NCIX - $189 - D-LINK DNS-323 2-BAY NAS w/ Seagate Barracuda 3.5IN 500GB 32MB

[pnyknights]

Not sure about the HDD, it looks decent. The NAS alone is ~$239 from TD (unfortunately the MIR can't be used with NCIX)

but I can't seem to find out how much to ship to TO
warm maybe?

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33079&promoid=1029

EDIT 1:
DEAD now as oos

EDIT 2:
I just noticed the Black Friday Sale on PCV (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665636)
DNS-323 @ $129.95
500GB HDD @ $59.95
= 189.90
+ (ON) tax
==214.59 (no shipping)

which is ~$10 more than this but at least local, just in case people want that PM oppurtunity

[Kaitlyn]

If you look at PriceCanada.com (http://www.pricecanada.com/detail.php?product_id=454454&sku=DNS323&matched_search=DNS-323) it seems the bay can be had for less than $140..... so if you need a drive, it's a decent deal.

For the RAID, don't they have to be identical drives? Weird they would only supply one... heh

[dapper_remy]

Regardless a great product to use

[pnyknights]

If you look at PriceCanada.com (http://www.pricecanada.com/detail.php?product_id=454454&sku=DNS323&matched_search=DNS-323) it seems the bay can be had for less than $140..... so if you need a drive, it's a decent deal.

For the RAID, don't they have to be identical drives? Weird they would only supply one... heh

i saw a bundle with two 1TB drives for ~$462 :razz:

[SwiZz]

You can get the NAS alone for $129.99 at Infonec:

http://infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=298359

I bought one a month and a half ago, loving every bit of it. Only thing that pisses me off and that you should be aware of, is that the USB print server doesn't seem to work. After googling, it seems to be a common problem that a lot of other users have. There's new firmwares out, but even after updating it, it still doesn't work for me, while it worked for others.

Really annoyed as that is the main reason I bought it and I think its too late to return it now......hopefully I can fiddle around more with it to eventually get it working.

Anyone else have trouble setting this up with their printer and managed to get it to work?

[Kaitlyn]

I'm very tempted to get one of these... would love to load all my pictures, videos and music on them... especially my pictures - I have no backups!

[SwiZz]

I'm very tempted to get one of these... would love to load all my pictures, videos and music on them... especially my pictures - I have no backups!

Do it ASAP! Not necessarily a NAS, but a friend of mine recently lost all her photos, and I can only imagine how painful it must be. Music, videos, pr0n, can all be replaced. Personal pictures can't.

I went out and bought a WD 250 GB 2.5'' external drive from costco just to backup photos, but also have a copy on the NAS as well. I'd seriously cry if i lost my photos :cry:

[donvaz]

You can get the NAS alone for $129.99 at Infonec:

http://infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=298359

I bought one a month and a half ago, loving every bit of it. Only thing that pisses me off and that you should be aware of, is that the USB print server doesn't seem to work. After googling, it seems to be a common problem that a lot of other users have. There's new firmwares out, but even after updating it, it still doesn't work for me, while it worked for others.

Really annoyed as that is the main reason I bought it and I think its too late to return it now......hopefully I can fiddle around more with it to eventually get it working.

Anyone else have trouble setting this up with their printer and managed to get it to work?

I have this for over 6 months not. It is rock solid and works well with my Lexmark E238. You have to make sure the printer is connected and powered on before you power on the NAS. I have 2 750GB drives in it.

[ziondog]

I want this so bad.

I wanna put 2x 1TB drives into it!

[MrDisco]

I want this so bad.

I wanna put 2x 1TB drives into it!

I have this unit. Had 2x 1.5TB to put it in but ended up returning those drives due to the firmware issues seagate is having with it. back to 2x 1tb for me.

[galantgtz99]

The NAS alone is selling for $145 at canada computers now, but i was on sale before for about $135 a few times....The 500GB Seagate drive is about $70 bucks... thus this $189 does seem to be an okay deal...
NCIX had this combo on the surprise sale a month ago for $179.... should have got it at that time...

[emjay]

I've owned this NAS for a while and it's great for all sorts of things. I use a sync program to backup all my important files to it and also use it as a media server for my PS3.

[belowzeros]

god this unit is so completely awesome...love it to death.


it's not a hot deal tho, it's the going rate now for the unit plus a 500gb 7200.11...might be a good deal at NCIX but it's everyday pricing now.

[1nsanity]

How is the newer version of that Unit?

Edit: I was refering to the 321 instead, nevermind.

[ShylocK]

How is the newer version of that Unit?

Edit: I was refering to the 321 instead, nevermind.

i am using the 321 from the last day of deals at $119.00

it works fine with the seagate 1.5 tb drives now after firmware update to 1.01. got 3tb on the network in one unit.

it streams media to both ps3, and xbox 360 just fine, and itunes on both mac and pc pick it up.

just shows up on network, all computers both mac and pc see it fine. only get about 10mb/s-13mb/s read and write on the network though. but good enough for massive central storage without having to bother with windows file sharing etc. i like that it shows up in the 'computers' tab of windows, and you do not have to dig under networking.

kinda has me hooked, starting to look at the 4 bay unit's....of course they cost a lot more.

[jakk]

I had trouble with the printer setup too but this is what i did to finally get it working:

- install the printer locally on pc you want to print from (to get drivers, etc.)
- plug printer into NAS and find it from your pc when you 'add printer'
- install the printer on NAS using any default driver listed
- change the driver after it is installed to the correct one (which is in the list because you installed it locally in the first step)


You can get the NAS alone for $129.99 at Infonec:

http://infonec.com/site/main.php?module=detail&id=298359

I bought one a month and a half ago, loving every bit of it. Only thing that pisses me off and that you should be aware of, is that the USB print server doesn't seem to work. After googling, it seems to be a common problem that a lot of other users have. There's new firmwares out, but even after updating it, it still doesn't work for me, while it worked for others.

Really annoyed as that is the main reason I bought it and I think its too late to return it now......hopefully I can fiddle around more with it to eventually get it working.

Anyone else have trouble setting this up with their printer and managed to get it to work?

[Drthorne]

I bought one last month from Canada Computers, great unit. HP Deskjet 5550 was easy to setup on it. I also bought a D-Link 1 gigabit switch for it, made it even better for connecting 2 pc's and a router

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11280NW3815&vpn=DGS-1005D&manufacture=D-LINK

[Kaitlyn]

I bought one last month from Canada Computers, great unit. HP Deskjet 5550 was easy to setup on it. I also bought a D-Link 1 gigabit switch for it, made it even better for connecting 2 pc's and a router

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11280NW3815&vpn=DGS-1005D&manufacture=D-LINK

Just wondering, why the switch? Don't all routers have a 4-port switch.... how many computers are you hooking up!? :)

[Drthorne]

Just wondering, why the switch? Don't all routers have a 4-port switch.... how many computers are you hooking up!? :)

my old BEFSX41 router only has 10/100, the switch enables 1gig speed

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b370/drthorne/NETWORK.jpg

[U4IA]

i am using the 321 from the last day of deals at $119.00

it streams media to both ps3, and xbox 360 just fine, and itunes on both mac and pc pick it up.




Did you have to mod it to stream to the 360? I bought this a few months ago and had to install that custom ushare plugin on it to see it from the 360.. ?

Otherwise seems pretty solid... I'm running it with JBOD so you can mix drive capacities.

[flaming homer]

http://wiki.dns323.info/howto:fun_plug

[Happy13178]

Do it ASAP! Not necessarily a NAS, but a friend of mine recently lost all her photos, and I can only imagine how painful it must be. Music, videos, pr0n, can all be replaced. Personal pictures can't.

I went out and bought a WD 250 GB 2.5'' external drive from costco just to backup photos, but also have a copy on the NAS as well. I'd seriously cry if i lost my photos :cry:

+1

There is never a good reason not to backup pictures.

[ShylocK]

Did you have to mod it to stream to the 360? I bought this a few months ago and had to install that custom ushare plugin on it to see it from the 360.. ?

Otherwise seems pretty solid... I'm running it with JBOD so you can mix drive capacities.

just need to update your firmware to 1.01. it supports xbox and ps3 now after the update straight up as is.

[Drthorne]

You can get the NAS alone for $129.99 at Infonec:



Staples has the DNS-323 on for $149.99 now, plus if you have a $20 off $150 coupon you can get it for $129

http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?webid=736499&AffixedCode=WW

[xtracrispy123]

I have one of these as well and can voich for its awesomeness.


However, the fan can get a little loud sometimes - I think the thermister inside is reporting the temp wrong and forcing it to go into overdrive.

Another issue that some people (myself included) have, is that for some reason a page gets stuck in the printer queque sometimes, and it makes the unit come out of standby every 30 minutes or so.. kinda annoying and can't be good for hd life if it keeps cycling power.

Other than that, it's been super good and stuff like built in ftp server and media server is rockage!

[napoleon1769]

What exactly is this caN someone sexplain to me? Is the quality good?

[Damed]

Thanks OP. Bought the bundle with a second drive for some cheap storage expansion for a client of mine.

*edit* Wow, looks like I got the last one (or close to it) as now it's sold out at the sale price.

[generaltao99]

What exactly is this caN someone sexplain to me? Is the quality good?

Are you asking about the quality of the product or the sexplanation?

It's a NAS box, (Network-Attached Storage). Put two hard drives in it and store data on them via your network.

[U4IA]

just need to update your firmware to 1.01. it supports xbox and ps3 now after the update straight up as is.

Wierd, I could swear it only worked previously for the 360 with the custom ushare/funplug install... I didnt think 360 support was added until 1.05 or newer firmware....

Good info here -> http://forum.dsmg600.info/viewforum.php?id=3

[vv12]

sold out already ....

[sazaks]

Dell has this unit for 139.99...free shipping of course.
http://accessories.dell.com/sna/products/External_Hard_Drives/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&cs=cadhs1&sku=A0912343

[Kongee]

you can find one of these used for $100. Thats what i got mines for.

Bad thing about it is if you have music on it and if you want to burn it..the files have to be copy back over to your computer before burning (it caches it locally).

Good for storage for files and photos.

[napoleon1769]

Are you asking about the quality of the product or the sexplanation?

It's a NAS box, (Network-Attached Storage). Put two hard drives in it and store data on them via your network.

Wasn't there an HP one on sale before too? How does it compare to this?

[Kaitlyn]

This is $179 at the NCIX sale going on right now...

[humansoul]

I don't believe the one on sale right now comes with the 500GB HDD

[Damed]

This is $179 at the NCIX sale going on right now...

That figures. It's only $9 difference, but still. :mad:

[humansoul]

woops...nevermind...it's available via the following link:

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=33079&promoid=1008

[pnyknights]

FYI - ~$14 to ship to TO

$13.98 Purolator Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$14.98 UPS Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$16.58 Canada Post Expedited Usually takes 2-8 business days to ship.
$18.98 DHL Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$19.00 FedEx Ground Usually takes 1-7 business days to ship.
$24.25 UPS Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$24.40 Purolator Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$25.20 Canada Post Xpresspost Usually takes 1-4 business days to ship.
$25.70 FedEx Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$29.70 Loomis/DHL Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.

[TripleQ]

my old BEFSX41 router only has 10/100, the switch enables 1gig speed



Just curious if you have any stats on the effective throughput of the NAS over GigE? I'm thinking of getting a 1000 switch/NAS myself but the stuff I do needs pretty fast throughput (normal 100 ethernet is too slow)

[Spud387]

See if this helps
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/content/view/29671/75/1/8/

I was one of the first ppl to purchase this from NCIX in 2006 (I am Travis_M). I submitted the original specs and have the second review up there.

When it was first released, there were bugs. However all problems I had encountered were quickly fixed with a firmware update.

I now have mine running firmware 1.05 and just recently took out my 2 320GB drivers and swapped in 2 1TB drives.

Great NAS for the price and has been running beautifully for 2 years (minus a couple hiccups in the first 6months).

[Kaitlyn]

Are you guys using RAID? Which RAID setup?

Software RAID or hardware?

[humansoul]

FYI - ~$14 to ship to TO

$13.98 Purolator Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$14.98 UPS Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$16.58 Canada Post Expedited Usually takes 2-8 business days to ship.
$18.98 DHL Ground Usually takes 1-6 business days to ship.
$19.00 FedEx Ground Usually takes 1-7 business days to ship.
$24.25 UPS Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$24.40 Purolator Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$25.20 Canada Post Xpresspost Usually takes 1-4 business days to ship.
$25.70 FedEx Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.
$29.70 Loomis/DHL Air Usually takes 1-2 business days to ship.

Even with the shipping, I calculated that this is still cheaper than buying locally here in the GTA. The fact that the tax is lower, it comes out to $203 and change shipped here.

Thanks OP...purchased one yesterday and finally going to be really backing up all my data and knowing it's safe!

[mannie511]

Are you guys using RAID? Which RAID setup?

Software RAID or hardware?

I did not use the RAID setup as per the early reviews. I ended up using fun_plug and programmed a code so that Volume B is a backup of Volume A by checking to see if there are new files on VolA and then make a copy to VolB.

[Kaitlyn]

I did not use the RAID setup as per the early reviews. I ended up using fun_plug and programmed a code so that Volume B is a backup of Volume A by checking to see if there are new files on VolA and then make a copy to VolB.

Sounds like a "poor mans" software raid, haha... why not just use the default raid?

[pnyknights]

Even with the shipping, I calculated that this is still cheaper than buying locally here in the GTA. The fact that the tax is lower, it comes out to $203 and change shipped here.

Thanks OP...purchased one yesterday and finally going to be really backing up all my data and knowing it's safe!

Thanks, I finally took the plunge too...order one early this morning...spent almost an hour trying to calculate the taxes and shipping cost compared to if I got it in TO, but thats all dependent if some place in the GTA comes with the SAME bundled hdd; but shhhh don't tell my work what I really was doing :D

It's just too bad that the invoice thingy doesn't list the individual prices for the products, otherwise I could at least try to attempt to do a CITI MC PM :razz:


EDIT:
I just noticed the Black Friday Sale on PCV (http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665636)
DNS-323 @ $129.95
500GB HDD @ $59.95
= 189.90
+ tax
==214.59 (no shipping)

which is ~$10 more than this but at least local, just in case people want that PM oppurtunity

[mmmken]

The same thing is at FutureShop for $149 (without the drive). A 500GB Seagate costs about $50 as well nowadays. Save yourself the wait & shipping rates.

[Darklighter]

Just curious if you have any stats on the effective throughput of the NAS over GigE? I'm thinking of getting a 1000 switch/NAS myself but the stuff I do needs pretty fast throughput (normal 100 ethernet is too slow)

I average 20-23 MB/s read and about 18MB/s writing to it over gigabit. However, for anyone planning to stream movies from it, large ones (like 8GB+ 720p mkv's) can skip every so often as it appears the NAS can't keep up. It doesn't happen to all though.

With regards to multiple reads from different sources it is not too bad but multiple devices writing to it will bog it down.

(Edited to clarify not all big mkv's choke the unit)

[yackulic]

I average 20-23 MB/s read and about 18MB/s writing to it over gigabit. However, for anyone planning to stream movies from it, large ones (like 8GB+ 720p mkv's) will skip every so often as it appears the NAS can't keep up.With regards to multiple reads from different sources it is not too bad but multiple devices writing to it will bog it down.



-Must be problem on your end some where i stream 8Gb + 1080p Blue Ray rips flawless on mine.

-no problems with burning music

-whisper quiet

-multiple writes to it can bog it down though but am sure that is with any nas

[Darklighter]

-Must be problem on your end some where i stream 8Gb + 1080p Blue Ray rips flawless on mine.

-no problems with burning music

-whisper quiet

-multiple writes to it can bog it down though but am sure that is with any nas

At first I thought it might have been my end that I actually replaced my multi-brand gigabit switch system with all d-link gigabit switches as they went on sale. Wiring in my condo unit is all CAT6E as well. I've even made sure all devices have the same jumbo frame settings.

It doesn't happen every time so I'm really not too bothered by it ... just slightly annoying when it does happen. It streams everything else quite well though.

Most annoying is the tendency for the thin metal backplate of the front cover to vibrate.