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NetGear Stora MS2000 NAS $59 OR Asus RT-N56U + Norton 360 Bundle $149 After Cashback @ Wireless1

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NetGear Stora MS2000 NAS $59 OR Asus RT-N56U + Norton 360 Bundle $149 After Cashback @ Wireless1
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ccrap on 23/04/2012 - 18:23 wireless1.com.au (1166 clicks)
Last edited 23/04/2012 - 18:54

I went into Wireless1 today (Parramatta NSW) to grab the Norton + Asus RT-N13 bundle posted by acek47 and saw these two awesome deals. Whipped out the phone and did a quick check on staticice, getprice etc and was cheapest I could find.

NetGear Stora MS2000 for $59
My review: This is user friendly NAS at its very best. I needed another NAS unit and was contemplating picking up one of those HP Microserver deals, but at this price it was a no brainer. Even though I am quite tech savvy, I just didn't want to muck about setting up FreeNAS etc on the HP. With this just plonk in a cheap internal drive (or 2) and you can use either the full capacity of both or set it up where one drive mirrors the other (like RAID). I am impressed by the fact that even at this price there's quite a bit of flexibility and options available if you want to use more advanced features rather than just have a simple setup. It's also looks pretty good and takes up much less space than my WD ShareSpace NAS. I'll post more thoughts after I've had a better play with it.

Asus RT-N56U Dual Band Wireless N Router + Norton 360 v6 Retail for $209 - $60 cashback from Norton = $149
At this price was the cheapest I could find for the router alone, with the Norton a bonus (maybe eBay it).
My review: I picked up this router last year given the great reviews on lots of tech sites including smallnetbuilder, cnet etc and am extremely pleased with it. Yes you can't put custom firmware on it like DD-WRT and Tomato, but Asus pumps out firmware updates pretty often and the latest version which I downloaded few weeks back is awesome. Router runs very well with no reboots so far, excellent range and most importantly streams HD via the attached USB HDD (the router has 2 x USB ports) to my TV in the lounge without skips. Also has a BT download manager so I don't need to have a computer running all day whilst downloading all those "linux distros" :D Anyway ended up grabbing one as an early birthday present for the bestie - he's a big an of my setup and he's still on Linksys WRT54G so I thought this will nicely bring him into this decade.

Some thoughts:
- Pickup is free from the Parramatta store. I did a quick check on their postage calculator (which thank god doesn't require you to log in first) and most metro cities around Australia were between $9 and $15, which seems reasonable.
- Norton cashbacks expire end of this month so get in quick if you are keen. More details here: http://au.norton.com/360-cashback/promo
- Been a while since my last post, been doing more hoarding than contributing so hope others find this useful too :) Sorry if TLDR, thought some might find the end user feedback handy.

Computing Antivirus Software NAS NetGear Software Symantec

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closed Comments

  • Forgot69 on 23/04/2012 - 18:27
    +4

    Careful with the NetGear Stora. It will likely only satisfy the most basic of uses. Like always, do research! ;)

    • Forgot69 on 24/04/2012 - 12:02

      During my 'said' research on this device I found http://www.openstora.com/ If you do get tempted by this price and end up grabbing one it looks like a very good resource for opening up the capabilities of the device.
      I ended up upgrading to the ReadyNAS Duo (RND2000) but I'm a little disappointed even with it. HP on the next round me thinks! ;)

      • retiredfeline on 24/04/2012 - 12:33

        I was tempted to get another toy to play with for $59 but comments on the openstora wiki indicate that the greatest limitation for experimenting with adding capabilities is the meager 128MB RAM, which unfortunately is not upgradable. But it is certainly cheap for what it does.

  • asa79 on 23/04/2012 - 18:45

    Transfer speed of the Netgear wont be as high as the HP tho, so will struggle with streaming HD movies to multiple users around the house

    • AzzaD on 23/04/2012 - 20:11

      haven't done more than 1 HD movie streaming at the one time but it handles that well

  • ccrap on 23/04/2012 - 18:58

    @forgot69 and asa79: Yes that's true, its a basic NAS but at that price I'm pretty happy with the features and performance given the pricepoint. I'm sure most regular home users will find it sufficient for backing up and storage of files/photos/home media. True multiple HD streams will probably choke it but personally I don't do multi HD steams at one time so should be fine for me.

  • grab_ur_freebies on 23/04/2012 - 19:37

    At this price its better to get this unit than 2x 3.5" enclosure, cables & AC adaptors.

  • bolt_krank on 23/04/2012 - 19:44

    Like other's have mentioned - don't expect enterprise-grade performance, but for what it is - I think it's very good price. I'd pay up to around 80 for one (but I bought and HP the other day)

  • LightYear8 on 23/04/2012 - 20:37

    very bad comments on cnet users.
    http://www.cnet.com.au/netgear-stora-ms2110-339298673.htm#co…

    • Savabuck on 23/04/2012 - 23:31

      The c/net review is for the MS2110. The model refered to by the OP is the MS2000. Not sure what the difference is between the two but the review referes to the unit coming with 1TB drive and that the second drive bay can only be used as RAID1 (i.e. not to increase storeage) - so I guess there must be at least some firmware differences.

      • tonyjzx on 24/04/2012 - 02:13
        +1

        theres no firmware differences

        the ms2110 comes with a drive, the ms2000 doesn't, that's all

  • bargaino on 24/04/2012 - 00:02

    What does it do? I'm guessing a it runs SAMBA on linux.

    Probably DNLA ? A few spec's would be nice. Specs are blank at the Netgear website.

  • Make it so on 24/04/2012 - 00:26
    +2

    I set up a stora for someone, and found that it can only be configured through an internet website, and that the stora must be connected to the internet to be able to configure it. At the same time, I found it not possible to disable internet file access. In other words, the only way to prevent internet access to your files (albeit password protected) is to disconnect it from the internet, which means you can no longer configure it.

    I also found it difficult to reliably assign drive letters to the stora folders, because unless the "stora agent" authenticates itself to the stora before Windows maps your drives, it won't work.

    It is possible that I missed something, but I really would not recommend a stora.

    • Telios on 24/04/2012 - 10:53

      found that it can only be configured through an internet website…

      That's a huge fail. I don't need another net-facing device.

  • [Deactivated] on 24/04/2012 - 00:46

    Including delivery to Perth this is about $4 better than Shopping Express and $7 more expensive than picking up from MSY.

    shrug

  • Cap N on 24/04/2012 - 11:00

    "Even though I am quite tech savvy, I just didn't want to muck about setting up FreeNAS etc on the HP."

    +1

    This is exactly why I'm going to get a NAS instead of the HP too. Can't be bothered with the hassle of FreeNAS.

  • dealsealer on 24/04/2012 - 15:39

    Guys stay away from the Stora, I tried to upgrade the firmware and bricked the damn thing. Sent it back to Netgear and they sent me a new unit. Mind you I had to pay $20 postage to Sydney.

    Bought a Microserver a month ago and I couldn't be any happier with it. Spent 2 days configuring Ubuntu, Servioo, CouchPotato and Sickbeard. All worth it. Work a treat now :)

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