Seagate ST340005SHA10G-RK 4TB (4 x 1TB) BlackArmor NAS 440 Network Storage Server

Pros: For me this is the top...i realy need'ed one of these and this one is over the top..it might not the one for you...but after getting mine you have nothing to lose try it..i think you would like this one...

Cons: over the top for me

Pros: Relatively cheap

Cons: Unreliable, loses connectivity, HDD bad then good, loses array, locks up and becomes unresponsive

Other Thoughts: I give up on this. It would be great for awhile, and then suddenly would have all green lights, but could not log in. At that point, rebooting would result in HDD failure (four 1TB Barracudas). Nice. Ok, fine let's get new drive.

But sometimes, came up saying one drive is missing and one is bad, so array failed. This happened 3x in about 18 months. Reboot again, thinking that is not possible, and now one drive is now foreign (but wasn't earlier, so..) and the 'missing drive' is fine.

Just updated the bios since some said that was key, and now it simply won't boot (yeah sure, maybe the bios did not finish properly). Finally I get to recreate The Office movie scene where they beat on the copier with bats....

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Matt,

This reply is from Seagate Support. We noticed your review and wanted to apologize for the problems experienced with your BlackArmor NAS 440. We would like to talk with you, by phone preferably, to determine the root cause and available resolution to the behaviors described in the review. We have created case # 03130341 for your reference. Both your review and our response will be listed under this case number. If from the US or Canada our contact number for free technical support is 800-732-4283. If outside of the US or Canada please try us here under Technical Support (choose your region):

http://www.seagate.com/support/contact-support/

Best Regards,
Seagate Support

Pros: Gigabit NIC & LAN - my backups scream!
Lots of storage, uptime has been 100%.
Seems very fast, no issues after the initial setup (see below), so far I love this device. I primarily bought it for backing up my work laptop, but also wanted it to store my media. The backups and storage consolidation are great, I really haven't gotten around to the media bits yet.

Cons: Backup licenses can't be reclaimed even after you get rid of a client, interface is a bit clunky but not bad. DLNA issues but I think that's possibly on the TV's side.

Other Thoughts: The initial install was easy. When I went to move data from my PCs to the NAS it kept dropping the network connection after 100-200MB. I tried it from 2 machines with different OSs (XP & Win7) - both with the same result. The Black Armor tech had me changing network switches & trying all kinds of things, and even connect it directly to my machine to eliminate my whole network - same problem. He told me to send the unit back for a replacement. After I hung up, it dawned on me - the 2 completely different machines had recently been 'upgraded' w/new gigabit NIC cards so I tried copying data from my work laptop - the NAS works flawlessly. To save a couple bucks I had bought cheap NIC cards - big mistake.
I had read all the postings on the net about similar issues and I was ticked that it had happened to me too (or so I thought). I mentioned this to the tech and he cautioned me that no one ever updates reviews if they fix the problem.... so Mr. Tech - here you go :)

Pros: Pros would be cheap and lots of space, small device with a lot of potential until I actually started using it for inexpensive backup storage space over the network.

Cons: Cons/Issues: I kept getting failures in my Symantec Backup Exec and would go to look at the NAS only to find I could not hit it/ping it etc until I killed the power and rebooted the device. Same issue I see others posting about. When it works I'm getting a good 200-300MB/min transfer speed over the LAN via a HP Procurve switch the server and NAS are plugged into. The NAS just nic just seems to stop responding for no apparent reason.

Other Thoughts: I hope Netgear sorts out this issue. It detered me from trying their larger 12TB iscsi based devices for network backups unless I get resolution from support on this unit

Pros: VERY pleased with this. It does what it needs to do. My wife and I own a photography business, so file storage and access is vital. RAID 5 for this NAS is just what we need. So far, we haven't had ANY problems with it. It's plenty fast enough ...

Cons: For some reason, it, by default, will create its own "My Pictures" folder on the NAS, and will automatically sort all of the images to be in this folder. NOT what we needed ... but, it's easy to change, just be sure to do it!

Pros: High Storage Capacity
Price

Cons: Unreliable
Network access is intermittently lost

Other Thoughts: This is actually our second unit, first one was replaced by Newegg. This one has the exact same problem. It gets lost on the network sporadically and backups fail. Looking on forums I see others are having reliability issues as well. Talked to Seagate Tech Support and after going through testing they told me they don't know what is wrong but that they've had this problem with some units and offered to replace it again. But I think I have wasted enough time on this "work in progress" model! I'm returning it to NewEgg for a refund.

Manufacturer Response:

Same issue with 2 units suggests something is not right with your network environment. This could be a problem with your router, wireless network, outside interference (cordless phone), other network devices.

Pros: Lots of available storage....getting to it consistently is the problem!

Cons: Drops off network sporadically and if you are trying to access a file at that moment you'll get a "Network name not available any longer" error. We use this for nightly automated backups and they fail every single night. Searched the forums on the net and apparently this is a big common problem with these units. Called seagate and after some testing they suggested I return the unit for replacement.

Other Thoughts: Will report back after we test the replacement .

Manufacturer Response:

Same issue with 2 units suggests something is not right with your network environment. This could be a problem with your router, wireless network, outside interference (cordless phone), other network devices. Such issues with your wireless network could be an older router, or streaming product with a weak wireless signal on your laptop if not wired into the network.

Pros: Easy to setup once you have the latest Firmware integrates into Active Directory easily.

Cons: Had one defective drive when I received it. Seagate RMA the drive quickly though.

Pros: Well built, quiet unit that comes bundled with drives. UI is straight forward, but a little crude.

Cons: Windows AD integration is not working, read the Seagate forums and you'll see most people can't get AD integration working. The NFS support is OK but have issues connecting to it from Windows.

Other Thoughts: This is a nice SMB or home use product, but any any serious business use it is very limitied.

Manufacturer Response:

Windows Active Directory issues have been addressed via a firmware upgrade. Please go to the below link to download the latest firmware upgrade.

http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.jsp?locale=en-US&name=ba220-firmware&vgnextoid=9e0dfb8ec1503210VgnVCM1000001a48090aRCRD