To see if the LinkStation Duo Pro was close to reaching Buffalo’s performance claims, I ran tests with Crystal DiskMark 3. It didn't manage the claimed 72MB/s, however, this Linkstation is hugely improved over the previous model.
CrystalDiskMark 3 Benchmark Tests
Throughput in megabytes per second (MB/s)
Longer bars are better
With 1GB sequential reads 20MB/s faster on average and both 1GB sequential and 512KB random writes seeing a 30MB/s boost, it puts in a a pleasing performance. However, the drive does still suffer from a speed deficiency when it comes down to the 512KB random read test, but still shows a 5MB/s improvement.
The new CPU is obviously helping the V-Series Linkstation Pro Duo here, but there’s yet one more change – faster hard disks. The old LinkStation Duo was equipped with 5400 RPM Samsung EcoGreen drives, now the LinkStation Pro duo comes equipped with 7200 RPM Seagate 7200.12’s, at least in the 2TB review unit.
Improved performance and pricing
The annoyance of network disconnections that accompanied the use of USB storage devices and printers is also absent in this revised version. This greatly improves the user experience when it comes to using the Direct Copy backup feature from flash drives and the like. Unfortunately, it is still limited to supporting only a handful of common file types, thus rendering it still rather useless for proper backups.
Shop around and the 2TB V-Series LinkStation Duo can be found for just over £200, with 4TB going for about £330 – approaching a third less than previous incarnations and a fine example of the ever falling cost of improving technology.
Verdict
Apart from the niggles of slow page loading, Buffalo has evidently improved upon its respectable Linkstation Duo and made it competitive with some bigger players in the NAS market – although it’s certainly no Synology box – drastically reducing the cost along the way. The upshot is the V-Series LinkStation Pro Duo turns out to be a decent Nas box with an array of highly useful features and performance to match for a very agreeable price. ®
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Buffalo Linkstation Pro Duo 2TB Nas
COMMENTS
Static IP
Thanks AC - I've had a quick look at the website and it looks interesting. If I can summon the energy I'll go another round with the kit.
Regards,
HG.
Title Schmitle
As mentioned use dyndns (its free). My D-Link 320 can be set up to use it as can my Netgear router. The main problem I had with the D-Link was the routers firewall, sorted that by using static IP and putting the NAS in the DMZ. Not ideal but it works.
RE: No CIFS or NFS support?
Where did you get that from? I've just looked at the datasheet on the link provided in the article and it clearly says CIFS is supported.
Good thing about Linkstations..
..is that they are very hackable. First thing to do with them after you take it out of the box is get rid of Buffalo's OS and install Debian. Or if that is too much for your needs then there is a choice of custom firmware if you want extra functionality. Community support is excellent, dare I say better than Buffalo's.
Static IP
Can you use something like dyndns.com for a static IP ? I'm running Tonido myself, on a netbook with an external usb hd and a 3g connection. It's oh so slow but I still have remote access and Tonido do the relay so I haven't had to worry about the IP at all. I would like a proper NAS but since I'm stuck with slow 3g I'm just not gonna bother.
