300GB USB NAS External Drive $199!!!

[msmith]

Just got an email from Bason that they are having a Special on the 300GB USB NAS drive for http://www.basoncomputer.com/HD300GBUSBNET35/item.aspx $199 and the 250GB for only http://www.basoncomputer.com/HD250GBUSBNET35/item.aspx $189

Anyone heard of these type of drives? Good Deal?

 

[tw1164]

Here's a link to the enclosure. I wasn't able to find a place where you could buy just the enclosure.

Text

 

[jono8]

anyone have experience with basoncomputer.com? seems kind of odd that their pictures are all ebay-like.

btw, you can buy the enclosure from basoncomputer for $89. Text

 

[VooDooAddict]

Looks like a great deal. Tempted to get one just for backing up the office's Windows Storage Server NAS.

 

[VooDooAddict]

They have a few reviews on pricewatch.com ... Seems mixed. Not a Newegg or Mwave or ZipZoomfly but at least they have been around more then a month or two. Earliest reviews are from Jan 2004.

Why couldn't they have been an obvious fly-by-night operation? ... then I wouldn't be agonizing over buying this NAS.

 

[tsar chasm]

Well, I just bought the enclosure as I have hard drives laying around. Looks like fun.

 

[jono8]

Originally posted by: VooDooAddict
They have a few reviews on pricewatch.com ... Seems mixed. Not a Newegg or Mwave or ZipZoomfly but at least they have been around more then a month or two. Earliest reviews are from Jan 2004.

Why couldn't they have been an obvious fly-by-night operation? ... then I wouldn't be agonizing over buying this NAS.

I'll ditto that. Anyone know how simple/hard it is to use one of these? is it just plug into router and go? or do you actually have to know NAS as it says on the website?

 

[mikeford]

I kind of get the feeling everybody is using the same "board" and different enclosure vendors use their own cases and packaging. Argosy and Tritton are two others I have seen with prices between $70 and $100. Slow seems the main concern, but my own view is not ready for prime time.

I want more than one drive in the box, ideally some 5 drive raid with lots of ram so the drive doesn't have to spin up all the time. Nothing like that now thats cheap and low power, just cheap or low power.

Short term I would just put some drives in a cheap PC box running some linux variant.

Long term low power motherboards will drop in price, and the external box with a rj45 will improve (I don't really care for the direction some are taking with USB only expansion).

 

[gregtor]

this must use fat32 which has a max filesize limit of 4gb so no large images can be stored.

 

[tsar chasm]

Well, call me underwhelmed. The enclosure is solid, drive went right in. Powered it up and the drive started spinning up. No lights, no indication that anything was happening, my router showed no link. I futzed with the connections, jiggled this, jiggled that and got a link light. Still no lights on the enclosure. So, I checked my dhcp table on the router and noted the IP address, opened the browser and the config page popped right up, the config was very straightforward although, poorly translated instructions from what was once Chinese. The 120GB drive I put in there was formatted NTFS, the config recognized this and told me to format the drive. This took all of about 5 seconds and I created a couple of share folders. Then I dumped about 500MB of MP3 files and 30MB of pics into the two shares, this went reasonably fast. Then I tried accessing said data which is where the problems started. I went to the wife's computer and accessed the share. The folder opened up then stalled. I actually had to reboot her computer to get access back. The folder task would not endtask whatsoever. While her computer was rebooting, I went to my computer to access the shared folder in the same manner and experienced the same situation. One reboot later and I'm visiting the manufacturer's website. http://www.vipower.com hoping this was maybe a firmware issue. Alas. No joy. The visit to the website was an exercise in futility. I powered it off and will play again in a few days.

 

[RideFree]

tsar,
Excellent feedback.

 

[Souka]

Originally posted by: gregtor
this must use fat32 which has a max filesize limit of 4gb so no large images can be stored.

What do you mean by images? 4gb is a pretty hi-res picture. (har har)


If you're talking DVD, either store as the original structure (each file 1gb or smaller) or split the ISO up.

If you're talking Ghost HD images they're normally split at 2gb as a default I believe.


Also....don't forget to back up this NAS drive......


I personally have a SNAP! 2000 drive...I have two 250gb drives in it running Raid 0. All my home computers and my work laptop Sync their data to/from that drive....so I really use it as a backup storage, but it allows all computers to access each others data indrectly as well....works nicely.
Here's a link to MS's SyncToy...nice little util for keeping files in Sync.. LINK

I also occasionally burn critical data (pictures, email,etc) to DVD's and store them at the bank in a safe-deposit box...only like $25 a year....



For $199 getting a 300gb drive, in an enclosre that USB and Ethernet accessable is a good deal IMHO.

Good luck!

 

[superflysocal]

300gb showing $259 for me and 250gb showing 199

 

[Preyhunter]

Originally posted by: tsar chasm
Well, call me underwhelmed. The enclosure is solid, drive went right in. Powered it up and the drive started spinning up. No lights, no indication that anything was happening, my router showed no link. I futzed with the connections, jiggled this, jiggled that and got a link light. Still no lights on the enclosure. So, I checked my dhcp table on the router and noted the IP address, opened the browser and the config page popped right up, the config was very straightforward although, poorly translated instructions from what was once Chinese. The 120GB drive I put in there was formatted NTFS, the config recognized this and told me to format the drive. This took all of about 5 seconds and I created a couple of share folders. Then I dumped about 500MB of MP3 files and 30MB of pics into the two shares, this went reasonably fast. Then I tried accessing said data which is where the problems started. I went to the wife's computer and accessed the share. The folder opened up then stalled. I actually had to reboot her computer to get access back. The folder task would not endtask whatsoever. While her computer was rebooting, I went to my computer to access the shared folder in the same manner and experienced the same situation. One reboot later and I'm visiting the manufacturer's website. http://www.vipower.com hoping this was maybe a firmware issue. Alas. No joy. The visit to the website was an exercise in futility. I powered it off and will play again in a few days.

Try formatting the drive as FAT32 and see what happens then.

 

[Karaktu]

"300GB is big enough for all your storage purpose. "

ROFL!

 

[tsar chasm]

***Breaking News***

I don't know if it is because Bason Computer (the retailer) reads this board or if there really was a problem with the unit I previously reported on but... I got an unsolicited call from them yesterday saying that they realized there was an issue with the device they shipped me and they are shipping me another drive before I return mine via RMA. I got another call this morning saying that they were testing the unit they were sending me prior to sending it off. I'm absolutely shocked. A+ to Bason, I'll post again when I've received the replacement and configured/installed it.

 

[superflysocal]

yes please report

 

[hytek369]

doesnt look good

 

[mikeford]

This continues to look like an area while I would "like" to have it, I am willing to wait until its a bit less beta.

 

[PlatinumGold]

if it's USB, isn't it just an external HD?? i would have thought that by definition NAS's would all attach to the NETWORK via a NIC not to a PC via a USB.

just my thinking anyway.

 

[lopgok]

Bason has been around since 1996. I have read their ads for years
in the local pc newspaper. Never bought anything, but they generally
have good prices on scsi hard drives.

I don't know anything about this NAS; I have a dedicated pc fileserver
running samba.

 

[superflysocal]

Originally posted by: PlatinumGold
if it's USB, isn't it just an external HD?? i would have thought that by definition NAS's would all attach to the NETWORK via a NIC not to a PC via a USB.

just my thinking anyway.

you can use it as a usb drive (non NAS) or as a networked drive through ethernet (NAS). This to me is what separates this from other NAS...very rare to find this.