SOHO NAS 250GB review

Network-attached storage (NAS) is a simple way of providing central storage for all your network's PCs. This month we looked at two 250GB products: Buffalo's LinkStation Pro 250GB and SmartDisk's SOHO NAS 250GB.

NAS devices tend to be a lot slower than external USB hard disks, so we were surprised that Buffalo's LinkStation Pro achieved easily the highest throughput we've seen in our large files test - it was almost as quick as a USB disk. It wasn't quite as good in our small files test, but still in line with other NAS devices.

The LinkStation is easy to set up thanks to its simple utility and web configuration interface. Folders can be shared so they're accessible to Windows PCs. Each share can have a different username and password, enabling every user to have their own private space. If you want to access your data outside your network, the built-in FTP server will come in handy.

The included Memeo software backs up network PCs' files to the LinkStation automatically but there's no option to schedule backups. The contents of the LinkStation can then be backed up on to a USB disk using Buffalo's web interface, but the USB disk has to be reformatted first.

SmartDisk's SOHO NAS is quick to set up as it has an excellent web interface. The interface for setting up access permissions to different folders is cluttered, though. Quotas can be enforced to ensure one user doesn't take all the storage space with their files, but this doesn't work if the disk is FAT32 formatted. Perversely, the SmartDisk can double as a standalone external USB disk, but for this to work it has to be formatted as FAT32. We had no problems sharing a USB laser printer using the SOHO's print server, though.

We weren't impressed with the SOHO's file transfer speeds. It was slow in our large files test and slower in our small files test.

At only 63p per gigabyte, the speedy LinkStation Pro deserves our Best Buy award. The SOHO costs a little more at 70p per gigabyte, isn't as easy to use and its print server isn't worth paying extra for.