Customer Reviews

NetDisk ENCL-1P 3.5-Inch USB and NDAS Ethernet Hard Drive Enclosure for IDE Hard Drive

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I've been looking at NAS solutions for awhile -- mostly to share Quicken data files and work files over our SOHO network. Most solutions are far more expensive (usually starting at $99 for enclosure only) and the reviews have been very spotty. Then I found this. A few other sites had positive ratings for it so I thought, hmmm, for about $20, how could you go wrong? Turns out you can't. It works perfectly. Just stuffed an old PATA drive into it, installed the driver, hung it off the router and I was up and running.

Opening Quicken data files works fine. Sharing Word docs works fine. It's also fast. I had an old NAS box that finally died and this puppy is easily 10x faster for read/writes. The ONLY drawback is that it requires a driver on each workstation that needs access. That's because the hardware is IP-less. But the driver's overhead is pretty minimal and the IP-less function means the drive itself is not visible on the network or beyond unless the driver is installed. So it's more secure. However, that also may mean that you can't remote into the drive from outside your network (for example if you were using DYNDNS or something). I haven't tried that but I suspect it's the case.

I have had this enclosure for a few days and I really like it. For the price it seems unbeatable (especially for a Network Attached Storage enclosure). It would be worth the price just as a USB hard drive enclosure. I hope that it lasts.

Pros:
1) NDAS Software/Driver is easy to install and worked right out of the box
2) USB-connected mode is plug and play
3) Price is fantastic
4) Seems pretty responsive (but I have no other experience with NAS)

Cons:
1) Use as Network Attached Storage requires driver on each computer
2) Software doesn't automatically connect with drive on Windows Startup. You must click the tray icon and manually mount the drive each time you reboot.
3) Software is configured to prevent sleep/hibernation mode on your computer (to prevent data corruption)
4) Limited documentation (for those not well versed in Network Attached Storage)

Works great! Great for that old PATA disk laying around. Auto disk spin down if no activity. You do have to install and run drivers on each client but the overhead appears to be minimal.

TECH TIP -- If you run different operating systems on your network, disable the Recycle Bin on each client for the NDAS drive. There is some type of conflict between the different systems folders. Download the latest drivers from the [...]. This drive IS NTFS compatible -- somebody posted it wasn't. Transfers are faster if the NDAS drive is the same format as the client(s). Make sure your router is set to 100Mps. 10Mps will cause data loss.

I really wanted to have a NDAS drive and didn't want to spend the money on a large terrabyte media center unit.

It's hard to explain how this thing works, it doesnt work like you think it will. It requires you to install drivers on each machine that will access the drive, but both machines can't be connected to the drive at the same time without some tweaking. Also, the drive needs to be rediscovered (as in you need to open up My Computer > Right click to open the Manage option, and then go in to disk management, then "reactivate" the drive and assign it a drive letter) which is something novice users will not know how to do. It's generally a pain to get it up and running, I don't even use it anymore because when I installed windows 7 I didn't bother to put the driver disk back in.

If you need a "secure" connection to your NDAS device to copy state secrets to then you will want this I suppose, but if you're just trying to setup a media center type drive so you have a common disk to save your music / movies to, so you can access them from anywhere, then this is not for you.

Does not work as advertised. Connecting via wireless is frustrating and intermittent at best. Works fine as external USB drive. Used to be a computer consultant for 27 years, so this is not new to me. The product simply does not work for some configurations. Have read of some that have had success, but mostly failures. When it does rarely work, it is so slow that it is unusable. Tried tweaking through wireless and countless other ways. I do not recommend.

I was looking to expand my network. After purchasing this item, in the instructions there is a note that this item CANNOT be used with any type of hub.You can only hook it directly to your router. I was looking to attach this(and a few others) to my hub in the basement. Had i known before hand, I doubt this would have been the solution I picked.It works great but is not what I was looking for.

Device works really fast as an external HD enclosure, but you must install their software to use it as a NAS (something I was unwilling to do). Be careful about what HD you put in there. I put a HD in there just to try it out, and had to break it open to get it back.

I've only had this unit for an afternoon and I'm almost ready to toss it.

PRO: I'm running Windows 7, and though this unit doesn't come with the correct software, it can freely be downloaded from Ximeta's website. Also, while the documentation says that this is a 10/100 connection, when the unit stays connected, I can upload to it at almost USB speeds (I have a gigabit network).

CON: It drops the Ethernet connection while transferring large files. Period. The unit isn't hot, the IDE drive is in perfect running order, all of the lights are blinking correctly, yet it disconnects. It's absolutely frustrating.

It's too cheap to return, so I'll keep it as a backup for my older IDE drives (when it's connected via USB, there are no problems at all), but I am really disappointed.

I have had one of these for a couple years, I had bought just the enclosure for $60 about 2 or 3 years ago, and used the Ethernet part for a few months, then used the USB on a DVR, I now just use it as only a USB enclosure, and when I needed another enclosure for more storage, I look for one of those and when it was only $17 plus shipping, I ordered one from dealbarn, got it real fast and it is exactly what i bought 3 years ago, so today I ordered 2 more of them.

We have had one of these for a few years and it worked great but after updating our network at home and adding a repeater to the network , it no longer worked. All users must be using the same version of the software which the update occasionally and is a free download from their site, but it does not work with the repeater so I could no longer access it on the wireless network.

The NDAS (VS NAS) is a proprietary software and there are no recommended work arounds for the problem. Though the latest build of the software says it fixes a problem with freezing up of Windows 7, I just tried to install it on a new Dell laptop and it froze Windows each time until I removed it. Support has yet to respond to my email request about this and it has been over a week.

We upgraded our router, went with a NetGear N600 that supports a usb hard drive and shared it across the network and it is much faster and less buggy. I do not recommend this item at this time.