Seagate STAW3000100 3TB BlackArmor NAS 110 Network Storage

Pros: I got this as a gift. The NAS works very well. The software are not to bad either. There is a lot of options and settings to mess with.

Cons: I get a avg transfer rate of 25MB/s over ftp which is not bad at all. I put it in the cons because I also own a Seagate GoFlex Home 3TB drive and I get an avg transfer rate of 60 MB/s over ftp.

Pros: Convenient web-interface Plenty of Storage 2 x USB ports

Cons: None

Overall Review: This unit has performed exactly as expected. I didn't use the install CD - instead I found the drive's IP address using my router's web interface and then used that to connect to the drive's web-interface with my browser. I'm getting a transfer rate of 8.5-10MB per second. I was even able to connect my Brother HL-2140 printer and it detected it right away! Very convenient!

Pros: The availability of Inet access and amount of storage is great. USB 2.0 ports nice but need more data about using them in the literature.

Cons: The slow access speed using a 10/100/1000 is not tolerable! Seagate tech service is getting lousy after being a 20 year Seagate fan, sends bad web links on email. Makes a person go chasing their tail for extended period before getting even an incorrect answer. Get too many incorrect answers to simple questions. Hope that they improve on this right away, expect frustrations if you have to contact them today. A nice fan and USB 3.0 would be most welcome upgrades!! Hope that this helps others as it seems consistent with what others have found, I did not know that it would be so slow in comparison to USB 3.0.

Overall Review: My GoFlex with USB 3.0 gets 9-10 times the throughput as this NAS 110 unit using a 10/100/1000 router. The only downer with GoFlex is no web access, would love this if it had local switchable USB 3.0 access. Must return this unit as the web access is not worth the slow speed. Will get a 3TB GoFlex for less and hot wire my main system to allow remote access to get my data when away from home.

Pros: Easy to setup and use. The web interface is simple and is really all I need to use the device. I have a gigabit network and read and write speeds are fast. I am mainly using my NAS to store my data. I am a fan of seagate drives and have had them last longer than any other brands that I have purchased. I liked this device enough to buy a second one.

Cons: I have read many reviews on this device before purchasing one, and have read a good number of reviews about drive failures. The one down side to this product is that it gets extremely hot and there is no fan to help cool it down. I only turn the drive on just to transfer files and then I turn it off and even then I can feel the heat from the top vents last a while. Being a NAS Drive it should be able to remain on at all times with no problems, but I am sure the heat is why people are having problems and why I do not trust to leave it on.

Overall Review: The unit has well vented areas all around it but there is no fan to really dissipate the heat. I am sure that the issues I have read about drives failing on this NAS model must be the constant heat over long periods of time. I had purchased a ThermalTake 120mm USB fan and looking at the devices front, mounted the fan on the right side of the case after cutting a hole the diameter of the fan into the case, and powered the fan with the USB connector cable plugged into the Back of the NAS. I flipped the speed control knob around from its original position to have the fan draw air into the device and have it mounted at the bottom front corner. I have had the NAS running for hours now and have only noticed cool air venting. The only downside now is that I have voided the warranty but I don't really care. It was kind of fun modifying the unit to run cool.

Pros: On paper - looks great Low cost When connected directly to computer ethernet port, read speeds approach 4-6MB/s. Web based interface is nice Tech support was easy to use

Cons: Unfortunately, didn't work well on my network. When connected to my D-Link 825 Router, I achieved read speeds of 150-600K/sec initially; after much tweaking, I got this up to 1MB/s on a wireless G laptop, and 2MB/s on a wired desktop. Write speeds were around 1.5-8MB/s (yes, I somehow got faster write speeds than read speeds!). Tech support had a few suggestions, but after seeing a top read speed of 6MB/s with direct CAT6 connection to my laptop (and nowhere near that over the network), I gave up.

Overall Review: Although not really mentioned in the documentation, the MTU (frame size) should be left at 1500 - it actually slowed down with higher numbers (goes up to 9000). Tech support basically said if I got a slower speed on my network (vs direct connection) then there must be a problem with my network. But I have an old 2007 Lacie home mini NAS that routinely gets 4MB/s read and writes on my wireless laptop; I also have a Buffalo NAS which is a little slower at 2-3 MB/s on wireless. But the Seagate Black armor was much slower always, and at times intolerable (150K/s!).

Pros: Great appearance; solid design; powerful Web-based management; easy to set up and configure; plenty of options; reliable so far; tons of storage on the LAN for a reasonable price.

Cons: Performance isn't great but I'm using it on a 10/100 switch for the time being so can't complain. For a unit with two USB ports, it doesn't make much sense to not be able to plug an external HDD in and share it on the network (e.g., my Buffalo LinkStation supports this).

Overall Review: Many comments point out that this is not a terribly user-friendly product but I think it depends on what you're doing with it. Anyone who knows about jumbo frames, FTP, NFS, AD, or similar concepts should not find any issues with how configuring those options are handled with this product.

Pros: I've been running a 2TB version of this drive for about 2 years, has worked perfectly, no network issues, in fact it works every time unlike my Windows Home Server... I don't use the remote access because I have Home Server, so I can't comment there, but the setup and configuration is very easy. As soon as I plugged it in the BlackArmor showed up on my network.

Cons: None. It is very quiet, spins down when not in use, low power and it works.

Overall Review: I should have bought the 2-drive version.

Pros: Looks great, performed great, great backup SW package...............WAS great.............until it failed!

Cons: Well, I knew better than to trust a one hard drive to ALL my date, but this IS advertised as a NAS and capable to maintaining the data for many users. Its far-fetched to rely on this NON-RAID drive for your data. I put ALL my data on this and been looking around for another 2tb drive to copy the files to. This unit is NOT even a year old and it failed. It failed before I had realized I really needed another NAS of this same model or just get another hard drive. Seagate wants $600.00 to recover the data and I don't feel I should have to pay for that, since its advertised its a NAS! Oh sure, its covered under warranty and they don't want to pay for the data recovery service. I can see it to me at my cost if it was out of warranty. Since I like the backup SW, may get another of this same brand, but I am furious over this.

Overall Review: I've been a Seagate user since the late 80's and feel this is lousy business. Oh I know that I SHOULD NOT HAVE relied on a one drive system, but I felt that the hard drives have gotten better..............anyways