Buffalo LinkStation HS-D300GL Review

Over the years we grew accustomed to seeing external USB or Firewire drives. Many users like them because it’s an easy way to extend the storage space without having to open the PC. Unlike its USB or Firewire competitors, the Buffalo LinkStation Multimedia Home Server Edition is a Network Attached Storage (or NAS): it is connected to the local network, and acts as a stand-alone file server. It can be accessed only via Ethernet and although it is not as fast as USB/Firewire drives, the network connectivity is a great differentiator.

Home Network
Thanks to Wi-Fi, a lot of people are now setting-up home networks. Adding the LinkStation to an existing network is easy if you know what you’re doing: we got it up and running in less than five minutes. If you don’t thing might be confusing, but as long as you don’t try to go past a firewall or a router, that’s probably ok.

Most people have a 10/100Mbps home network. These are theoretical speeds. In practice, they are much slower than this and if you need faster performance connect the LinkStation to your computer(s) via wired gigabit-Ethernet. The (real-life) speed becomes quite comfortable and can reach approximately 104Mb/sec, which is still not the effective 192Mb/sec that could be measured from a USB2 transfer.

Remote Access
It is possible to access the using the Windows network explorer (type \\linkstation in the address bar). I personally prefer to remap it as a network drive because if Windows saves the \\linkstation path in your favorites’ network places this could slowdown Windows each time you browse a directory (for some insane reason, Windows scans the network places…).

The LinkStation can also be accessed via FTP (whether from inside or outside your network), which makes it a very interesting solution to share files over the internet. It is effectively an FTP server. The administrator can create users, groups and restrict access privileges. I don’t think that it is possible to change the FTP port (21 by default), but if I want to use several LinkStation devices as FTP servers, this could be an issue.

Multimedia
The Buffalo LinkStation HS-D300GL can stream files to DLNA-compatible devices like the Buffalo LinkTheater Network Media player or any other DLNA device. It just makes sense to store all the media files in a single place that is accessible throughout the house but also via the internet.

Possible Improvements 
Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices like the Buffalo LinkStation HS-D300GL are going mainstream. I hear more and more people thinking about buying something like this. I would like to be able to access the LinkStation via USB and Ethernet simultaneously. That would allow me to copy files very quickly via USB. Even though

the theoretical data rate of gigabit Ethernet is high, real life measurement shows that it’s slower than a direct USB or Firewire connection.

Also, the user interface needs some work. I bet that it has been designed by engineers…

Conclusion
The Buffalo LinkStation is a self-contained and extensible NAS system that works well and is probably one of the smallest file server that one could have right now. If you don’t know anything about the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), you will need some patience with the setup, especially if you are trying to use the FTP feature with a router. Professionals and small businesses might find the LinkStation very convenient to setup an FTP server or simply share files. I also recommend it to power-users who want to build a (multimedia) file server. If you know nothing about TCP/IP and how network devices communicate, you should think twice before using an NAS. To somewhat mimic the LinkStation, one could buy a cheap computer and slap a big hard drive in it. Right now I don’t think that is cheaper…

     Comment   Join on Facebook