Seagate BlackArmor NAS 440 4-Bay 4 TB Network Attached Storage ST340005SHA10G-RK
- Two Ethernet ports for local network connection, port failover and NAS to NAS replication
- Four USB 2.0 ports for external drives, printers and UPS and Four internal SATA II ports
- 7200 RPM, 4 TB, 32 Cache
- Designed for small business to provide optimum uptime and data integrity for up to 50 workstations.
- Supports Windows XP and Vista operating systems and Mac OS X 10.4.11 or later.
Product Description
The BlackArmor NAS 440 is a complete, small-business-specific network storage solution designed to provide optimum uptime and data integrity to ensure business continuity for up to 50 workstations. Continuously and automatically protect business-critical data with full-system backup, bare metal restore, and individual file to entire volume encryption. Preserve data integrity or enhance performance with RAID 0/1/5/10 and JBOD configuration options. Access files secur... More >>
duration of ownership: 3months
install: fairly simple straightforward and tech support is good since you are routed into BlackArmor tech. if you are not adept at IT you can still get this up and running in no time. and if you still complain like other reviewers then maybe you need to consider learning some pc basics.
reliability: so far so good.
speed: over wifi not too shabby. not blazing but certainly good enough for serving up music and video wifi. i set up a round-robin lan into airport extreme with solid results.
noise: purring along under heavy writing w/ typical clicks, otherwise quiet.
software: for mac a joke. but you dont really need it. for encryption on mac you have built-in options (e.g. file vault etc.).
conclusion: an overall excellent product. i trust seagate over WD and others and the 5 year drive warranty is best in industry.
4/5
Rating: 4 / 5
BlackArmor Backup software is not for Windows 2008 Server, so you can’t use bundled software to backup your files on your Windows 2008 Server. You can pay about 400 bucks to get the server version.
And on Windows 2008 Server, you can’t use built-in server backup feature to schedule “normal” backup to NAS, you can only use command line to do full backup.
Also, if you have it under your domain, you can’t use Seagate Global Access feature… it’s known software limitation.
In simple words, if you are buying it to backup your windows 2008 server, you will be very disappointed.
Rating: 2 / 5
I bought the 2 TB version about 8 months ago to backup 6 PCs and 2 Intel NAS units in my small business. It is a nice package that runs quiet. I soon added 2 HDDs to get 4 TB w/ RAID. I would have made it 6 TB, but that would have required reconfiguring the original HDDs. Also , the two 1-Gbit ethernet ports apparently cannot both be used in the same LAN subnet, so I use only one.
The BlackArmor Backup Software says Seagate v1.0 (always scary) but it is actually an Acronis product. Quite a few bugs. Credentials are an issue and the dialog where you must enter them is elusive. I used “Administrator” throughout rather than the default \ComputerNameAdministrator because how are you going to restore if ComputerName dies? There is a bug where if you edit a scheduled job and re-enter the password, it may concatenate the old and new passwords. Fortunately, if you reopen the dialog the black dots clue you that it has become twice as long and you can abort the edit. Otherwise, you could end up with a backup protected by “passwordpassword” and never figure out how to unlock it. Best to recreate the job rather than edit it. Today the backup software is still v1.0 with no bug fixes. The link for purchasing additional client licenses is as dead today as it was 8 months ago.
I thought I could backup my Intel NAS units directly via USB, but no. I need to have a PC run the job, reading the NAS unit and writing to the Black Armor unit while making my LAN busy.
I did eventually manage to define and schedule all my backup tasks and they have run reliably for 8 months. Today I had to completely restore a PC that got a virus and became unbootable. I had misplaced the BlackArmor CDROM. The relevant download page on Seagate website lacks a download link, still says v1.0, and states that you must email your download request along with hardware S/N. The support link is generic and you must log in. I got an email response 8 hrs later stating that “we do not currently offer email or chat support for our BlackArmor Network Storage Products” and offering an 800 number. By then, I had located my CDROM and accomplished a near painless restore from a full system backup plus several monthly incrementals.
Should this BlackArmor unit fail, can I read my Acronis backup files off the HDDs with another software product? I don’t really know.
I have copied files from the BlackArmor unit to Seagate FreeAgent Go via USB (for offsite backup) without involving PC or LAN. This browser-launched process does not use the Acronis software. I think that the BlackArmor unit is most suitable for use as working NAS with offsite backup to USB drive(s). Find a better software product to backup your PCs.
Rating: 3 / 5
The Blackarmor Backup NAS 440 is well designed as hardware but requires professional expertise to install due to the clumsy and complicated software that Seagate provides with this server. This device is not for the unsophisticated to install or manage; it requires someone very familiar with server installation and management. I installed it on three computers using Seagate’s backup software system and it took 5 hours; on a fourth computer, I used my own backup software which installed flawlessly in 15 minutes and works beautifully with the Blackarmor. The server is otherwise reliable and does its job well, but Seagate needs to significantly revise their software for individual computers to make this a “must have” device.
Rating: 3 / 5
There are multiple models of this product NAS 420 and NAS 440 — both are four-bay device. The NAS 420 comes with two drives installed; the NAS 440 comes with 4 drives ranging in sizes from 1 TB to 2 TB’s each. Default configuration Raid 5 on the 440 and raid 1 on 420 (w/ 2 drives). The NAS device has excellent throughput there are two gig-byte Ethernet ports that can be aggregated using round robin or fail over methods. The device is portable and relatively easy to configure. This device would best suit a Windows User who wishes to run backups of key data in a small business environment. Encryption is supported using Acronis True Image software (included with the product along with 10 client licenses). I did not buy the device to be used as a backup solution but rather to collect large amounts of sensitive information for an investigation. Because I bought the product and there were limited alternatives I had to make do with the device — I suggest that if you are trying to protect data for evidence collection I recommend using truecrypt or some other folder based encryption methodology. The product will work with Linux (but not the included client software). The detection tool (when run on Windows) does not detect the device when placed inline using a switch. I had to configure the device by plugging a laptop into port 1 and waiting for the device to boot-up. pull the ip address from the machine. When configured place inline with no other devices the detection tool will detect the device. Not I had to turn off all other Internet access to ensure that I would route to the device (e.g. Wireless, etc.) Compared to other products on the market I would recommend the netgear professional NAS which has the capacity to hold 6 drives and is not loaded with an encryption solution which for my purpose was next to useless. For encryption and data collection there remain only three options Iron Key, data locker (which I bought from amazon) they have this product available every once in a while, and the old model black armor hard-drive (not the new one which is basically a portable device like the NAS but much smaller).
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Rating: 2 / 5