Western Digital ShareSpace 4TB review

Network-attached storage (NAS) devices that have RAID support and come fitted with multiple high-capacity hard disks tend to be very expensive.

Western Digital's ShareSpace isn't an impulse purchase at £723 including VAT. However, it is generously equipped with four 1TB hard disks, which works out at a low 18p per gigabyte.

Unlike some NAS devices, the ShareSpace doesn't have front-mounted drive bays, but this isn't a problem. The attractive grey case can be opened by simply unscrewing two thumbscrews to gain access to the four disk bays. The hard disks themselves are mounted in screwless trays, so replacing one is straightforward, although some force is required to remove and insert the disks.

The four disks can be used as a RAID 0, 1 or 5 array. When configured as RAID 0, the ShareSpace provides 4TB of storage, but if a single disk fails you'll lose all your data. A RAID 1 array can only consist of two disks, but you can configure the ShareSpace as two separate RAID 1 arrays. Each RAID 1 arrays mirrors the contents of one disk on to another, providing 1TB of storage, but if a disk fails your files will be safe. A compromise between the two is RAID 5. Only 3TB of storage is available, but your data will be safe if a disk fails.

Configuring the ShareSpace is straightforward. The web configuration interface is divided into two sections. Simple user accounts and shared folders can be created quickly using the Basic section, but more detailed settings have to be accessed from the Advanced section. The controls for managing multiple users as groups and assigning them disk space quotas are spread across three pages, making administration more time-consuming than it should be.

Like most NAS devices, the ShareSpace can be used as an FTP server, so you can access your files remotely. Alternatively, the bundled MioNet software allows remote access to your files through a web browser. Any PC on your local network with MioNet installed can also be controlled remotely over the web, similar to the service provided at www.logmein.com. The remote browser has to use a Java program, though, which can run sluggishly over a slow connection. You may also have to open ports on your firewall for MioNet to work, and the documentation provides little help in doing so. If you're comfortable using FTP and already use a remote-access service such as logmein.com, then there's little advantage in switching to MioNet.

Although the ShareSpace has three USB ports, it can't be used to share a USB printer across your network. Sharing the contents of a USB disk worked flawlessly, though. You can also set up the ShareSpace to automatically back up files to, or from, a USB disk when connected. We had no problem using the ShareSpace as an iTunes or UPnP media server. A DVD movie stored on the ShareSpace played back flawlessly using a network media player.

The ShareSpace's file-copying performance when configured as RAID 1 was similar to its RAID 0 speeds. When configured as RAID 5, the ShareSpace performed similarly when reading files, but was much slower at writing them. However, slower write performance isn't unusual for a NAS that is configured as RAID 5. The ShareSpace is faster than many NAS devices, but not as quick as Thecus's 1.5TB N3200.

The ShareSpace may not be the fastest NAS we've seen, but it's well priced if you need a lot of storage. It misses out on an award, though, because of the lack of a print server and its fiddly remote-access software. If you need faster performance and can live with less storage, the 1.5TB N3200 is £492 including VAT from http://originstorage.com.

Author: Alan Lu