Labs

As the most expensive NAS appliance on test, the Linksys clearly isn't aimed at cost-conscious home users. Instead, the EFG250 is suited to small businesses that are more concerned about backing up the data stored on the NAS disk and having plenty of features.

The EFG250 is the largest appliance here, housing two 3.5in drive bays with lockable and removable trays. The unit is shipped with a single Maxtor MaxLine II 250GB Ultra ATA/133 disk - the other tray is empty.

This means it's simple to add another Ultra ATA disk (up to 300GB) in the future, either for extra storage or backing up the first disk. You can buy extra trays for £18, but it's worth noting that these aren't hot-swap bays. There's no RAID support either - a slight disappointment at this price.

Also, unlike higher-end appliances, there's no redundant PSU or Ethernet socket - the EFG250 has a similar external power brick to others on test. At least

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the Ethernet port is a Gigabit one, leading to better transfer rates than most. We saw almost 11MB/sec when writing and 9.3MB/sec when reading. This is still slower than Gigabit Ethernet is capable of, but it's noticeably quicker than others on test when transferring files.

Although there's an integrated print server, there's only a parallel port on the rear. It's good to see an FTP server, though, and you can set the EFG250 to be an Internet print server, allowing others to print pages from anywhere.

You get plenty of other features for your money too. User and group accounts can be created and you can set quota limits. Email alerts may be configured to send a message upon certain conditions, such as the disks being full. In addition, it's possible to remotely perform disk checks, format the disks and set when you want the appliance to turn on and off each day.

Installation is simple - the bundled utility searches your network and then lets you configure the basic settings. The only annoyance is that the default username and password aren't mentioned anywhere in the quick-setup guide.

Apart from the absent USB ports, the EFG250's main weakness is noise. The unit measured almost 43dBA when idle, and this shot up to almost 46dBA when the disk was searching. This won't be an issue in noisy offices, but it's worth bearing in mind if you like peace and quiet.

If the lack of USB support isn't a problem for you, the Linksys is a decent choice where backup and data security are priorities.