Buffalo LinkStation Mini 1TB

Physically, this is one of the smallest NAS drives we've ever seen. It measures just 135 x 40 x 81mm - around the same size as a small box of teabags, but storage space certainly doesn't suffer for it. By eschewing the more standard 3.5in hard disks for smaller 2.5in notebook versions, Buffalo has managed to fit two 500GB drives into the tiny chassis to give an impressive total of 1TB.

This is more than enough room to back up the entire hard disk of most modern computers, or hold hundreds of hours of video and music. By default this space is used in its entirety by the RAID 0 configuration, but more security conscious users can switch to a plan with better data safety, although this will require some of that space to be sacrificed.

As well as space-savings, the smaller drives mean that no internal cooling is needed; this has allowed Buffalo to cut down further on the dimensions and make the NAS box far quieter. Aside from very faint hard disk activity sounds the drive is silent.

Despite this tiny size and the use of laptop hard disks, the LinkStation Mini is still good value for money. While our A-listed Maxtor Shared Storage 2 NAS costs 23p per GB, the tiny LinkStation, which occupies less than a quarter of its volume, carries only a 27p per GB price - a small premium for such miniaturisation.

We tested the device with the included software, and the simple wizard made setup a breeze. Once complete the drive shows up as a shared network drive, and files can be dragged and dropped just as if it was physically connected to the computer. We also tested the drive without the software and succeeded in getting it running. This avoids the need for additional software installations, although one feature of the drive fails to work when doing this - as well as a permanent on state, the drive also has an auto setting where it will hibernate when no computer with access to it is active on the network.

Once running, the drive can also be pressed into service as a print server by connecting a printer up to the USB port on the rear. This adds value for business users, and could provide a cheap option for backup and printing in a small office with a handful of machines. Although the storage space is admirable, this port can also be used to add an external hard disk in order to boost capacity.

It's debatable just how useful such a small footprint is in a NAS drive; if you plan to hide a NAS away in a cupboard then this small form factor may be a waste of money. If not, though, the LinkStation offers a competitive amount of storage space for the money, with incredible compactness, too.

Author: Matthew Sparkes