Seagate BlackArmor NAS 220 4TB review

Another annoyance is that the interface for downloading files from the web without the use of a computer can’t be accessed without also gaining access to the other controls. This will be inconvenient if you want to give other users on your network the ability to manage downloads but not alter the other settings too.

There are two rear USB2 ports for connecting a USB disk and printer and letting multiple computers use them – both worked flawlessly in our tests. We also had no trouble using the BlackArmor to stream HD video to a network audio player, or using the NAS as an iTunes music server.

Another handy extra is the bundled backup software, which turns out to be a rebranded version of Acronis TrueImage. It allows up to five users to backup their entire PC, or just selected files to the BlackArmor. Backups can be set to run automatically on a schedule and will copy only those files that have changed since the last backup.

Advanced users may be turned off by the BlackArmor’s sluggish performance and inaccessible hard disks, but the useful extra features work well and it is undeniably cheap for such a vast amount of storage.