub of multimedia content.
SPECS: Supports up to and from two 4TB hard drives for a total capacity of 8TB. Enables drives to work in JBOD, RAID 0 or RAID 1 configuration.
WD RED DRIVES – Price varies
Distributor: Entatech
THEY SAY: WD Red hard drives are designed and tested for compatibility in the unique 24×7 operating environment and demanding system requirements of home and small office NAS.
SPECS: NAS compatibility, enhanced reliability, energy efficient, 3D Active Balance Plus, premium support.
TOSHIBA STOR.E CLOUD – £124.99 – £154.99
Distributor: Micro-P
THEY SAY: The Canvio Personal Cloud is the newest, easiest and safest way from Toshiba to get, share, stream and keep your files and multimedia.
SPECS: Ready remote access, in- home streaming, centralised storage and backup, simple set-up.
SYNOLOGY DS213AIR – £235
Distributor: VIP Computers
THEY SAY: Synology DiskStation DS213air is specifically designed for small office and home users who need the convenient solution of wireless sharing capability with full- featured network attached storage.
SPECS: WiFi, SuperSpeed USB 3.0, hassle-free system installation with mobile devices.
IOMEGA EZ MEDIA & BACKUP CENTER – £139 – £249
Distributor: Computer 2000
THEY SAY: Easily share and access files, photos, videos, and music between all your computers and with friends and family.
SPECS: Built-in UPnP AV media server (DLNA certified) and iTunes server for easy sharing, automatically post files to your Facebook, YouTube and Flickr accounts.
D-LINK DNS-320L – Price varies
Distributor: Micro-P, Entatech
THEY SAY: The SharecenterTM 2- Bay Cloud Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-320L) NAS device with mydlink Cloud Services, backup and media features that make it ideal for storing and sharing photos, music, movies and work files on a home or business network.
SPECS: Bittorrent client, one USB 2.0 port, two SATA II 3.5 HDD interfaces, RAID 1 auto/manual rebuild, S.M.A.R.T. disk status monitoring.
NETGEAR READYNAS DUO V2 – £227
Distributor: Entatech
THEY SAY: The ReadyNAS Duo is perfect for homes with more than one computer. Unlike a USB drive, the ReadyNAS connects to the network and is simultaneously accessible via all connected Windows or Macintosh computers.
SPECS: Officially licensed BitTorrent, Web-based interface, NETGEAR Digital Entertainer interface.
WD MY BOOK LIVE DUO – £299
Distributor: Computer 2000, Computers Unlimited, Entatech, Ingram Micro, Micro-P, VIP Computers
THEY SAY: My Book Live Duo personal cloud storage is a high- performance dual-drive system providing secure wireless access to your media and files from any computer, tablet, or smartphone when connected to a wireless router.
SPECS: Remote access, internet or app file access, WiFi.
QNAP – TS-412/4TB – £549.99
Distributor: CCI Distribution
THEY SAY: QNAP NAS helps users reap the benefits of cloud computing by offering MyCloudNAS service for users to access the NAS and share files with friends and family on the Internet.
SPECS: Multimedia GUI, remote access via iPhone/iPad and Android devices, comes with 4TB (also available 2TB, 12TB & 16TB), support for wireless access, one-touch copy back-up, bittorrent download, UPnP media server (with built-in TwonkyMedia server).
SYNOLOGY DS213 – £235
Distributor: VIP Computers, Entatech, CCI Distribution
THEY SAY: Synology DiskStation DS213 is a feature-rich 2-bay NAS server for workgroups and offices, specifically designed for users who need to share and protect data cost-effectively, while increasing productivity with comprehensive office applications.
SPECS: Features SuperSpeed USB 3.0, effective backup solutions, hassle-free system installation, rich Office applications, running on Synology DiskStation Manager (DSM).
THECUS – N4200ECO/4TB – £679.99
Distributor: CCI Distribution
THEY SAY: The N4200Eco delivers first-class performance at an economy-class price. The two gigabit ethernet ports provide high throughput, which is a perfect match for the N4200Eco’s four hot-swappable SATA bays worth of storage potential. Users can install up to 8TBs of storage, and manage it all with multiple RAID modes including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD.
SPECS: Intel Atom CPU, PCIe expansion slot, power saving efficiency, iTunes server.
NETGEAR READYNAS NV+ – Price TBC
Distributor: Entatech
THEY SAY: Designed specifically for home offices, small businesses and workgroups, the ReadyNAS NV+ includes gigabit ethernet, hardware RAID, system monitoring capabilities and built-in backup.
SPECS: Two hot swap disk trays, hardware accelerated RAID (0,1,5 and X-RAID), gigabit ethernet interface with native support for Windows, Macintosh and Linux/Unix clients as well as FTP and HTTP support, built-in system monitoring with SNMP and email alerts, web browser interface, Backup manager.
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