I've currently got a USB hard drive. I've also got a server that is not nearly complete yet. This is technially enough hardware to do some interesting things with my information. However, it's taking a long time to figure out the server to get it the way I want it. So, I was thinking about speeding up the process by replacing my USB hard drive with an NAS so I could have most stuff ready now. Then my server is loads less complex which makes it easier to build. Plus, I don't have to get the server done first to do basic things like accessing my partimage patterns I've created and stuff. So no more hooking stuff up directly, it's hooked up with the network instead. I was also informed by a sales man why it is that USB hard drives don't seem to work as well as I think for imaging the drives. They said it's too many different types of connections.

So, instead of possibly trying to image over wireless to a router, then heading to a computer, then heading to a shared USB hard drive, one could simply image over wireless to the wireless router, connect to the other wireless router via wire, hop over to the wireless bridge (Buffalo), and go through the router to the wired NAS. At least it may work. For more simpler connections that are on the other side of the router, which is mainly what it's for, it should work for sure.

It's important to me to find one that I don't have to special order via Internet, but the fact that I can doesn't hurt. I want to be able to go to a store, and just pick one up if I need one or more of these devices. Almost like they're sold in every corner drug store, but not really... The stores near me and common, are Office Depot, Fred Myers, Office Max, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and Circut City. The're not all as close as all of them, but they're all the local stores. It doesn't take driving all the way accross the border of the state to find them. Also, they have more than one, and are likely to be found where ever I live.

The NAS also has to be affordable too. The less it costs, the better, although I'm willing to pay a little higher for the first one because you get it from a store and don't order it from the Internet.

I've looked at all these places too now. There's an NAS from MyBook, but it isn't reliable enough according the reviews. There's an NAS from NetGear, but it doesn't use standard protocols. It's not very good according to the reviews because of that. The plus about it though, is it takes IDE drives, which are more likely to be found laying around for me at this stage.

There's an NAS from Linksys too. I completely trust the hardware. However, they have an online emulator and the firmware, like all other Linksys devices I've wanted to do real work with, is pretty much useless to me for what I really want it to do. I also have to buy drives for it, but that's the littler problem if it would work. You see, appearently, the concept of the Linksys device is this: You have drives. Then you create folders on the drives. After this, you create users, but groups aren't allowed. Then you say: "This user has this much space, that user has that much space." It's shared via FTP, I think. I, unfortunately, could do a better job of that by simply using a Windows 95 or higher machine and sharing the drives. Or I could use Windows XP. It's better than this NAS, because it allows me to use groups too.

So, it's narrowed down to the Bufalo HS-DH500GL. This can be found in Circut City. Appearently, it's not the newest anymore. However, this is no problem if it's the only model that can be found in ocmmon stores that might work. It would seem that the capacity is all that may be different in newer models. As long as the capacity is an upgrade from what I've got, and is upgradable, just about any capacity would do fine, because I don't know the capacity I need right now. Things are all out of sync until I fix things again. It's good news, that this is the only one that comes with a drive in it, but is not so good that it only comes with one bay. Oh well to that though! That's not a big enough deal to make a difference.

It has a Gigabit port thingy, but I'm using 100Mbps as the standard for my wired network right now, so it doesn't matter at all. It would auto sense, just like every other device on my network, it even specifically says.

Although it costs nearly as much as the typical suitable computer, it's still affordable for me right now. I can return it if I don't like it, and there's no charge for doing so.

It shares at least via SMB and FTP. This could be a plus. Most things just need SMB, however. It even supports printers! This is great, even though it doesn't support mine, so right now I wouldn't use it.

So, as far as I can tell, it's probably this NAS, or no NAS would work for me. If no NAS would work, I can't avoid making my server more complicated then. Oh well, if so... But, I'd rather not make it very complicated. I'm going for simple, until my skills improve so much that a server is trivial. This is still not enough information to go on to buy it, at least without risk of needing to return it after buying it.

It's a pain to have to return things, for both me and the sales men however, so I'd prefer not to, and would prefer to look it up, and know it's exactly what I want.

For example, I have these questions:

1) Is it really as reliable as it says?
2) How long can I expect it to last?
3) Can it take any 3.5" SATA hard drive, or only certain brands?
4) Can I expect the hard drive to last awhile?
5) Does this really run Linux?
6) Can you reflash it with other Linuxes (but I wouldn't, just want to know for reference in case my skills improve)?
7) What filesystems does the device allow?
8) Does the device support permissions, or is it just like Linksys where you just make folders, share them for users, and that's it?
9) Does it support users and groups?
10) Would it let me enter users and groups as complex as I want, like I can pretty much on a Windows XP or Linux system?
11) Can you share a "drive" via FTP and SMB using this NAS?
12) You can map the drives to make them appear as Windows drives, like you can usually with SMB, right (I would assume so)?
13) Will it really be fast enough to image computers to using partimage or clonezilla in a simple case like wired or wireless to router to NAS?
14) Will it be fast enough for more complicated cases like wireless or wired to router, to router, over wireless to bridge, wired to router, wired to NAS?

Can anybody answer any of these questions, and/or point me to a web site with an "emulator" the way routers have emulators to show what it looks like when you use the device via the web interface and/or point me to a site with pictures of this firmware? Is there anybody who would or would not recomend this device, and if so, why or why not?

It looks like one thing I just found is a URL http://www.buffalotech.com/support/downloads/. Here I was able to download documentation that helps some. I could still use more information if somebody has any, however.

From my brilliant idea to lookup the manuals, I've found the following:


1) Is it really as reliable as it says?
2) How long can I expect it to last?
3) Can it take any 3.5" SATA hard drive, or only certain brands?
4) Can I expect the hard drive to last awhile?
5) Does this really run Linux?
6) Can you reflash it with other Linuxes (but I wouldn't, just want to know for reference in case my skills improve)?
7) What filesystems does the device allow? XFS, FAT32, EXT3, EXT2
8) Does the device support permissions, or is it just like Linksys where you just make folders, share them for users, and that's it? Well, it at least supports share-level access. Does it support permissions? I don't yet know.
9) Does it support users and groups? Yes
10) Would it let me enter users and groups as complex as I want, like I can pretty much on a Windows XP or Linux system? Looks like it!
11) Can you share a "drive" via FTP and SMB using this NAS? Yes. And AppleTalk too!
12) You can map the drives to make them appear as Windows drives, like you can usually with SMB, right (I would assume so)? Yes
13) Will it really be fast enough to image computers to using partimage or clonezilla in a simple case like wired or wireless to router to NAS?
14) Will it be fast enough for more complicated cases like wireless or wired to router, to router, over wireless to bridge, wired to router, wired to NAS?

From my brilliant idea to lookup the manuals, I've found the following:


1) Is it really as reliable as it says?
2) How long can I expect it to last?
3) Can it take any 3.5" SATA hard drive, or only certain brands?
4) Can I expect the hard drive to last awhile?
5) Does this really run Linux?
6) Can you reflash it with other Linuxes (but I wouldn't, just want to know for reference in case my skills improve)?
7) What filesystems does the device allow? XFS, FAT32, EXT3, EXT2
8) Does the device support permissions, or is it just like Linksys where you just make folders, share them for users, and that's it? Well, it at least supports share-level access. Does it support permissions? I don't yet know.
9) Does it support users and groups? Yes
10) Would it let me enter users and groups as complex as I want, like I can pretty much on a Windows XP or Linux system? Looks like it!
11) Can you share a "drive" via FTP and SMB using this NAS? Yes. And AppleTalk too!
12) You can map the drives to make them appear as Windows drives, like you can usually with SMB, right (I would assume so)? Yes
13) Will it really be fast enough to image computers to using partimage or clonezilla in a simple case like wired or wireless to router to NAS?
14) Will it be fast enough for more complicated cases like wireless or wired to router, to router, over wireless to bridge, wired to router, wired to NAS?