Why should I buy this hard disk - what's the value proposition?

[spartacuskzm]

I think it looks cool - but besides the fact that it can plug directly into a LAN what's the benefit over a HD that doubles as an MP3 player like the Archos Jukebox?

Am I missing something? Is it more geared to the corporate market?

Just curious what you hardward guru's thought.

Thanks.

NetDisk - by Ximeta

 

[beatle]

Nothing.

 

[dblaettl]

The biggest problem that I see with this device is that it uses proprietary drivers to connect to this NAS disk, i.e. good luck trying to use it from many devices that you may not be able to load windows/mac drivers on (linux, mp3 consoles for stereo, etc etc). Compound that with the pain and suffering of trying to use unknown drivers, I have little faith in this product.

 

[batmanuel]

It is basically a cheapo Network Attached Storage device. From the reviews I've read the big downside to the Ximeta product is that it requires special drivers to be installed on each machine that accesses it through the network. Also, it can only be written to by one user at a time. It really doesn;t have the full functionality of a real NAS device (which of course costs several times as much). All in all, you'd be better off grabbing an external USB hard drive (which seem to be going on sale on a weekly basis nowadays cheaper than you can build one yourself out of a drive and an enclosure) and sharing it across your network with your other computers.

The NetDisk is a cool idea, but the implementation is a bit flawed in the first generation. A later version may eventually offer beefier NAS-like functionality, and the product may one day really take off once you get it to the point it practically has plug and play capability with your network. I could see a use in the home for this kind of product, once they get rid of the rough edges, like the proprietary drivers.