Buffalo Technology LinkStation Pro Duo 2-Bay 1 TB (2 x 500 GB) Network Attached Storage LS-W1.0TGL/R1

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Product Details

• Item Weight: 7.2 pounds
• Shipping Weight: 8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000ZPIMN2
• Item model number: LS-W1.0TGL/R1
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank

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  Electronics > Computers & Accessories > Memory Cards & External Storage > Network Attached Storage

• Date first available at Amazon.com: November 23, 2007

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo delivers unparalleled performance and reliability while providing a network storage solution that is easy-to-use and easy to maintain. As a dual drive NAS solution the Pro Duo has proven time and again that it is a reliable and feature loaded solution at a reasonable price.

The LinkStation Pro Duo has two hard drives for instant backup or added capacity. For PC or Mac!

Expand storage capacity by adding a USB hard drive. View larger image.

The Perfect Solution

The LinkStation Pro Duo network storage solution is a simple and economical way for small businesses, branch offices and other professional users to add enterprise class features such as RAID, Active Directory and Web Access with an installation that is virtually plug-and-play.

Loaded with Features

With dual drive RAID features, the LinkStation Pro Duo can be easily configured to either maximize performance or reliability. Also included is Microsoft’s Active Directory (AD) service for user and group setup. As an AD client, simply point the LinkStation to your AD server and download user and group lists to use with the LinkStation security setup. For on the road access of your photos, videos, music and personal files, Buffalo's unique Web Access feature allows users to access files through any ordinary Web browser. Also the built-in USB Print Server makes it easy to share one printer with several computers on your network.

Easily share and access your files, photos, videos and music with anyone at home or across the world!

The LinkStation Pro Duo includes many additional consumer centric features for digital content management to protect, share and enjoy your digital assets. To safeguard digital content, Memeo AutoBackup instantly backs up and protects saved files. Plus, there is no need for manual or scheduled backups; Memeo AutoBackup will backup any new or changed file instantly and automatically. Once you set your backup plan you never have to look at it again.

For easy sharing and enjoyment of your multimedia content, the LinkStation Pro Duo includes a DLNA server, allowing DLNA players (such as the Buffalo LinkTheater) to access content on the LinkStation without the need of a PC. The built-in iTunes server allows for the iTunes application to identify and access the LinkStation as an iTunes content source.

The LinkStation Pro Duo network storage solution is backed by a one-year limited warranty and lifetime 24/7 technical support.

Key Features and Benefits

• Active Directory support
• Supports RAID 1 Mirroring, RAID 0 Striping and JBOD (two individual drive letters)
• Access data from any Windows or Macintosh computer
• Built-in DLNA CERTIFIED™ server for easy playback of multimedia files to any DLNA CERTIFIED device
• Easy Setup does not require drivers
• Supports UPS connectivity
• Expand storage by adding a USB 2.0 hard drive
• 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet with JumboFrame support
• Minimal power consumption
• Memeo™ AutoBackup Software for Windows or Macintosh
• Windows® 2003 Server or earlier

What’s in the Box
LinkStation Pro Duo, Setup CD-ROM, Quick Setup Guide, Ethernet Cable, Power Cord, and Warranty Statement

Product Description

Buffalo's LinkStation Pro Duo is the ideal solution to keep important files safe! The Pro Duo is a 2-drive NAS solution that can be configured in RAID 0 for performance or RAID 1 for redundant storage. If one drive fails, the other still has a copy of the data. As an Active Directory client the Pro Duo can integrated into any business network and Web Access makes remote file access easy!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Linkstation NAS, January 30, 2009

By	William Christopher "NotBill" (Baton Rouge, LA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Buffalo Technology LinkStation Pro Duo 2-Bay 2 TB (2 x 1 TB) Network Attached Storage LS-W2.0TGL/R1 (Electronics)

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!

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy set up and whisper-quiet operation, March 17, 2008

By	Circe "circe-nightshade" (US) - See all my reviews

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.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Decent Simple NAS Solution, August 27, 2008

By	J. Pruitt "FTW" (DJ booth) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.