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INTRODUCTION
I have to admit, I've been seriously wondering why companies haven't developed
a network-only hard drive for years. If you have tons of systems (or heck,
even two) networked together, you're inevitably going to want to share
files, swap entire folders, and other such useful ways to make life easier
and more productive.
 The
40GB DSM-604H Central Home Drive is portable and removable external Fast
Ethernet hard disk drive. Users can connect one directly to a PC for additional
personal storage space or (the much better way of using the device) simply
add it to a local area network so that everyone on the network can access
the drive.
description of technology
The DSM-604H Network hard drive features both UPnP (for
devices running Windows XP and Me) and Rendezvous (for Mac OS X or Linux
systems). The drive is immediately visible (there's no BIOS configuration
for example), so you can use it to share files on your LAN. The DSM-604H
Central Home Drive is also "hot-swappable" so you can connect
or disconnect it from a network at any time without destroying civilization
as you know it.
The unit adheres to the Universal Plug & Play AV (UPnP
AV) specification, allowing it to communicate seamlessly with other UPnP
AV media devices. The DSM-604H is fully featured with a Fast Ethernet
port on the device with Auto MDI/MDI-X, which allows accepting both straight-through
and crossover Ethernet cables for network connectivity. With up to 10/100Mbps
data transfer speeds, there is no problem streaming an MP3 or video file
from the network drive and view it on your system without copying it over.
installation
 In
true fashion, I had a small snafu installing the unit, because the unit's
default IP range is 192.168.1.111 ... my router, unfortunately, only allowed
a range between 192.168.0.101 to 192.168.0.199. So I had to change the
router's default IP address to 192.168.1.1 , then log into the DSM-604H
and change it's default IP address to 192.168.0.111 (no problem there),
then come back to the router and set it back to the original setting.
Trust me, that sounded 99 times more complicated than it really was. For
those of you that have routers that will accept the default IP, then all
you have to do is just plug it in - that simple. It should be noted that
if you do have any problems, D-Link has 24-hour tech support available
that I have used before and have nothing but glowing things to say about
their tech support team.
Performance
Copying over the files to the drive was a very simple exercise,
and accessing the files (in my case I simply tested out MP3 files) was
just as easy from the 4 computers on my LAN (2 local, 2 wireless). One
thing you MUST do to save yourself come serious clicking headaches is
to get into "My Network Places" and access the drive (this is
where you will see it first). Once there navigate to the hard drive folder
and hit "Map Network Drive" ... I set mine to be the "Z:"
drive (sounded cool) and there it appeared in my "My Computer"
menu. I love it.
Overall Impressions
The device installed fairly easily after my unique situation
called me for reconfiguration. Most users will have the horrendous headache
(sarcasm factor at maximum) of simply plugging the unit in. The performance
was awesome - I was really surprised how well the unit was able to handle
a little bit of traffic and copy over files. Even the streamed files (simply
opening the files from the DSM-604H rather than copying it over) came
over just fine. This "Central Home Drive" device is ideal for
sharing archived digital photos of family and friends, digital video,
music captured in MP3 or MPEG-4, games, important documents or other files
among computers and other networked devices in your home
The price point of the unit is $389 ... and to be honest,
that figure is pretty high for most mainstream consumers. Compared to
the competition however (not many offer a device like this) shows that
D-Link has a very competitive price point ... so, it's price is high,
but compared to the competition, it's very competitive. The coolness factor
is very high - many people will be very envious of such a useful and innovative
product that is hard to find on the market. This product is extremely
useful, and high suggested for congested networks in a home or small office.
Longevity might be determined by how often you use the device, but also
I'm insanely curious to know if you could possibly upgrade the unit's
internal hard drive with a bigger drive (note: this is my own curiosity
at work ... I am not recommending end users perform this experiment).
Hopefully I can report in once again with a modding report of this unit!
Overall, the DSM-604H is a highly useful and extremely innovative
product that networking gurus will have on their "must buy"
lists, for both the home and office. Great performance to go along with
a very easy installation process - a definite Editor's Choice award winner.
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10 / 10 |
OVERALL SCORE
92%
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10 / 10 |
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8 / 10 |
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10 / 10 |
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8 / 10 |
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9.2 / 10 |
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