Addonics NAS 3.0

Category: Cases & Hardware Enclosures

Created on Thursday, 23 June 2011 22:51

Written by Steve

Now onto the different servers available in the NAS 3.0.

The file server is a basic Samba server - if you're not familiar with Samba, it's a file sharing protocol that's compatible with practically all OS's - Windows, Mac and Linux just to name a few. On the Samba setup page you can enable or disable the Samba server and setup user accounts. When someone tries to browse to the NAS 3.0 on your network they'll be prompted for a username and password - these are the access accounts setup on this page. Here you can setup different users and also setup what folders they can/can't access and whether they're limited to read-only or read/write permissions.

The next server option is the WebDAV server - this is one of the great new features on the NAS 3.0. Addonics advertises the WebDAV functionality of the NAS 3.0 in very familiar terms - they dub it as 'your private cloud storage'. WebDAV itself is an extension to the HTTP(s) protocol that allows you to view, modify and even mount remote WebDAV storage devices as local network drives. This means that even if I'm across the world I can mount my WebDAV NAS 3.0 as a local network drive on my computer in much the same way I would mount a Samba network drive if I were on my local network. There's also a lot of third party mobile WebDAV clients that make accessing your files very easy from your iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

Next is the media server functionality - although it's labeled as an 'xbox 360 media server', this is actually a standard uPNP media server that will work with any uPNP compatible devices. I'll be using it with my Patriot Box Office media player attached to my home entertainment system. On this page you simply set the default location of your photos, music and videos that will be shared across the server.

The print server takes only a couple minutes to setup and allows easy access to your USB printer from any computer on your network. This is a great way to setup your existing printer on your network without having to invest in a new network-ready printer.

Lastly is the P2P, aka Bit Torrent, client capabilities. This is a built-in web based Bit Torrent client that's a great way to keep your downloads running without leaving your power hungry computer running with them. The Bit Torrent client is fairly customizable; you can set the download location, port, upload/download speed limits, maximum peers per torrent, and even an email notification upon completion. By using the Web Application shortcut functionality of Google Chrome, I used this P2P client just like a software client.