Buffalo LinkStation Live 2.0Tb DLNA Certified MultiMedia Network Storage with BitTorrent

Regretfully I have to give this one star. Not because it's a bad product, but because I've had three of these and all three have suffered from the same reliability problem.

I'll give the positive review for people who want to buy this and hopefully will get a reliable machine.

Very easy install and 1st setup, just plug it in to your home network (connected mine direct to a D-link ADSL router) then load the software onto any machine accessing the linkstation. The software will 'find' the linkstation and pop a shortcut on your desktop to get to it. It then just acts like an attached drive and you drag and drop stuff to/from it. Very easy. On the 1st PC to use it, there is some set up for the linkstation, all subsequent machines will state there's an already active Linkstation and just load the browser software on your PC.

To carry out more involved stuff you'll need to log in to the linkstations Web front end, which is easy from the loaded management software. The web access does seem a bit slow to update pages, so be patient. You have the option to set things like user accounts, new folders, remote web access, bit torrent downloads. I managed to set up remote web access, once I'd set my router to allow plug and play access, but the Buffalo help pages talk you through it. I also was able to easily set up bit torrent downloads and the interface is very clear and easy to use. I did try to set up a new user account and set folder access privilages, but just ended up locking out the folders from general access, but I didn't spend enough time on it to get it right.

I managed to stream video from my Linkstation to a Samsung UE37C6540 LED TV, plus all my laptops, plus connect a USB drive to it and upload files successfully.

So all in all a very capable bit of kit, with very usefull features, with a straight forward user interface ..... however -

My 1st linkstation worked for about a week of light use (copied over some photos, films etc, used it for bit of torrent download) but then it showed up in the management portal as EM, which I later learnt was 'Emergency mode'. I could not access the files or use the web portal. The management portal error message suggested reloading firmware, which I didn't want to risk. So I returned it to Amazon for a replacement, which they did very rapidly (all credit to Amazon and a very straight forward returns process)

My 2nd linkstation again worked for about a week of light use (again I tried a few films, photos, even setup the linkstation on the web and accessed it from work) but once again it ended up going into EM mode. This time I decided to try upgrading the firmware and after googling some Linkstation forums for the EM issue I found a link to Buffalo's webpage for the upgrade software. I downloaded this and kicked off an upgrade. The software found my linkstation, upgraded the firmware and it popped back into life, so a very easy and straight forward process for some one comfortable with downloading and installing software and being a bit techy. But a day or so later it went back into EM mode. Another firmware upgrade later and working again. However, the linkstation kept dropping into EM mode and I got fed up reloading the firmware every few days. So back in for a replacement.

I went for a 3rd Linkstation, because I thought 3rd time lucky and it is a good product if only it would stay working. Unfortunately again after about a week of working it dropped into EM mode, this time stating it couldn't find a partition. The firmware update method would not work at all, so I went for a refund as I'd had enough. Which is a shame as this is a very easy to use product, with loads of features, but I just can't get a reliable one.

I was given an AC Ryan PlayOn HD box, which has similar functionality and whilst this has none of the reliability issues I've had with the Linkstation, its web interface is nowhere like as slick and easy to use as the Linkstation.

So in conclusion I'd day the Linkstation is a great NAS drive, easy to setup and use, with loads of cool features, but I just can't believe something that's supposed to be used as a backup device can have as many reliability issues as mine did.

I have this NAS nearly 2 years now. Still working fine. Even survived a drop from the window sill recently. Cover came apart, but snapped back in to place, and it kept on working. It's small and neat, about same size as a 3.5" external H'drive.

It does work with Win7. The set-up is easy and flawless with all the systems I installed on (XP, Win7, PS3).
Although you have to go in to the Buffalo interweb software, and "enable" media server for the PS3 to work. The PS3 doesn't pick it up otherwise. The Webserver is very slow to read and update from page to page, and it could be laid out better. But it's still handy.

It says in the manual, Printer-server feature won't work woth 3-1 Printers, but it found my Canon 3-1 Printer and works fine. The "auto power" funtion does work well. The NAS goes in to sleep mode when no PC's are detected on the router. When you power on your laptop/PC, the NAS powers up automatically. It can't auto-detect your PS3 though, so you have to physically turn on the NAS for the PS3 to pick up the media server, or turn on a laptop.

I stream movies wirelessly (54mb/sec) from the NAS to my netbook, with no problems at all. Doesn't pause or freeze once. If hard wiring, it's perfect for streaming full HD movies. No buffering or pausing seen. Transfer speeds via PC aren't too fast. Transfered 400gig of movies overnight with no problems though.
Don't use the flat cable in the box. It's meant to be used just to download the software, nothing more. Invest in a Cat5e patch cable for regular use.

Good product. Does exactly what I want. I store movies and tv shows on it, and access them from either my laptop or my xbox. No longer is it necessary to carry a hard drive around with the laptop. And, it is possible to attach a hard drive to the linkstation, increasing the memory even further!