Product Reviews

Despite manufacturers' best attempts to transform network attached storage devices into consumer-friendly home computer peripherals, the initials NAS are still enough to strike fear into the hearts of all but the most adventurous enthusiast.

This box from Thecus goes some way to changing all that. It's a Nas device that houses two Sata hard drives, which can be configured as Jbod, Raid 0, or Raid 1. The N299 supports up to 2TB of storage, though the unit we tested had a 500GB drive in each bay. It connects to your network via a Gigabit Ethernet port, and has three USB ports into which you can plug a USB wifi adaptor, flash storage device, or USB hard drive.

On the front of the ivory-coloured plastic case are a row of status lights, a power switch and a USB port with a button above it. This port allows you to plug-in a USB flash drive and transfer its contents to a specific folder on the Nas by pressing the button.

Other features of the N299 include an iTunes server and a download manager that allows you to schedule FTP or web downloads directly to the Nas at times that suit you, such as overnight or early in the morning. You can also configure the N299 as a UPnP media server: if you have a UPnP media adaptor connected to your television or hi-fi system, it can use the N299 as a source for audio and video, allowing you to use it even when your Mac is switched off. There's also a photo gallery that lets you upload photos, create albums and then view slideshows from any Mac or PC with a web browser. If you're worried about security, there's also the option to connect an IP webcam to the second Ethernet port and keep tabs on your office from anywhere where there's a web browser.

Setting up the N299 is remarkably straightforward.

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There's a utility on the accompanying CD, which when installed on your Mac, allows you to perform a basic setup and then access the Thecus' configuration pages in a web browser. There are dozens of menus and options here, but the PDF manual clearly explains each one. Unlike many Nas devices that require you to use Samba to connect to them, you can specify to use Apple File Sharing Protocol (AFP) with the N299. Once set up using AFP, the Thecus appears in the shared devices list in Leopard's Finder. When you click on Connect, you are asked to enter your name and password before you can access any folders.

If you've never set up a server and created sharepoints with access controls, the prospect could be daunting, but it shouldn't be. Although the interface can hardly be described as friendly, the manual is good enough to make the procedure relatively simple. Within minutes we had the N299 sharing our iTunes library with other machines on the network, had set it up to be the repository for EyeTV recordings and were using it for data backups. Setting up an FTP server was equally simple.

We do, however, have some concerns about the N299. It's box is plastic and doesn't feel particularly robust. That may not seem important for a device that's likely to be stationary for the bulk of its life, but if you're going to trust a device with your precious data, you'd like to think that should it be knocked off its shelf or desk, the drives inside will be protected.

It's also quite noisy and for a box that's designed to be running 24 hours a day, seven days a week that's definitely an issue. Unless you buy a wifi adaptor and can hide it at the back of a cupboard somewhere, it's likely to be running in your office or spare room and the noise could be intrusive.

Those are relatively minor concerns though, and overall we were very impressed by the N299. Having wrestled with Nas boxes that refused to work with our Mac or network, we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to set it up and start using it. And it's well-priced, too. Starting at £99 for the bare box and running up to £699 for the 2TB option, it represents great value. If you've been toying with the idea of network attached storage for a while and been put-off by the complexity or cost, now's the time to get connected.