D-Link DNS-321 2-Bay Network Attached Storage Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I've been pleased with the reliability and performance of the DNS-321. I was hoping the Gigabit transfer speeds would be significantly faster, but it seems to top out at 14-16 MBps (MegaBytes per sec). This is on the upper end of most consumer NAS boxes, including D-Link's tried & true DNS-323.
Pros:
. Runs cool & quiet.
. Spins down the HD when idle to conserve power.
. Rock-solid operation (no reboots necessary in the month I've had it).
Cons:
. Larger drives (1TB and up) can get "stuck" at 94% during the format phase, but eventually it will complete.
. User permissions setup is clunky. This is common among consumer-level NAS boxes though.
. User access permissions are cleared on reboot :(
. No firmware update yet (v1.0). D-Link tech support says they've fixed most of the problems above and are testing the new firmware for public release. The cons are relatively minor to me, and once fixed in firmware, this will be a 5-star product.
Notes:
Opt for a low-power (and low-heat) HD to use in an external enclosure. Transfer rates on this generation of NAS will never approach the max throughput of HDs, so using a fast 7200rpm drive is a waste of money and power. Extra heat from the faster drives may cause issues down the road. Recommended low-power models are the Western Digital GreenPower and Samsung EcoGreen.UPDATE 11/30/2008: D-Link has released firmware 1.01 which fixes the issue with access permissions being cleared on reboot. It also claims to support 1.5 TB hard drives.
[...]
UPDATE 5/8/2009: User account access control has an issue in all firmware versions, from the original 1.0 release to the latest beta. Basically the setting to allow All users to access a share disappears. Resetting to defaults sometimes brings it back, but shares configured to allow All users don't work properly. Weird issues with the All checkbox and shares disappearing are very frustrating. Dlink tech support has been aware of this for 4-6 months but no fix is in sight.
Final Update: D-Link finally fixed the issue with All Users permissions in firmware 1.03. There are some lingering issues, some minor and some not so minor, but D-Link hasn't released a firmware in well over a year. Looks like D-Link has written off this product.

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