D-Link DNS321 2-Bay 2 3.5-Inch Bays, SATA, RAID 0/1, Gigabit Ethernet Port Network Storage Enclosure

View larger picture

List price: $159.99 Amazon price: $120.00 You save: $39.99 (25%) Prices subject to change. Used price: $120.00 Buy Now at Amazon

Binding: Electronics
Brand: D-Link
EAN: 0790069314162
Format: CD
Label: D-Link
Dimension: 4.13 x 7.72 x 5.12 inches
Manufacturer: D-Link
Model: DNS-321
Publisher: D-Link
Studio: D-Link
Warranty: 1 year warranty

Features and Descriptions

• Dimensions (W x D x H) 4.1 x 7.7 x 5.1
• Ethernet compatible

The D-Link 2-Bay Network Storage Enclosure (DNS-321) is the perfect way to store, share, and safeguard your documents, music, videos, and photos. With the D-Link tool-less installation, easily insert up to two SATA drives1 without any tools or attaching any cables. Additionally, the built-in UPnP AV media server enables streaming of digital content to compatible network media players (such as those found in the D-Link MediaLounge product line) as well as popular media player applications used in computers.

---

Ratings & Comments(Average:)

---

- Convenient Shared Network Storage
We purchased this unit specifically for the RAID 1 redundancy protection. This unit is the only one that we have acquired in this price range where the RAID actually works. The unit was easy to set-up and configure, using the on-board web page as well as the "discovery" application, on both Vista and XP/XP Professional PC's. Another plus... the fan does a good job of maintaining drive temperatures (a major cause of drive failures), and the unit is easy to clean. Ours is in a severely dusty area. Just power down, eject the drives and vacuum out the dust, then pop the drives back in and you're good to go. The whole thing takes just a couple of minutes. Great job, D-Link.

---

- STAY AWAY!
I ordered this item along with Two WD 1TB HDs. I was able to format ok and map the drives; then overnight the unit died. i have attempted sending at least 5 emails from the online form on the Dlink support site and called 4 times to their support line. I bought the unit in the US but because i don't LIVE in the US or another company that they sell in; they will NOT help me. I will never EVER buy anything from DLINK again and would HIGHLY recommend not to buy from them to anyone who cares to ask. I understand that a defect can happen; but to have NO support because of my area code on my phone number on a new item that i bought in the USA is absolutely positively ludicrous.

the unit seemed to be dead; but later i realize that the lights were out but the oven was on; it was COOKING my new 1 TB drives. they were too hot to even handle. I only hope that these are not smoked as well because of this NAS device.

Mike Power
UNSATISFIED DLINK PURCHASER

---

- A Good Place to Backup Data
I will admit, I am not nearly as tech savvy as most people reviewing this product, so my statements are based on my own basic observation and knowledge. I purchased this device after feeling the need to have the presence of a backup storage device on my home network. Overall, I am satisified with this product and do not regret its purchase, but I feel that some improvements could be made.

PROS:
- Connection in a home network is easy to establish. I simply plugged it into my router, ordered the router to assign a static IP address, and my computers could all see it. I can't recall, but there were a few tweaks I had to do on the device itself, such as install and format the hard drive, but they were easy. I had a hard time getting the new network drive (I call mine N:) under the "My Computer" section on my Windows XP computer, but Vista had little issue.
- FTP server feature is fantastic. I often access this device from my work computer (8 miles away) to stream music and video stored here. Transfer rates seem very fast. I even connected to this device from Europe without a single problem. I'm not sure what security problems I am causing by doing this, but I keep the router security settings very high to prevent intrusion. One thing I would urge users of this feature to do is specify a non-standard port to prevent random IP searches from finding your FTP server. Additionally, and as always, password protect.

CONS:
- Unit can get noisy at times. Noisy is a difficult measure to make, as one person may not be bothered when another is, but I find the whirring fan at times to be a nuisance, but not aggravating. This can be alleviated by keeping the unit in a cool place. I have a laptop, so I cannot judge how loud it is relative to a desktop computer.
- Adding/replacing new hard drives requires reformatting of the entire unit. This is really frustrating, as you simply cannot format an individual drive. I am not certain if this is still true, as there may be firmware to take care of this, but I had to do this when installing the unit. My advice is to double-check.

MIXED OPINION:
- Software to backup files is so-so. I personally did not like what came with the unit, so I found Syncback software on download.com and am using that on my computers. There may be better ones out there, but this was all I could find at the time.

Overall, I like having this unit, as I feel it is doing its job well in securing my data. While it has its flaws, I do not feel that they complete impede its operation. I would recommend this device to someone seeking a network file storage system.

---

- Might have been good, but was defective
Just got my DNS321 and was going to set it up. Right side drive went in fine. Left side would not take drive due to left to drive rail being welded in wrong place. It was off by about 1/16 of an inch and did not have enough clearance to insert the drive. Had to return it.

---

- Very Nice!
I was very satisfied with the construction quality of this box along with the ease of use! The Drives are also hot swappable which makes it easy to replace drives if they fail with Raid 1! I get about 15 MB/s on average over a gigabit network. I'm useing two 1 TB Western Digital Green Drives and this thing runs quiet an cool! What's not to like! Note: Make sure you upgrade this box to the newest Firmware before you do anything!

---

---

More Products