D-Link 2-Bay Enclosure Lets You Fill NAS Yourself

For consumers with multimedia content they want to store, use and share or for SOHOs with data to backup and protect, external hard drives are a good start, but RAIDable network storage makes more sense—if the price and usability are right.

At $229.00 for the enclosure—an excellent price, given the features—D-Links new DNS-323 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure combines the do-it-yourself flexibility of a hard drive enclosure with the flexibility of a network-based device.

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You can start with just one SATA drive, and add another later. No tools or cabling are needed—just pop the drive in. This lets you price and rebate-shop for SATA drive deals, or start with a drive youve got kicking around and wait for a great deal.

With two bays populated, you can select define some or all drive capacity for RAID 1 (mirroring), leaving the rest as JBOD for less critical content.

You can use the DNS-323 as a local file server, appearing as a lettered drive to your computer, and as an Internet-accessible FTP server.

A built-in UPnP audio visual media server lets you stream digital content to compatible media players, including widgits like D-Links DSM 520 Media Player, that can act as inputs to your analog or digital stereo or television.

Other features include a USB print server port; Memeo AutoBackup, which can do real-time file backup and saves a copy to the D-Link when you save on the PC; a DHCP server, in case you need it; spin-down power management; and, for digital media users, a streaming server that goes directly to a digital media device, including UPnP audio-visual devices that you can plug into your analog stereo or television.

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