Toshiba, WD, Buffalo Offer NAS With Performance and Panache

by Nathan Eddy

The Canvio Home gives users the ability to stream media wirelessly all around the home, and the appliance is backed by a three-year limited warranty. Pricing starts at $199.99 for the 2TB model and $259.99 for the 3TB model.

All files are stored safely in the home and are accessible through one user-friendly software program. Canvio Home software does everything a user might need, including backups, uploads, downloads and streaming media files. There are no monthly subscription fees to any cloud service to store data files or another to stream media files.

Whether you’re away on business, across town or visiting relatives in the next state, if you have Internet access, you’re close to the Canvio Home. Users can ping their Canvio Home to watch vacation slide shows with friends and family, download a Master’s thesis or listen to their favorite playlists.

The iOS and Android apps let your tablets and smartphones join in, too, and the software is compatible with Macs and Windows PCs, of course. In addition, the Canvio Home can also synch up with DLNA-compatible media streaming devices.

WD’s MyCloud appliances let you back up the files from all the PC and Mac computers in your home. Users can also upload photos and videos directly to your personal cloud from anywhere and free up space on your mobile devices. You can also transfer files between your personal cloud, Dropbox and other public cloud accounts using WD’s free My Cloud mobile app.

Simply attach a compatible USB 3.0 hard drive directly to the USB expansion port on WD’s My Cloud drive and instantly expand your storage capacity. You can automatically make a second copy, or safe point, of your My Cloud on your home network and protect your personal cloud from unauthorized access with password protection, available for every user.

Your content could be spread across multiple devices or stuck in the cloud, but once you load it onto the Seagate Central 3TB Personal Cloud Storage NAS, it will all be backed up and organized in one spot. Users can automatically back up multiple PC and Mac computers wirelessly, or automatically back up photos and video from multiple users’ Facebook accounts. Central also works with Time Machine backup software for Mac straight out of the box.

Bundled with LinkStation Live is a built-in BitTorrent, DLNA-certified media server and an iTunes server, making it easier to download and stream movies, photos and music to any network connected media player, gaming console or TV. You can also connect LinkStation Live to the back of your wireless router and instantly access storage from any computer on the network.

Remotely connecting to your ShareCenter simply requires downloading the free mydlink Access-NAS mobile app, which allows you to access your files and stream music, video and photo content to a smartphone or tablet from anywhere. The hardware design lets you add up to two Serial ATA hard drives to your device without the use of any tools, and RAID technology protects your data in the event of a hard-drive failure.

The NSA325 is more than a hard drive; it’s an all-in-one cloud-managed entertainment hub. The fastest, most powerful product in Zyxel’s NAS suite of products, the NSA325 boasts high-speed USB 3.0 support and the raw power to manage downloads, play music and stream HD video to multiple devices simultaneously. The NSA325 also allows users to automatically upload and download files without ever turning on a PC.