MaximumPC 2005 11

NOVEMBER 2005 MA XIMUMPC 

tested, the EFG250 was by far the loudest.
The unit features a thermal alarm, so why
not use it to spool down the fans?
The EFG250 is certainly more capable
than the WD and Maxtor units. It supports
FTP transfers, and can function as a DHCP
server as well. Pop a second parallel ATA
drive into the second drawer and you can
order it to perform nightly backups of the
250GB drive that comes with the unit. We
would have liked a RAID option, but there
is an advantage to a timed backup system.
If you delete a file on the server, you can at
least go to the backup. On RAID 1, nuke
the files and it’s instantly gone.
Performance of the unit was quite
good in the real-world file-copy test. The
EFG250 surprised us by slightly outpacing
the Infrant ReadyNAS X6 (reviewed next)
in simple file copies. In actual hard drive
benchmarks, though, the ReadyNAS X6’s

RAID 5 configura-

tion proved to be the

fastest. Because

the EFG250 and the

ReadyNAS X6 are the

only units here with

Gigabit Ethernet, both

easily smoked the

Western Digital and

Maxtor units.

But alas, the

Linksys EFG250 was

the only unit to give

us configuration prob-

lems. By default, the

unit is configured with

a static IP address,

and the Linksys configuration utility could

not locate the unit on our switch. We solved

the problem, but it shouldn’t have occurred

in the first place.

If you’re looking for a NAS unit that

sports more capabilities then a simple HD

enclosure on steroids, the EFG250 is a

good place to start.

INFRANT READYNAS X6

While the other three NAS units here

are suitable for average consumers,

Infrant’s ReadyNAS X6 is a product

designed for geeks.

Resembling a home-brew mini PC

more than a mass-produced NAS box, the

ReadyNAS X6 gives you more flexibility than

the other three units tested here. The cabi-

net supports up to four SATA drives and can

actually be purchased bare-bones.

In the BYO drive config, the cost is $600.

Equipped with 1TB of

storage, the price hits

$1,300, and for 1.6TB,

you’ll shell out about

$1,900. We reviewed

the 1TB version with

four RAID Edition WD

drives running RAID

5. If one drive pukes,
   you can replace it
   with another and keep

going—the ReadyNAS X6 will take a few

hours to rebuild the array, but you can con-

tinue to use it to access the data.

The ReadyNAS X6 supports a wealth

of remote access protocols including

FTP and HTTP, and you can even run a

Squeezebox streaming-music box off of

the unit. If you run the ReadyNAS X6 on a

UPS, the unit is capable of shutting down

and emailing you when the battery is out

or a drive is failing.

In our file-copy test, the ReadyNAS X6

easily outran the Maxtor and WD devices,

but was slightly edged by the Linksys

EFG250. Why? The ReadyNAS X6 uses

a journaling file system to make recovery

of data faster at the cost of disk perfor-

mance. While the ReadyNAS X6 and our

host PC support jumbo frames, our D-Link

Gigabit switch did not. With a more robust

switch, we suspect we’d see better perfor-

mance from the X6.

Our main complaint is with the lack of

drive drawers, which would make a drive

swap easier. We also would like more mean-

ingful status lights instead of the Captain

Pike-style ones on the box. That’s not a lot

to bitch about. The bare-bones ReadyNAS

X6 with a single 250GB SATA drive is priced

in the neighborhood of the Linksys EFG250.

But the ReadyNAS X6 gives you far more

features and expandability.

The Linksys EFG250 whines like a

banshee.

The Infrant ReadyNAS X6 is far more sophisticated than

the other NAS units tested here.

$900, http://www.linksys.com

LINKSYS EFG250

MAGNIFICENT SEVEN

Gigabit Ethernet offers

double the performance of

the Maxtor and WD units.

7 BRIDES FOR 7 BROTHERS

8

Doesn’t support SATA drives or

USB printers, and it’s pricey.

FILE COPY (min:sec) SiSOFT SANDRA 2005 LITE

BENCHMARKS

How we tested: We hooked up all four NAS units to a D-Link Gigabit switch and copied 3GB of data files from

a 3.8GHz P4 570 machine equipped with Gigabit Ethernet. We also mounted each NAS unit as a network drive

and ran SiSoft Sandra 2005’s hard drive benchmark across the network.

$1,300, http://www.infrant.com

INFRANT READYNAS X6

BONANZA

Surprisingly quiet, robust

controls, and flexible drive

support.

TONY DANZA

Removing drives is a bitch,

and it lacks hot-swapping

capability.

9

MA XIMUMPC

KICKASS

MAXTOR 9:17 7MB/s

WESTERN DIGITAL 8:54 7MB/s

LINKSYS 4:46 11MB/s

INFRANT^ 5:08^ 23MB/s