Buffalo NAS Solutions

The Buffalo LinkStation product line is divided into several categories, from the basic single disk home NAS solution like the LinkStation Live to a more advanced RAID 5 capable NAS unit like the LinkStation Quad.

Click on each of the products below to jump to the section for that model in this article.

• LinkStation Live


• LinkStation Pro


• LinkStation Mini


• LinkStation Duo


• LinkStation Quad

The Buffalo LinkStation Live comes in 500GB, 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB capacities. It has a single SATA disk and as such does not provide any data protection in terms of RAID redundancy. This NAS does however provide an easy way to expand your home network with a centralized point for storing and accessing data. Some of the features include:

• Gigabit Ethernet
  
• 1x USB 2.0 port for printer sharing or add second USB hard drive
  
• Web Access - access your files via a web browser from anywhere
  
• Web Access for iPhone - access your files on the go
  
• Print server - connect a USB printer for network printing
  
• FTP server - allows for remotely accessing files via FTP
  
• iTunes streaming server - point your iTunes clients to a centralized library on the NAS
  
• DLNA Certified media streaming server - stream to Xbox, TV, media players, digital photo frames, etc
  
• Backup Software - Memeo backup for PC and Mac included
  
• Built-in Torrent client - download torrents from the NAS; turn PC off.
  
• Browser based management console
  

The LinkStation Pro series comes in 1TB, 1.5TB and 2TB capacities. They contain a single SATA hard disk so they do not offer you any type of data protection in terms of redundancy.

The features of the LinkStation Pro as compared to the LinkStation Live discussed above are identical. The only difference Buffalo mentions is that the Pro version has a faster processor and high performance architecture. They claim it can transfer files at double the speed of the Live series.

The price difference between the Pro and Live series is about $50 so that speed improvement better be good!

The LinkStation Mini is ... tiny. It uses two 2.5" notebook size hard drives and is available in 500GB and 1TB versions. Looking at the picture and video below will make you appreciate how small and compact this little NAS really is. It is also quiet since it does not have a fan.

Because it has two hard disks, you have the option to use RAID 0 (simple striping, no redundancy) or RAID 1 (mirroring) with this unit.

Some of the other features:

• Gigabit Ethernet
  
• 1x USB 2.0 port for printer sharing or add second USB hard drive
  
• Web Access - access your files via a web browser from anywhere
  
• Web Access for iPhone - access your files on the go
  
• Print server - connect a USB printer for network printing
  
• FTP server - allows for remotely accessing files via FTP
  
• iTunes streaming server - point your iTunes clients to a centralized library on the NAS
  
• DLNA Certified media streaming server - stream to Xbox, TV, media players, digital photo frames, etc
  
• Backup Software - Memeo backup for PC and Mac included
  
• Built-in Torrent client - download torrents from the NAS; turn PC off.
  
• Browser based management console
  

The LinkStation Duo NAS unit is basically a step up from the Pro series. It has two disks and comes in a 1TB, 1.5TB or 2TB capacity.

Because it has two disks, it can offer RAID 0 for full capacity use (striping), or RAID 1 for data redundancy (mirroring). Using RAID 1 cuts your effective storage space in half.

Other features of the LinkStation Duo series are the same as the Live, Pro and Mini, such as automated backup software (Memeo), built-in print server, FTP server, remote access via Web, etc.

The Quad unit is the flagship unit in the Buffalo LinkStation family. It has 4 user replaceable easy-swap SATA disks and comes in capacities of 2TB, 4TB, 6TB and 8TB.

Because of the 4 disks, this NAS server provides welcome data protection in the form of RAID 5 and RAID 10, with which one of the four disks can completely fail without data loss. It also supports the more basic RAID 0 and 1.

The LinkStation Quad shares all of the features of the other members of the LinkStation NAS family. One main difference with the other units is that this one has 2 USB ports. You can add two printers, two USB drives or one of each.

The Buffalo TeraStation line of NAS servers are business-class network storage solutions designed with reliability and performance in mind.

The TeraStation line comes with features such as:

• heavy-duty power supplies


• over-sized cooling systems


• vastly improved CPU speeds


• Microsoft Active Directory support


• disk quota support


• share level Replication


• port trunking


• hot swap


• dual Gigabit Ethernet port
.

I will discuss the TeraStation product line in more detail in a future Squidoo Lens. For now, here are 5 of the best-selling TeraStation units on Amazon: