SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
- SIMPLETECH SIMPLESHARE NAS OFFICE 250GB *NIC*
If you have more than one computer and need to share files, access printers, or just need enhanced storage capability, SimpleShare is the simple solution. No network experience is required. You can start storing and sharing files with multiple users in your office or home immediately. SimpleTech's NASfinder wizard provides automatic network drive mapping and configuration for easy setup and quick plug-and-play installation.SimpleShare provides plenty of space to store everything from data files
Rating: 
(out of 32 reviews)
List Price: $ 499.99
Price:
AC POWER ADAPTER SimpleTech SimpleShare Storage HDD
 | US $14.99 End Date: Friday May-25-2012 0:15:21 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $14.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
 | US $14.99 End Date: Friday May-25-2012 0:24:39 PDT Buy It Now for only: US $14.99 Buy it now | Add to watch list |
Review by John Cierra for SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
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The instant gratification aspect of this server paid off: plug it in, tell your computer to look for it, and it works. Novices could use this device easily. Although it wasn’t necessary to use the setup web pages (it has a web site built in, the same as many network devices), I found they were clear, easy to use and fast.
Missing from the description is that this device also supports RAID and mirroring, though I didn’t try these for more than about 10 minutes. In addition to Windows (SMB) and OSX (netatalk), it also supports NFS, a way to access disks used often by unix computers.
I had an obscure question about the way the NFS sharing worked, something missing from the manual, and I used the e-mail tech support. The answer came within 24 hours: clearly competent, well-explained, friendly.
I tested at the same time an alternative to this device, the “Buffalo Technology Linkstation”, which is badly lacking in terms of ease of setup and configuration, but transfers data about 10% faster than the SimpleShare.
Review by D. Kennedy for SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
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In my quest for a stable NAS solution that included redundancy, either in a scheduled backup onto a second disk or RAID, I tried a number of SAN products with horrifying disappointment. The D-Link DSW-G600 I thought had promise but was terrible. The Buffalo Tech Link Station was really slow. It almost went the route of building my own linux box to do the task, but decided to give The SimpleTech a try. To my delight, this thing is Fast! Sure it only has a 100MB/sec pipe but the lag I see is in the network, not the device. What turns this into a stellar product is the fact that with a 4 port usb2 powered hub, I was able to attach 4 additional drives to the SimpleShare. Not only was I able to attach the drives, this thing will actually do full on RAID 0 (Striping) and RAID 1 (Mirror), with Spare drive capabilities as well!! So after attaching 3 250GB Drives and a 120GB Drive to the Simpleshare, I created a mirror with the internal drive giving me a 250GB Redundant share for my wifes pictures, bbackups and etc. and I also created a concatenate share consisting of a 250GB drive and a 120GB drive which makes a 370GB share available for stuff like movies and garbage. Not to mention I have attached another 250GB “foreign” drive that has a regular fat32 partition on it. I have .75TB total shared storage on my Home network! Setup was also a breeze, and it has a logging facility what can email you if there’s a drive problem. This is valuable if you want redundancy and want to know when a drive fails so you can take care of it before it becomes a majro problem. The admin utilities needs a little work, but functionally, the Simpleshare capabilities are well worth the price!
Review by B. Adams for SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
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After struggling to put in a wireless LAN, I was quite nervous about adding a networked storage device. I was extremely pleased that I was storing photos onto my Simplshare storage device within 5 minutes of opening the box. It really is plug and play.
I own a Dell PC and an Apple iMac and both are connected to the storage device allowing me to save and swap files in a snap.
Given the time and money I have invested in my photos and MP3 files, I sleep well at night knowing I have additional back up and the investment is quite worth it. Given my past experiences installing a wireless LAN, it is even more satisfying that it was easy to install.
Review by John Land for SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
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This NAS devices is easy to set up and seems to work well at first — but it has several problems that may make you want to wait for the next firmware version.
The current version of SimpleShare changes the “last modified date” of backed up files to the current date and time whenever you copy a file off of the unit. In essence, the unit erroneously uses the “last accessed date” for the “last modified date”, so if you are trying to restore files to another system, you will NOT get the same timestamps as the originals. For many purposes, this doesn’t matter, but I use timestamps to help me distinguish old versions of documents from new versions.
SimpleTech’s Support told me today that a firmware fix was coming for this problem, but with no known release date.
Another problem may not be completely a SimpleShare problem. My favorite synchronization program, BEYOND COMPARE (from http://www.scootersoftware.com), does not work properly with SimpleShare. Documents copied to SimpleShare are either given the current date and time, or are simply not copied correctly at all (they are copied to temporary files that should then be renamed to match the original file name, but they are not so renamed). Deleting from SimpleShare using BEYOND COMPARE doesn’t work at the directory level — you must select the files you want to delete, rather than selected the directory containing those files. I’ve discussed this problem with Scooter Software, and they say that BEYOND COMPARE works fine with Redhat Linux’s version of SAMBA (which is likely being used as the OS and file system in the SimpleShare device).
Another backup-synchronization product, SYNCBACKSE (from http://www.2brightsparks.com) DOES copy properly to SimpleShare, and has an option to properly set the time stamp of files copied to SimpleShare, but has a more awkward interface compared to BEYOND COMPARE.
It’s possible that the time stamp firmware fixed mentioned by SimpleTech will solve this set of problems as well.
John Land
Review by Irving Forbush for SimpleTech 250GB SIMPLESHARE OFFICE SERVER ( STI-NAS/250 )
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The SimpleShare 250 Gbyte NAS is one of the more economical units on the market, especially considering its feature set (which includes a built-in print server, RAID capabilities and compatibility with Windoze, Mac and Linux systems right out of the box). Although software is included to help you “discover” the drive on your network, it isn’t needed, and I never installed it. The SimpleShare includes a web interface for administration and a wizard to perform the basic setup if needed. If you already have a network (likely, since you’re considering a network storage device! (:)), just plug in the SimpleShare and it will obtain an IP address from your dhcp server (typically, your router) and appear on your network. It runs quietly, if a bit warm to the touch, but according to SimpleTech, the case provides the cooling for the internal drive, and the warmth is both expected and desirable.
I am using firmware version 1.07 and the unit works as advertised. I currently have mine set up with an external 250 Gbyte drive in a RAID 1 (mirroring) configuration. All data on the drive are visible to my Windoze and Linux machines on the network. Transfer rates seem acceptable, although I have not taken direct measurements. I have not used the print server.
It’s an open secret that this box runs Linux and that the firmware is customizable. You can add telnet, ftp and media server capabilities (for example) with only a little effort and some familiarity with Linux/Unix. There’s a wealth of information online for anyone who wants to add capabilities.
There are a few negatives, however. The latest “official” firmware is version 1.09, but this is only available by request to SimpleTech. Their website advertises version 1.07 as the latest, even though their techs may recommend an “upgrade” (see below) and provide a URL to acquire the 1.09 version in a private email. Unfortunately, the 1.09 firmware removes features from the 1.07 firmware, including the RAID 0 option (striping). According to the SimpleTech engineers, the 1.09 firmware is intended for users who will use the device primarily as a backup/external storage device, and so features and interface have been designed accordingly. According to reports in various internet forums, the 1.09 firmware release “fixes” problems by removing features. My own experiments with the 1.09 firmware convinced me to return to 1.07.
Other items to note: SimpleTech has recently been acquired; product includes a 3-year warranty; 500 Gbyte and above models include iShare software to allow your device to be visible on the internet (I suspect this could also be accomplished with some judicious port forwarding, without any additional software); non-proprietary data format (FAT32, NTFS); supports both SMB/NetBios/Samba and NFS simultaneously.
Bottom line: good performance, great features, and an excellent value for the money.