Hands On: Plextor PX-NAS2

When I think of Plextor, I think of high-end CD/DVD drives.  Over time, their product line has expanded to include CD/DVD duplicating hardware and Blu-ray drives.  Plextor has recently begun to expand their Storage line with the introduction of Solid State Drives and now Network Attached Storage devices.

Which is the subject of today’s review, the PX-NAS2.  Announced barely a month ago, I was able to get my hands on one of the first units to hit the shores.

But as usual, before we proceed further, a little information on Plextor for those who may not know them.  From their website:

SHINANO KENSHI is a global leader in providing integrated motion control solutions, multi-media solutions, printing solution and textile solutions. The company is organized into four divisions, each dedicated to a specific market. They are:

• Electrical Division – Small precision motor
• Electronic Equipment Division – CD-ROM, CD-R/RW, DVD+R/RW optical disk drives, and Professional Audio Equipment
• Printing Equipment Division – Offset printing presses.
• Textile Division – Spun silk yarn

SHINANO KENSHI was founded in 1918 to manufacture Spun Silk Yarn, which at the time, was one of the most “High-Tech” industries in the world. As the years passed, SHINANO KENSHI embarked on other industrial markets that would grow more progressively, while maintaining its proud history in the Silk Industry. These ventures insights led to the successful expansion into technology-driven, knowledge-intensive fields, such as Electrical Division, Electronic Equipment Division and Printing Equipment Division. While maintaining and strengthening its core competencies, Shinano Kenshi has continued its global expansion by establishing subsidiary companies and promoting its products on a worldwide basis. These subsidiaries are chartered with the continual growth of Resellers and OEM’s in their respective territories, who have come to rely upon Shinano Kenshi for performance, quality oriented and technically superior optical peripheral products. Marketing base toward abroad.

Plextor is the worldwide brand for all products manufactured by the Electronic Equipment Division and Printing Equipment Division of SHINANO KENSHI.

Read more…

Moving back to the PX-NAS2, we have the product

Features

To continue addressing today’s growing storage demand, Plextor proudly introduces a new line of versatile NAS devices that offer mass storage capacity, security, and accessibility of personal data anywhere, anytime within a home environment.

The Plextor PX-NAS2 network attached storage is designed for small office/home office and typical home users to conveniently and securely back up and organize digital collections such as videos, photos, music files in a central location.

The easy-to-use system comes with a Plextor PX-NAS2 utility software that smartly detects any PX-NAS2 attached to your network and starts to share, transfer, and download files with minimum configuration required. With the PX-NAS2, users can easily upload videos, or photos to popular sites such as Flickr or YouTube to share with family and friends.
The PX-NAS2 is robust and secure. It allows the assigned administrator of the home network to define different levels of user access rights so that you can control who access what information stored in PX-NAS2 and how they can use it.

The Plextor PX-NAS2 comes in three options:

• PX-NAS2-BL1 two-bay NAS without Hard Disks
• PX-NAS2-1T1 two-bay NAS with 1TB, 2 x 500 GB Hard Disks
• PX-NAS2-2T1 two-bay NAS with 2TB, 2 x 1 TB Hard Disks

Easy Installation and Operation

• The automatic detection feature of bundled PX-NAS utility enables easy connection and setup in minutes with no technical knowledge required
• Imports or synchronizes contents from external digital cameras or USB drives with only one press of a button
• Supports Time Machine for easy back up for Mac systems
• Memeo auto backup software tool allows backup, sync and share content and information to multiple destinations simultaneously and automatically so personal digital life can be protected and accessible

Auto Recovery

• The system resumes automatically after power outage, so you don’t have to worry about turning the PX-NAS2 back on
• Network connection and file transfer activities resume instantly after power recovery

Flexible Connectivity

• Easily upload or download files to or from most popular internet sites such as Flickr, YouTube and RSS broadcast sites
• DLNA 1.5 standard compliance for effortless “plug and play” connection with other compatible consumer electronic devices
• Media files and other public resources can be downloaded from the Internet via the BitTorrent, FTP or HTTP protocols without using a PC

Data Security

• The administrator can define different level of users access to the data stored in the network, allowing hassle-free network management and protection for professionals and small businesses without dedicated IT resource
• Encryption algorithm enforces data protection when transferring files between networks

and

Specifications

Front Panel
LED Light	Power/System/HDD/Copy
Backup Button	for USB device backup/sync
Power Button	Power on/off
USB Port	USB2.0 port for external devices
Rear Panel
Power Connector	Connection for DC19V/1.5A input
Network	RJ45 Ethernet connector
USB Port	USB2.0 port for external devices
Reset	Pin hole button for system reset
Dimensions and Weight
Dimensions (W/H/D)	135.4 (W) x 120.3 (H) x 254.5 (D) mm 5.3 (W) x 4.7 (H) x 10.3 (D) inch
Weight	3.5 lbs (without HDD)
Package Contents
Drive	PX-NAS2 2 Bay Network Attached Storage Device
Software	Support CD (including Memeo Backup Software)
Accessory	Power Adapter/Network case
Document	Quick installation guide and warranty statement
Certifications:
Safety	UL1950, CSA C22.2 No.950, EN60950 EN41003
EMC	FCC Part 15 Class B, EN55022 Class B, C - Tick, VCCI, BMSI
Power Adapter	CEC Efficiency Level V Energy Star EFS Specification 2.0 Complied
Services Included
	Media Server with UPnP and DLNA 1.5 compliant
	iTunes® Server
	HTTP / FTP Server
	HTTPS / FTP over TLS (explicit encryption)
	SSL Certificate Mangement
	BitTorrent Client
	RSS Client / Server
	Backup Server with Memeo Autobackup Software
	IP Filter Management for BT / eMule
	USB Print Server
	USB UPS Power Monitoring
	Time Machine
System Requirements
Internal HDD	2 X bay support SATA I//II HDD up to 2TB each
Network Connection	1 X RJ45 port for 10/100/1000 Mbps connection
USB Connection	2 X USB2.0 ports
Power Adapter	100~240V, 1.5A, 50~60Hz
OS Supported	Microsoft Windows® 2000/XP/Vista/7; Windows® Server 2003; Linux Red Hat; Mac OS 10.4/10.5 * Bundled backup and media player software can only be operated on Microsoft OS
Browser Required	Microsoft Internet Export 6.0 or later; Firefox 2.0 or later; Netscape Navigator 7.0 or later
Operating Environment	41º F ~104º F with 20%~95% RH
Storage Environment	-22˚F ~ 140 ˚F with 5%~85% RH

Next, we have