Customer Reviews

Buffalo Technology LinkStation Pro Duo 2-Bay 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage LS-W2.0TGL/R1

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

The 2TB Linkstation Pro Duo does everything the folks at Buffalo say it will. The configuration utility is a simple web based utility like used on many routers. The setup offers many powerful features like adding numerous user accounts with varying permissions to different shared folders. I have used this feature to give each person their own backup folders for their PC's in addition to putting all our digital pictures in one place for everyone to use.

Out of the box it comes setup for Raid 0, non mirrored, 2TB capacity. Change over is easy but did take about 5 hours for the drive to perform disk tests. Once completed, it has a 1TB capacity and all the data is mirrored on both drives so you won't loose data (why I bought this drive).
One default I changed on the drive was to set a static IP address for the drive, otherwise a router reboot might cause the IP address to change which can cause problems with breaking your mapped drive (found this out on a print server a few years ago).

For everyone who complains that Vista won't work with this product, TURN OFF the Antivirus/Firewall. Turns out my Trend Micro firewall was on and I couldn't get the install to work. Once I figured it out, everything started working fine. If you have a firewall in your router there is no need for using the Windows or Antivirus firewalls.

Drive is quiet - I have it on top of my entertainment center, where the router is, in the living room and can't hear it run. Works fine with wireless access thru the router but that makes it slower that being direct connected. Not really an issue except for the first time you do a full image backup of the computer, then it's worth running the cable to make this go faster (takes a long time to copy 100 Gig!!!)

Web Access is the coolest feature of all, I can upload or download files remotely with nothing but IE or Firefox. You can even setup an account that is Read Only so others can see your pictures but can't delete them by accident. I'm not a big network kind of person so it took me a while to figure out how to do this but it does work!

Good Product at a Great Price!

EDIT 9/20/2011: After three years my LinkStation is still whirring away like it did the day I bought it. Still works perfectly with no problems.

EDIT 1/29/2009: This thing just totally saved my data. My PC crashed over the weekend and wouldn't boot up even after I ran the Windows XP installer in Repair Mode. It just kept rebooting over and over. Fortunately I had backed up my Windows drive to the Linkstation and was able to restore it back to its original location, now everything works fine again! Totally worth the purchase price.

I've had my Link Station Pro Duo for a few weeks and I've found that it gets the job done that it was made to do: stores data over the network.

The NAS comes with two pieces of software:

Memeo backup - Absolute garbage. I let it run for two weeks straight and it never finished backing up my 52 gigabytes of data. It's also not capable of backing up open or locked files even though Windows has had Volume Shadow Copy to help with that in very version of since 2000, and there's Open File Manager for 2000. Compare that to Backup Genie (which I now use) which was able to backup all of my data in under three hours (I highly recommend Backup Genie, it's fairly priced and so easy to use, and FAST).

NAS Navigator - This software is pointless. For the life of me I can't figure out what it's good for. When you open it up, all it does is list all of the Buffalo products on your network. Why do I need to install a 128MB program to do this? And who's going to have more than a couple of consumer NAS devices on their network anyways?

Pros:
* Quiet and efficient.
* Saves a lot of power - auto powers on when my backups run, then shuts off when they're done automatically.
* Offers lots of backup options -- Choose RAID0, RAID1 or spanned disk.
* The case is rugged and heavy like a miniature PC.
* Data copied over the network achieves superb transfer rates.
* Runs Linux open source operating system.
* You can download the NAS software source and modify it to your liking then reflash the firmware with your new OS.
* Platform independant - works on any operating system.

Cons:
* Gods help you if you forget the web interface password. The reset procedure on Buffalo's website doesn't work. I forgot my password and had to keep guessing until I guessed it. Think upgrading the firmware will get you around that? Think again. You need the admin password to upgrade the firmware.
* Tech support hold times are regularly half an hour or more. I've never had to call but this is what all the customers I've read about have said on various forums. I hope I never have to call them.
* The web interface is clunky and cumbersome, doesn't use AJAX (hello it must be 1998 again) and often "forgets" the settings you input, requiring you to put them in several times before they "take."
* Web interface uses "GMT offset" instead of time zones, so unless you're in the military you'll probably have to look up your offset to set the time zone.
* The "access your files remotely via the web" is very confusing to setup and there are much more elegant, easier to use solutions available (Orb for example is much more suited to the tasks the "via the web" feature tries to do and fails miserably at).
* You pay for a terabyte of space but you get 916 GB of space because the operating system of the device is stored on the hard drive, and it's huge.
* There's a lot of extra whizz-bang features you don't need for backing up data that occupy a lot of hard drive space and you can't remove them (media server, print server, web access).
* Firmware updates are about 150 MB downloads and there's no unified update. If you have an earlier firmware version you have to download every 150 MB firmware update and install them sequentially with each update taking about 15 minutes to complete.

I researched NAS options and read countless reviews on various products for months before taking the plunge and buying this device. I was somewhat apprehensive about what might be involved with the technical setup. I am somewhat tech-savvy, but by no means an IT expert. I wanted a NAS that I could configure to support two computers via a Linksys router.

Due to limited desk space, I was forced to place this unit right beside me rather than across the room as I had hoped. I was pleasantly surprised to find out it is quiet, even when it is working. The unit is surprisingly small and compact and takes up little space. It looks huge in the photo, but it is smaller than a toaster - it looks/feels more like a hefty book.

The setup went easily enough, after an initial brief panic when I discovered all the .pdf documentation on my installation disk was in Japanese. After I calmed down, I just went to the Buffalo Web site and downloaded the .pdf in English. (This was probably just a fluke with my unit.)

The instructions for setting this up this NAS were clear, short and simple. So far I've had no problems or issues with the device.

Pros:
1. Small, unobtrusive profile
2. Runs quiet and cool
3. Easy instructions (at least when they are in the right language:)

Cons:
1. Expensive compared to a simple external hard drive; however, I think the storage benefits as far as networking two computers outweigh this con.
2. There's a big pitch about the "free" included Memeo backup software, but when I installed it, I discovered it's only a 30-day trial - so no real bonus there.

So far I think I made the right decision in this purchase, but another update may be warranted after I have used it for a few months or years.

Pros:
Raid 1, Network attached, small size.

Cons:
Raid controller failed within 1 month. Buffalo replaced a Hard drive after a week of troubleshooting. Less than a month after replacement of the HD the unit failed again and Buffallo sent out a new Revision 3 unit. Came with 2 USB ports and a printer server. I was excited, I thought it may have been re-engineered. It lasted another month. I have since moved to an HP mediaSmart Server. Much better than the Buffallo Solution

Other Thoughts:
Save yourself time, money and headaches. Stay away from this NAS device. There are more reliable solutions out there. You get what you pay for.

Okay, so I should have looked at the reviews on Amazon first. I needed more space and thought I got a great price on this device. Well, after installing it and trying to connect it to my network I discoved one little itty bitty problem (okay, so I'm being sarcastic) - the software that is supposed to be installed DOES NOT SHOW UP on my Windows Vista Machine. No big deal, right? WRONG! The software also wasn't on the disk and, therefore, couldn't be manually installed either. Of course, nothing about this is mentioned on Buffalo's site.

So, I called Buffalo's non-existent 24/7 tech support. I spent an HOUR and a HALF on the phone only to be disconnected THREE TIMES and never spoke to anyone. After looking at other Amazon reviews for Buffalo products, I discovered that a lot of other people have had similar problems: one person suggested looking at the BBB report for Buffalo - they have a rating of F - that's right, an F - for refusing to respond to consumers who have bought their products.

Since I first wrote this review last night, I've been able to successfully contact Buffalo and they finally resolved the problem. As a result, I've now "upgraded" my rating to three stars (from my intial rating of one star).

Buffalo Technology LS-W2.0TGL/R1 2TB LinkStation Pro Duo Shared Network Storage (Black)
I was looking for a RAID 1 (I do not trust the rest in this price range) and as large as possible. Ran into many in Amazon and this brand had better review than the others. This model showed up recently and the price (309$)was tempting, it only had four 5 Star review which makes it risky, but I received it yesterday and pretty happy with the result.

What I like about LinkStation:

Easy setup: You do not need to install the supplied software if you are geek enough to find the IP address in router menu. Web Interface is pretty easy with its help if you do not understand any parameter. I changed it from RAID 0 to RAID 1 in 2-3 minutes but the check disk after that took a long time (6-7 hours). It can easily be administered and the files system can be accessed from PC, Linux (I tested it with Ubantu 9.1, Open Suse 11, Yellow Dog 6 and all work fine) and MAC (I have not used it with MAC). It also has FTP that is more efficient protocol for bulk data transfer, with many different front end software in the market that makes it as easy as a file system.

Media Server: It has a DLNA (UPnP protocol) Media Server inside that makes it way more valuable. My TV (Sony XBR6) can only play photos on the Media Server, so I bought a SONY Play Station 3 (a Gaming Console + Blue Ray Player + Web Browser + UPnP media render) to play the media (Music, Photo and Video) stored in the LinkStation on my TV, and it works awesome. There are many cheaper solutions ( around 160$) if you just want the wireless access and play on TV. Also consider Sony XBR9 has a built-in Media Server client (Ethernet Only) in it. I am not sure it matches the speed of a PS3, because the XBR6 photo player is pretty slow. So the combination of PS3 and Linkstation works well, both wireless and wired.

Scalability: You can add as many LinkStation to your network and instead of RAID 1 have a scheduled backup between LinkStations weekly, considering the home media is not changing every day.

What I do not like about LinkStation:

Documents coming on CD are outdated.

You can not take a Disk out to test your RAID (call me paranoid)


P.S. Use of RAID 1 is expensive, especially in this price range, so do not expect it to be high speed in writing; However it looked to me faster than many USB external disks, but definitely slower that ATA second disk (7200 RPM) I have in my laptop. Also I was using Wireless G and not connected directly to my Gigabit router.

I also have the LinkStation Live model, which is a bit cheaper and as some flaws that I was not very happy about. The Pro Duo does not have the same flaws like its sister and also has a few additional features, such as the Media Server.

The Media Server feature was a positive surprise for me and something I am going to play around with more. The setup was easy, even within my not so simple network environment. Administration was simple and straight forward as well.

The device is much larger than the Live model with the same capacity, but that was expected, because the Pro Duo has TWO hard drives instead of just one (hence the name DUO). The reason for that is to provide real fail-over raid support or hard drive mirroring using two separate pieces of hardware for increased fail-over insurance. If your data are precious, then you will appreciate this feature.

I also own another NAS, called SimpleShare and must say that the Pro Duo is the clear winner of all three.

I replaced an old Snapserver with this guy. I changed the RAID settings to disk mirroring of 500GB -- the default was RAID0 giving 1TB of storage.

Pros:
* Quiet, very quiet.
* Fast. However, I'm not running videos or other really large files. Music, pictures, and office files mostly. I have not noticed any slowness compared to local drives. My network is 100Mbps; it should even be faster if running 1000.
* FTP server over the internet. I can easily drag files to a special folder I created, and send a link via email, and people can download from the linkstation.
* Administration is easy via the HTML interface. Security-wise, I can keep the kids and visitors out of financial folders, and grant read-only access to pictures.

Cons:
* CD software. I have no clue what purpose the CD software serves. I have uninstalled it after the initial configuration and renaming the hostname to something you can remember. I use my browser perform all config.
* Offline files and folders are not supported, as windows-based file systems are not supported.
* Administration via web browser runs a bit slow.

I agree with other reviewers that Pro Duo delivers most features it advertises at a good price point. The RAID 1 and security features are good selling points. It is also relatively quite. However, Pro Duo is kind of short in delivering acceptable performance and reliability as a whole.

Examples:
1. DLNA media server is practically not useful when streaming video to client such as PS3. It is way too slow.
2. The green feature is a good intention but fails to deliver. It takes extended amount of time (in the order of minutes) to wake up and boot. This is not acceptable.
3. Large data tranfer can easily bring down the storage response.
4. Under stress condition, wierd behaviors surface. New folders will not show up until reboot, etc...
5. SMB works fine with windows and macs. But, my sun box is having some unstable connection. It comes and goes...
6. The drive has problem working with file lock.
7. And, the documentation is very poorly done. Reminds me of an unqualified sale person, who has no idea about the product, just reading a product decription back to you.

I only have this drive for a very short time so far, and not sure how bad the performace will degrade when data starts filling up the drive. And, I also don't know how good this drive can handle disk fault condition in RAID 1 mode as I cannot find any information and guidance available from user manual. This is advertised as a NAS RAID drive. Am I asking too much?

In summary, I can use it as a non-mission critical storage. But, if you are looking for performance and reliability, this is not the one.

This drive is running connected to a Cisco 3750 switch (24 ports of 10/100/1000) and it is a business grade layer 3 switch. (It routes and switches packets). The ports are 802.3z compliant, which is the IEEE standard for 1000Tx copper gig. My drive is connected to a GigE port via a 3ft cat 6+ cable. It performs exceptionally well, and I have the drive broken in to several partitions in Raid 1 mode since my wife and two sons have laptops. They image their laptops to their own drive shares using an enterprise license to Norton Ghost. This allows they to completely restore their systems if a drive dies in their laptop, or they need a file, etc.

The V3 has 2 USB2.0 ports, instead of 1, and supports a print server.
I happen to have a color LazerJet connected to it so the boys can use it to print papers for school. Attached to the other USB I have had a 4GB USB drive, and a 500GB Lacie external drive I use to back up my MacBook Pro. I have reached close to the 12MB/s maximum speed when reading.

The only Con is when I tested the RAID 1 feature by disconnecting one of the 500MB drives power. The drive did NOT keep on operating on the remaining drive as a RAID device should. It died. Re-connecting it, I was back. However I disconnected it again. I replaced one of the 500Mb drives with a Maxtor Diamondmax 11 SATA drive. The unit mirrored to the blank drive, and recovered. Great, but you can eat two meals waiting for the recovery.

Ok, that is one issue, the other is that since it dies, it may not be obvious which drive has died. If you are lucky, the one that dies will be doing sector 0 seeks and clunking like a beat up volkswagon, but if it is an electronic component failure, I suppose you have to guess and hope you replace the right one. If you have the wrong one, I suspect you will be
mirroring twice (Or you will have a delay at least until you find out the mirroring is failing because the system is trying to mirror a bad drive.

Otherwise I have no complaints. 1 year warranty. Drive dies, they replace it. After 1 year, you replace it as they are standard sata drives.... (Since I need to have the unit up), I purchased the backup 500GB drive I noted, so if a drive dies, I can swap it right away.
It was only $80.... Much better than waiting 2 weeks for the unit to come back in my case...