BIOS: Technology Means Business

D-Link’s latest networking product is a 2-bay network storage enclosure designed to facilitate multimedia file sharing, secure important data, and stream content to media players, while offering backup and recovery features for consumers and small-business owners.

While this may sound a little humdrum, the aluminium-encased DNS-323 (Best Current Price: £128 ex. VAT/$191) sports some very cool features: it requires no tools or cables to install two 3.5-inch SATA hard disk drives, it incorporates a full complement of next-generation technology, including a fast Gigabit Ethernet connection, built-in FTP server for accessing files via the Internet, built-in UPnP audio visual (UPnP AV) media server for streaming digital content to compatible media players, and RAID 1 technology for backing up and mirroring important files. Furthermore, the DNS-323 features a USB print server and has an iTunes Server for simple media access.

Installation of SATA drives is even simpler than installation of IDE drives in other devices because no tools are required and you don’t have to connect any cables. To install the drives, you just slide the faceplate up and off, insert SATA drives into the two bays and gently push each drive to mate the drive and DNS-323 connectors. The rear panel has a power connector, 10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet port, and a single USB port for sharing a printer via the device’s built-in print server. Unfortunately you can’t attach external USB storage devices. There are also two levers to help you eject the drives, and a vent for the relatively quiet temperature-controlled fan.

When used with the internal SATA drives, the DNS-323 enables you to share documents, files, and digital media such as music, photos and video with everyone on your home or office network. Data transfers to and from the device are secured by assigning rights to specific users or groups. When configuring the DNS-323, you have the ability to create users and groups and assign them to folders with either read or read/write permissions. These features are ideal for a small office environment with employee-specific sensitive data or for the home to ensure children will only have access to age appropriate material. It’s also great for allowing friends to access certain files over the Internet, such as game saves and audio files.

Other benefits include the ability to backup music, photo and video collections to the DNS-323 for safekeeping, then use the built-in UPnP AV media server to stream digital content to compatible media players (such as those found in D-Link’s MediaLounge product line). This feature is particularly convenient because it can perform this function while your computer is turned off. And since the DNS-323 supports the standard SMB/CIFS network filesystem protocol, it can be used by machines running operating systems other than Windows, including Mac OS and Linux.

The availability of four different hard disk modes (Standard, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1) also allows you to choose the configuration best suited to your needs. Standard mode creates two separately accessible hard disk drives, while JBOD combines both drives in linear fashion for maximum space efficiency. RAID 0 combines both drives in a ‘striped’ configuration, which provides the highest performance, while RAID 1 causes the drives to mirror each other, providing maximum protection. If one drive fails while configured as RAID 1, the unaffected drive continues to function as a single drive until the failed drive is replaced. The new drive will then be re-mirrored, allowing the DNS-323 to return to its full protection.

The included CD-ROM contains D-Link’s Easy Search Utility, allowing you to locate the DNS-323 anywhere on your network. Once located, the utility can be used to map the hard disk drives so they will appear in ‘My Computer’ on your PC. Backup software is also included, allowing you to backup valuable files from your computer to the DNS-323 manually, by a schedule, or in real-time. Real-time backups provide a method of safeguarding against unfortunate accidents that may result in the loss of precious files.

Many tech savvy home network users and small business owners demand storage capacity flexibility in the products they buy. Storage enclosures offer that option. As mobility increases, a storage customer’s desire to access their content while away from their home or business also increases, making remote access important as well. This enclosure addresses these and many other needs in the network storage market.

D-Links’ Network Storage Enclosure offers an extremely powerful and flexible solution for storing and sharing digital media across a wired home or office network or over the Internet. It addresses the growing market need to store an ever-increasing amount of data in the home or business, while offering built-in protection to keep valuable data, photos, videos and other important files intact. If anything bad can be levelled at it, you need to run the latest firmware upgrade to iron out a few bugs, and it runs a little hotter then we’d like. [8]

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