One of the best ways of creating regular backups is with an external hard disk or network-attached storage device. The LinkStation Pro fits into the latter category. It's not as capacious as the mind-boggling Buffalo Terastation, but if you're looking for a device that helps you share your files between several computers at home or abroad, it's definitely worth a look
Strengths
The LinkStation Pro is a network-attached storage device with a built-in 250GB hard drive. Unlike standard USB-attached hard disks, this gives the LinkStation Pro the ability to be used by more than one PC on a network, and removes the need to have any particular PC switched on to access files stored on the LinkStation Pro's hard drive.
Unlike the standard LinkStation, the LinkStation Pro has the ability to connect to Gigabit Ethernet networks, which can transfer files up to ten times faster than a standard 10/100 Ethernet network. This has the benefit of reducing the amount of time it takes to transfer files from a PC to the device. Whereas the standard LinkStation can theoretically transfer around 750MB of data per minute, the LinkStation Pro can theoretically transfer 7.3GB in the same amount of time, making it better for backups where time is of the essence.
Setting up the LinkStation is fairly straightforward. No drivers are required, but you will need to install the accompanying software and connect it to your PC or router via a LAN cable.
The LinkStation Pro has a pair of USB2 ports at the rear, to which you can connect USB storage devices for adhoc transfers, scheduled file backups or simply to expand the LinkStation Pro's storage capacity. Interestingly, you can even use two LinkStation Pros on the same network, with one creating backups of the other.
Memeo backup software is included in the package. We found it easy enough to use, and liked the fact that you could select entire disks or just specific types of files (eg only Word documents) to backup. The software automatically searches your computer for all relevant files so you don't have to hunt them down manually.
One major advantage the LinkStation Pro has over a standard external hard drive is the fact that it lets users access their files via the Internet. Provided the device is connected to a broadband router, you can connect to it via a Web browser and transfer files from a remote PC.
Weaknesses
The LinkStation Pro can't be used as a print server so you can't share a printer with multiple PCs without having the master PC switched on. The device is also incapable of acting as a Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) server -- so you can't use it to stream audio or video files over your network.
Though it is far faster than the standard 10/100Mbps LinkStation, the LinkStation Pro doesn't live up to its full 1,000Mbps billing. In practice, we achieved approximately 420Mbps of sustained throughput, but your own mileage will vary depending on your specific motherboard, network adaptor and router.
Perhaps the biggest question mark over the LinkStation Pro is its price. The 250GB version costs in the region of £140, which is around twice as much as an ordinary external USB hard disk.
Conclusion
On the whole, the LinkStation Pro is a worthy purchase, but only for those who are willing to take advantage of its advanced features. If you're simply looking for an external storage device you should opt for a basic USB hard drive.
Edited by Mary Lojkine
Additional editing by Kate Macefield
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itczech 31 March 2008
Good: core sharing
Bad: support
Comment: I bought one of these for a customer and found that it had a number of issue that Buffalo support do not consider to be faults:
1. I tried 4 different external usb hard disks and only 1 was recognised. Apparently only Buffalo USB hard disks are supported.
2. When I physically unplug a USB device the Buffalo generates an error message that suggests that I need to replace a disk. Buffalo support suggest that the device be powered down before removing USB connected devices. This is impractical in a multi user environment.
3. When I purchased the product I checked and found that APC UPSs were supported so I purchased an APC Back-CS unit, connected it and found that the Buffalo did not detect messages from it. It now transpires that only the more expensive APC SUA series UPSs are supported.
4. Buffalo does not maintain the documentation in line with firmware updates so the firmware has features that are not documented.
5. Both the documentation and firmware are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
6. The latest manual describes 4 backup methods. My firmware shows 3 methods with 1 shown twice.
7. I cannot get the device to join an active directory without errors being generated.Buffalo support have been unable to resolve these.
8. Buffalo support need to be chased for action. They claim (unsurprisingly) that they are busy.
Given all of the above, I decided that the product was not fit for purpose and so I bought a Qnap TS-109 Pro which is great. I have also found Qnap support to be excellent.
Martin Seib 31 March 2008
Good: Core sharing
Bad: Support
Comment: I bought one of these for a customer and found that it had a number of issue that Buffalo support do not consider to be faults:
1. I tried 4 different external usb hard disks and only 1 was recognised. Apparently only Buffalo USB hard disks are supported.
2. When I physically unplug a USB device the Buffalo generates an error message that suggests that I need to replace a disk. Buffalo support suggest that the device be powered down before removing USB connected devices. This is impractical in a multi user environment.
3. When I purchased the product I checked and found that APC UPSs were supported so I purchased an APC Back-CS unit, connected it and found that the Buffalo did not detect messages from it. It now transpires that only the more expensive APC SUA series UPSs are supported.
4. Buffalo does not maintain the documentation in line with firmware updates so the firmware has features that are not documented.
5. Both the documentation and firmware are riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
6. The latest manual describes 4 backup methods. My firmware shows 3 methods with 1 shown twice.
7. I cannot get the device to join an active directory without errors being generated.Buffalo support have been unable to resolve these.
8. Buffalo support need to be chased for action. They claim (unsurprisingly) that they are busy.
Given all of the above, I decided that the product was not fit for purpose and so I bought a Qnap TS-109 Pro which is great. I have also found Qnap support to be excellent.
Dan Carter 1 December 2006
Good: Fast
Bad: Terrible support, awful documentation, attached USB disk read-only if formatted FAT32
Comment: I got 2 of the LinkStations together with a drivestation for backup.
Other reviews have mentioned that you must allow the LinkStation to format the USB disk in order to make it writeable. This is true, but only if you format as either XFS or EXT3. If you format FAT32 (an option), the drive cannot be written to when shared - bizarrely it can be written to by the built-in backup software. Unfortunately you cannot then clean up old backups etc without connecting to a PC.
Also, out of the box, the backup between LinkStations didn't work. You need to set an option on the fileshares first, which is very poorly documented.
I called (European) tech support on both of the above issues. In both cases, I spoke to rude, agressive, unhelpful idiots who told me all sorts of garbage to try and get rid of me. (Example: for one LinkStation to recognize the other for network backup, they cannot have consecutive ip addresses! - the problem here was actually the fileshare option described above.) By sheer luck, the 5th guy I got through to was extremely polite and helpful, and sorted the issues out without any problem.
Summary: Do NOT buy these products unless you have a pretty good idea of what you are doing, and are willing to wade through a series of halfwitted tech support nonces to get to someone who actually understands their own products.
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