Product Reviews

A network attached storage (NAS) device is a hard drive that can be hooked up to your network and then left permanently on. Any PC on your network can then copy items to and from that hard disk. This a simple and hassle free way of sharing files among several computers without having to keep one PC on all of the time - PCs consume far more power than a NAS device and are generally far noisier.

Freecom's Storage Gateway is a NAS box, but it's also much more. Most network hard drives must be connected to a router or switch in order for them to be accessible to more than one computer. The Storage Gateway actually has a router built in.

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Not only does this allow you to make it accessible to several PCs without plugging it in to another device, but you can also use this product to share your broadband connection as well. The only thing missing is the modem, so you'll need an external modem to plug in to your Storage Gateway.

Most home networks these days are wireless. This being the case, the Freecom's router function would be rather redundant if the device didn't have built-in wireless networking. Fortunately, this device is also an 802.11g wireless router.

The Storage Gateway can also be accessed over the web or via an FTP connections - allowing you to get to your important files from any external location that has broadband (as long as you can remember your username and password).

As a final touch, Freecom has added both USB and eSATA ports. This means you can plug other storage devices into the Freecom, so that those devices can then be shared across the network too. The only downside is that the Storage Gateway is pretty slow - connected via a network cable it never managed more than a sluggish 5MB/s.

Freecom's Storage Gateway WLAN may not be particularly nippy, but if speed isn't an issue, its versatility is a real asset.