LinkStation 710

Works great for the Time Machine backups on Mac Tahoe 26.2. Easy to setup by following their quick start guide and downloading the software. I had to do two firmware updates before using it; took about 30 minutes. Downloaded the owners manual and it easily walked me through setting up the Time Machine backup. First backup takes a few hours. Accessing the drive via Finder is easy and drive is very fast. I've got it plugged into my Xfinity cable modem with the supplied cable. The drive offers more than I need. I'm not doing the web access or iPhone connection. Noisy when doing the backup. Fits nicely on the desk. Hope it will have a long life like my Mac AirPorts. Going to run both the Buffalo and AirPorts for a bit to make sure all is well and until Mac stops supporting the AirPorts.

I gave this a chance because the price was so much better than the Synology NAS since disks were included. I have been trying to get network-attached storage set up so that I can have a location for my Time Machine backups. What I do like about it: - Disks are included which theoretically make things easier (and cheaper) - It has two drive bays and RAID 1 is automatically enabled, which is probably what most people want. - It also has some utilities for working with RAID including RAID scanning. - It has clear instructions for how to turn it on/off without damaging the disks. - The box itself is stylish and not overly large Setup was a bit worse. The Quick Start guide is sort of like an IKEA instruction booklet - not the greatest but you can figure out what they want you to do. However the user interface was otherwise a little confusing, for example they have two separate iPhone apps in addition to the laptop app, the download page is a bit clunky, there aren't any downloads for recent Mac versions (you have to go with a several-year-old Mac version), etc. On the whole the software was not confidence-inspiring. But whatever, that didn't bother me too much - I just wanted to get Time Machine setup. As long as that works, I don't care about the rest. So I followed the instructions and it seemed like it was working. But then it just cut out and stopped. This happened several times. From Googling I got the idea to ping the NAS to see if it was connected, and sure enough, the problem seems to be that the NAS and the laptop can only connect intermittently. From the record of my pings, I can see that they are connected 5-10% of the time, and disconnected the rest. That's not a great ratio. The NAS is connected to my WiFi router by Ethernet. My laptop, WiFi router, and NAS are all in the same room. I purchased my WiFi router 2-3 years ago. During the time when my laptop cannot connect to the NAS, I can still browse web pages. That's particularly confusing because it means that there's no problem with my laptop's connection to the WiFi router, and the router and NAS are connected by Ethernet. I'm not sure what I'm missing. Unfortunately this seems to be a common problem with NAS routers, and I don't really know the solution. My old Apollo had a similar problem I think. However, I think that Buffalo should provide troubleshooting instructions for attempting to address these problems. If they can't fix this problem, I think they should just stop selling their product.

The NAS just arrived a little bit ago. I found the quick setup guide to be very easy to follow mostly because all the steps are so simple. If you need more detailed instructions, the full manual is available for download. I'd say it took me about 5 minutes to hook it up to the network, turn it on, download the software, install it on my PC, and have it up and running. It took me about 10 more minutes to read about setting up folders and set up what I wanted. It was so simple I probably could have skipped the instructions. Then it took me about 15 minutes to set up the DLNA server, which I am completely new to, and have it running on my Roku TV with the Roku Media Player. So far it seems to be working flawlessly, ofcourse we will have to see if that lasts. Pros: 1) Extremely cheap when you consider it comes with two 2TB hard drives installed. 2) Super easy setup 3) Super easy and very simple web interface 4) Have it working on multiple computers and my DLNA Roku very quickly 5) EULA was super short and simple unlike some other NAS companies that I saw have EULAs requiring that you allow them the right to audit your use of the device, access your site, see your books, etc. Are you kidding me? 6) Has a USB connection for an external drive which I think will come in handy Cons 1) Maybe lacking in utilities compared to some other companies. I just wanted very basic functionality so I'm actually happy without all the extras. 2) Speeds copying data over the network to the drive so far have been about 17 MB/s for one computer and combined 24 MB/s when copying from two computers at once. I don't know how much of that is the device and how much is the other drives I'm copying from. But, it does seem a little on the slow side to me.

Device works well, and support is quite responsive. I am on my third - a 220, and two 720's. They work great for data storage. And when the DLNA feature works, it makes it easy to stream media within your house. But that is broken. Would have given 5 stars, but DLNA server has been broken since the December update, and this is March. I have tried their test firmware update, and it works fine. Installed it a month ago, on my OLDER 720 DLNA is an advertised feature for the home versions (NOT SOHO). If you are a home user, you want that version, as it lets you store media and play it in your house on devices like ROKU, phones, tablets, etc. I will state this is a great network storage device, and its backup feature means you can back up the data, too, without going over the network (attach a POWERED usb external drive) But I also use the DLNA feature to stream to our two ROKU devices and tablets.

Super easy to setup. Very fast and reliable.

The installation is fairly simple, and the Ikea-like Quick Setup Guide is quite adequate for making the initial setup easy. The problem I encountered was using the software to configure the unit. It failed to find the unit but gave no errors or clues about what might be wrong. The claim was that the support is great so I thought it would be moderately easy to get an answer. I was wrong. I found the support page on their website but the only telephone option was to call sales. The victim must enter the serial number of the unit which is not all that easy to find. I entered my number and was directed to enter a message to support. I received no acknowledgement that my support query had been accepted so I kept searching on the interweb for possible reasons for my unit not being detected and found that it had to be on the same subnet. After rearranging my network, I was able to configure the unit but then could not create the shares with various issues. I found an article about having to create Windows credentials and that got me closer but still no joy. I had registered my unit as a first step. As I was trying to research the issue, I received an email telling me that my warranty had been accepted. I went back to their support page and, this time, after entering my serial number I was given a support telephone number to call. The support person was helpful and knowledgeable. He corrected the settings being still set to being DISABLED which he indicated were the default. I still have a hard time believing that the unit comes with the shares being disabled but it works, now. Buffalo needs to improve the software side of the installation and give their victims hints and guidance about what may be causing issues. I have installed the backup software, but it seems rather lame and ineffective. Hopefully, it is better than it appears on first blush.

Exceeds expectations so far. All I really wanted was a basic network storage drive for my home office so I can have that magic "L:" drive or whatever accessible by all my machines on the network can map to for central location storage location for test data, business admin data, personal data, whatever. Being my first NAS I decided to go with this less-expensive model (without RAID) as a low-risk intro, and so far I'm very impressed. Bonus Features: This is probably why most other people buy this thing, but I like the idea of it doubling as a media server for the whole home wifi network also. NOTES for PC users - read this and it might save you a few minutes: -I noticed some negative comments about the setup, and it can be a little misleading. It actually came with a cd/dvd, and the setup instructions (which ironically you don't really end up needing) said you're supposed to run the driver setup from the dvd (as if everyone still has a dvd drive!). Not having dvd drive I downloaded the software from Buffalo support site, and it said "it couldn't find a device on the network that needs updating". To me this sounded like it couldn't find the drive, but after getting a little frustrated and researching it turns out the firmware was just already up-to-date. Logging into my router admin I could see the device just fine and get its IP, and the admin tool accessible by typing the ip into a browser is nice and intuitive (if you're remotely familiar with basic pc/networking concepts). It is there where I started looking around at features and discovered I can plug a usb storage device right into this thing AND easily set up backup jobs from the drive to the storage drive. Also cool I can actually see the USB drive from that network share also - pretty sweet and versatile looking. Overall I give it a 4.7 out of 5.0 so (-0.1 for slightly misleading instructions, and -0.2 because it actually had a dvd come with it! lol)

My husband was a network admin for 14 years and still needed help getting it set up, but I have to give props to Tech Support. They were professional and very efficient. No frustrated vibes or overly technical explanations. (not a big deal in our case, but may matter to some!) The nas is incredible slow to log into from my children's chromebooks. I'm using a high end gaming laptop and its still slow from my system although not as bad. Once in things move a bit faster although its much slower than what you are used to with modern tech. It provides a lot of storage which is the main point I guess. The final issue we keep having is that we can't pull up the web access. From time to time it simply won't load. Sometimes it is only 1 of my kids that can't load the page while the other 4 students log in on the first try. We use our mostly for school video lessons and large file storage. Once loaded the video's play fine with minimal lags. We've had lots of little problems over the last year with this product. Today I couldn't log in. I finally realized that the password rolled back to a password from months ago. All my files from the last few months are gone, the file organization that I worked so hard on is gone.... I've emailed support, but I'm not sure if they received it since I received an error message immediately after submitting it. This device is slow and glitchy. It extended our space significantly, but it has been frustrating the entire time. Lags, a constant need to reboot, very slow uploads... I would love to go back in time and return this device.