Bought an Iomega Network-Attached Storage (NAS) device for a home network. Here are my experiences:
- Plugged it in and (naively) looked for it on Windows Explorer (networks section) but it didn’t appear there.
- Ran its setup CD. Wary of bloatware, I selected Custom setup. At the very least, that should list what kinds of thing could potentially be installed, then I can find out about them first.
- Only installed the basic (non optional) software.
- There is a backup tool, potentially useful but don’t want to dive into that just yet.
- The result: a number of extra “drives” (drive letters) appeared, each being mapped to a network drive. The IP address was the same in each case: [192.168.1.68]. Although there was only one NAS, each “Network Drive” (letter) was mapped to a different folder on it, as follows:
- music
- photos
- ActiveFolders
- The NAS config (webpage) lets you define these, e.g. a folder where you can drop a file and it will turn up at your YouTube account.
- public
- What’s that for? How”public” is it?
- movies
- backups
- Reactions:
- I had not expected that, just expected a single drive letter underneath which I would make my own folders, one for each user plus a shared one.
- Presumably they are all intended to be shared among all users.
- Maybe I can still make my own folders per-user etc.? Maybe also can configure each user’s account to be tied to the appropriate one of these?
- The NAS is a server, maybe it doesn’t allow access to root, only to folders?
- User Manual
- The Setup (disk) offers to Install the User Manual. Slightly concerned over that – only really want a PDF, not (potentially) more unknown bloatware. Went ahead anyway.
- NAS Config
- To access the NAS Config (webpage):
- In browser, for this particular device, can simply enter its name.
- The default name was [Iomega-110496/], the numeric suffix being from the NAS’s MAC address.
- One can change this name in NAS Settings, explained further below (where I indeed did so).
- Its initially-displayed page is a demo ActiveFolder which presents a slideshow of any photos dragged into it. So you can e.g. use your laptop as a photo-frame. This is but one of several types of ActiveFolder. More on these later…
- Go to the Home page (via left-most menu)
- Go to Remote Access tab (via upper tab-selections)
- Ensure that Remote Access is disabled (for security).
- Also can see the full MAC address there.
- Go to Remote Access tab (via upper tab-selections)
- Go to the System page (via left-most menu)
- Go to Date and Time tab (via upper menu)
- Change it to the appropriate timezone. By default was the US’s EST. Changed it to GMT.
- Go to Settings tab.
- Change LED brightness down to minimum. These gimmicks are simply annoying.
- Change Machine Name from default
[Iomega-110496] to memorable [magibox].- Test it works by entering magibox as the address in a fresh browser page. Used Opera, which asked to put a “http://” at the front.
- Change machine description to read “Julie’s Home Network Drive”.
- Go to Date and Time tab (via upper menu)
- Go to the Folders page (via left-most menu)
- There is only one tab, “Folders”
- Click the [+] button at lower-left (scroll-down) to add a new folder.
- Add folders for each user- in line with my original scheme, to see if I can make that happen.
- When create folder for self it says something like “since this is the first time you are accessing this folder, would you like to assign a password for it?
- There is only one tab, “Folders”
- Go to the Active Folders page.
- Go to Photos and Files tab
- See the demo (slideshow) folder is there
- Add a new folder, [Julie’s YouTube]
- Inspected its Settings and it appeared already to have some YouTube details (username and password).
- Go to Photos and Files tab
- In browser, for this particular device, can simply enter its name.
- To access the NAS Config (webpage):
- The NAS offers other features like Bittorrent (in some way) but I haven’t investigated those yet.