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Linksys Linksys NETWORK STORAGE LINK USB 2.0

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Linksys Linksys NETWORK STORAGE LINK USB 2.0 Review

by Becky Waring

Network storage adapter connects to your choice of USB 2.0 drive.

We like the bring-your-own-storage approach of the Linksys Network Storage Link, which gives you the flexibility to connect it to any USB 2.0 hard drive to create a networked hard-drive solution.

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The two USB 2.0 ports on the Network Storage Link let you add one or two hard drives, and the device can back up one drive to the other. One of the ports also lets you mount USB flash drives; to do this, you'll need to install the Storage Link's utility into your Windows system tray.

We tested the Network Storage Link with a 300GB Maxtor OneTouch II drive. Linksys and Maxtor, as of press time, were co-marketing this pair of products.

Performance was slow compared with that of the rest of the NAS units we reviewed, probably because the Storage Link uses external USB drives rather than faster internal IDE drives. It performed consistently in the bottom quarter of our tests.

On the other hand, we liked the quality of the installation and setup utilities. The Linksys Windows setup wizard recognizes your drive, sets the Network Storage Link's IP address, and formats the drive. One quirk: The Network Storage Link uses a proprietary format on the drive, which can then no longer be attached directly to a computer via USB.

Once you connect and format your drive, the Network Storage Link's Web-based utility sets up shared folders, users, groups, and passwords. Conveniently, the Web utility is set up so that users can access it and change their own passwords from their own PCs without delving into the administration portion of the tools. This keeps the unit secure while relieving the administrator of such mundane tasks.

Upshot: For less than $100 plus the cost of a USB 2.0 hard drive, the Linksys Storage Link is an economical NAS option.

Becky Waring

User Reviews for Linksys Linksys NETWORK STORAGE LINK USB 2.0

Reviewed by: brizuelat

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Easy to set up, convenient for file sharing, simple interface.

Weaknesses: Cannot use hard disks over 250 GB.

Overall Evaluation: Besides the fact that one cannot use a hard disk over 250 GB, this small interface unit does quite a bit. Having used two for work, one can fully appreciate its use. Of course, one could potentially alter the firmware with Linux, but for others, the simple to use web-based configuration guide is just enough. Should you need, though, say, two or four TB, an industrial sized storage device will do best.
Reviewed by: pstreicher

Duration of ownership:

Strengths: Small form factor, quiet, works well

Weaknesses: none

Overall Evaluation: I've played with this little unit for months now and have finally come to love it. Yes, it takes 30 seconds or more to come up to speed but why be in a hurry. I recently was able to backup all the MP3's of the two girls iTunes folders with ease. Each girl had over 800 tunes. Once I culled out the two or three songs that had CRC errors, I would restart the copying and then it finished without error. I have backed up more files on two other computers in the house and am going to continue to do so. I intend to buy a second drive for redundent backup.

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