D-Link DNS-323

[martin.evans]

I'm starting to get very nervous about all the family photos on my PC. It's running raid1 on a Gigabyte motherboard with some kind of promise raid controller, but I'm worried that if the mobo dies I'm pretty much stuffed as it is quite old...

So I'm looking at the D-link DNS-323 as I can't see much point getting a single drive NAS.

I would get two Seagate 320gb drives.

My questions, if you use one are:

1. Do you leave it running 24x7 and if so, is it quiet when idle?
2. Assuming you are using the latest firmware, have you had any data-loss issues?
3. Is there any backup software, if so is it any good?
4. Any other issues that you have had (other than the well documented early firmware faults)

Best price I can find is on Dabs @ £281 inc 2xSeagate 320gb (ST3320620AS). Anyone better this?

My final question is are there any alternatives that have a built in PSU? I really really dislike external power packs!

Thanks,
Martin

[DratUK]

http://tomshardware.co.uk/2006/11/16...323_review_uk/

http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29671/75/

2 reviews that should answer your questions

[martin.evans]

Thanks DratUK, I'd seen those but really wanted real-life real-people opinions.

Quite surprised no-one seems to be using this NAS, perhaps that's a sign!?

Regards
Martin

[martin.evans]

I got one from DABS last weekend, making use of the free (very fast) delivery offer...

As the 'pro' reviews say, it's big enough to get two disks in and not much bigger, probably the same size as two thick paperbacks back-to-back. Having the external PSU obviously helps...

Setup and configuration seem to be a doddle and once on the network it showed up immediately in the Dlink 'Easy search' tool.

I flashed to the latest firmware (now officially released in Europe and not a dodgy US beta). No signs of the reported problems.

The bundled Memeo backup software looks ok, particularly having downloaded the latest version. I think I might try their AutoSync software as this might be more appropriate for my needs. It seems to transfer at respectable speeds and in time I will upgrade to the new generation of routers with the faster network.

It is not silent; when active there is obviously disk noise and when idle the fan emits a faint noise. Some people have hacked out the plastic guard to make it quieter, but I'm not so worried. There are also scripts that apparently control the fan speed to some extent, but again I'm not worried (nor technical enough to understand how to use them!) That said, Dlink should consider spinning the fan down when the disks are inactive....

Overall 8.5/10