Plextor PX-EH25L 250Gb Professional Network Attached Storage

     Plextor, the leading name in high quality CD and DVD burners, has just came out with a new product that is sure to draw big lines at your local computer shop. No, it's not a new burner or any type of CD drive, it's an all new network storage device! Just a few days ago we looked at a similar device from Seagate, but it lacked a few features that I thought most computer enthusiasts would like to see. Now Plextor steps in and shows us how network storage should be! Will Plextor's device fill in the gaps? Let's find out!

     Plextor had me very excited right off the bat because printed right on the box are the words "print server". This is absolutely fantastic because in order for me to really want to run a network storage device full time it needs to have a printer server built in. This is so I can replace my 4U rack mount server I have in my home office. The rack mount is extremely nice, but it's loud and quite frankly overkill for just a backup storage box. In my opinion, most home offices will most certainly dump their larger server boxes for a micro server device, much like the one we have here today from Plextor.

     Just take a look at how small this device is. Keep in mind that this baby is offered in both 250gb and 400gb versions. In time, I'm sure Plextor will offer even larger versions for larger offices.

     Even though Plextor's network storage device is a fraction of the size of Seagate's version, it is still a mini computer. Instead of a Linux operating system, Plextor went with Windows NT version 4.9. With a Windows OS, the Plextor device is able to have such features at the print server and expandable storage with external USB hard drives. Also, this device requires NO SPECIAL SOFTWARE. You simply plug it into your network and the device shows up as a shared drive on the network. It really couldn't get any easier than this. From what I've seen so far, the Plextor Professional Network Attached Storage device is everything Seagate's device should have been. 

Overview

A Network Attached Storage(NAS) device with print server, back-up and security features.

Plextor’s Network Attached Storage(NAS) device delivers easy to manage, easy-to-use, highly flexible storage management solution for a small office or home. Organizing, centralizing and sharing data has never been easier. This high performance, super silent device will secure your data for years to come.

• DATA SHARING
  With this easy to set up NAS (Network Attached Storage), multiple users can access and share all kinds of data. High performance is guaranteed by a high-speed CPU and UltraDMA133 HDD.

• SECURITY SETUP
  Access to the data can be restricted with the built-in security features to be set by the administrator.

• PRINTER SHARING
  The built-in server function enables registered users to share a USB printer connected to the device.

• BACKUP SOLUTION
  The device features a scheduled back-up system which enables you to back up your NAS data to a USB-connected drive.

• SILENT OPERATION
  The noise reduction is achieved by the heat-released aluminum case & the convection cooling design which has no fan installed.
  The system will quietly go into the sleep mode when not accessed for a period of time.

• EASY SETUP BY DHCP CLIENT
  When a DHCP server is installed in the network, setting up an IP address for the NAS is not required. Just connect to the network and power it on.

Total Solution Features
Part # (retail kit): PX-EH25L-NA (External) (Box Contents)

• Capacity: 250GB
• Speed: 94.5 Mbps
• Buffer size: 8 MB
• Rotation Speed: 7200 RPM
• Built-in Print Server
• Silent Operation
• LAN Interface Specifications:
  Interface: IEEE 802.3 / IEEE 802.3u Standard
  Transmission Encoding Method: (100 BASE-TX/10 BASE-T)
  Port/ Connector: RJ-45
  Cable: 100Base-TX: Category5 2, 4 UTP/10Base-T: Category 3,4,5 4 UTP
• USB Interface:
  Interface: USB 2.0 Hi-Speed, Full-Speed, Low-Speed
  Number of Ports: 2
• Protocol Support:
  TCP/IP: Windows Communications
• Two-year full warranty (parts and labor)

Operating System Support

• Windows XP/Windows 2000 Professional

• Windows Me/Windows 98SE/ Windows NT 4.0 (SP4.0 or above)

• *Software requirement: Intern et Explorer version 5.0 or later