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This arrangement precludes direct access to the unit locally, so whenever Mionet loses connection, the unit is inaccessable locally. The trouble comes when trying to use the Mionet interface which allows access from remote locations via the web. Neat idea, but very poor architecture.On the local network, I have some trouble with the IP address changing and haven't been able to get the static IP to work yet.just DHCP. As far as network attached storage goes, this unit is adequate. The Samba interface works well on the internal network, though a little slow.
The world access software does cost 50.00 dollars a year but this isn't different than software such as Norton (60.00/ year), navigation subscriptions (Garmin is 60.00 / year) and many other software which come out with new versions each year. I keep mine in the living room and never hear it so maybe I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm very surprised to read here that people talk find this drive's fan loud.
I'm running one laptop on Windows XP, Home Edition, one with Windows Vista - Home Edition and my desktop with Windows XP - Home Edition. This network drive is much faster than storage drives which are connected via USB. I'm using this in my household to have a central location to access files for two laptops and one desktop.
The software which comes with the drive (Backup Anywhere) was a bit of a pain to install but it's not necessary to install for the harddrive to function. I did not have any problems with networking either of the two types of operating systems and have the WD set as a network drive for all three computers.
I don't find moving files over to this drive slow at all and the speed is comparable to moving files over to my C drive.
If I paid more, a lot more actually, I'd get a NAS that would allow additional drives, or run quieter, or have a smaller footprint. The interfaces seem straightforward enough and installation again was simple.If you are into these things, there is a good sized home-brew community which has brought out all kinds of neat functionality such as installing a bit torrent client directly on the drive, allowing you to bypass your PC. As with any device you are always trading what is most important to you against what you can afford. This is my second Western Digital My Book World Edition II External Hard Drive. To me, this NAS offers a good balance at the right price. I love the idea of removing the issue of storage off a PC so that I can access my data anywhere, anytime from anything without my PC being on.I use these drives to stream DVDs to two XBoxes converted into media players. I find these drives strike the right balance (for me) of function (drive size, speed, ease of use), design (compact, looks good on a shelf, quiet) and price (one of the cheapest, quality NAS out there). I can stream to two media servers at the same time, and write to the drive (say uncompress a large file).The drives come with software for archiving and remote access, however, this is something I've only examined in a cursory way.
I had also decided prior to purchase that I was not going to install the MioNet software as I have no desire to use remote network access. This product is great when set up as a Raid mirrored 1 TB storage drive. I decided to use the Windows' built in networking capabilities which works just fine for my needs.Set up was easy and the drive is not as loud as others have mentioned. I did many hours of research before purchasing this product. I am primarily using the drive to store a photo library.
Often I did the right thing, but mistook it for erroneous, since reaction was so extremely slow.Don't touch this product. I bought this product because I wanted extra storage on my Windows Server LAN. But.1) It does not integrate into AD2) Its user interface and setup is unbelievable old-fashioned3) Documentation is very low in supporting LAN installation and MioNet is not of any interest to a business user4) Everything is so slow: Setup, use - just everything.
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