Cisco-Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2

by Cisco

Product Details

Product Manual [1.05mb PDF]

• Product Dimensions: 6 x 4 x 1 inches ; 1 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B0001FSCZO
• Item model number: NSLU2
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (198 customer reviews)
• Date first available at Amazon.com: October 2, 2001

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Network Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives Easily Add Storage Space to Your Network

Now you can quickly and easily add gigabytes of storage space onto your network with the Network Storage Link from Linksys. This tiny network appliance connects USB 2.0 hard drives directly to your Ethernet network.

You can connect up to two stand-alone USB disk drives of any size, and access them from anywhere on your network. You can even plug a USB flash disk into the Network Storage Link, for a convenient way of accessing your portable data files. The Network Storage Link can also be set up so that your storage devices are accessible from the Internet -- files can be easily downloaded via your web browser. Your files can be available publicly, or create password-protected accounts for authorized users.

Installation of the Network Storage Link is simple -- just plug it directly into your 10/100 Ethernet network, and attach your USB 2.0 hard drives or flash disk. It can self-configure to your network via DHCP or you can use the built-in utility to manually configure it. With the speedy USB 2.0 interface, you'll get quick response times with even your largest files.

The Network Storage Link features built-in disk utilities, accessible through your web browser. You can format new disk drives, and scan drives for errors. The built-in backup program lets you schedule full, incremental, or synchronization backups of your network drives to the Network Storage Link, or vice versa. It will even send you an email message when a hard drive gets nearly full, completely full, or has an error.

The Network Storage Link is a fast, simple, flexible and economical way to add storage to your network.

Product Description

Easily Add Storage Space to Your Network Now you can quickly and easily add gigabytes of storage space onto your network with the Network Storage Link from Linksys. This tiny network appliance connects USB 2.0 hard drives directly to your Ethernet network. You can connect up to two stand-alone USB disk drives of any size, and access them from anywhere on your network. You can even plug a USB flash disk into the Network Storage Link, for a convenient way of accessing your portable data files. The Network Storage Link can also be set up so that your storage devices are accessible from the Internet -- files can be easily downloaded via your web browser. Your files can be available publicly, or create password-protected accounts for authorized users. Installation of the Network Storage Link is simple -- just plug it directly into your 10/100 Ethernet network, and attach your USB 2.0 hard drives or flash disk. It can self-configure to your network via DHCP or you can use the built-in utility to manually configure it. With the speedy USB 2.0 interface, you'll get quick response times with even your largest files. The Network Storage Link features built-in disk utilities, accessible through your web browser. You can format new disk drives, and scan drives for errors. The built-in backup program lets you schedule full, incremental, or synchronization backups of your network drives to the Network Storage Link, or vice versa. It will even send you an email message when a hard drive gets nearly full, completely full, or has an error. The Network Storage Link is a fast, simple, flexible and economical way to add storage to your network.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

440 of 452 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Undocumented feature: It can be used as a personal webserver, July 7, 2004

By 

Rohit Priyadarshi (Fremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2 (Personal Computers)

I have been using this for past 1 week. It is a great product. I have learned to work with it rather than against it. Here are some observations that actually add exceptional value to the product. I have discovered some undocumented features too.

1. You can actually use it as a webserver! I am running one, though for personal use. To do this you need to put the files in the public area on the NSLU2, and using webhop like feature from DynDNS, you can map the index.html to a web address.

2. If the above feature is used and the html files are put into the restricted area, it will webserve, but will need password and user name. I serve my family photo site using this method!

3. The file systems seems to be Linux based. I used Acronis True Image 7.0 for backup of the USB drive. It indicated 3 partitions. Two of them were ext3 and one Linux swap! Acronis complained about some errors in the Linux partition. Looks like some propriatory stuff in there.

4. The device features really needs to be explored carefully before deployment and making any judgement call. The features like user+group+password can be used for excellent security. I have multiple pseudo users setup with private directories categorized according to the data, like music, videos, photos, downloads etc. Then I setup most of the actual users without private directories and provided them with selective permission to use the data. This adds to security since I can bump off any user without having to move files or data.

5. Documentation is lacking details and examples. In fact it is inadequate. But this does not make the device any less valuable. I had to explore and experiment with the device to make full use of it.

6. I noticed a number of reviews complaining about the data transfer speed. It is quite true that the speed is slower than USB2.0. In fact it will be slower! USB2.0 is designed for 480 Mbps data rates, while this and any other NAS will be limited by the network speed. NSLU2 is rated at 100 Mbps. This is the most common network speed today. This makes it approximately 5x slower than a direct USB2.0 connection. But, it is not any slower than if you were to share a folder in windows and access it from another computer.

7. I would also like to warn all the users to be careful not to run this device (or any other personal server for that matter) on the default port 80 if you plan to access it over the internet, since every port-scanner on the planet will find you and target you for hacker activity. It is better to change the port to something like 8000, 8081, or any other obscure number HIGHER than 1024 which port-scanners do not generally target. You can use the webhop feature on DynDNS.org in conjunction with cloaking to hide the actual address from normal viewing.

72 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linksys storage link is the cure for LAN storage woes, July 2, 2004

By 

M. B. Vann (nashville, tn United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2 (Personal Computers)

Last week I purchased the linksys storage link. This product is an excellent example or a device that does not try to be all things to all people. Essentially, it is an tiny computer or embeded device with a tiny os that runs code that provides SMB or Windows file sharing. It is 100% compatible with windows, linux, or mac as long as you dont have a personal firewall installed.
Installation is simple.
1. Unbox device
2. Use CD-ROM to set up address, if you have dhcp this is not neccesary
3. Connect drive
4. Format drive via web interface
5. Set any password information
6. Add Users and permissions
7. Enjoy
This is not as complicated as it sounds. The manual is excellent and not neccesary for anyone who is vaguely familiar with file sharing. Performance is excellent. On fast ethernet I was transferring 100 meg files in less than a minute. Over slower networks such as wireless your performance will suffer. This is not the devices fault.
THE BEAUTY OF THIS DEVICE IS NO DRIVERS ARE NECCESARY AS LONG AS YOU HAVE CLIENT FOR MS NETWORKS TURNED ON WHICH IT USUALLY IS. Other NAS drives require you load a proprietary driver, linksys, got it right.
- If you are having performance issues check to make sure that the device is running full duplex when plugged to a switch and half duplex when running to a hub. Over wireless it will be slow, that is the nature of wireless generally speaking.

318 of 359 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars One note of caution..., June 28, 2004

By 

Gerald McFatridge (Virginia Beach, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cisco-Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2 (Personal Computers)

Do not buy this if you have an existing USB hard drive already formatted with a Windows based file system and wish to keep it formatted that way (so you could still plug it directly into other Window's based PC's if needed).

Your existing external drive will not be compatible with this device until it has been reformatted (and any existing data lost of course)by the Linksys Storage Link and once formatted it will no longer be directly usable on any other PC's. Bummer...

If I had been aware of that limitation I would not have bought this gizmo. A couple of websites that reviewed this device did not mention this limitation and probably should have but ultimately I blame myself for not RTFM <grin>.

Other than that limitation (which may or may not be a deal breaker for some folks) the device seems pretty slick. However, until I get another external USB drive I will be unable to actually play with this device so I am only giving it 3 stars until I get another drive to dedicate to this device at which time I will provide an update based on my experience.

Bottom line: read the manual before you buy this to totally familiarize yourself with its capabilities/limitations.