LaCie 301269U Ethernet Disk Mini Home Edition 500 GB Network Attached Storage Hard Drive

List Price: $152.99 Discount Price: $89.99

Features:

• 500 GB network storage device lets you share data on your home network and via the Internet
• Compatible with uPnP AV, Windows Connect, and DLNA-certified devices
• Built-in internal iTunes server lets you stream music to any networked PC
• Backed by a 3-year warranty
• Measures 1.7 x 6.3 x 6.8 inches (WxHxD)

Accessories:

LaCie 301257U 1 TB 2big Network Attached Storage Hard Drive with 2-disk RAID

Customer Reviews:

Solid product. Requires some technical knowledge. [Posted on 2008-09-22]
Just received my NAS. Plugged it in, turned on the unit, and ran through the software. No success through the discovery utility. Powered everything off, replaced the network cable, and viola! I am on the LAN and running. Did the update to 1.6.2. Very simple.

I went to the axentra website and the lacie site since this is an evolving product and I wanted the latest documentation/help. No real surprises. It is managed through a web GUI which makes it pretty easy to setup, but I would suggest a wizard to walk the average home user through sharing scenarios. I would think something like an activity based walk through like you can do with logitech/harmony remotes. I was up and running with my folders shared and my users configured in about 90 minutes. Took a while to copy over the data. I prefer to map a drive from my pc's directly to the NAS. Seems to me that is less overhead. I don't have any interest in media connect functionality. My device is mostly a way to share pictures over the Internet & backup data locally to a separate host device. For that it works well. The web GUI is a little sluggish, but what do you expect from a java app running on a $99 server? If I needed the latest and greatest, I'd spring $500 for a windows home server.

Used desktop mirror for my 'My Documents' folder. Works fine. Synchronizes regularly and so far no failures.

PROS:
*Like the slideshow function for my pictures. It pops up a window that users can utilize to browse all the pictures in a folder.
*Low power and quiet in comparison to a windows home server.
*Web GUI does the basics well, but you have to know what you're doing when sending invites/setting up distribution groups, etc.
*$99 for 500 GB NAS???? Wow.

CONS:
*A little slow when viewing directories with a lot of files thru the web GUI. (Still, it's a $99 box)
*Should have a wizard walkthrough as it can get complicated for the average user.
*Wish the USB port would act as a print server.

Adequate, Great for the Price [Posted on 2008-10-01]
Fairly straighforward installation. I copied my 60 Gigs of "My Document" files to my "personal library" in fairly short order; however, when I tried to copy those files over to a new computer I was setting up, it took an amazing long time (coming up on 48 hours). There is a sluggishness, too, in accessing individual files while on the network. But it does provide a way of sharing files in our small office network without setting up a PC to serve as the file server and having to leave it on all the time. A good trade-off. And I'm still amazed to get this capacity and functionality for the price!

So Far So Good [Posted on 2008-10-03]
I have two computers in the house on a wireless network. One computer is using XP and the other is using Vista. After reading some of the reviews I was a little worried about the ease of setup. I purchased the drive anyway since I have had some experience with Lacie and know their product is well made. To my surprise setup was simple and I was up and running in about 20 to 30 minutes! I am not sure why other people were having problems. Once I got the drive operational on my Vista machine, the XP machine recognized the drive without any additional installation. The only minor drawback is transferring large amounts of data at one time can be a bit slow. However I was transferring about 100 gigs from my computer over to the Lacie drive, which I don't plan on doing often.

Overall good product [Posted on 2008-10-06]
This is a good product I thought it was something else but it is going to work for what I am looking for. It is really easy to access it from any internet connection. I would recomend it.

Garbage product and Worse Customer Service [Posted on 2008-10-10]
Purchased LaCie product to store my iTunes. Within one week the drive crashed. I called customer support and they refused to help me and honor the warranty. I eventually (year and a half later) reset the entire drive after finding no other option to save or retrieve my files, losing 10,000 songs. I began reloading the library and the system crashed again. LaCie refused to help saying the warranty had expired, but had I purchased one now, they had an extended warranty. Do not mess with LaCie equipment.

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