Iomega NAS – Initial Experiences

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 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 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?
      • 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).
  • The NAS offers other features like Bittorrent (in some way) but I haven’t investigated those yet.

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