Micro_Mart_-_January_7_2016_

DETAILS

• Price:£69.99
  Manufacturer: Buffalo


• Website:
  goo.gl/NAX5wP


• Requirements:
  Wired networkin
  place, any modern
  browserfor access
  and admin

B

uffalodoesa pretty

impressivejobwhen

it comesto its line-up

of smallerNAS

units,especiallywiththe

LinkStationrange.Although

considered thebabyof the

LinkStations,the220DEis really

quitea capableunit.

Thistwo-bayNASunitis

capableof housing2.5"or 3.5"

drivesupto a maximumof 4TB,

withsupportedRAIDlevels0, 1

or JBOD.Poweringit, there’s a

MarvellARMADA370,800MHz

dual-core CPUwith256MBof

DDR3RAM,helpingto drivethe

DLNA,iTunesandBuffaloPrivate

Cloudservicesthatthe220DE

offersoutof thebox.

Thedesignis remarkably

simple.Thefrontbaydooris

removed,revealingthetwohot-

swap-likedrivecaddies,which

slotin easilyenough– although

there’s nota lotof spaceleftfor

air flow. There’s a singlegigabit

Ethernetportaroundthebackof

theunittogetherwitha single

USB2.0portandpowerplug.

Thelarge80mmfanvent

dominatestheremainderof the

rear of the220DEandthematt-

blacksidepanelsare well

constructedandcertainlyfeel

solidenough.

In termsof design,the220DEis

quitesimple,butfunctional.Aside

froma smallred stripalongthe

topof thefrontof thedoorand

the white LEDs indicating the

powered-up fitted hard drives,

there’s nota lotelsegoingon.

use,it lacksdepth,andas a result

canbe quitefrustrating,especially

if you’veuseda betterUI.

TheBuffaloLinkStation

220Deisn’t thebest-looking

unitto evergraceourdesks,

butit’s functionalandit works

wellwithoutthefancybits

othermanufacturershavegone

for. Sayingthat,it is limited,in

bothhardware (withthesingle

USBportaroundtheback)

andsoftware.

Ourtestswere runreasonably

well.HDcontentwasstreamed

withoutanyproblems,and

thanksto thecombinationof the

internalCPUandthedecent

operatingsystem,youcan

successfullystreamupto four

differentHDvideosto different

deviceswithoutthedreaded

circleof bufferingappearing.

As a backupsolution,the

220DEworkswellenough.The

transferswere reasonablyspeedy,

andprovidedyou’re not

attemptingto backuptheentire

contentsof halfa dozen

computers,youshouldbe

suitablysatisfiedwiththeunit.

Thebuilt-inGUIis simple

enoughto understandandworks

wellwhenyougetintocreating

RAIDleveldrivesandsettingup

thevariousshares andso on.

However, it’s notquiteas intuitive

or as welllaidoutas theLinux-

basedGUIswe’venowbecome

accustomedto.There’s a simple

nestedmenuto onesideand

littleinformationexpandedinto,

whichcanleaveyoufeelinga

littlelostif you’re notusedto

settingoneof theseup.The

desktop-typeGUImaybe more

of a resource hogthana simple

menu,butit hasbroughtwithit

a vastlyimprovedinterfaceto

helpmanagetheunitandany

connectedusersanddevices.In

thecaseof the220DE,whilethe

userinterfacemaybe easyto

§

GROUP

TEST

To thinkwe usedto have

a dedicatedPC for

servingfi les and folders

and withlimitedstorage

of any mediawe owned.

Thesedays,a NASdrive

can do everythingthe

old Windows Home

Server machines could

and witha little more

power on offer too.

We have six two-bay

NASdrives on test this

week, to see whichare

worth spendingyour

hard-earnedpoundson.

Two-bayNASDrives

Two-bay

NAS Drives

BuffaloLinkStation220DE

iThe Buffalo 220DEis a cheapand

cheerfulNASdrive

6

7

Quality

Value

66

Overall