Linksys NSLU2 (NSLU2-CA) Network Storage Server

Pros: Inexpensive, attractive, quiet, stable
Cons: No reasonable spin-down possibility, absolutely not "plug and play"

The NSLU2 is a device which can allow one computer to access data on a hard drive over a TCP/IP network. If you do not know what a NAS is, think of it this way - it is nothing more than a computer without a dedicated monitor, keyboard or mouse. That ...

Pros: automatic system backups, small, quiet, inexpensive, runs linux
Cons: not for the network novice, not the speediest, drives must be empty to start

*pssst* hey buddy... come here... soOOOooo... got all your files backed up? NO?!? Come on, you know better! One worm, one piece of spyware, one failed hard drive, and *poof*, gone. All those digital pictures you took of your vacation to the Grand Canyon ...

Pros: Compact, quiet, cheap, low energy consumption
Cons: Compatibility issues, performance, not for everyone

Intro This unit can be great for many uses, if used right. It certainly isn't for everyone. There are technical notes in the review. They are marked as such and may be skipped without loss of the general information. But I am getting ahead ...

Pros: Uses standard SMB protocol; quiet; easy to upgrade
Cons: Not easy to administer

I have six (6) computers in my home network and wanted to be able to backup data and share music throughout the house. I had a few criteria I was using to evaluate NAS: 1. No software install on clients 2. Inexpensive 3. No fans (runs cool and quiet) ...

Pros: It works, good security, creates backups, can be accessed from the internet or through network.
Cons: Tech Support, documentation, setup misses a lot of steps.

Found this product in PC World and bought one a week later. I had already copied the contents of my external hard drive to my PC drive a night earlier so it would be ready for formatting. This device requires that it format your external drive to it's ...

Pros: Clever concept and device. Inexpensive.
Cons: Finding support files is a chore. Firmware upgrade is necessary and laborious.

Today, I received a Linksys NSLU2 Network Storage Link that I bought used on eBay. It was accompanied by a Maxtor 160GB USB external drive. Setting this thing up was one obstacle after another, and the primary purpose of this review is to memorialize ...

Pros: Easy to use and set up for basic network drive use.
Cons: 255 character FTP command limit (file path limit), Port 21 only, proprietary drive format

I’ve been using Linksys products for quite some time now. When it comes to network equipment, I use nothing but. I bought the NSLU2 to use in conjunction with SyncBackSE, (a backup utility that copies files and folder structures from one location to ...

Pros: The NSLU2 does not cost much.
Cons: The NSLU2 has much less value than what it costs.

I purchased these and the recommended Maxtor disk drives to place data files on the network. After a couple of weeks, one Microsoft Outlook's file (OUTLOOK.PST) was declared corrupt by Outlook. The recommended inbox repair tool, SCANPST.EXE, would not ...

Pros: good price point, quiet operation, mostly reliable. Can be hacked.
Cons: Slow performance. Unfriendly setup. EXT3 file system. Can be hacked (can't everything?).

With great expectations, I installed this device, plugged in a Maxtor 250GB drive and was duly informed that the drive was not formatted, no surprise there. The surprise was that when formatted you are presented with an EXT3 files system. Nothing on ...

Pros: Nice concept
Cons: Existing operational drives will NOT work.

After spending over an hour over four phone calls with LinkSys technicians (They kept dropping the call during transfers). We came to the realization that my existing Maxtor hard drive with gigabytes of data on it would have to be backed up and reformatted prior to being recognized by the storage link. No recourse was provided other than a technical explanation as to why it was so. No where in any of the literature, or on the box does it so state. Additionally throughout the phone calls, the technicians appeared to be unknowledgeable about the product.

Pros: Great concept
Cons: Incredibly poor implementation

This is a great idea, nice small package and low price, that does not do what it says, has a poor interface, and horrible customer support. Beware when trying to use a Flash drive only with this device - two units would not format any of three different Flash drives. Customer support was agonizing - about 90 minutes total on the phone with technicians barely speaking English who sounded like they had never seen the device. I returned the device - not even close to ready for prime time.

Pros: If someone steals the hard drive, they cannot read it.
Cons: Slow, and if it stops working, reconfiguring ranges from difficult to impossible.

The idea for NAS is not new, so why does this NEW unit appear to be so flaky? It does not play well with all the PC's on my network, and running a file from it is risky, since it seems to drop out occasionally. Add to that the absolutley STELLER tech support that Linksys is famous for, and you have all the elements needed for a disaster.

After changing network gateways, I could no longer contact the drive, or the NSLU2, nor could I save the unit's configuration files after running the setup program again. I could not reconnect to or reformat the attached drive, so I wrote off all the backups, formatted it with windows and made it a shared device on one of my systems. Less secure maybe, but more reliable and recoverable.

Pros: Easy to configure. Linux OS means there are many open source hacking projects around
Cons: Even with the latest firmware, still has problems w/ NTFS

Don't expect superfast speeds. You have to go through the network, and then through USB2. You're not going to get fantastic speed. But for convenience, it's great.

Great to use as a drive to share various files such as bookmarks, installers for downloaded purchased apps, backup files, etc. etc.

According to what I read, firmware 2.3R63 would enable me to use NTFS on port 1. After updating the firmware to that, it didn't work. If I transferred small files, it worked fine. If I tried a large directory, got an "IO device error" every time. So I formatted the hard disk as EXT3, which is a Linux format. This means I can't disconnect the drive and connect directly to a PC later.

Additionally, I hear there's a problem w/ the internal clock's accuracy. They could fix this by allowing it to synch time up to one of the atomic clock servers available on the Internet (heck, even XP does this standard), but that's not available as a feature.

Since I really just use it for backup purposes I'm usually just COPYING files as opposed to WRITING new ones, so the time issue is not a big deal for me.

Pros: The box was easy to open.
Cons: Looses drives and data consistently.

I am truly amazed that this product is even on the market with Cisco's logo on it. What a piece of junk.
After installing and testing, the device "comes and goes" from the network. It is totally unreliable. Sometimes it has drives attached, sometimes it doesn't. I have had to reformat drives to get it to even recognize that the drives were there.
I would not advise putting any data on the attached drives that is at all valuable to you, tomorrow it may be gone.
Mine is in the dumpster, where it belongs.

Pros: Good idea for a much needed product
Cons: Poor implementation with low-cost software resulting in low quality product.

Only after upgrading to the latest firmware revision NSLU2 recognized my 300GB pre-formatted NTFS drive. Half the time large file transfer failed with a cryptic message about "specified network name no longer available". Some of the files I managed to transfer to the drive turned out corrupted. Another 2 hours on the phone with LinkSys resulted in a theory by "product support expert" that - regardless of what the datasheets say - I still need to re-format my drive with the unit's Linux EXT3 file system.

Instead, I took NSLU2 back to the store, and saved myself a whole bunch of trouble, and probably another 2-hour support call. You can keep it, LinkSys!