Buffalo LinkStation Pro Duo Network Hard Drive - LS-W1.0TGL/R1
Buffalo 1TB LinkStation Pro Duo Network Hard Drive - 7200 RPM, RAID, SATA - Network Attached Storage

This product is reliable and great quality. It may cost more but it is worth the data you want to back up. You will not find a better product. I have tried others only to lose data and become frustrated. Buffallo is the best! And NO I do not work for Buffalo Technology.
 
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I have purchased to date 11 Buffaloe drives. They just work. I am not an expert and do not claim to be. but these drives work and are easy to configure. the automated backup feature between network drives works like a charm. RAID is a nice to have but I like my data in two or more physical locations. These drives do this for you.
 
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I've been using the LS-W1.0TGL/R1 for just over a month now, and it works very well.. I set it up as a Raid1, so total capacity is just shy of 500Gb. I use it to retain images of my WHS system drive using Acronis Drive Image. I do wish it had multiple inputs. ie: USB along with the network connection, as WHS can't integrate network drives, but can use USB drives. Drive indicator led should also be brighter, and configuration could be better, but that's about it for the negative issues.. Gb interface works fine, bandwidth is only limited by drive speed. As always the Buy.com shopping experience was easy and flawless..
 
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This is the first experience I've had with any RAID product and it has been a great one. I have not had any problems. The LinkStation seems like a great value. Most of all, I love the realtime backups that Memeo Autobackup provides. I'm on a 64-bit version of Autobackup and it's got a few bugs, but considering that it's hard to even find 64-bit software, I'm very happy with it. It definitely adds to the value of the LinkStation. This is a great device for beginners. I can't really picture what a more advanced device would add.
 
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A little problem with set up on the first computer but that was quickly resolved. No problems with the product. Am primarily using it for back ups. The full hard drive back up using Norton Ghost took overnight for some reason - probably more the computer and copying the 150 gig over the network than the drive. Would buy this one again. The back up software works well. I have a lap top I use off site and as soon as I connect to the network, all the files that were updated during the day are backed up.
 
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Read several reviews on this site and my experience apparently differed. Set up was immediate enough, but utilizing any additional features such as the web access and back up utility was neither straight forward or easy. Having to print the manual out because none was included only further irritated the process. Tech help was fair. Finally, speed is not impressive. The drive is quite though. If I had to do over again, I would not purchase this drive. Dan
 
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- Good buy at such a price - On Raid 1 capacity is 500 GB - Performs good - Even has media server options, so you can use it on your home network to stream audio/video - Over all a good to buy.
 
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I purchased the Buffalo network drive for our home to store all of our pictures and shared documents in one place and have a backup device for our computers. It comes with one single PC license of Memeo backup software. However, additional copies or a network version can be purchased. An added benefit is the ability to have web access. It means that, when we're away from home, we can access files we normally don't have on our notebook PC's. While I am a computer professional, I found the setup to be very user-friendly. Definitely, it helps to read the manual included on the setup disk to configure users, folder permissions, RAID drive array, web access, and other optional settings. Once set up, the drive has performed flawlessly and is fast. I am very pleased and impressed with the drive.
 
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Redundant Storage - Check. FTP Server - Check. Remote Access - Check. Media Server - Check. This box works well as long as you don't try to do too much with it. Perfect for storing and protecting my important photos, videos and files.
 
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mac osx does recognize the NAS drive and will communicate with it. it is time machine that will not work with non apple NAS drives.
 
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this product works fine. the problem is the MAC OSX doesn't support NAS drives other than it's own brand. so Time machine users, your out of luck if you wanted to attach this drive anywhere but directly to your MAC.
 
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Great performance. Cannot beat the price for a unit of this caliber
 
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The Buffalo LinkStation is one of the best pieces of hardware I've added to my home/office network in a long time. It was very easy to set up in a mac/windows environment and very easy to set up the RAID with the provided software and browser. The only problem I've had is setting up a shared printer through the USB port. The drive recognizes the printer correctly, and the machines can see the printer, but for some reason they aren't able to send print jobs to the printer. But that wasn't the reason I got the drive in the first place, that would have been just another huge plus for this great product
 
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This is a great device for the home user or small business owner that needs to have their files accessible to mutliple network users and have them backed up with the RAID1 option. The user interface isn't too fancy, but it gets the job done, may be a bit tricky for the non-techy savy. The web access is nice, but isn't anything special, you're better off setting up ftp if you need to upload/download more than one file at a time. Overall, I would highly suggest this device!
 
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I bought this device to take the place of a MS Home Server. It does file sharing on my LAN and online. Setup the mirroring very easily and it has good speed on my LAN. My PS3 recognized it immediately and streaming video/photos works well. Very pleased thus far.
 
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The drive was easy to install, and is still working seamlessly on my home/ small office network. I recommend it to friends, and would buy it again.
 
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I am very impressed with this gadget. I set it up to do mirrorring and works like a charm. I use this for my home setup. It is very easy to set up. I did not realize it has two USB ports in the back that you can attach printers to and supposed to make them wireless printers. I have yet to try this so I cannot say if it works. I am very happy with the product so far.
 
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I set up this unit so that we could do back ups and share files at the church office and from other locations if needed--I do some of my work from home. I had to install the software a couple of times to get it to work correctly, but overall it is working great! Version 2.1 of the web-based software allows the ability to download and upload remotely (if access is granted in security settings). It's been a blessing having so much storage available on-site and off-site. The built-in media software makes it easy to stream media files, and we have begun to use it as a media host for files linked to our church's website. I recommend this product.
 
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I have this product installed now for 3 weeks. It works exactly as mentioned and is accessible by both my PC's and Macs. Performance is OK, would have liked to have a bit more speed, but overall I am satisfied.
 
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Original unit I received started showing disk array error within the first couple of days (using Western Digital drives). Contacted buy.com about this and they very quickly agreed to replace the unit (without me asking). The problem I had was that there was LARGE amount of data on the drive and downloading it to a USB driver and then uploading it to a replacement unit would have taken days. Buy.com agreed to send me the replacement unit before I returned the faulty one so that I could directly copy from the faulty to the new unit. The new device arrived two days later, along with a return shipment label, the data transfer took a few hours and the old unit was shipped back. This is what customer service is all about, I applaud buy.com for their commitment and action, why would you buy stuff anywhere else when you get this sort of support. Oh! The Linkstation is great once it gets working (new drive has Hitachi drives and has been flawless). The FTP through BuffaloNAS is great. I have the MediaServer working with my PS3 and Vista machines, the messaging to my e-mail account is fantastic. I would like the ability to assign multiple folders as media folders but the single folder works too. This is a fantastic product from the best web merchant.
 
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I set my drives up as a raid-1 configuration and was copying files to it within an hour. Access via Linux worked without a hitch. Speed was reasonable, but not particularly noteworthy. I currently use it as the primary means of streaming music, video, and pictures to my PlayStation 3. The only downsides to this NAS were minor: 1. The fan was louder than I expected. Not "loud" by any means, but I wouldnt want to sleep in a room with it. 2. No alternate firmware. Granted I should have investigated this deeper before purchasing, but I had hoped I could expand the capabilities beyond what Buffalo has already offered. No dice. Overall, a nice little NAS.
 
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Works as intended. Only issue I have are the following: The included software is supposed to auto-awake the NAS. This way it can go into stasis to save on power and not fatigue the drive any more than required. However, my NAS never shuts off even though the power switch is in the corect position. I'm thinking it's because I have a laptop that I use it with and when I close the lid it is not "communicating" with the NAS to tell it to power down due to no usage. Also, over a wireless network it is soooo much slower than I had expected. IF you are synching up your data for the 1st time, plug your laptop straight into it. If SPEED is an issue for you, GET A SAN WITH AN E-SATA connection. Units like this, meant for networking, are restricted due to your LAN or WLAN speeds.
 
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Waited for the price to drop a bit on this and then used a coupon for additional 5% off so with the free shipping was an awesome deal! I wanted it for the dual disk feature so I could use in in mirrored RAID setup for better redundancy (500GB capacity instead of 1TB with striped format). Setup was very easy, a few clicks and a wait while it reformatted. Then put it on my LAN behind a Linksys switch. I tried a couple copies over to the Buffalo and it copied the small files a little slower than I expected but they went OK. I then tried copying a couple big directories from my Windows laptop and started getting write errors and VERY slow performance. I had read some of the reviews complaining about performance but hadn't expected it to be this slow. I then went over to our Mac laptop and tried the same thing and was also getting write errors and slow performance. Tried reformatting the Buffalo and it didn't fix the problem. Finally decided to take the Linksys switch out of the equation and plugged the Buffalo directly into the wall network plug. Now the disk copies were error free and VERY fast! Not sure what was wrong with the switch but everything is great now. Have had the LinkStation Pro Duo up and running for about a month with no glitches, even went through a power outage with no issues. Very happy with it so far.
 
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I've been running it for about two weeks - 3 users on the network. Easy set-up - plug it in and it works. Reformatting to RAID 1 took a little time. Instructions that come in the box are not worth much -- everything you need to know is in the PDFs though.
 
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I have been running this drive on my network for about two weeks, & it works great! I am very happy with the performance & it was quite easy to setup. The only problem I have had is when I tried to do a disk check on an attached USB drive. It would not complete the disk check & now will not recognize the USB drive. I think I may just have to reformat the drive using the Linkstation. Otherwise works great!
 
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So far so good with this product. The setup was easy and the device is very small in size. Fits right on my desktop. Getting a RAID drive for around $200 was an awesome deal and great peace of mind. I will say the initial copying of data over to the unit on RAID 1 was a bit slow at first, but I am not streaming movies or anything, so the speed is just fine for me.
 
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I purchased this unit to use as traveling storage for my RV. I simply mirror my primary office storage onto the Buffalo LinkStation and away we go. Very usable interface for configuration and management functions.
 
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good price for the product easy install hw confusing AD integration
 
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If you're looking for an easy backup solution and a good price this is it. Three simple steps and you're automatically backing up your files as changes are made. The software that comes with the unit is easy to set up, too. System resources suffer with the auto back up feature, but not overly anoying.
 
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In RAID 0 it is significantly faster then the other two NAS boxes I have on my LAN. Automatic backups to external 1TByte USB drive a nice feature (takes about 4 days to do a full or differential backup to external drive when full, but it keeps on serving files during the backup). Works on 220V - universal power supply. Works with two external USB drives - my older Buffalo NAS could only handle a single external drive. Options for backup are confusing and require some testing (two are worded exactly the same in my 3.05 firmware), but they do work. Automatic emails for unit status a nice bonus. Runs cool and with no issues.
 
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Easy setup works like a charm. Web setup also very easy. Best system I have purchased in years. The backup feature was not easy to figure out. Talks to tech support straightened me out. However, good backup software for this unit would really make this hardware complete.
 
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Plugged it in and started right up. Setup users and shares and was off to the races. However, I could not get it to use Active Directory, but haven't played with that feature more than a few minutes. Transfer speed OK compared to others (like DLink) or even from machine to machine (100MB network). Have had it for 2 weeks, so we'll see on its longevity. All in all well worth the money. Also, it seemed to be here 30 minutes after adding it to my cart. Nice job, buy.com for quick delivery.
 
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Pros: Works great out of the box, intuitive setup for changing RAID modes, setting up shared folders, et cetera. Memeo software is outstanding as it is simple, coherent and stable. (As a bonus, when you run it in the background it actually does yield system resources.) Small size, virtually silent operation. The included Memeo software also does a good job of minimizing redundant files in order to keep the backups small and efficient. I have both my laptop and my wife's desktop backed up to this in RAID 1 and still have over 300GB available. Other Thoughts: I have a basic understanding of how the unit works, but would have taken significantly longer to set it all up on my own. I was very pleased with how straightforward the included software was.
 
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I've only had it for a couple of weeks but so far so good. Setup and installation was relatively easy. I had to do the custom install as it had some trouble recognizing the unit on the network. Took a little bit of poking around to find the menu to configure for Raid0 or Raid1. That's why I gave it a 3 for ease of us. Other than that, I've had no real issues. It's quiet. The auto on/off mode is useful. It's not blazingly fast but more than adequate for the kind of stuff I use it for which is mainly backing up pictures and movies. I have not yet set it up for access from the web but all in all, it's a thumbs up.
 
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Very simple to set up. Does exactly what I want. Added a USB drive for backup rather than use the RAID 1 and lose 500GB storage. Worked like a charm on the first try.
 
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***The Good***: Double the data transfer rate of by old Buffalo 120G network drive (RAID 0 setting). New sleep mode with wakeup over LAN when a PC is booted up (client software for waking up only available for PC). Status reports via email. Jumbo frame support on Gbit Ethernet. Low price. ***The Bad****: menu structure for backups onto external USB drives is confusing - 5 options, 2 of them are identical but do different things (3.05 firmware). Had to do manual tests to determine what the 5 selections under backup are actually doing. If same source file name exists on target with another size or time stamp, file on target is replaced, regardless of relative sizes or date stamps, in all available backup modes. Tech support keeps on sending out the FAQ entry from their web site about backup modes which does not clarify the issue (nor does it follow the menu language used by this Buffalo product). No options to replace only smaller or older files on target. No options to rename / move to a new location files about to be replaced or deleted during differential backups. No options to skip existing files based on their size and time stamp alone. No mirroring option to external USB drive (like in SimpleShare NAS products). Built-in web server for management is slow. I think the free Cobian Backup, as well as backup programs from Karenware and Mike Lin are equal or superior to the bundled Memeo sofwtware (and a lot lighter on resources). ***The Ugly***: backups are sloooooow onto external USB 2.0 hard drive, three full days for less then 500GB or about 3MBytes / second. A differential backup initiated right after the full backup was completed takes even longer. Looks like speedy backups require an external PC with Linux or Windows + third party ext3 drivers, and connecting the backup drive to the PC instead of the Bufallo NAS. This cuts the backup time in half on USB, and even less if you use SATA interface for the external backup drive, compared to automatic backups done by Linstation Duo on its own to the same external drive. If you have close to 1TByte of data, using the weekly automatic backup option is problematic, as the backup may take longer then one week, specially if you have al lot of small files. The daily backup option is only good for subdirectories, and Buffalo needs a biweekly or monthly backup option added to the menu.... Alert emails are NOT sent out if the unit is in sleep mode at the requested time - it just waits for the next time around (hint: do not setup the unit to send alerts at 2:00AM if you use sleep mode and do not work through the night - you will never get any messages). Have yet to try out the backup scheduler with the unit in sleep mode, but it may have the same issue.
 
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In my home I have 4 computers and a MAC operating at any given time (not to mention when I have my laptop home). Most of the computers are used for work or school. I use to have a PC with a server OS on it but it had to be managed every day to fix holes and etc. I bought this in hopes of having a smaller device, less power use and still as reliable. I got all of this and more with this server. The print server hooked up well (works with all XP, all Vista and my MAC) and some of it is a tad hard to configure at times but it is easily worked through once you get the hang of it. I also like the online access feature so I can put presentations on my server and if I need it at work/school I just access it using any web browser. This is a great buy for anyone looking for external network storage.
 
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A great product, easy setup, however I did have to call tech support to set up the BuffaloNAS. A bit slow on the transfer rate, but the value and ease of use overcomes this. Great tech support.
 
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Had to create (not download, not in manual, not listed on support site) a batch file just to get the drives to map upon reboot of my PC. net use \\LS-WTGL0E0\NAS1 /USER:admin syslin /PERSISTENT:YES Also, you have to create a UNIQUE USER on the NAS per COMPUTER (not per user). ARGH. Other than those 2 flaws, works fine.
 
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I bought this product to archive off over 200GB of data from our servers. For this purpose it works flawlessly. Its not the fastest but I'm not trying to stream movies so who cares. Worked so well that I purchased a second one for another office.
 
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We have only had it for a couple of weeks but it works great and just as described. No an easy RAID setup as I anticipated.
 
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Overall, the LinkStation Pro Duo 1TB is a good value. It is perhaps the least expensive of the 1TB NAS devices, yet it is feature rich. While its performance is lackluster, the web access with upload feature (only available on Revision 3 with firmware 3) makes this a definitely worthwhile device. I do think it is important to note that while Buffalo Tech does have 24x7 tech support, I found the technical staff and the RMA staff to be less than competent when my unit crashed after only 5 weeks. The RMA department was supposed to ship me out a Revision 3 version (noted by the two USB ports on the rear). The RMA record was appropriately noted, but on two separate occasions they shipped me the older version (noted by only one USB port on the rear and the inability to support web access uploads). It took me many phone calls and speaking with a manager to finally get the correct unit. They automatically want to send the Revision 1 version out for RMAs so if you have a problem make sure to tell them you purchased the Revision 3 version for the two USB ports and for the web access upload and you need the replaced unit to be the same as you purchased. The technical support representatives I worked with actually gave me bad directions to try swapping out replacement drives to see if we could rebuild my mirrored array when it crashed. I told them I did not want to do anything that would impact the integrity of my data on the mirrored array. The process they had me try actually ended up starting a striped array on my drives. I had to send out to a data recovery company who told me that the folder and file names were all lost because of the steps I took under instruction by the Buffalo Tech representative. Additionally some of my data was lost and some damaged/corrupted for the same reason. If you do have a crash, speak with the data recovery people before you try anything with the Buffalo Tech support representatives to make sure you don't make matters worse.
 
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It's working so far, but I've only had it for about a month. WD screwed me so I'm wary. The only issue I've had so far is that it needs the agent installed on all systems so they can see the drive. If I'm logged on then all can see it, but if my system is off, they are out of luck. In that sense it is just like a server unless you install the agent on all systems that need access. It's not a lot of overhead so I guess it's ok, but still...
 
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Excellent product. Easy installation. Attached it to my wireless router and can access it from anywhere at home to watch streaming movie or listen to music. My free ground delivery arrived within 3-4 days!! I will definitely recommend this product to my friends. And as usual, BUY.com is my favourite site for electronics....absolutely reliable.
 
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I'm by no means an expert in computers or networking and was able to set this external drive on our network as a back-up drive. I'm not using it's full potential for internet use, but am satisfied with the purchase. Would definitely recommend.
 
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Bought for replacement of dead hard drive and backing up photo and music. Well built and easy to use . Only complaint is some humming noise.
 
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I already have a smaller Buffalo NAS which has served my home network well for several years. I bought the 1TB Linkstation because the old one was almost full. If you want to use it as Raid 0 it's basically plug and play. I wanted to configure it as Raid 1 so it would mirror my data. The manual is very sketchy in this area and so are the on-screen labels for controls. Fortunately I was able to figure out what to do, but it took some guesswork and a very scary process of erasing all data on the disk. Unlike some hard drives, though, there's nothing on this one that you need when it's shipped. Just do the re-configuration before you put anything critical on it. It's a good idea to install the navigator software, but not absolutely necessary. With the navigator installed, if you leave the drive in 'auto' power mode, it goes to sleep if all computers that have the software installed are off or asleep, and wakes up when they do.
 
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It literally took me minutes to set up the linkstation in a RAID 1 array and begin to move my images and music files off of the various CDs, DVDs, and hard drives. The Auto on/off switch is nice, though I have to remember to leave it on when I want remote access to the files. The Buffalonas.com linkstation web access is 'ok' because it's easy to get to, but it's slow. I haven't been able to figure out a way to auto logon to the network share as a drive because my XP continues to forget the password. Not a problem with the drive, but a peripheral issue. I'm very happy with the purchase and I've recommended the linkstation to others based on my experience.
 
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Automatically set itself up. Worked. Able to access it from anywhere on the world wide web using a unique name I assigned and linked through Buffalo. Everything was simple, and worked as advertised. No need to call customer support or anything.
 
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This is my second Buffalo and so far no problems. The Memeo software is ok, but have not spent the time to see the real capabilities. I was surprised I needed to install the software, just for the purpose of setting the drive clock property. Everything else could be done using the web interface. In summary, it's a excellent deal for a 500 GB Raid 1 drive (no Raid 0 for me)
 
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There are cheaper network hard drives on the market. I went with Buffalo because I expected reliability and I liked the features. It was easy to set up and easy to use. Nice functionality. But...it failed in about 5 weeks. The customer support people were friendly, helpful and easy to deal with. I returned the unit (at my expense) and received a rebuilt unit in return. That's their policy but I figure if it broke that soon I should have been given a new replacement. It also took 2 weeks to get the replacement. When it arrived it was defective right out of the box. It refused to boot. Now I'm waiting for the second replacement. I've owned the thing for about 12 weeks now and had the use of it for only about 5 weeks. I'm out the cost of shipping it back to Buffalo, twice, the hassle of restoring all my data and so far I don't have a working drive.
 
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