BUFFALO Link Station EZ NAS Box

This storage solution for SOHOs and small workgroups is quite sleek and works

pretty silently. The NAS box has a 250 GB external hard drive which is easy to

install and use over a network. You can configure it on your network to get its

IP address either from a DHCP server or assign one statically. Apart from this,

the device has auto backup software from Memeo. This software is wizard driven

and allows you to take back ups on networks, iPods, Memeo Internet disks, hard

disks and removable storage devices. The device has an easy step by step process

to choose the backup storage location and the types of files to be stored

(email, music, videos, photos and graphics). Once you set a particular backup

plan, the software automatically works in the background. You can modify the

backup plan as per your needs.

The device configuration can be changed easily using the client utility

supplied. Security is provided through password protection: the drive can be

mapped to all stations or even disconnected. We tested this NAS by transferring

100 GB data over an isolated Gigabit network. The time taken for the complete

transfer was 3 hours 5 minutes and 50 seconds. The data consisted of all types

of files, music, videos, PDFs, etc.

Bottomline: A good buy for small workgroups. It provides an easy way

to access & share files over a network.

Piyush Dhingra