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Iocell NetDisk

Fast, secure and versatile, apparently

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.

Iocell NetDisk 351UNE

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.

Iocell NetDisk 351UNE

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.

Next page: Verdict

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