Thoughts on the d-link dns-320?

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loganjames

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#89469 2-Sep-2011 19:30

Looking at purchasing the dns-320 for a NAS. Mostly going to be storing jpgs, movies, and software backups. Want to stream to the laptops, ps3, tablet etc. This will be my first foray into nas so not sure what i should be looking for.

Sorry for the n00b questions

nickb800

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#515906 2-Sep-2011 19:39

You'll probably get a few people recommending against it, but ive had mine for a few months and been happy with it for the price.
-Good speeds - not quite full gigabit tho
-Can easily stream SD content, not sure about multiple users but with a gigabit network backbone, you should be sweet
-Torrent client is basic, but shouldnt be a problem as of yesterday
-Works great for apple time machine, although not under osx lion (grr)
-All of the built in features are a little basic, so if you can get funplug working then you can do pretty much whatever you want
-It formats any drives that you put in it, so if you already have a big drive full of movies, etc, then you will need to put another drive in the DNS and copy across to it
-It uses teh format ext3 (a linux format) so isnt straight forward to remove the drive and read the data in a windows or mac computer

Obviously not the best on the market, but a good price for what it is

loganjames

272 posts

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+1 received by user: 11

#515910 2-Sep-2011 19:51

nickb800: You'll probably get a few people recommending against it, but ive had mine for a few months and been happy with it for the price.
-Good speeds - not quite full gigabit tho
-Can easily stream SD content, not sure about multiple users but with a gigabit network backbone, you should be sweet
-Torrent client is basic, but shouldnt be a problem as of yesterday
-Works great for apple time machine, although not under osx lion (grr)
-All of the built in features are a little basic, so if you can get funplug working then you can do pretty much whatever you want
-It formats any drives that you put in it, so if you already have a big drive full of movies, etc, then you will need to put another drive in the DNS and copy across to it
-It uses teh format ext3 (a linux format) so isnt straight forward to remove the drive and read the data in a windows or mac computer

Obviously not the best on the market, but a good price for what it is

Thanks for the quick reply!!!

not after the best have a modest budget. Does it read files greater than 4gb? (This is one of my hates with my current setup) being ext3 it streams video to PC (NTFS), and PS3 (FAT32?)

nickb800

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#515950 2-Sep-2011 21:20

Havent tried it myself (dont have any 1080p movies) but according to google, it will support >4gb files no worries. No problem on a PC, i just map it as a network drive. For a PS3, you will probably set it up as a UPnP server.

My comment about file formats relates to removing a drive from the NAS to read it in a computer. If you are acessing the NAS through the network, then it has heaps of options, and most OS's should be able to read it, file systems arent an issue.

ascroft

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#515954 2-Sep-2011 21:23

If you get it, don't use IE to apply settings - some don't work using it - Safari via my iPad did. Sure Firefox would too. Grr Microsoft Grrr.

"Artificial Intelligence" - aka Machine Learning 2.0

loganjames

272 posts

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#515958 2-Sep-2011 21:32

Thanks nickb800, think I might bite the bullet and get one tomorrow...

@ Ascsoft; I did mention I was a n00b but not so much so I'd use IE....

Thanks everyone for the advice.

ascroft

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#515961 2-Sep-2011 21:38

Ha - nice.

"Artificial Intelligence" - aka Machine Learning 2.0

Dell

Shop now for Dell laptops and other devices (affiliate link).

bazzer

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#517346 6-Sep-2011 10:16

I like mine. If you install funplug you can get it to do a bunch of useful things (better media server, squeezebox server, etc). Let us know if you need any help. I'm not that experienced with it myself, but I'm sure we can figure it out.

loganjames

272 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 11

#517698 6-Sep-2011 18:29

Purchased my 320 on Saturday - Thanks for all the advice very happy with it. Love how easy it is to set-up and use.

bazzer: I like mine. If you install funplug you can get it to do a bunch of useful things (better media server, squeezebox server, etc). Let us know if you need any help. I'm not that experienced with it myself, but I'm sure we can figure it out.

I love voiding warranties :) so I'm keen to have a play with funplug. Do you have a good website I could use to do some research? All for a better media server, it seems to have some quirks streaming to the PS3 and my Tablet.

bazzer

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#518468 8-Sep-2011 11:18

loganjames: Purchased my 320 on Saturday - Thanks for all the advice very happy with it. Love how easy it is to set-up and use.

bazzer: I like mine. If you install funplug you can get it to do a bunch of useful things (better media server, squeezebox server, etc). Let us know if you need any help. I'm not that experienced with it myself, but I'm sure we can figure it out.

I love voiding warranties :) so I'm keen to have a play with funplug. Do you have a good website I could use to do some research? All for a better media server, it seems to have some quirks streaming to the PS3 and my Tablet.

I don't think it voids the warranty, it's just files on the hard drive. This page has a bunch of useful info.