Place of Stuff

The death of the main household PC made me realise how very very fragile our setup here is. That PC held party photos, holiday photos and all sorts of other necessary information. And it was rarely, if ever, backed up.

So I got reactively proactive and bought a means to slave the old IDE disk as a USB disk (that’s a job for tomorrow!) and also bought a Freecom 500GB Network Drive (Freecom 29013 500GB NAS Drive Hi-Speed USB/Ethernet 10/100). This drive plugs straight into the router and acts as a file server, and FTP server and, if you need, a DHCP server. Plenty big enough for most people I think.

There are, of course, downsides. The web interface is pretty limited, the drive is FAT32 to allow as many different OSes as possible to connect - which limits your security options - and diagnostic tools don’t seem to exist, beyond scan disk and format. And if you don’t disable your anti-virus program and your firewall (on Windows, at least), you can’t map the drives.

But, on the plus side, Samba connects to it easily and the drive has a Linux distro inside! The whole thing cost me less than £100, from the online store Ebuyer. Ebuyer have a next working day delivery, which is at the mercy of their couriers, unfortunately.

It’s incredibly easy to set up, and takes up a similar amount of space as a paperback novel. It has a brushed metal finish and is very low-key in looks. And it doesn’t take nearly as much space as full blown server would.

Freecom’s product page

External 3,5″ Network hard drive with LAN & USB 2.0
Capacity: 500 GB

Features :
Hard Drive Type: 3.5″ SATA, low noise, low power consumption
Interface: LAN 10/100Mbps, USB 2.0
Fast centralized network storage
Can also be used as fast, portable USB 2.0 hard drive
Easy configuration in your network via built-in configuration assistant
Including LED capacity indicator
Uses TCP/IP protocol
Data securely accessible from within and outside your network (via the internet)
High quality, award-winning sleek aluminium enclosure
Two years manufacturers warranty

Stylish and cost-effective network storage solution
Computer networks these days are not limited to big offices with a lot of employees. More and more people at home or in small offices have a computer network. With the recent programmes, applications and data files becoming larger and larger, the need for additional storage space is more present than ever before!

Freecom offers you the perfect storage upgrade for your network, the new Network Drive. Simply connect the Network Drive to your router or switch, run the easy to use configuration wizard, and have instant access to the drive from any PC within your network. It can even be configured to be accessed via the internet, so your data is available for you from anywhere in the world, without your PC needed to be switched on! The included configuration assistant will guide you to set up the drive and security options the way you want it. For increased flexibility, you can also use the Network Drive as a standalone USB 2.0 hard drive, you can connect and access it to any PC.

Again Freecom has created a storage solution from a consumer’s perspective, where convenience, design and quality are key factors. Free your mind !

It goes without saying that the images and quoted words are all copyright Freecom Technologies.