Ximeta Netdisk Enclosure for $40 - Yeh or ney?

[proxops-pete]

Ok... so I've been on this NAS enclosure hunt for a month now...
I came across this one by Ximeta... and Radioshack is having a clearance on it for $40 (http://www.radioshack.com/sm-ximeta-netdisk-ethernet-and-usb-2-0-combo-enclosure--pi-2407183.html).

What do you guys think? For me, it will be on 24/7 so it has two negatives...

1. No fan for cooling... don't trust passive cooling...
2. Proprietary software required for access (I've read a few nightmare stories on how that messes up some people's computers).

What say you?? :)

[kadhal]

I wouldnt want to take risks on my primary HDD. External Hard drives are getting cheaper and I would go for it.

[keith]

Don't think that fan cooling will be problem.
As for the software required for access, it depends...

It looks like state-of-the-art hard disk storage device. Sounds like a good choice.

[micsaund]

I'll accept NOTHING that requires special software to access.

If that's the system I'm thinking of, there were huge limitations with the software, such as only one person being able to access it at a time (and if that's not a problem, then you probably don't need NAS and should just go external USB/FireWire).

IMO, a NAS must use standard protocols - SMB, FTP, NFS, AT, etc. I should be able to connect any reasonably decent operating system to my network and have it access the NAS with little to no hassle. I'm guessing that the proprietary software is Winbloze only, so if you ever get a Mac, Linux, FreeBSD, etc. machine in the future, you're screwed.

As for the cooling, I would not touch a non-cooled enclosure for a HD that's meant to hold even minimally valuable data. I just dumped my passively cooled external USB case for a larger, but actively cooled case -- and I only plug the thing in for backups, so it's not on 100% duty like a NAS box would be. The cooling made a huge difference in my situation.

So, my resounding vote is "pass" on this Ximeta thing. Sometimes, you just have to spend the money to get something good/better and IMO, this is one of those times.

Mike

[proxops-pete]

Yeah, I'm not going to die tomorrow if I don't buy this thing now... :p
So I will wait till something that I like comes along... ;) Thanks guys...

[addyisback]

Well if i was on your side i will say nahhhhhh... I will not any risk with my hard drive....