After security, comes Raid support. Iocell has provisioned for those wishing to build large Raid arrays using lots of individual enclosures by allowing many NetDisks to be configured in Raid 0 and Raid 1 using the included NDAS Bind Management Tool.
With NDAS the NetDisk appears as a local drive rather than an external one
Click for a larger image
In addition to Raid, it is possible to aggregate multiple NetDisks into one spanned disk. Aggregation and Raid 0 support allow up to 8 devices to be used, whilst Raid 1 is limited to mirroring single disks (two NetDisks required). One shortcoming to all of this is that the NetDisk needs to be used vertically and is non-stackable.
So, how fast is the device that the company refers to as “The New Fast?” It’s fast. Over eSata, this thing blazes away like there’s no tomorrow. Achieving nearly 100MB/s as stated on the box, the NetDisk is fully saturating the internal bus of its single 1TB Western Digital WD10EADS Caviar Green disk.
Ethernet performance is also remarkable, pitting it up there amongst the likes of the considerably more expensive Synology DS409 in terms of read speeds, and far exceeding the DS409 in sustained write performance.
In comparison to the impressive eSata and Ethernet figures, the USB 2.0 data rates almost seem irrelevant. However, with USB it performs well and its presence is undeniably invaluable in a world of compatibility concerns. In use, the unit only draws around 12W tops.
Data transfer rates (MB/sec)
Longer bars are better
It’s not surprising that the NetDisk is user-upgradable, seeing as Iocell also markets the empty NetDisk enclosure to those with their own existing disks. Along with the free screwdriver, drive screws are included allowing an easy upgrade in less than two minutes. With only 10 screws to remove for a full drive replacement, the process is simple and straightforward enough even for a novice user. USB, eSata and Ethernet cables are also supplied along with an external PSU.
COMMENTS
10 screws...
... to change the hard disk?? I can change a hard disk in my PC with 6. My PS3 with 5. My laptop with 1.
Overkill perhaps?
Are those prices a misprint?
So it's 110 quid for an empty box but 250 quid for a 1TB box. The exact same drive is available from ebuyer for 72 quid. (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/150245)
So why do Iocell charge 140 quid for a 72 quid drive. Is it because they think we're all stupid? Perhaps it's some sort of intelligence test....
Streaming
"playback of HDTV content is jerky and certainly far from an enjoyable experience"
Eh? How does that work if the ethernet speeds are so good? Is this just a firmware issue that will be resolved later?
Check out the web site
There are 'beta' drivers available. So no, not yet, unless you are very brave...
Sounds very much like....
the software that came with Freecom Classic SL network drives. Ximeta seems to have taken over the software now - it utilises a protocol called LPX (Lean Packet Exchange). Obviously this means the protocol isn't easily routable, thereby losing quite a lot of the attraction.
The RAID functions are carried out entirely in software and from memory its a complete bastard to unbind a disk (to use on its own) if it was part of a failed RAID array as it will keep insisting that you provide the missing disk(s). All the RAID options work well enough if a bit slowly. Array rebuild times are horrendous - truly horrendous.
