Software:

Something else I appreciate is the lack of reboots needed to change settings. A few changes, such as enabling the web server require a short time to disable and restart, editing some iTunes server settings will disconnect anyone who is currently listening, but everything else will continue running.

Install software

The Bios?

Configured

Formatting

Login screen

Stats

Stats cont.

Enable BT downloads

DS downloading

Testing and impressions:

For such a small package, it sure packs in a lot of features. Most of the unit is actually empty space waiting for the full-sized 3.5” drive.

Everyday use is what I’m more worried about than pure speed, and with all the unique features, I have been making full use of it everyday. I have 2 other NAS/Raid boxes in the pipeline, but I don’t have enough extra hard drives to leave one in the DS107 while I do the other reviews.

As for hard numbers, if you ever want to see how poorly something can perform, use the standard Windows or OSX networking. On the DS107+, it probably cuts the upload/download rate by 30%. Even then, 20-25MB/s is plenty fast for the average 300-700MB movie.

When you switch to FTP, the real speeds show up. 25-40MB/s depending on if you are downloading one large file or thousands of smaller files. It makes me wish I had a spare WD Raptor, or some other high performance drive to really test it out.

Conclusion:

The average price I can find for the DS107+ is about $330. This seems like an amazingly good deal as far as I’m concerned. It’s external storage with gigabit Ethernet, a web server, iTunes server, backup utility for Cameras and USB drives. Plus the (near as I can tell), unique internal bit torrent download client that you can use from a remote location.

Power on

Work!

Tiny powerhouse

It’s not so high priced that a small home business or family with a home network and a couple computers can’t afford it. With 500GB drives around $100, it’s a very cost effective solution.

What would I change for future versions? Not much. Instead of screws to hold the drive down, and secure the cover, tool-less would be nice. While the manual on the CD is pretty good, I think it should have a little more detail when it comes to using MySQL on the DS107+. And I can't stress enough how handy the Download server makes things. I don't have to worry about transferring files to my external storage, as they just go directly there. So seeing as I only have 2GB of room left on my laptop, I can still download a 4GB ISO. I hope future versions (or even future driver updates) really expand on this. Would I recommend this? In a heartbeat.

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