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Michael R.

Michael R.

Joined on 03/21/09

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Product Reviews
product reviews
  • 9
Most Favorable Review

Very Good Buy

Drobo FS DRDS2A21 10/100/1000 Ethernet Port Network External Hard Drive
Drobo FS DRDS2A21 10/100/1000 Ethernet Port Network External Hard Drive

Pros: - Very Simple to use (Plug an Play). - Grow Storage when you are ready. You can mix and match hard drive size. I recommend using the drobo calculator on drobo's web site to plan out you hard drive sizes. - Simple redundancy, the unit can handle a failure of one or two disks depending on your options you set. - I left the MTU setting at default and the transfer speeds are crazy fast. I did set it to 9000 and I lost performance but I blame my router for that so I set it back.

Cons: - My unit was a little loud for my taste but I am picky I just tucked it away in a closet and plugged it into the network. - FYI, The lights on the front are bright and clear and the dim setting doesn't change it by much.

Overall Review: I use my Drobo FS with a WD TV Live unit and I love it. I store all my media on the Drobo and play it on my TV. Digital blu-ray files have never looked so good.

Most Critical Review

Hardware: HP ProBook 6560b

Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDCL120GB-DX
Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) MKNSSDCL120GB-DX

Pros: - Shipped Fast - Easy to install - Drive worked out of the box with my HP laptop and Win 7.

Cons: Drive failed after 60 days. Trying to RMA now but Mushkin support is slow to respond.

Overall Review: Installed into HP ProBook 6560b.

Synology DS413 Diskless System DiskStation
Synology DS413 Diskless System DiskStation

Pros: The firmware is feature rich and the unit is very reliable. Some of the features are better then some small office windows servers. I got this unit for the media features. I am able to stream my videos from the unit to xbox 360, XBMC, Windows Media Player, Apple TV, and my iOS devices with no issues.

Cons: I couldn't this the DSM console to access my router to auto configure my port forwarding rules, not a big deal. This unit is running a PowerPC CPU so Plex can't be installed on it until Plex releases a version for this type of CPU. Not a big loss as the Synology has a video that ships that just as good.

Overall Review: I love this unit I use it everyday as a secure file server and media server. My work blocks Netflix but they don't block my nas so I just use the web interface to work Movies and TV shows.

WD Red Plus 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 64MB Cache, 3.5 Inch - WD20EFRX
WD Red Plus 2TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6Gb/s, CMR, 64MB Cache, 3.5 Inch - WD20EFRX

Pros: They just work as needed, no issues after months of running in my nas unit.

Cons: These are not built for speed, don't expect high data transfer rates with these drives.

Overall Review: I have 4 of these running in a Synlogy DS413 unit. Data transfer rates hit around 40MB/s to 50MB/s. Running them for 8 months no issues.

Mushkin Enhanced Mulholland 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive MKNUFDMH32GB
Mushkin Enhanced Mulholland 32GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive MKNUFDMH32GB

Pros: Just works as needed.

Cons: None come to mind.

Overall Review: I have this as a mount point on a linux nas server. I have the OS running on the flash drive while storage is on the hard drives.

Linksys EA4500 App Enabled N900 Dual-Band Wireless Router with Gigabit and USB
Linksys EA4500 App Enabled N900 Dual-Band Wireless Router with Gigabit and USB

Pros: Works greats for me and I have it running in my apartment and lost of wireless noise coming for all around me.

Cons: Wish the firmware was more feature rich compared to other vendors. I had to get my geek on to turn it into an access point vs a wireless router.

Overall Review: I have this running as an access point connected to a meraki router.