The Smorgasbord

This is my review of what I believe to be the “best wireless N router” on the market today. Just the other day I reviewed what I believe to be the worst wireless N router ever made, so now it’s time I reviewed what I replaced it with.

Background: I’ve been working repairing and upgrading computers for 15 years, and I work online about 12 or more hours per day from my home office. We have a 16 mbit connection to the web, and there are 3 computers, 3 laptops, one netbook, an entertainment PC, an Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and various portable devices connected to the Internet. The router is probably one of the most important pieces of equipment in the entire house, since the Internet is in constant use.

I have used Linksys routers for years. It’s probably force of habit since I worked in corporate IT for 10 years, and that’s always what was used at work, and it’s what you see in all the big box stores. In addition – the company is owned by Cisco – a known industry networking leader.

Years ago I had a Linksys Wireless B router. It worked great, but was too slow. I bought a Microsoft wireless G router online in some clearance sale for $25, and we used that for almost 5 years with no issues. Microsoft no longer makes routers. About a year ago it got to the point where we were having to reset the MS router multiple times per day – so I broke down and bought the Linksys WRT54G wireless G router. It lasted about one year before it died. By “died”, I mean – all the lights won’t even come on anymore.

I usually exclusively buy all my electronics and gadgets online. I haven’t bought anything like that in a big box store like Wal-Mart, Staples, Best But, etc. – in years. My wife and I were out and about shopping when my son called and said the router died. He’s going to school for networking, so when he said it was “dead”, I knew it was. The way we use the Internet – I knew that I had to buy a new router while I was out, or there would be no web access when I returned home.

Grudgingly, I went to Staples because I live in a small town, and I knew they would have the most routers on hand. Since the Linksys WRT54G died after just one year, I knew I didn’t want another Linksys. I also knew that NetGear is usually the bottom of the barrel, so the thought was “let’s try Belkin!”. I bought the best router they have, the Play Max dual band Wireless N router – and as you read in my last review, it was the worst wireless N router money can buy. It was horrible, every page online took 3-5 seconds to load, some never loaded – the router had to be reset all the time, it was complete and utter garbage. My son actually read online at the Belkin web site in their FAQ’s that they recommend rebooting the router every 4 hours for “optimal usage” – WTF is that? When the company making the router says you have to reboot it 6 times a day for best use – you KNOW it’s crap!

How to Pick the best Wireless N Router

If you’re not very technical (or even if you are), I’m going to give you some things you should be looking for when buying a router.

DOES THE ROUTER HAVE…

- are the antennas internal or external? (external are of course better)
- how many antennas does the router have?
- what is the speed of the processor?
- how much memory does it have?
- how much flash memory does it have?
- does it have external connectivity for USB storage and printers?

You may not have thought about it this way – but a router is a miniature computer. It has a CPU, and it has memory. Now – think about this for a second – that means that the more CPU power it has, and the more memory it has, the faster it’s going to work. So you’re not only looking for the wireless N router with the best features, you’re looking for the one with the most POWER.

Comparing Wireless N Routers

Belkin Play Max
- antennas: internal
- CPU: info not found anywhere
- Memory: tech sites list as 64MB
- Flash Memory: tech sites list it as 8MB
- external support: print and USB storage

Linksys WRT320N
- antennas: internal
- CPU: BCM4717A 354MHz
- Memory: 32MB
- Flash Memory: 8MB
- external support: NO

*Note: regardless of pricepoint, antenna, and external support – nearly all Linksys wireless N routers seem to have 32MB memory, 8MB flash, and smaller CPI

NetGear RangeMax
- antennas: internal
- CPU: 680 MHz 32-bit processor
- Memory: 64MB
- Flash Memory: 8MB
- external support: print and USB storage

D-Link Xtreme
- antennas: 3 external
- CPU: 275 Mhz
- Memory: 16MB
- Flash Memory: 4MB
- external support: print and USB storage

Asus RT-N16
- antennas: 3 external
- CPU: Broadcom BCM4718 533MHZ
- Memory: 128MB
- Flash Memory: 32MB
- external support: print and USB storage

My Choice for Best Wireless N Router

If you go buy specs above from the list above, it’s very plain that as far as CPU and memory horsepower, the D-Link is the bottom of the barrel. The next worst would be Linksys. The NetGear has the most powerful processor, but only by a hare (533Mhz vs. 680 Mhz). The Asus has double the memory, and 4 times as much the flash memory. Also – the Asus has 3 external antennas

For those of you who have never heard of the ASUS company (AsusTek), they are primarily known for making motherboards for computers. Those of us that have been building computers for years know that name well, because ASUS has not only always meant quality – but they have long since been the “Cadillac” of motherboard makers. Most “tech guys” know the ASUS name from parts we buy online – again, not a name you would normally see in the “big box” stores.

We purchased the Asus RT-N16 Wireless N router based on the specs above, but also because of the 4-5 star reviews on nearly every site we could find a review on. We paid about $90US, and had it shipped overnight via Amazon Prime.

This is a pic of the router:

When I received the router – I took it out of the box and connected it to my cable modem, and my main computer via hardwire. I brought up the management interface at http://192.168.1.1/. The first thing you need to do is turn off your router while you plugin everything in (remove the battery if it has battery backup – like the comcast routers with VOIP phones). Then turn the cable modem on first, 30 seconds later turn on the router, and then bring up the management interface. I believe the only tweak we really made, was to turn the firewall off. We used WPA2-Personal with a network key, and seconds later – we were up and running!

The difference between our Linksys wireless G, the Belkin Playmax, and the Asus RT-N16 was astounding. With the extra memory and flash (and bigger processer) – web pages load like lightning! After you type a URL and hit enter, just say “BAM!” as fast as you can, and the web page is already loaded.

Now you may think that it’s just this fast from my hard wired computer, but loading YouTube videos and flash-laden pages from a 7 year old 1.0 Ghz Pentium III with 512MB Ram and 40GB hard drive, with a USB Wireless N adapter is just about as fast as the hard wired computer. It’s fast as hell!

This is the fastest router I’ve owned, setup was effortless, and it has the most external antennas and largest horsepower of any wireless N router I could find. I know that wireless N has a broader range, but when I had the Belkin Play Max installed (upstairs), my devices downstairs were connecting to the network with only 1 or 2 bars (out of 5, even though it was wireless N). My ASUS RT-N16 has had consistent 5 bar connections with EVERY device in my home since I installed it from day 1. That’s the best wifi connection hotspot I’ve ever had installed anywhere (and I’ve setup dozens of routers for family, friends, and clients). From now on – Asus is the only wireless router I will buy.

If you like the specs and want to try the ASUS RT-N16, you can buy it on Amazon here:

You can also find it new or used on eBay:

ASUS Gigabit Wireless N Router 300Mbps 2.4GHZ RT-N16
	USD 99.99 (4 Bids) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-09-08 06:24:53

ASUS RT-N16 802.11 Draft Gigabit Wireless Router I072
	USD 24.49 (2 Bids) End time: 2010-09-07 02:07:28

ASUS RT-N16 Wireless N Router/Printer Server
	USD / 105.00 (1 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-09-06 16:41:50

ASUS Gigabit Wireless N 2.4GHZ Router 300Mbps RT-N16
	USD 89.99 (1 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-09-10 03:23:43

You can dump Comcast DNS for Google Public DNS for a much faster Internet on your computer! I’ve been a staunch Comcast cable Internet subscriber for nearly a decade now. Probably because I live in a small town and there’s never been anything else here but dial up and DSL that’s much slower. We can’t get Verizon Fios high speed service (or anything else). For better of for worse, Comcast has been the fastest game in town for years (like many communities).

We doing business with “the beast” there have been lots of issues of course – going back to when Comcast would “hijack” packets when people were filesharing or using peer to peer networks, to bandwidth caps, and all kinds of other things. There have been many times when web sites would hang (or be really slow) – but when I ping them from another data center they were just fine. Lately, the thing I really don’t like is the fact that Comcast now participates in “DNS hijacking”. When you mistype a URL that doesn’t exist, instead of giving you a “not found” page – they give you targeted ads! I guess other ISP’s do it too, and it’s called “DNS Redirection Advertising“. I call it BS.

So, when google announced “google public DNS” today – I about peed myself! Everyone knows google’s data centers are fast as hell and very redundant (all over the world). They are faster, more powerful, and probably more secure than Comcast will ever be – and they don’t filter a damn thing! No ads, no BS – woohoo! You can use google’s public DNS whether you are on Windows, Ubuntu, or Mac! It’s easy and quick to make the change, google has directions on using pubic DNS here.

If you’re using Ubuntu (like me), just to go to “System -> Network Connections” and “edit” whatever connection you’re using (Wireless, Wired, etc), and then go to the “IPv4″ tab:

Just enter their public server addresses like I did:
8.8.8.8 8.8.4.4

(make sure there is a space between the 2 sets of numbers).

I have to say – I noticed an IMMEDIATE improvement and MUCH FASTER speed! I LOVE it!!!

Sidenote – if you want to continue to use Comcast DNS – they apparently a DNS Health Portal, where you can use “opt out” servers for the DNS redirection. I’m sure nearly no one knows about this (or uses it) – AND it’s STILL slower than google! Some people use Open DNS because they have filtering options – might be good for families with younger kids, or protection against malware. Me – I now prefer the lightning quick speed on Google’s Open DNS!!

If you’re shopping for a “Dual Band Wireless Router”, I hope my review will help you. I decided that it was time for our family to break down and finally get a Wireless N router for the same of speed, but I had some questions to research first. Before putting out the bucks – I really wanted to make sure we got not only the most reliable product, but the fastest router we could find (our house is stacked from floor to rafters with wireless gadgets, lol!).

Can you get Dual Band Wireless N, both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz at the same time from one router? Is a dual band router twice as fast? Let’s find out!

Just about everyone who has multiple computers in their home have a wireless router. Most of those people bought theirs on a recommendation from [insert big box store here]. For most people these routers do their job and don’t give there “operator” any problems until it clunks out and you buy a new one. Well why not get educated on the new guy in the router game, IEEE 802.11n-2009, also known by its common name, “Wireless N”. The best way to take advantage of this technology are dual band routers as two is always better than one, right?

First off, if you go by CNET reviews (and I always do), no dual band wireless N router currently has above a 3 out of 5 rating, which if you’re not familiar with their system is only ‘good’. Okay, now that is out of the way, I rarely go with new technology or recommend it to others until it is completely fool-proof. I think that it just may be getting there now. Here are my recommendations of the best Dual-Band Wireless N routers.

Airport Extreme Review

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Station 802.11n ($175, although you could get it cheaper) – Don’t call me crazy until you have read all the features this little Apple that could offers. It has all the features of comparable features of routers of this type, but offer the ease that apple offers with all their products. If you run a mixed mac and pc network this router is perfect, if you however run all windows machines then you can find something a little cheaper with all the same features (it just may not be as fast). Believe it or not, you can use this Apple product as a router – even if you have no Apple computers in your house (it works just fine with Windows). This is a “true dual band” wireless N router, meaning it won’t make you choose between 2.5 and 5 GHz – you can actually use both. It will support printers and network storage, but it’s pick about USB external hard drives. It only supports 50 clients, which is more than enough for most households, just be forewarned there is a limit. Bottom line, I think most Windows users (advanced ones) will want more features).

Apple AirPort Extreme Base Router (MA073LL/A)
	USD 35.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-09-04 05:05:17

Apple AirPort Extreme MB053LL/A Wireless Router
	USD 75.00 (0 Bid) | Buy It Now End time: 2010-09-04 22:45:26

Apple AirPort Extreme 802.11n Wi-Fi Wireless Router
	USD 61.00 (3 Bids) End time: 2010-09-04 22:53:41

AIRPORT EXTREME A1034 Apple MAC Wireless Router WiFi
	USD / 9.99 (0 Bid) End time: 2010-09-05 00:01:20

Linksys WRT400N Review

Linksys WRT400N ($120-149.99 just look around) – In our home we have almost exclusively used Linksys routers since we got our first high speed internet connection many years ago. They have always been easy to use and maintain and have that weird little purple-blue look to them. Well the WRT400N sports a new design but works as well as you would a expect a Linksys should. This router has true dual band support, but no Gigabit or USB support. The 5 GHz speed is a bit lacking.

Linksys WRT610N Review

Linksys WRT610N ($160.99-199.99 again look around) – This one is the next model up from the previous Linksys. The routers only major complaint is that the warranty is too short. Sounds like a good problem to have, meaning at least the complaints were performance related. The router offers a single mode, mix mode and simultaneous mode for sending the signal out. It support both 2.5 GHz and 5.0 GHz at the same time. You can attach storage devices to it, and on this one the mixed-mode throughput could be better. Other than that, it may be the best of the bunch, especially if you have external storage you want to make wireless.

I know most of these routers are more expensive than most routers you will find at Wal-Mart but as they say, you gotta pay for quality. One final note if your computer, laptop or wireless capable device is only wireless G compliant you have a few choices. First you could just stick with what you have as your new wireless N router does accept all incoming signals. Next you could buy wireless n adapters which are usb enabled, work as they should and are relatively expensive. The final choice is yours, the consumer.

Last year I blogged about the Eye-Fi Wireless SD cards that were oh so cool! Eye-FI SD cards have an onboard chipset that access your wireless network and automatically uploads your pics and videos to flickr and YouTube among other places! What could be better – right? I’ll tell you what, they have 2 new versions, the “Explore Video” and “Share Video”. They are both 4GB capacity (double the old versions), and the Explore version adds geotagging and hotspot wifi service on top of the old features.

With the new models out, you can find some great deals on the old 2GB versions – as well as deals on the new share and explore Eye-FI versions in auctions ending soon:

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After yesterdays post about power outlet wireless adapters, I got to thinking about extending wireless router range. You can buy a multitude of devices to help extend the range of your home of business wireless (and wired) network – but there are ways to do it on the cheap you know.

I mean, you could build a cantenna. It costs less than $5, what do you have to lose? You can make one out of an old soup can – and it’s probably better than one you could buy from the store anyway.

You could also get a second router and use it as a switch or access point. What?! You didn’t know that? Of course you can. You can setup a second router anywhere in your house, and the first one will be the gateway and the second just an access point. You might even have a second router lying around you can use already.

Did you know you could change your router’s channel? Sure you can, and you probably just left it on the same channel it was defaulted to (like all your neighbors). If you’re all on channel 5 don’t you think there will be some interference? Log into your router admin screen and change it to something different, all you can do is IMPROVE the performance!

You could even make your own antenna extender for about 5 cents. I came across this video that shows you how to do it in about 10 minutes (awesome!):

If none of that works, or your just not the homebrew type – you can just buy a long range wifi antenna….here’s a bunch for sale right now:

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An AC Powered Wireless Ethernet Adapter can help you get devices connected in your home that are either not wireless or too far or inconvenient to run wires too. For example – let’s say that you have a tivo or cable box that needs to be connected to the Internet. May an older computer that doesn’t have wireless capability? You could even connect an XBox 360, Playstation 3, or Wii with these devices. All you need is a power outlet – and problem solved! What a wireless power adapter does is plug into any standard power outlet and connects to your wireless router. It has a ethernet jack, and you just plugin your cable box or computer and voila – Internet connection! It couldn’t be any easier.

The Panasonic BL-PA100KTA is an HD-PLC device, or High Definition Power Line Communication. Basically you get an Internet connection through ordinary AC power outlets. This particular device comes with 2 adapters, and one connects to your router and a power outlet, and then other plugs in any outlet in the house making your electrical wiring a network to connect to the Internet through. Error correction and encryption is available, and the devices can be used up to 490 physical feet. Here’s are some great deals on Panasonic Internet power adapters right now:

[nms:Panasonic BL-PA100KTA,8,0,0,smorgas.wireless.power]

You could also use the Netgear HDX101, which can be purchased as a single adapter to connect to the Internet (very popular for DVR boxes and XBox 360′s). You can use this device in up to a 5,000 sq foot home! Get speeds up to 200Mbps over a your power lines and transfer large files. This is a great little device at a very reasonable price. Find one now:

[nms:hdx101,8,0,0,smorgas.wireless.power]

Here’s something you may not have seen – it’s the “Eye-Fi Wireless SD Card”. Most of us have SD cards lying around because that’s what we store all our precious pictures on in our digital cameras. How many times have you taken pictures, and then waited days (or weeks, or months) before uploading them to your PC or laptop? I can’t count the number of times that I have gotten out the camera and realized that it was full of pictures from a month back. Even worse, that meant fewer pictures I could take – because I couldn’t delete anything off the card yet.

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

Enter the “Eye-Fi”. Inside this flash memory card are some tiny electronics that will astound you. This SD memory card can connect to your WiFi network, without cables, or cradles – or anything! It can automatically upload all your pics to any PC on your network OR even upload them to Flickr, Fotki, Shutterfly, Webshots, Photobucket, Kodak Gallery, Sharpcast, Wal-mart, Snapfish, Phanfare, Picase Web Albums, TypePad, VOX, Smugmug, or Facebook! It can even resize photos before submission if you wish! What an unbelievably handy gadget to have!

This could possibly be one of the coolest gift ideas for just about anyone! Imagine giving this to Mom or Grandma – or anyone that hates having to get the cable or usb adapter out just to transfer the pictures every time!

Eye-Fi Wireless 2GB Secure Digital Memory Card SD
Price: $99.99
Photos should not be trapped in your camera. Set them free effortlessly and wirelessly. The Eye-Fi Card is a wireless SD memory card for your digital camera. It stores pictures like a standard SD memory card, but also uses your home Wi-Fi network to automatically transfer images from inside your camera to your PC or Mac and to your favorite photo or social networking website for sharing or printing. No cables, no cradles, no fuss.

You might be able to find a really good new or used eye-fi in one of these auctions as well:

[nms:eye-fi,5,0,0,smorgas.eyefi]

Need external storage that’s extremely portable? I’ve wished for an external hard drive enclosure that’s wireless, and my wireless hdd guide will show you the in’s and out’s of what’s currently available!

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

I’ve blogged a lot off an on about making your home entertainment network more user friend, and the gadgets that can help you get it done. Yesterday we were talking at home about the value of maybe getting a big external hard drive and hooking it up (wired) to one PC so the entire household could store their media on it. We’d maybe start it off with one big USB 2.0 external 500GB disk. You can get one new for around $120. I’ve written about the wireless USB hub and how you could connect multiple external hard drives or enclosures that way, and I’ve also posted about the value of a good network storage drive. But now they’re coming out with wireless hard drives that may start to change all of that…

What is a Wireless Hard Drive?

You have to be very careful when you’re shopping for a wireless hard drive, because devices that may appear to do the same thing may not. There are many, many flavors that may do many many different things – pay attention to what your needs are, the price, and value for the money. I’m going to show you some different kinds of wireless hard drives and enclosures:

The Iomega 33349 StorCenter has 1 Terabyte (1,000 GB) of storage and is a “Network Storage Device” – meaning you can plug it into your router or switch on your home or business network for everyone to share (without having it hooked to one dedicated computer). The StorCenter is “wireless” as well as wired, so all laptops and mobile devices can access it. Imagine having one device that could be accessed by PC’s, laptops, cell phones, PDA, iPhone, iTouch, or even your PSP or other mobile devices. There’s a price to be paid for all this technology, and it’s a little under $500 (as of this writing). You can get the latest price by following these links.

Iomega 33349 StorCenter 1 TB Wireless Gigabit Ethernet Network Storage

[nms:Iomega 33349 StorCenter,6,0,0,smorgas.storcenter]

You have some products that proclaim to be a “Wireless Media Player” like the MG-350HD HD Wireless 802.11G Media Player by Mediagate. This is just fancy hard drive enclosure – since the device comes sans hard drive. It does proclaim so pretty boasty features, like the ability to stream HD video via wireless up to 1920 x 1080p. It’s got all kinds of fancy connections, like L/R stereo out, and composite, component, and S-video out. This particular unit can stream video from an internal hard drive or a PC on the network and even has a remote control. So you can see that this unit (as a wireless hard drive) is very different in that it can be a set-top box OR a media gateway to access (from networked PC’s). Follow these links to find more out about this device.

MG-350HD HD Wireless 802.11G Media Player. By Mediagate

[nms:MG-350HD,6,0,0,smorgas.mediagate]

You might be interested in an Asus Wireless Storage Router which has an internal 250GB hard drive. It has a USB connector so you can connect other (wired) storage devices to it for sharing, and it even has the ability to download files from the Internet when your PC is turned off. The specs say you can download up to 7 bitTorrent files or 10 FTP/HTTP files simultaneously. For what it does, this wireless hard drive is a pretty good at half the price (and storage) as the StorCenter. You can get the wireless storage router through these links:

Wireless Storage Router

[nms:asus wireless storage router,6,0,0,smorgas.asus.storage]

If you a have a hard drive lying around, you might be able to stick in a wireless hard drive enclosure box and put it on your network (wirelessly) that way. You can get one pretty reasonably, but the two I found were only for 2.5″ drives. I hope we see more (and a 3.5″ version) on eBay soon:

[nms:wireless hard drive box,3,0,0,smorgas.hdd.box]

You can actually make any external hard drive enclosure wireless by using the Linksys Storage Link for USB Disk Drives. Just like many other devices Linksys makes to connect computer hardware to your home or business network, they make a Storage Link that will connect any 2 USB storage devices to your wireless local network. The thing that’s always sucked about external hard drives is that they have to be attached to a physical computer via USB to work, and then you have to access them through that computer on the network. If that computer is turned off or locked up – you can’t access those drives. With a Linksys Storage Link, you can put up to 2 USB storage devices on your network independant of all your PC’s. Just plug it into your router or hub (or switch) to work. Oh – you can even stick a flash memory stick or drive into one of the USB slots to share it on the network as well. This is not only great for file sharing, but an easy way to connect with many mobile devices!

Linksys Storage Link for USB 2.0 Disk Drives NSLU2

[nms:linksys storage link,6,0,0,smorgas.linksys.storage]

Wireless Hard Drive Auctions

Products and listings change on eBay all the time, so here’s the lastest auctions for “wireless hard drive” on eBay right now!

[nms:wireless hard drive -dell -360,6,0,0,smorgas.wireless.hdd]

The average home has multiple computers and all kinds of digital photos, mp3′s, and documents that are about as organized as a bucket of slop. If you don’t get a central location to store and protect it – you are stones throw away from pissing away money and memories.

This post of part of The Smorgasbord Tech Reviews series!

Yesterday I talked about getting a wireless USB hub so you could setup some network storage away from your computer or laptop. Seemed like a pretty good idea – right? I have learned that can be both good and bad. Let’s say that your house has a mixed network of Windows and Linux – maybe even Mac? Now what? If you formatted your external drives yourself you have to figure out what common format all the external hard drives need to be for all computers to be able to seamlessly access them. Will you go NTFS? That’s kinda buggy in Linux. What about Fat32? Kind of wastes a bit of space there and not the most efficient for modern Windows machines. And since I don’t own a mac – I have no idea what format is best for that. Linux format?

That was problem #1. Problem #2 is that external drives are SINGLE drives. What does that mean? Well if you have 4 drives, and one fails – then you have three! The data on the failed drive is GONE! You are screwed (unless you were backing it up to yet another external drive). Oh – did I mention problem #3? With external drives they have to be connected to at least one computer on the network, and all the the other systems access the data THROUGH that computer. If that PC is turned off, or down, or being repaired, or out of the house (laptop) – you can’t access any of the data unless you hook the drives up to another system.

Ok – enter Network Storage. What is “network storage”? It’s a piece of hardware that you can stick on your network “standalone” – either wired or wireless, and all computers on the network can access it WITHOUT it being attached to any of the systems (it’s independant). The (better) network storage drives are platform independant, meaning that they can be accessed by Windows, Linux, or Mac computers without worrying about format at all. The better ones have their own internal processor and memory as well. In addition (the better ones) also are redundant and hot-swappable. Meaning they have multiple drives in the box, but if one goes bad you don’t lose any data and can replace the bad drive (without even turning it off). If you purchased a network storage for your home you would be purchasing a professional piece of hardware designed to store AND protect your data. Tens, possibly hundreds of thousands of files that are not only memories, but possibly important documents and hard earned money spent (multimedia files).

So now you know why it’s so important that you have network storage in your home – let me introduce you to some different options that might be right for you, whether you’re looking for a “network hard drive”, or “network external hard drive” there are many options. Imagine having network attached storage in your home or small business for a reasonable price!

The first thing I have to show you is the Buffalo Linkstation series of network storage devices. These drives let you access files remotely using DNS. They also support RAID-1 so you can mirror drives and prevent data loss (like I said earlier). You also get automated backup software with this type of device. It’s listed as being able to be used with both Mac and PC- Linux isn’t listed, but that doesn’t mean it can’t. Check with the company. These drives have some pretty good reviews. I’ll list 3 different options in this line below.

Buffalo LS250GL LinkStation Pro 250 GB Shared Network Storage

1TB Linkstation Pro Duo Nas Gbe 2X 500GB Raid 0 1 Web Access

Linkstation 500 Gb

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The HP MediaSmart server line kind of goes against what I said earlier (accessible from multiple platforms), but that’s because it’s designed fo the new Windows Home Server operating system. Connect it to your router and install the software and you’re ready to go. All Windows PC’s on the network have to install the software. Then every can backup their pc, store files, etc. You can also create a web site where people can access your files remotely and you can share you iTunes library.

HP EX470 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live/ 64 Bit Sempron Processor, 500 GB Hard Drive)

HP EX475 MediaSmart Home Server (AMD Live/ 64 Bit Sempron Processor, 1 TB Hard Drive)

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The Netgear ReadyNAS is some serious business with 4 drive bays and four very fast drives. It’s plug and play ready baby, and it even has a nice digital screen on front of the unit telling you how much space is available. You’re going to pay some serious bucks for this one, as much as an entire computer maybe for the most expensive one, but it will probably outlast all the computers in your house. It’s a serious piece of hardware for people that are serious about preserving their digital data. You can get versions with 2 disks – 4 disks, or no disks (add your own).
Netgear RND4250 ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Desktop Network Storage (2x500GB)

Netgear RND4425 ReadyNAS NV+ 1 TB Desktop Network Storage (4x250GB)

Netgear RND4000-100NAS ReadyNAS NV+ 4-Bay Desktop Network Storage (No Disk)

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The ZyXel NSA-220 is a cool option because basically it’s just a box that you can add your own drives to. It has two drive bays and can take up to 2TB of data. It takes SATA drives and has support for RAID-1. It has a gigabit ethernet port, and you can access files remotely with a built-in FTP server. That’s a cool feature.

ZyXel NSA-220 Network Storage ApplianceUniversal Plug and Play DLNA Server streams Multimedia Easily ZyXEL s DLNA certified Media Storage Server model NSA-220 provides easy connection to other DLNA certified digital home devices. Just plug both the Media Storage Server and a DLNA compliant digital media theater on the home network, you are ready to watch all the photos and videos stored in the Server on your TV or DLNA mobile phone. The Media Storage Server brings Digital Home living into reality. Terabytes Capacity for All Your Storage Need ZyXEL Media Storage Server is a dual-bay Network Storage Appliance with capacity for all your storage need. Supports RAID 0.1 and JBOD, you can have maximum storage space up to 2 Terabytes. Enough for all the pictures you have taken. The built-in Gigabit Ethernet port and the SATA (serial ATA) supported drive bay allow high speed access to the vast data stored in the Media Storage server. It just not only benefits users from home, the built-in FTP server also allows remote access to the server with simple set up on the browser GUI. Multi-tier Data Protection Insure Your Digital Treasure The ZyXEL Media Storage Server NSA-220 gives you the best insurance policy you can find for all your digital treasure by provides multi-tier data protection: By supporting RAID 1, the server mirroring data from one hard drive to the other. Second, the innovative auto-copy one-button action helps users to backup data from thumb drive or external hard drive that plugged into the two available USB 2.0 ports. Thirdly, the included software back up all files in a designated directory from computer to the Media Storage Server automatically. The multi-tier data protection prevents the loss of thousands digital photographs with your precious memory and important documentation.

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If you have a question or experience with your own network storage drive pros or cons – comment now!