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Netgear SC101 Network Drive |
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Written by Administrator
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Dec 05, 2006 at 09:24 PM |
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Page 7 of 7
Using the SC101 after installation is easy. It appears as another drive in My Computer and you access it like any other. Just like having another HDD in your system. I have tested this using a LAN and a WAN, and the performance is varied. WAN does seem laggy and can take a while the transfer. I used a 108Mbs card and a compatible router.
Bear in mind this is not in a RAID configuration and only one drive. LAN is a different story. Transfers are good, and this does seem to be the best application of the SC101.
I ran a benchmark several times of the latest Sandra Lite 2007.SP1. The results were strange, and don’t tell the full story when using the SC101.
I found this odd, and nothing like the transfer rates seen when using the drive for file transfer. I can only assume that the LAN has something to do with it so I will investigate this more in due course. The final part for me is slightly worrying. This device does have its roots in many places. My device manger shows extra CPU's now, and every time I open Outlook, Notepad and other applications, including emptying the Recycle Bin, they don’t open until the drive has spooled up.
I could understand if this were to happen when I access My Computer, but it doesn’t happen then. I can only hope this can be fixed in a future release of the software.
The SC101 also shows 2 IP address in my router configuration. I would assume that this is for the 2 drive allocations though I have only the one installed.
Conclusion
I must say, I am impressed with the function and styling of this machine. It has been offering good back up storage for me for a month now and does not seem to have any real issues. I never used the software on the CDs, instead complying with Netgears suggestion not to, so I can’t really comment on what they’re like.
On the down side, the software on first install was buggy, and I didn’t like the idea of all my back ups on such a problematic install. I have no idea what would happen to the information if the software messed up. That said, the fresh install helped, and that’s the last install I did. It has been running flawlessly since then as a back up device.
I still don’t like the interference it causes with my system, though it doesn’t affect any games or the internet. It does seem to like messing with Outlook and Notepad which to me is very odd!
Pros
- Small
- Very well styled
- Ease of set up
- Running a few minutes
Cons
- Buggy software
- LAN or WAN bottle necked
- Some drives wont work
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Author: Webmaster
Editor: jaguda1
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