Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay 4TB (2 x 2TB) NAS(STBN4000100) Seagate Business Storage 2-Bay 4TB (2 x 2TB) NAS(STBN4000100)

Pros: cheap, easy setup, lots of storage

Cons: Seagate has put this product on production hold.

There are firmware problems they are trying to fix. My unit would not go to sleep and ran 24/7. The backup software couldn't see my OCZ Vertex 3 (my C drive). The firmware version wouldn't show up in the places it should.

Other Thoughts: I sent my unit back after talking to one of Seagate's firmware engineers and a technician who confirmed it was defective.

This will probably be a good unit once they get the bugs worked out.

I don't care what anyone says, I still love doing business with Newegg.com!

Pros: The USM feature is a fantastic way to do backups by hand. If I were still working in IT I would use this feature every day but as it is my file transfers of scientific data are only done via LAN for time and security reasons.

Recycle Bin feature: I have never seen this on any other NAS. When a file gets deleted it is saved to a recycle bin whos size can be set in the administration panel. I can see this feature reducing headaches when clients 'mistakenly' delete something and end up staring at you to magically fix their mistakes.

Power management: Has wake on lan feature and power scheduling.

There are 2xUSB 3.0 ports which can be used to setup network shares!

Has a full suite of automated backup tool, which I did not use because I prefer to do backups manually, but I would expect would work well in any business environment.

Services: I like that there is a built in wikiserver and media server feature. Download manager for HTTP and FTP sites which can be useful for automated backups. Dynamic DNS is easy to setup as is the Print server

Cons: I am a linux user and require SSH access which this unit does not have.

This unit only supports 5 kinds of drives and these drives are only made by Seagate ( http://ow.ly/jtSwD )! Find my review for the diskless version of this NAS where I attempted to use Hitachi drives and Seagate drives (which were not on the supported list) only yo find that the NAS would drop from the network and refuse to accept the disks. Therefore you must be careful when/if you decided to update the drives on this NAS because it may become a headache very quickly.

The server's CPU temperature while idle was 65C in a house which was in the 40's so ventelation may be an issue down the road.

During boot the fan is very loud but after boot it becomes much quieter. However the fan is still audible an entire room away not as a road but as a low drone. I found this most annoying while working next to the unit. I do not see an option to control fan speed and dont think it would make much difference. I suspect the ball bearing on the fan is sub par and I would recommend installing a new fan yourself, but IMO the end user should not be bothered with such things (I cannot hear my DS213+ even under load).

Compared to Synology I find that this Seagate NAS misses the mark when it comes to features. Synology has many in house and 3rd party packages which can be installed. I could see any system administrator becoming frustrated with this Seagate NAS because it may not be able to keep up with clients growing demand the the 'latest' services.

Other Thoughts: 0.0 watt power supply only
8.8 watt boot
23.7 watt HDD format

Some benchmarks:
Seagate raid 1 Single 30GB file transfer
Peak: 42 MB/s
Average ~38.7 MB/s

Synology DS213+ Raid 1 single 30GB file transfer
Peak 90MB/s
average ~66.0 MB/s
(I am using HGST Deskstar 3.5-Inch 4TB 7200 RPM SATA III 6Gbps 0S03355 drives)

Real world full backup 1.65TB
large files (1GB++) 38MB/s
tiny files (300GB of ~1MB photos) started at 25.6MB/s and bottomed out at 4.10 MB/s over 8 hours. At this point I stopped the transfer because it didnt seem worth waiting anymore.

Overall this Seagate device would be perfect as a introduction to the NAS market for small business users who do not have a need for extra features and intend to do backups manually. However if you are a large business user or a researcher like myself you will quickly find yourself demanding more from this NAS than it can give.

Pros: Good price for a 4Tb Nas.
Has dvd for software. Pro if you can use a dvd.
My version came with newest firmware.
Very stable once properly setup.
2 usb3 ports and a sata III jack for for plugging in a USM module like a seagate backup plus 2.5 inch size. Right now no one has USM that house an ssd but a sata extension cable can allow a direct sata III connection to the Nas.

Item #: N82E16812400019 is a 22 inch cable it can be attached inside the USM slot and then you can use a bare 2.5 inch drive such as a 128gb or a 256gb ssd.

I was able to write from a samsung 250gb ssd to the internal raid1 at 95 to 100 MBs. This speed is about as good as it gets for ethernet connected gear. I also tested a usb3 case with the samsung ssd in it. I was able to write in the 90Mb speed range . If I reconfigure the hdds ro raid0 this may pick up to 150Mb/s or so. this would be better then any ethernet connection. Lastly it has done a flawless time machine which is good. I even pulled a mac mini and put a new mac mini the seagate allowed the osx to use the new mini with the time machine.

Cons: Has dvd for software. Con if you can't use a dvd reader with your gear.
Not stable if you do not set it up correctly. Based on other reviews you could get the older firmware and have trouble upgrading it. This could be quicker as raid1 maxes at 40Mb/s. I would prefer it to push 55 Mb/s .

Also there are so many options and things you can do you need to study and be careful with setup.

Other Thoughts: Seagate responded to my first issue review of slow upgrades and drop outs. They told me to see if I had proper firmware. I did. My lack of stability was an improper setup of my 3 mac mini plus seagate Nas. I had previously used and still use a low performing SYNOLOGY Nas. Only one bay and less features. Setup was different on the seagate then the Synology. I had to load the seagate software on all 3 mac minis. Then open the program to sign on to the has.

Once the mini's had the dvd loaded I was able to sign on and write to seagate nas. I copied 3 18gb eyetv files to the Seagate at the same time. while not super quick at 3 files were copied cleanly. Next test I copied the three files back to a second mini and using the first mini I copied a 4th 18th gb file to the seagate. so 4 18gb files were being moved to and fro at the same time I then fired up the third mini and streamed a 5th eyetv program for watching.

It all worked flawlessly! that makes it a good piece of gear for a small business or a home owner that wants a home network for music movies and tv recordings. My testing was all mac minis. a dLink router and 3 dLink smart 8 port switches. THe network has a lot of other devices attached to the switches but I did not use them with the seagate.

I gave this 5 stars, but it is really around an 85 or 88 rating on a 1 to 100 scale. My max speeds with the pair of 2Tb drives in raid1 has been about 42Mb/s. It would be faster in raid0 I need to reconfigure this one more time as raid0 to see how much speed I gain. I also need to set it up with pc's only and lastly set it up with mac's and pc's mixed.

Pros: Installation of NAS & backup software very quick; although nothing takes long with an Intel SSD & i7

E-mail notifications available for when events occur. Wasn't sure what exactly an event was, but after a NAS-USB transfer completed I received an e-mail; that was pretty sweet.

Cons: Fan running in NAS is louder than my desktop; although my desktop is practically silent.

Fan runs quite loud when initially plugging in the NAS box waiting for it to be ready for software setup; approx 2-2.5 minutes.
After browing through the many menus I found, Fan Information. The CPU runs at a toasty 58 C with the fan at 2k RPM. Not sure what is cooling it, but now the high fan speed on boot makes a little more sense. Board temp also listed; 37C, and this is the temp displayed under general system status.

Changing various settings, or switching between menus, through dashboard is annoyingly slow; 15-60 seconds depending on what you're doing.

Seagate Global Access not functioning properly through Seagate global access site. Worked well when I initially set it up and I was able to log in and download music I had uploaded. Now when logging in my shared folder isn't listed. However, when logging in through seagate.tappin.com everything is as it should be.

Streaming music through the Global Access app on my Android HTC Rezound has been problematic the past week of use. I have a playlist composed of four albums; which load/buffer fairly quickly before playing, even with shuffle turned on. The issue I'm having is losing connection after hearing 3-5 songs. I have to close, re-open and login to the app again. This loses my place in the shuffle and always starts over at the first song, of the first album, I added to the playlist; shuffle must also be re-enabled.
Streaming musing through Seagate.Tappin.com, on my laptop over Wi-Fi, has the same issues as through the app on my phone; 3-5 songs and then it stalls. I can get it to play again, but I have to remove all the songs in queue and re-select what I want to hear.

-Seagate Blackarmor Backup 2011 Software - Licenses for 5 PCs, with a 2-bay NAS, are suposed to be included. There are no licenses listed in the 'Backup Client License' menu; it is displaying 'No data.
-Using Windows Backup utliity instead. When choosing Windows Backup in Control Panel, I was prompted to allow Seagate BlackArmor to make changes. I then had to choose to use Windows Backup as opposed to Seagate and restart control panel for the changes to take effect.
-Made a backup of my C: Backup drive which contains just under 25GB of data. The backup, including creating a system image, took 21 minutes.

Other Thoughts: Default login credentials not listed in quick start guide. Had to choose 'Forgot Password?' to find admin/admin.

Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 drives inside.

-94.9GB used out of the box.
-Had to manually set time zone.
-Power-Saving HDD Standby must be enabled.
-Came with latest firmware.
-Firmware update was available after having the box for a few days. It updated fairly quickly, 2-3 minutes and then it automatically rebooted. The reboot process and refresh of the dashboard took another 3-4 minutes.
-SMART 'short' test/health available through dashboard gives 'overall-health' assessment
-Uninterruptable Power Supply compatible.

When suspending the fan ramps up(same speed as when it was intitially turned on) for about 8 seconds and then is silent and appears to be off. I think a slow LED pulse, or some indidcation of Suspend/WoL, would be nice. Resuming leads to the same obnoxious fan speed and noise; This seems completely unnecessary since it was in suspend and(theoretically) not generating any heat. Fan runs until the NAS is ready to be connected to again, signified by a LED, which took just about as long as the initial power on(2-2.5 min).

-TappIn software automatically prevents sleep on your computer; must be changed in preferences.
-Automatically defaulted to marking my D: drive as shared read/write through Global Access (D: is my C: backup drive)

For Seagate Global Access, first go to Seagate.GlobalAccess.com and sign up. Then you must enter your account info under Sharing > Global Access through the NAS dashboard.

Downloading MP3/WMA average 250-300 KB/s through global access.

First Data Transfer: RAID 1, 35.2GB music. 6,644 items, Started at 42 MB/s and gradually leveled off to 27 MB/s, completed in 27 minutes; no other network activity at the time.

Data transfer of more music, 35.2GB(6,526 files), and 1.44GB of pictures(1,441). Pictures went first at a steady 14.0 MB/s, Videos next at a steady 26.2 MB/s; 24 minutes total.

USB3 transfer from NAS to ADATA HD710 USB3 portable HDD; 39.9 GB of Music/Pictures.
-NAS did not recognize HDD when plugged into front USB3 port, had to plug into rear. Once transfer starts there is no data transfer speed listed, only estimated time to complete.
-Preliminary estimated transfer time: 11h 27m. If you do the math this isn't even 1 MB/s, by my calculations its ~ 7.35 Mb/s.
-Actual time to transfer: 2h 4m, which is roughly 5 MB/s.

I still need to play around with some other functions of the product, especially utilizing something besides RAID1 and transferring larger amounts of data. I will be back with more information.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Roboyt0,

This response is from Seagate Support and we'd like to thank you for your review of the Seagate Business Storage Network drive.

We will pass along your comments on fan noise and web admin lags to our developers. We appreciate your feedback on this.

We would like to talk with you, by phone preferably, to determine the root cause and available resolution to the streaming behaviors observed when using our app on your mobile devices. We will also resolve the backup license issue at this time. We have created case # 03310197 to use when contacting us that will show your review and our response. If from the US or Canada, our contact number for 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: This particular product breaks down into the storage bay and the hard drives, and I will make comments on both physical components. I agree with the other Eggxperts (and Seagate’s advertising materials) regarding the ease and time of setup. In less than 10 minutes from the unpacking of this unit, you can be up and running.
 
The case is made of industrial SECC material. It is sturdy and heavy for its size. Looking into and around the storage bays you can see the (included) power supply, fan and integrated circuit boards. The case has perforations so that air can be drawn over the PCBs and HDDs for cooling.  The design of the housing should provide adequate cooling to keep the drives from thermal failure. The heft of the unit indicates that the power supply is a good one (but this observation like that of cooling is speculative).
 
While the unit listed here is Seagate’s 4 TB model, the dual bay drive housing can be used with a number of different (certified) HDDs providing up to 4 TB per HDD.  Seagate’s certification of HDDs with this dual bay NAS is limited to their own products, which indicates that they may not warrant the unit with HDDs form other drive makers. This is an acceptable commercial practice, for why should a manufacturer promote the use of the products of its direct competitor.  However, the fact that Seagate does not warrant the use of HDDs of its competition does not mean that the device cannot use them.  I did note that Seagate has certified mostly 7200 RPM HDDs, but also has some 5700 RPM models of their HDDs on their list.

This unit is flexible: it can be used as “dumb” storage attached to a PC or network, but it can also be used as an independent device that takes on file server characteristics. Seagate targets this device for the small business market, or NAS attached to a network. As a file server it is limited to 5 clients, which is sufficient for most users. The Blackarmor software provides a simple step-by-step setup and interface for maintaining either central file backup or a pseudo-server. Why do it use the term pseudo-server? Because, Blackarmor is not a full functioning server that provides the flexibility of a server. It does not have the administrative overhead of a server, but nor does it have the flexibility of a server.

Another pro is that this unit has two CAT5 connections and can be connected to two networks simultaneously.

Cons: Both the manual of this unit and promotional literature of Seagate tout the ease of file transfer with the USM (Universal Storage Module) without giving details on the USM. After digging around the Seagate website I found their white paper on USM, and discovered that it is a SATA HDD in a housing that makes a portable storage cartridge. The “pin-out” of the USM in the white paper looks like a combination of the modern L power and SATA connectors for internal HDDs & SSDs. It looks like a hot swap cartridge to provide portability for large storage devices. I have found some small availability of USM drives in the US (from Seagate and Dell), but the USM is not widely available. No USM is listed for sale at Newegg. USM, due to its limited availability and promotion, may be a good idea, but it remains a niche product (much like the old Iomega Bernoulli drives).

The targeting of this hardware to the small business (SOHO) market is a poor approach for Seagate. There is a growing market for home NAS and particularly in building private clouds. I, personally have a network of over 12 TB (prior to the receipt of this device and its 4 TB) of storage and have built a personal cloud for my family. While I may use a public cloud for certain files and uses, I do not trust my critical data with any corporation or other entity that may not have all of my own interests at heart. The private cloud is a growing market and this device from Seagate is a great solution for protecting individual and family data from prying eyes. Limited marketing to SOHO consumers may make the adaption of the USM more difficult, and that aspect of the device more problematic (due to the limited availability of USM devices).

Other Thoughts: This looks like very good hardware, but only time will tell with both the enclosure and the HDDs.
The HDDs are 7200 RPM models, and look like they will be great drives, but again, only time will tell. This unit stands somewhere between the simplicity of a dumb NAS and a full independent server. It has a very simple set-up and interface with its clients. However, it does not have the flexibility of a server. But it can also be attached to a server, and can provide file access when the server is offline. This is a good product.

Pros: -Easy discovery and setup with included software

-Raid 1,0 and JBOD/SPAN options for volume

-Remote web-based access through Seagate website from other PC or
mobile device

-Sleek and small design with adequate cooling for drives

-Media server for iTunes streaming or other DLNA devices

-Included DVD has 5 licenses included for backup software for PCs

Cons: -Web interface is slow and has issues or times out completely during critical processes (see below)
-Raid 1 array rebuild time of roughly ~7-8 hrs @ ~80MB/sec is somewhat long
-Admin web interface needs work
-Media server sometimes will stop and cut off playback until a reboot.
-Fan can be loud

Other Thoughts: I have not encountered dropping file transfers when doing 6gb+ video files, although I am only able to test with 5 concurrent transfers, I do have issues with the media server either not finding media or cutting out after playing just fine for anywhere from 30min to 2hrs, the fan is also noticeably louder than my PC.
On the firmware update, I was told my unit was faulty or a beta unit by Seagate support due to it's error "Warning: No Space To Download Image" basically it does not having any flash memory allocated for firmware updates.
So the unit still functions but the supposed speed improvements to the web interface would have been nice with the current firmware version.
Due to the process of finding the unit is faulty and would probably need replacement if this was not a EggXpert review and was in a business or home setting where the user wanted the latest firmware, along with the louder fan I feel it should be 3/5 instead of 4/5.

Pros: Packs a punch for a small package! Easy set up and use for the average user to the power user. This is a very versatile unit with a wide range of capabilities that will appeal to just about anyone looking for a personal storage cloud or small business back-up needs. Very simple to set up-once connected and turned on, the set up process took less than 5 minutes, in another 10 minutes, I was streaming movies and transferring files.

No software is needed to access the general setup; just type the address on your local network in your browser and enter your credentials. The user interface is easy to understand and, in some cases, walks you through to the next step of setting up specific tasks which correlate to the change you’re making.

The NAS comes pre-loaded with 5 user licenses for the Armor Backup Software. The included software works well, one click back-up, restore critical files only, and adds some very useful tools, such as a media builder, clone disk, and converting back-ups. The tool for mounting images can be very useful if you only need to restore a few files manually. By setting scheduled or automatic back-up, daily PC maintenance is a breeze-set it and forget it!

Both in the home and business environment, this will give you total control over who has access and permissions to edit files, quota control for setting storage space limits, and managing large web downloads to prevent overloading.

In the home environment, I set this up as a media server and was able to stream a movie to two separate DLNA devices at the same time with no stuttering, buffering, or lag on either device-even while transferring very large data files between the NAS and a computer with no problem! You can back up all your home electronics data, from your computers to your tablets, data from your phone, and other devices. Network capable streaming radios can play from the NAS when it is set up as a media server–I tested it with my Grace streaming radio. It will stream files on systems running ITunes software for DLNA certified devices.

In the small business environment, the 5 licenses for the back-up software will ensure that your networked computers’ data is safe. With built in FTP settings, if you have a networked security camera system, you can back up the recorded videos from the system’s DVRs that have FTP capabilities built in. Tested on my 16 camera system, it worked flawlessly. With the print manager control feature, you can connect a printer directly to the NAS with spooler destination settings. Other computers on your local network can add the USB printer to their list of printers. With 2 individual network jacks, you can connect to 2 local networks at once.

Cons: The unit arrived with firmware version 2013-60152. A new version of firmware, 2013-60193, has been released and appears to have corrected the few minor bugs I found with the system. The user interface was sluggish through the browser with the old firmware version; the revision in the new firmware version did not appear to increase the speed of navigating the system through the browser.

The password reset feature is nice and simple, as you can reset to the default admin password without having to reset the entire device and losing any data. However, I consider this a Con because if the unit was easily accessible and someone wanted to have access to the data, they would simply read the manual, get the default password, and reset the device. I think that there should be a little more protection in the password reset feature. Keep in mind that this would only be if the NAS was in an unsecured area and you had concerns about who has access to it. Other than that, it’s still a convenient feature for those occasions that you lose or forget your password.

Other Thoughts: At 4 terabytes, this is the smallest NAS in this Seagate line. For the average home, this unit would be an excellent choice. With newer internet/network capable TV sets and DVD players, this is great for storing all of your media files, which can be streamed anywhere in your network. It performs perfect with multiple users watching the same movie on different devices at the same time. Additionally, if you set your home computers to automatically back up files to the NAS, your data will be safely stored in another location within your network in the event of a hardware or device failure – no more lost pictures! In this day and age, everything we do is generally stored on one device, I feel this unit would be very useful to just about anyone that has precious data they don’t want to lose.

As previously mentioned, the benefits to a small business would be great. Peace of mind with computer back-ups, multipurpose with file and printer sharing, generous file storage space, and the added benefit of being able to access files while away from the office. The only thing that may slow you down with transfers is the limitation/speed of your local network, but, this can be balanced with the download management feature. Client licenses can be backed up, and, if you need more than the 5 licenses the unit comes with, you can buy additional licenses to suit your needs.

This NAS comes with many useful features which will enhance your user experience. Work groups can be set up so that computers on the network, which share resources, will all have access. The drive diagnostics feature allows you check your drives health status and conduct a SMART short test on each drive. Firmware updates can be set to automatically install when a new version is released. This is a nice feature and is on by default and ensures that your NAS is always up to date. This will save you time and is very important to correct any bugs or for performance enhancements. It does have manual updates, which could be used in locations with no internet access. Real-time monitoring of CPU temperature, board temperature, and fan speed can be viewed through the admin control panel.

The actual size of unit is 8 inches tall, 4 inches wide by 9 inches deep, allowing placement to be just about anywhere. The fan that is inside for cooling the unit is quiet, and will automatically adjust its speed with the change in temperature for maximum cooling efficiency.

Pros: It was easy to setup.
It can be placed out of site since it uses ethernet connection.
You can use seagate's USM Universal Storage Module for fast transfer of data.
Uses 2 drives a pair of seagate 2tb drives come preset as a raid1.
This also allows redundancy for important files.
It allows for a Time machine to be setup for macs.
It has a cd/dvd for its software. This is also listed as a con.
As it all depends on if your setup has a dvd/rom to load software.
I do like Seagate 2tb hdds in general.
these are model ST200DM001-1Ch164. They let you read smart data from them using the seagate server software they both passed and have very little time used on them under 20 hours which means they are pretty new most likely just tested at the factory.

Cons: It drops connection with large files.
You need a dvd/rom to load its software.This is also listed as a pro which it is if you have a dvd/rom to load the software.
Fan is loud.

Dropped connection more then once in under a week.
I put this twice as I suspect it may be due to my complex setup of 8 pc's 3 mac's 2 nas a tv and a blu ray player which is a total of 15 pieces of ethernet gear.

the drive sleds are plastic should be metal.

Other Thoughts: This is an eggxpert review.
I am going to do a fast review a less then 1 week owner of the gear and in a month I will follow up with a deeper review.
Two reasons for the double review;
one) many users want a plug n play quick solution for a problem hence the short term review.
two) many users have complex needs and this system has a tremendous amount of options.

My goals in this review were;
1) setup a time machine to my main mac mini

2) link two other mac minis to a make 3 machine network.
I was able to create a time machine.
I was able to make 3 users in one group that share the seagate. I

The unit now has a 320gb size time machine of my 2012 base mac mini I 5 cpu with 16gb ram. Took a while to get it going and the first time machine creation was slow. 25 Hours. To me that is not acceptable but I will do it a different way in my next review.

I will use the portable seagate USM to build the first TM then transfer it via the USM module. I think this would be under 3 hours much more acceptable. I have a portable seagate USM on order.

Since my mac minis get a lot of use as eyetv tuners/ DVRS moving tv recordings and allowing all the minis to access a recorded show would be an important use for this machine. I have found bugs in this and some dropped connections. MY main machine with the software download can move an eyetv recording to the seagate very quickly. Once the recording is on the seagate any mini can play it and there are no issues reading it. The big problem I have is 2 of the three minis don't copy to the seagate quickly. Eye tv has large files for a 1 hour recording 6gb 3 hours 18gb. So i need to understand why one machine copies quickly and 2 don't.

Basically this machine will need time spent to really understand how to get the best use of it. It is not a true plug n play if you want to link
and synch a few pieces of gear you will need time to do so.


I use dlink router and 3 dlink switches , but I have a very complex setup 3 switches with a possible 21 pc's, printers , macs , nas hooked up to it. Plus the router can use 4 pieces of wired gear in my case 1 is a different nas a one bay synolgoy. Then the router has the 3x 8 port switches. each switch has from 4 to 7 pieces of gear attached.

I have 8 pc's 3 macs , 2 nas, a smart tv plus a blu ray player. A total of 15 pieces of gear. All one one network.
I suspect I have a conflict that is causing dropped connections with the seagate.

I have another unit from a well known nas maker it is a 1 drive unit and has been pretty much bullet proof. I don't want to be hasty and say get the other unit from the other company. I need to attach this nas the same way the synology is attached to troubleshot if it is the nas or the order things are setup.

I need to do more with this to say what I would prefer to own. I will say this is it turns out to be my method of hookup then this pices of gear will get

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Philipma1957,

This reply is from Seagate Support. We noticed your review and wanted to comment on your experience with your Seagate Business Storage network drive.

Please update to our latest firmware on this 2-Bay Business Storage as this may help with transfer rate performance and any timeout or connection behaviors experienced. Here is a link to instructions on how to update the firmware:

http://ow.ly/jgqQt

If you have additional questions or concerns, please feel free to contact our support staff by phone and we will be happy to help further. If from the US or Canada our contact number for 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: -Easy discovery and setup with included software

-Raid 1,0 and JBOD/SPAN options for volume

-Remote web-based access through Seagate website from other PC or
mobile device

-Sleek and small design with adequate cooling for drives

-Media server for iTunes streaming or other DLNA devices

-Included DVD has 5 licenses included for backup software for PCs

Cons: -Web interface is slow and has issues or times out completely during critical processes (see below)
-Raid 1 array rebuild time of roughly ~7-8 hrs @ ~80MB/sec is somewhat long
-User setup and sharing policies can sometimes be difficult with the interface

Other Thoughts: This NAS is good for a small business or home user who does not require great throughput such as for video editing or backing up of other large media files quickly as the unit only achieves ~35-38MB/sec during normal operation, while any concurrent operation or transfer will divide the bandwidth accordingly.
Since the unit only has an 800mhz processor its performance is adequate in my opinion for what its intended use case is.

However some issues arise with web based admin program, it is slow and sometimes becomes unresponsive and times out.
Also the biggest problem I experienced was the firmware my unit shipped with (2013.60152) shows an update that is supposed to address some speed issues but it is unable to update automatically or manually and times out or gives a 413 error.
I will contact tech support during the week and update the review accordingly.

Manufacturer Response:

Dear Robob,

This reply is from Seagate Support. We noticed your review and wanted to comment on your experience with your Seagate Business Storage network drive.

Please try the instructions listed on the following link below to manually update the firmware (this firmware update should help with the speed and timeout behaviors mentioned):

http://ow.ly/jgn9P

If this does not work, or you have additional questions or concerns, please contact our support staff by phone and we will be happy to help further. If from the US or Canada our contact number for 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