Customer Reviews

Maxtor Fusion 500 GB NAS Personal Web Server with Gigabit Ethernet

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

 

 

I bought the Fusion Drive as soon as it was available from JR. I'm really impressed with the ease of set up, the utility of the drive and software, and all around look of the drive. The instructions are clear and the setup wizard takes you through how to set up a dynamic dns, how to set up your router, and all of the other details that would usually require some real technical know how. The important thing is to follow the instructions closely.

One very important think to keep in mind when setting up the drive: if you have VOiP, make sure the internet phone device is hooked up to your router; usually companies ask you to hook the phone to your cable modem, and then your router to the phone; this makes port forwarding unusable. So other than this minor reconfiguring of your internet connection, everything works seamlessly.

I imagine the interface and the look (and the choices of looks) will develop over time, but I have to say I've been very impressed with how well everything has been working (I've tried out the software from home from a remote location), and most important, how stable everything is. I'm doing everything from a Mac, and I always worry if enought testing has been done to ensure Mac compatibility, and so far, everything's been fine. I also like the fact that Maxtor has included USB 2.0 ports for future expansion. It's a steep price, but I recomment this drive to everyone in the market for a NAS drive.

The Fusion installation CD didn't detect the drive until I turned off my Windows Firewall. Of course, this wasn't mentioned anywhere in the setup guide. Don't try to load a directory with more than a few high resolution (5 megapixel or more) photos, or it will take FOREVER to generate the thumbnails. The drag-and-drop popup Java applet file import is very slow to import (even over Gigabit ethernet), and dropping a folder into it doesn't create the folder with the files underneath it; instead, it just puts all the files into the root directory. VERY DISAPPOINTED in what had the potential to be a useful product. If you have 1-2 Megapixel photos or small documents, in just a few small directories, maybe this will work for you, but for $700? You can do better.

I plugged this into my router, changed the workgroup name and used the web-based interface to adjust the settings. It has been running like a champ. Another reviewer discussed the software; I didn't try it. Most hard disk manufacturer's software isn't very good. Our family can share pictures, videos and move documents all around the house.

Well this little box delivers. First off I haven't, nor probably won't use it for as a Web Server. I've set it up solely as a NAS device. It more than rocks for the $135 (after tax &shipping) I paid to meet my singular usage of it.

First off if you don't know how to setup a small network you shouldn't be buying a NAS for storage. They normally aren't very easy to setup especially if your using RAID. After setup they are normally No to Low maintenance. The Fusion setup is very easy for a NAS and I don't believe it will require much maintenance if any. I had the firewall/antivirus problem mentioned by another reviewer, but that should be expected when setting up any networking or web interacting software. After that it was smooth sailing.

It's isn't quiet but not near as loud as most simple NAS's. The add -on USB ports so far work well with my Seagate Freeagent Drives. I had to reformat to these drives to FAT32, but well worth it to clear up desk and cable clutter. Easy and near instant data access is a huge plus also.

I'll certainly will be buying more of these!

I will never buy a Seagate product again.
The software is horrific. Once everything was setup, the drive failed out losing all the data that was copied over.
I have nothing nice to say about this company(Seagate) and Philips.
Both seem to rip off consumers regularly.