Customer Reviews

Buffalo Linkstation EZ 500GB NAS Network Hard Drive

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This Buffalo NAS drive was easy to setup and I had it attached to our home network in 5 minutes. Just plug in the drive, attach it to your router and install software on your home networked computers. I have it attached to W2K and XP machines. The speed is very good for home backup use and for sharing files (no problem playing music or video from the shared drive). It is more suited for home use, it lacks the speed and security (only has one userid/password for the drive) needed for business purposes.

I have this HD connected using Cat 6 to a Gigabit router. It's certainly faster than my old non-gigabit HD. However, it's LOUD!!! I have it in my living room, and I find myself unplugging it b/c it's loud.

My search for a gigabit HD continues.

It was easy to set up NAS hard drive to keep my itunes. However from practical standpoint this harddrive is too slow for wireless as well as ethernet connected computers to access my music. For example to add new cd to my itunes it would take a good 50% longer than it used to take to update my files when it used to be on 250G Buffalo USB 2.0 external hard drive. When editing metadata on my itunes, it takes a good 5 seconds to update each entry after the next button is pressed (this is something that used to take less than 1 second).

Also playing video files on my itunes is a hassle since the video stutters due to slow speed of the drive. It seems like read speed is actually slower than its write speed. I am moving my files back to my external hard drive, and maybe i'll just setup my old dell notebook as a defacto server instead of having to deal with the slow speed of the Buffalo Linkstation EZ. It maybe a good document server, but as a media server this drive fails miserably.

If you "know what you're doing," it's very easy to install, configure and get running, including the Memeo Autobackup application, which works perfectly, once configured. I needed some help...

The CD is supposed to contain a user manual, but didn't -- it took two tries (helps to know exactly how to ask for the right solution) via e-mail to Buffalo's tech support to be given a link to a downloadable manual, but I have no real complaint about about their support -- They are prompt, knowledgeable, helpful, patient, and tolerant of my first dumb, impatient, frustrated question.

What they don't tell you: The Memeo application is licensed for one PC only, but another license isn't expensive, and worth it; but I was left wondering: Don't they realize people who are interested in a NAS have more than one PC?

In any case, it all works fine (I am not experiencing the noise another reviewer noted), the install wasn't THAT bad, and the price is right, so I recommend it.

Buffalo Linkstation EZ 500GB NAS Network Hard Drive

In far less than 1 hour I had set this up, setup both my laptop and desktop, (VISTA) and completed a total back-up on each. It may not the be the bigest and it may not support some high level whatever but it sets up like a dream, I just followed the instructions and now am sharing and saving files easily. I have not found it to be loud and it works quiker than my usb hard drives. I wish everything was this easy. Great price at $139.00, quick delivery and I am very satisfied. Will report any problems down the road.

I was searching for network attached storage since my laptop only has 50g on it and I didn't want a bulky cord hanging off of it all the time. The Buffalo Linkstation EZ was the cheapest I could find (by far) and I have been satisfied with it's performance to date.
The hard copy documentation guides you through the physical installation of the hardware and then refers you to the .pdf manual on the installation disk to connect other computers on your network to the drive. In my case, there was no documentation on the disk. It may seem obvious to some to simply type in the ip address in an explorer window on a networked computer, but it wasn't to me and I had to download the documentation for another Buffalo model since the EZ's documentation was not available for download.
Installation problems aside, I do recommend this product to anybody looking for network attached storage.

Over the years I have purchased many different types of backup units from the old Iomega Zip Drives to Castlewood's ORB and a myriad of tape drives. By and large anything that uses media tends to be a disappointment over time. Media doesn't format right, media fails, units fails, companies go out of business.

I purchased by first Buffalo Media Linkstation a year ago to serve as chief backup for my web server. It was an easy install and works dependably in the background.

When I needed a unit for my home office, I knew I would get a Buffalo. The only question was which unit. I did not want to spend a lot and I only need 500 GB. In looking over the available models, I felt this unit was the best bang for the buck.

It plugged into an existing USB hub on my Net, started up without a problem, and the software installed without a hitch on each workstation. The unit was found instantly and the backup software installed and works like a charm. I had no problems with anything.

I also do not have a noisy unit as some people seem to have reported. Mine is quiet as a mouse and if it wasn't for me peeking under my desk to see if the light is on I would not even know it was there!

Good purchase.

The Linkstation EZ is a good product, but not customizable. It was easy to set up on my home network which uses both Macs and PCs. I mapped the Linkstation to a drive letter (L:) on the windows machines and it shows up under the "Shared" folders in Finder for the Macs.

As far as customizability goes, you are limited with the EZ models. The default name for the device on your network is ls-lglXXX where XXX is the last three letters of the MAC address. You can't change the name nor partition the drive or change the name of the root folder. Everything goes into a folder named "Share" on the Linkstation.

Other than that, it is great for what I use it for - backups and storage of large, shared files between my Mac, PC and Xbox. And for the price I paid, well worth 500 gb.

I had already had 3 Buffalo Drivestations (2 500GB's, and 1 350GB) that I used for backups of my 2 PC's and laptop. I ended up taking the 350GB to use at work since our PCs don't have nearly enough space for the work that we do. This left me needing a replacement at home.

I chose to go with Buffalo again because I have NEVER had one issue with them and based on the many poor to average reviews of competitors' products I saw no reason to try another brand. Initially I was torn on whether I should choose another DriveStation or this LinkStation EZ, but decided to take my chances on the LinkStation since it would be a little more convenient for my other PCs to access it via my router versus having to connect it to my main computer and create a share.

Unlink the DriveStations that connect directly to the PC, the LinkStations connect directly to your router via an Ethernet cable (included). You can connect it directly to the Ethernet port on your PC, but if you do that then you may should have gotten the DriveStation instead. After connecting the LinkStation to your router, the setup process is simple and pretty straightforward. I'll admit I had some issues due to me not reading the instructions and rushing through everything; but after starting over from scratch I realized that I made it a lot harder than it needed to be. Once the LinkStation is setup on your network; all PCs in the network can access it via the Windows Network Neighborhood. You can also create a share if you desire, but its not necessary.

There are a few drawbacks with this LinkStation; a couple does not affect performance, but the last may if you are looking for fast data transfer speeds. First, the included Memeo backup Software is virtually worthless and to be honest I wouldn't even waste my time with it. I tried it with the very first Buffalo Drive that I purchased a few years ago, and it didn't take long to realize that it was garbage. It is not user friendly and the steps you have to go through to recover files you backed up is not worth the effort. Instead I opted to use Acronis True Image and I'm still using it years later. The second drawback is that there is no much customization of the drive outside of modifying the the IP address. You can't change the name of the drive itself and all data on the drive must be placed in a a folder named "share" on the drive. I haven't figured out how to place files in any other place, but it not that big of an issue since you can freely create your own folders under the "share" folder. The only real complaint I have about the drive is that copying to/from it does seem to be a bit on the slow side. Its something I can get used to since I schedule my backups early in the morning and only copy my backup files to my other Buffalo Drives once a week. But if speed is a big issue for you; this is something to keep in mind. I also noticed some complaints about it being very noisy, but I can't even hear mine and I am sitting just a few feet away from it.

Overall I think this drive will serve my needs for the time being; but for those of you who are looking for more customization and better performance, the LinkStation EZ may not be for you.

As a network engineer, I would expect to know how to get a NAS working, but I had a heck of a time trying to get this device to be accessible to all computers on my network. When I'd get access from one device, another one would show the NAS unmounted. After 3 days of tinkering I gave up. Oh, and that's after I returned the first one because it was bad right out of the box.