Alive Yet Again..........

http://shop4.outpost.com/product/5351488

Supports up to four hot-swappable SATA 3Gb/s drives (not included)
Data sharing over Gigabit Ethernet
Enterprise-proven RAID technology with RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 support
One Touch Backup of designated folders on client PC
SmartSYNC backup for automatic client backup
Snapshot for instant backup and restoration
NAS to NAS replication for remote backup
USB HDDs, Printer and UPS Support
Supports Microsoft ADS; User, Group, and Quota management**
FTP/SMB/CIFS/AFP/NFS Network Protocols Support; Shared Storage for Windows, Unix, Linux, MAC clients
Quick and easy-to-use Setup Wizard
Powerful web-based GUI for remote management
E-mail notification for activity/backup status and system errors
Advanced chassis design for minimum power consumption and ultra-quiet operation

I wish someone would come out with a cheaper one of these. It shouldn't cost $300 dollars to throw together a one of these, considering you can get a much more powerful real computer for less than $300. I'm not crapping on this deal, which is good, but I can't justify paying these prices for something that should be cheaper than a single SATA disk.

inphoenix said:nosatalian said:I wish someone would come out with a cheaper one of these. It shouldn't cost $300 dollars to throw together a one of these, considering you can get a much more powerful real computer for less than $300. I'm not crapping on this deal, which is good, but I can't justify paying these prices for something that should be cheaper than a single SATA disk.

I hear ya. I want to pay no more than $80-100 for something like this and I need only two bays. But this is really nice NAS which works well. It's not something everyone needs but those who need it, this is a good price.

FWIW these things basically ARE computers. A NAS enclosure is hugely different from a simple SATA to USB enclosure that just translates protocols. It's not just hardware, but a customized guest Operating system with all the network protocols, security, RAID, and other features you'd expect. $300 for a 4-bay device is a good price when you figure everything together.

Heck, i've seen deals where someone suggests putting the money from a 12 month no-interest deal in a CD and count that towards lowering the price. Given that, the amount of money you'd safe in electricity with this vs. a cheapy fleabay/CL computer easily will pay for the difference in a year or so.

My question is: What's the performance like with this NAS? read/write speed is one of the most important features I look for.

I bought one yesterday but I think I will return it tomorrow, this thing is noisy . I put it 30 feet away from my sit. I still can hear the fan. I do some research of this item on this 2 days. I'm not the only one complain about it

If you can wait, just wait 2 more month. The new model will release at aug the one will com with fan speed control

Baaaaaad reviews on the Egg. Note that the first review is from a Promise engineer who is trying to counter the bad reviews. He says:

I would like to take a moment to clarify comments regarding the NS4300N but first I would like to thank everyone who has purchased the product (regardless of how you currently feel), we appreciate your business, seriously!

5. SmartNAVI - SmartNAVI (now available) is a new state of the art Management GUI for Windows and MAC. With SmartNAVI you can Access Directories "Directly", Manage Users, Manage Volumes, features BitTorrent Downloader, Plug-In Management (DLNA, iTunes, BT) and more without the need to access Web Management.

Overall I've been very happy with this product. However, the no harddrive spin down drove me crazy! If it wasnt for this thread, I wouldn't have known that there was a firmware update! Thanks!

TellyTubby said:Baaaaaad reviews on the Egg. Note that the first review is from a Promise engineer who is trying to counter the bad reviews. He says:

I would like to take a moment to clarify comments regarding the NS4300N but first I would like to thank everyone who has purchased the product (regardless of how you currently feel), we appreciate your business, seriously!

1. Our Design Philosophy - We opted to design the NS4300N with light weight ""Sturdy Plastics"" for several reasons. One reason is to control vibration, metal chassis requires design to keep vibration under control. Vibration will harm drives in a very short period of time resulting in ECC Errors, Bad Sectors and Tears. Our Drive Carrier trays are a prime example. The plastic trays are design to ""fit"" extremely tight in the chassis minimizing vibration. Also, drive carrier trays serve one purpose and during the life of the product will not be removed and inserted on a daily basis therefore the design serves its purpose will keep the cost of the product for the customer low.

2. AD - AD is very tough to manage and maintain, some issues do exist. Fixes are coming!

3. Fan Noise - We are VERY aware of this issue and apologize for the inconvenience and annoyance. We are working to release a new version of the NS4300N in the next two months. This version will feature "Fan Control" and "greatly" reduces the "noise" (fan RPM is now at 1200 idle instead of 2900 RPM). Those who are truly bothered by the noise can contact tech support and ask for "escalations" (I am the only one to handle Escalations). I will handle exchanging your Unit in the future when units become available (seriously).

4. Hard Drive Spin Down - This feature was implemented in the last service release, SR4. Please download SR4 and proceed to Power Options in Web Management.

5. SmartNAVI - SmartNAVI (now available) is a new state of the art Management GUI for Windows and MAC. With SmartNAVI you can Access Directories "Directly", Manage Users, Manage Volumes, features BitTorrent Downloader, Plug-In Management (DLNA, iTunes, BT) and more without the need to access Web Management.

Kingofthenet said:If you are looking for a nice 2 Bay Sata for roughly half the price take a look at the Dlink Dns323

DNS323 is a nice system. Lot of people bought it from microcenter for $119 a little while ago. Now it's back in $150-$180 range.

You can always throw the harddrives in an old system and use FREENAS to make your own NAS at home. I have posted another deal for 500GB hard drives for $69.99 each. http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/847749/

SmallNetBuilder have reviewed this, and they weren't overly impressed.

It's also slower than the D-Link DNS-323:

NAS Chart

-Mark.