The Price:

1TB for $270, 2TB for $370 and 4TB for $700

The Verdict:

It does a lot, and it does it pretty well, for not a lot of cash.

Here's a list of the exciting bits on the Ix2-200's feature list:

• Automated backup and restore: Full Time Machine support for Macs as well as Retrospect, a different backup scheme, for PCs and Macs.
• Automated copy jobs, which can automatically and incrementally copy (either with Windows file sharing or rsync) files off of network shares and dump it onto its own storage, or the other way around. Perfect for backing up other network shares for double data security
• RAID1
• DLNA, iTunes Servers
• Quiet running
• SMB features like email notifications, event logs, iSCSI, automated video surveillance (provided you have a compatible camera) and USB printer support
• A load of networking support, like Apple File Sharing, Bluetooth, FTP, NFS, Rsync, SNMP and standard Windows File Sharing (CIFS)
• Torrent downloading
• Remote access

Instead of building a Windows Home Server, like so many others have done, Iomega decided to build their own system from their own technology, and came out pretty feature-rich because of it.

The setup process is slightly finicky—you install the Iomega Solutions CD and wait while it searches your network for the server. This can actually take a few hours (we thought the Mac version was malfunctioning until it completed its setup and discovery process), but once you're up, you're up.

You control the server with a web interface, which works with a local app to provide integration into your file system. It's pretty simple to use, and there aren't too many tabs or options to confuse users with.

Backup and file storage

Time Machine works as well as if you were just shoving in a USB hard drive, and there's little difference compared to running your backups over the network as if it were a Time Capsule. Iomega tells us that they've learned from HP's first Windows Home Servers, the ones who weren't able to run a complete Time Machine restore in the event of a total drive failure, so Mac users shouldn't need to worry.

Retrospect, another backup software, can also configure backup plans on a schedule and automatically execute them without any input from you. Just choose which drives and folders you want to back up—it even backs up your network folders—and pick your schedule. If you don't have a Windows Home Server on your network to handle your Windows backups, this is a pretty good substitute. And of course you can use Retrospect to restore your backups to your machine, in case of data failure.

Automated copy jobs is another feature that's especially sweet for me, since I have a lot of network storage and I always worry about what would happen if one fails. This way, the Ix2-200 can maintain up-to-date copies of whatever's sitting on other network drives, and act as the schoolmarm for all your data.

Networking and other features

Some of the other features are pretty much evaluated on a yes/no basis in terms of whether or not they work. The fan is very quiet even when transferring a mass load of files—although the hard drive is not, so that's kind of moot—but is virtually silent otherwise. RAID1 works, and comes set up by default. The DLNA and iTunes streaming works in their respective clients, and Xbox 360/PS3 has no problem streaming files off of the server.

BitTorrent download works, but the server gets confused if you give it a URL to download a .torrent file from, so to play it safe you should just go ahead and download the .torrent yourself and feed that instead. Download speeds are decent, and you can configure what the maximum upload/download speeds are so as to not saturate your internet connection. You should also change your default port as well, since ISPS throttle that 6881 port hard.

All the networking stuff works as expected, as do the email notifications and event logs. The rest of the higher end stuff, like video surveillance integration and iSCSI we didn't test, so we can't say if there are any issues with them or not. It's more than likely that they do work, but we don't know if there are any quirks you should watch out for.

It's a pretty good deal

Iomega's aiming this at both the prosumer and the SMB market, which means that for most people, it's going to have a lot of features that they don't need. But that doesn't matter! The Ix2-200 is so packed with stuff that it should satisfy the needs of just about any user who's hurting for a network storage solution. And at a starting price of only $270 for the 1TB version, it's a cheaper alternative than Windows Home Servers, and can do just about all the same things. Plus with its user-replaceable drives and three USB ports, you can easily upgrade the storage yourself and expand your storage after the fact. [Iomega]

Great backup options including Time Machine and Retrospect

Small, quiet and fast

Feature loaded

Fairly cheap for what you get

Setup process isn't as easy as it could be

The My Books can connect either as an NAS through ethernet or simply as an external drive through USB, and both the 2TB and 4TB versions contain two drives to watch each other's backs in case one fails. So really, you're getting either 1TB or 2TB of space, respectively, since one drive is used as backup. They're available now and retail for either $400 (2TB) or $700 (4TB). Press release to follow. [Western Digital]

WD'S NEW DUAL-DRIVE MY BOOK® WORLD EDITION™ II NETWORK STORAGE SYSTEM ADDS EXTRA LEVEL OF PROTECTION
FOR A FAMILY'S VALUABLE DATA

Offers an Easy, Double-Safe Way to Backup Computers and Share Media
Throughout the Home

LAKE FOREST, Calif. - June 24, 2009 - WD® (NYSE: WDC), the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its newly redesigned My Book® World Edition™ II dual- drive network storage system in capacities of up to 4 TB. With the double protection of two Mirrored (RAID 1) drives and continuous backup software, the My Book World Edition II network storage system provides an extra-safe place for users to back up and store the data and digital media from all the computers on their network in one central location. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store, the new dual-drive systems join the recently introduced (Feb. 2009) My Book World Edition and are compatible with PC and Mac® computers.

According to a July 2008 report by research firm Parks Associates, the number of households worldwide with data networks will grow from around 170 million in 2008 to 240 million by year-end 2012. The firm also reports that the average broadband household will see its digital media storage needs grow to nearly 900 GB by year-end 2012. In addition, consumers indicate that the most important feature for a network-attached storage (NAS) device is the amount of available storage. With its massive 4 TB capacity, the My Book World Edition II network storage system will serve this rapidly growing need for home data storage.

The My Book World Edition II network storage system uses RAID 1 (Mirrored1) technology to automatically and continuously maintain a second copy of user's data. If one drive in the two-drive system ever fails, the system continues to run and the data is safe. In addition, the new
My Book World Edition II network hard drive includes software that simplifies the task of setting up automatic and continuous data backup for all the PCs in the home. The My Book World Edition II storage systems ship in Mirrored mode and use half the capacity for file redundancy.

With its media server capabilities and fast transfer speeds, this high-capacity system makes it simple to build a centralized digital media library that everyone can easily share. Music, photos and videos can be streamed directly from the My Book World Edition II storage system to any PC, Mac or connected DLNA® media player (such as TVs, Microsoft® Xbox 360 and Sony® PlayStation®3 game consoles or wireless digital pictures frames) using the integrated UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) media server and iTunes® Music server software. Users can also securely access their files from anywhere in the world through the Internet using the free MioNet® remote access service included with every My Book World Edition II storage system.

"Families have more and more digital media like movies, photos and music to store, share and protect. Having two drives inside the My Book World Edition II network storage system, instantaneously and automatically duplicating data, offers consumers the peace of mind of double safe, real-time protection of their valuable content," said Dale Pistilli, vice president of marketing for WD's branded products group. "Families can relax knowing their valuable media is backed up while enjoying the ability to stream their content to a plethora of different devices from PCs and Macs to PS3s, Xbox 360s and the latest connected TVs."

Price and Availability

The new My Book World Edition II network storage systems are available now in 2 TB and 4 TB capacities at select retailers and WD's online store (www.shopwd.com). MSRP for the My Book World Edition II dual-drive storage system with 4 TB is $699.99 USD and 2 TB is $399.99 USD.

The Price: $390

The Verdict: Quite good. If you weren't quite sure Windows Home Server was right for you, and you have a family with both Mac and PC machines, the LX195 is an easy way to experiment without paying the $600ish dowry to hitch yourself to a full-blown EX machine.

The Catch: Like the EX HP Home Servers, you can retrieve individual files off the Time Machine backup, but you can't use it to restore your machine at boot time. Which means if you don't have a spare Mac in the house to grab the files off the server and load it onto a USB drive from which you can do a restore, you'll have a more roundabout recovery process than you'd like.

The Point: The LX195 works just fine as a Home Server and a Time Machine target backup drive (its Gigabit Ethernet makes file transfers rather speedy), but lacks the extras the company just introduced to the EX485 and EX487 that allow users to stream and convert video to iPhones and PSPs. If all you want is the base functionality, this is definitely a fine choice. But at the same time, you have to look at Acer's $400 solution that does have four expandable drive bays. But Acer's might not have the iTunes server and media capabilities that HP does. [HP]

Relatively cheap, but maintains most of HP's Home Server functionality

Doesn't have the newer EX updates

No internal-expandable storage, only USB

The miniNAS, as you would expect, uses a pair of 2.5-inch laptop drives (up to 500GB each), which are wrong for an NAS for a number of reasons, primarily their lack of speed when compared to 3.5-inchers. At least your data will be backed up, with both RAID 0 and RAID 1 as an option.

Also packed in is a DLNA server for iTunes and multimedia streaming, a USB port for backing up USB volumes, and, in the only benefit of the laptop drives I can see, a claim of 25-30% of the power usage of a full-size dual-disk NAS.

But again, don't buy this unless you live, literally, in a closet. [Thecus via Engadget]

The Skinny: The Media Hub NAS drive is built on top of a custom linux platform that works with Mac or PC, complete with automated backups, remote access, and specific functionality, such as iTunes Server. Simillar to theHP MediaSmart Server, it presents music, photos and video in a browser based UI, that can be accessed over both local and remote connections. That means you can stream all your media from your web browser without any additional apps. It also plays nice with Linksys' new Wireless Home Audio system.

The Linksys Media Hub comes in three configurations—the 500 GB NAS without a navigation LCD screen will cost $350. The 500 GB NAS with an LCD screen will cost $400, and the 1 TB NAS with an LCD screen will cost $430.

Wilson got a chance to check it out, and here are his shots and basic impressions:

Setup was easy, provided you have a Windows PC. Even gaining remote access to files over the web required nothing more than a quick sign-up on Cisco's server website. While you can't configure it on a Mac, you can access it via Bonjour or DLNA, so moving files is reliable and fast.

The Media Hub web interface controls the system, and comes in two flavors, a full featured one you can only access locally, and a more content-oriented one you can reach anywhere. The interface has its own media player, so you can queue up music and play away, right there. You can also play movies and photo slideshows if you run IE on a PC. If you're running Firefox or any other browser, you can get at your videos and photos, but you tend to have to download them to view them. The same goes for AAC audio, which can be played back via your browser, but currently can't play from the hub media player.

Remote interface:

Dumping files directly from a memory card or USB stick was a cool feature—it auto detects, then it's just a simple matter of clicking OK. I did have trouble with an 8GB SDHC card from SanDisk, but Linksys tells me that shouldn't be the case generally, that SDHC is supported, so I assume it's just a temporary bug.

In all, the system does a fair amount—solid backup, good media accessibility. The biggest differentiator might be the direct access to the drive from the card slots and USB. Linksys promises future features like Time Machine backup and better media handling, but for now, it's a solid product for the PC world.

Cisco Simplifies Digital Media Access for Consumers

Linksys by Cisco Media Hub helps consumers enjoy all of their digital photos,
music and video anytime, anywhere

Las Vegas – January 7, 2009 – Cisco® today announced the Linksys by Cisco Media Hub at the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. Designed to simplify access to and interaction with digital content, the Media Hub gathers, organizes, and presents all the digital video, photos and music that users have spread amongst various devices in the home. With a Media Hub consumers can enjoy all of their media through an easy to use interface that is not only accessible in the home, but throughout the world via a web browser. The Media Hub is the perfect solution for consumers with extensive digital media libraries who are looking to eliminate the complexity of managing their collections.

Facts/Highlights:
Centralized Access to Digital Photos, Music and Videos
Sharing media on multiple devices within the home is easy with the Media Hub’s media and iTunes server capabilities. The Media Hub automatically searches the network for other media devices to present all available digital media to the user in a single location.
Easy Graphical User Interface
Content accessible to the Media Hub is presented in a browser-based, simple to navigate user interface. Music albums are consolidated and presented together with the appropriate Album Art, regardless of where the tracks reside within the network, eliminating the need to know which device music is stored on. Photos and videos are presented using thumbnail images that are easily organized by date or name. All available media, regardless of type, can be located by using the available search function.
Simple Remote Access 
Remote Access can be enabled on the Media Hub with just a few clicks of a button. Users are not required to install any special software or change their network configuration. The Media Hub takes care of everything with the exception of choosing its Remote Access name. Whether accessing the Media Hub on a PC at home, or through a web browser anywhere in the world via www.ciscomediahub.com, consumers are presented with the same easy to navigate user interface that enables them to access their digital media and upload or download files from a remote location.
Backup
Automated backup software is included with the Media Hub to help ensure that even the most treasured memories and digital libraries are protected. Folders on a computer within the network that contain Digital Media can be set to automatically copy any new files to the Media Hub for added piece of mind.

Consumer Friendly Design
The product's sleek design makes it possible to place the Media Hub virtually anywhere in the home and with its near silent operation it will not disturb daily life. With two drive bays and external USB ports consumers can easily expand their Media Hub if and when their Digital Media storage needs grow.

Configurations and availability:
In the US, the products are available now from authorized Linksys by Cisco retailers, resellers, and VAR partners. Cisco anticipates availability in Canada, UK, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands during the first quarter of 2009.

The Media Hub comes in both the NMH300 Series and the NMH400 Series. The NMH300 series is a cost-effective solution that offers all of the core features of the Media Hub, and is designed to be used primarily with a PC or Mac to interface with the device. On the NMH400 Series, an LCD screen that displays information such as available space, drive usage by type of media, and network status teams with a 6-in-1 card reader to enable the simple transfer of new media and entertainment onto the Media Hub without the need for a computer. Firmware upgrades and instant backups can also be initiated via navigating the LCD.

The following configurations of the LinksysMedia Hub will be available from launch:
NMH305 – Linksys by Cisco Media Hub (500GB hard drive) MSRP: $299.99/ €299.99

NMH405 – Linksys by Cisco Media Hub with LCD and 6-in-1 card reader (500GB hard drive) MSRP: $349.99/ €349.99

NMH410 – Linksys by Cisco Media Hub with LCD and 6-in-1 card reader (1TB hard drive) MSRP: $429.99/ €429.99

If you recall our guide to choosing a network-attached disk (something no Gizmodo household should be without), you'll remember that low-end drives often skimp on features like AFP for Apple networks, etc. Not so here. Good to keep in mind that drives that look good on paper could always have an unseen performance setback (like the Synology drive in our tests), and that these are single-disk models with no RAID redundancy for auto backups. But still, a good value for some quick network storage, as those prices aren't too much of a premium over a non-networked USB disk at those sizes.

[Iomega]

With the new economical Iomega® Home Media Network Hard Drive, consumers can easily share and access photos, videos and music between home computers and other networked devices.

· This new network hard drive provides easy-to-use, yet powerful, network storage for the home user and the three step setup is very simple, even if you've never used a network drive before.

· Home users can save all their digital files to one central location and share them between computers and other networked consumer devices on the home network, including playing back pictures, videos and music from digital media adapters such as game consoles, digital picture frames or high-end TVs.

· The Home Media Network Hard Drive also has a built-in iTunes server which automatically feeds music into iTunes® for easy playback, allowing users to share one printer over the network, even control which family members have access to certain folders. Plus, home users can secure their digital memories and backup automatically to this device with award winning EMC® Retrospect® software (PC/Mac) and for extra protection backup online with MozyHome™ Online Backup service with 2GB free.

· The Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive is available in 500GB and 1TB capacities and starts at just $159.99.
Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive Features:

· Capacity: 500GB or 1TB (both are single drive units)

· Simple to use: Three step set-up – simply plug into your router, power on, and install the software CD. Friendly web screens for easy management.

· Sharing: Access files from any networked Apple computer for easy file sharing

· High Performance: Gigabit Ethernet connectivity combined with a high performance processor

· UPnP™ AV Media Server: Compatible with DLNA® certified media players, able to stream photos, audio content and videos to a variety of media devices like game consoles, audio bridges, DMAs (digital media adapters), picture frames and more

· iTunes™ Server: Store your audio content in one central location and share it across your iTunes players

· Network File Protocols Supported:

CIFS/SMB (Microsoft), AFP (Apple), HTTP 1.1

· Expandability: Add storage capacity by connecting external USB Hard Disk Drives. Supports FAT32 and NTFS formatted hard drives

· Network Discovery: Automatic network discovery by Apple Bonjour and Microsoft Windows Rally devices

· Data Protection: Touch-free professional-level backup for all your critical data with EMC® Retrospect HD backup software. Effortlessly back up files on a pre-set schedule

· Print Server: Intelligent network print sharing capability for one USB printer directly attached to the Home Media drive

The Price:

The Verdict: Good, but expensive. The Z-series has all of the online features as the previous version, but improves the hardware with a few important changes. Most notably, the really loud fan has been swapped out with something that doesn't annoy the hell out of you. There's also Gigabit Ethernet (real nice), and RAID (only on some versions). The web interface is also refined, allowing you more options to tweak backup times and how much bandwidth you're allocating so you don't slow down everyone else on your connection.

So yes, it's a pretty good setup, but that price point is really high. You can get a standard 1TB NAS elsewhere for about half the $1149 Datto's charging ($899 if you don't want RAID). But the real draw is how easy the online backup is. You don't even have to think about it—the unit just takes care of everything right out of the box. While the unit cost and relatively high monthly fee may be too rich for regular consumers, businesses and professionals who really need to keep their data secure might just think it a small price to pay for peace of mind. [Datto]

The Verdict: Mediocre speeds (~6MB/s), quirky drive formatting, limited sharing options, and the mandatory use of their drive mounting utility means this is more suitable as a network drive to share smaller chunks of data rather than a device to use for moving around big files.

The Catch:

Only one computer can be in write mode, and it needs to be formatted as FAT32 for Macs and PCs to both be able to access it, which takes a big chunk out of your performance.

The Performance: Filling up that 750GB (about 699GB when formatted) when sending data at 6MB/s means you're going to be sitting there for quite a while. You mount the drive like a normal drive on your Windows and Mac using their drive utility application, which is usable but not great. Unfortunately you can only have one computer mounting the drive as read/write, and the other 19 have to mount as read-only.

Formatting the NAS was a pain as well. Vista could only format the drive as NTFS, and not FAT32, so I couldn't use it as a shared drive between Mac and Windows. After some back and forth with tech support, we finally installed a newer driver and got Vista to format FAT32—which turned out to be not a great idea, because FAT32 on large-sized drives is much slower compared to NTFS.

The NAS also occasionally randomly disconnects, and you'll have to reboot both the NAS and your computer in order to get them both to reconnect. Not something anyone really wants to do.

The Price: $119 for 80GB all the way up to $329 for 750GB

The Recommendation: Slow performance thanks to the non-Gigabit Ethernet means you don't want to use this as storage you access often (get another internal drive or a USB drive), but if you have a repository of music or files a lot of people need to access, this could be for you.

[Newertech]