Best NAS boxes for less than $1,000

Eight desktop devices that deliver terabytes of shared storage and more

Buffalo Technology shattered the $1,000 barrier for a terabyte of shared storage back in 2005. With storage prices continuing to drop, that same $1,000 today can buy a 4T or even 5TB network-attached storage (NAS) device with RAID 5 disk redundancy, plus additional features, like backup storage licenses and indexing capabilities.

NASs for the masses

We tested eight units, each suitable for workgroups in large enterprises or as an entry-level server for small businesses. Our test group included Buffalo TeraStation III, Iomega StorCenter, Netgear ReadyNAS, Western Digital ShareSpace, Seagate BlackArmor, LaCie 5big Network 2, Verbatim PowerBay, and the QNAP TS-459 Pro+. We tried to get a unit from Cisco, but its NSS 300 Series Smart Storage units are undergoing a major refresh, and won't be available until 2011.

Buffalo Technology shattered the $1,000 barrier for a terabyte of shared storage back in 2005. With storage prices continuing to drop, that same $1,000 today can buy a 4T or even 5TB network-attached storage (NAS) device with RAID 5 disk redundancy, plus additional features, like backup storage licenses and indexing capabilities.

NASs for the masses

We tested eight units, each suitable for workgroups in large enterprises or as an entry-level server for small businesses. Our test group included Buffalo TeraStation III, Iomega StorCenter, Netgear ReadyNAS, Western Digital ShareSpace, Seagate BlackArmor, LaCie 5big Network 2, Verbatim PowerBay, and the QNAP TS-459 Pro+. We tried to get a unit from Cisco, but its NSS 300 Series Smart Storage units are undergoing a major refresh, and won't be available until 2011.

All of the units support Windows, Apple, and Linux clients, but most demand a Windows PC to execute the initial setup and configuration software, and all units integrate with Microsoft's Active Directory. Beyond basic storage, Buffalo and Iomega offer workgroup document indexing and searching, for free. QNAP leads the way in running multiple applications, many of which require the included MySQL. Hosting a database and applications on a NAS unit has not been possible before. LaCie is by far the most stylish device and it offers five, 1TB disk trays for 3.6TB of usable space. Seagate was the only device to offer software to support a bare metal restore for Windows clients. Netgear was the only product to offer a five-year warranty. Western Digital delivered the lowest price per terabyte. Verbatim offers the ability to use a second box as a real-time replication server.

Buffalo TeraStation III

The TeraStation III that we tested is a black metal box slightly larger than average for the units tested (but not bigger than most two-slice toasters), featuring two Gigabit Ethernet ports and three USB 2.0 ports. The information display screen, two lines of 16 characters each, rotates between showing the time and date, unit IP address for both Ethernet ports, link speed, and the number of disks active. There was 2.88TB of available space on the system after RAID 5 and included software overhead.

Watch a slideshow of these products | Net results

Initial startup and configuration was straightforward as we followed the Quick Start pamphlet and also the full manual on the included CD. The box, configured as a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client, picked up an open IP address immediately. Most companies like to assign a static IP address to their storage units, and that option appears during the initial setup. After a reboot, all the configuration changes were in place and the unit was fully visible on the network.

Besides the device locator and administration software on the CD, Buffalo includes 10 licenses of NovaBackup Business Essentials Backup software. Unlike most backup software included with equivalent devices, NovaBackup works with Microsoft Windows servers, Windows Exchange and MS-SQL databases. Your existing backup software will work with the TeraStation, of course, if you redirect the storage location on the clients to a folder on the NAS.

A single volume named Array1 contained all the storage space in the TeraStation. Two folders, Info and Share, were created by default. Share is open to everyone, while Info is read-only and includes a copy of the manual in both English and Japanese. Access to folders can be set at the folder level, or by restricting individual users or groups. You can set storage quotas on users. RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 10 are supported.

Creating users is a simple two-step process: name the user and assign a password, then type the password again for verification. No security best practices, such as a minimum password length, are enforced. A text field asks for User ID, which may confuse some, but the system will assign a number between 1,000 to 1,999 in order of user creation. If you want to assign your own numbers, you may do so. Users are automatically included in the default group "hdusers," which is handy, and a step many others forego, requiring an extra step to gain the advantages of grouping users for easier administration.

An unexpected but quite nice feature is TeraSearch, which indexes and searches files stored on the unit. You must enable searching for each folder individually (but sub-folders are included), and update indexes manually or set a time for regular indexing. The software is Web based and you find the application by putting the unit's IP address in the URL along with a port address. Once configured, the indexing software worked quickly and proved quite handy.

Other goodies include a DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) MediaServer, basic print server, BitTorrent server, Time Machine support for Apple client backup, FTP server, and virus scanning. You can encrypt the disk with 128-bit AES encryption, but only when reformatting the drive array.

E-mail notification support is better than average, with room for five addresses, and a check list of events that will trigger e-mails. When the system is shut down properly, an e-mail goes out, a nice touch if you manage remote units.