Jon Westfall
08-24-2010, 03:00 PM
<h6><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/resizer/thumbs/size/600/dht/auto/1282406925.usr1.jpg" style="border: 0;" /></h6><h6><strong>Prod</strong><strong>uct Category:</strong> Network Attached Storage System</h6><h6><strong>Manufacturer:</strong> <a href="http://www.seagate.com/www/en-us/products/network_storage/home-network-storage" target="_blank">Seagate</a></h6><h6><strong>Where to Buy:</strong> <a href="http://astore.amazon.com/digitalhomethoughts-20/detail/B003SU4BXQ" target="_blank">Amazon</a> [Affiliate]</h6><h6><strong>Price:</strong> $159.00 USD</h6><h6><strong>System Requirements:</strong> Router with an available Ethernet port–WiFi router required for wireless file access and backup; Internet connection for activation and Internet file sharing; Internet Explorer® 7, Firefox® 3.x, Chrome 4.x, Safari® 3, or later web browser; Windows® 7, Windows Vista®, Windows® XP or Mac OS® X 10.4.9 or later operating system, and, of course, data needing to be stored.</h6><h6><strong>Specifications:</strong> 3.13in L x 5.31in W x 6.75in H (80mm x 135mm x 171mm). Weight: 2.81lb (1.28kg); Available in 1 TB and 2 TB sizes.</h6><p><strong>Pros:</strong></p><ul><li>Small & Self Contained;</li><li>Basic Backup Software Included;</li><li>USB Port.</li></ul><p><strong>Cons:</strong></p><ul><li>Administrative Interface Is Not User Friendly;</li><li>Flaky Time Machine Backups;</li><li>Lack of SSH Access.</li></ul><p><strong>Summary:</strong> Seagate's GoFlex Home Provides a bare-bones Network Attached Storage (NAS) System for a reasonable price. It's set-and-forget configuration lets you rest easy knowing your backups are done automatically in the background while you work or sleep. But does it do enough for hardcore users? And will it keep normal users safe?<MORE /></p><h1>Getting It Set Up</h1><p>The GoFlex Home system is fairly simple to configure, both the hardware and the software. After unboxing, one merely places the hard drive into the small cradle and follows the simple directions: make sure power switch is off, plug into power, plug into router (using included Ethernet cable), and turn on. By the time you find a suitable place for it near your router, it's booted up and ready to be found on the network.</p><p>The included disk, which works for both Mac and PC clients, should be guarded carefully - at this point I don't believe Seagate has the software available online! I performed the initial configuration on my Macbook Pro and found it pretty straight forward - the installed stepped me through finding the device, which was pretty easy as it gets it's own address from the router through DHCP, and setting up an administrative user and password. You can assign it a static IP later through the web configuration utility.</p><p>On the PC, Seagate has included a customized version of Memeo Instant Backup, and trials of other Memeo products in case you'd like to try them. On the Mac, Seagate has a utility that will allow Time Machine to see the drive as a backup device similar to Apple Time Capsules. The setup on the PC is much easier than on the Mac, and seems less likely to die. Twice now I've had the Mac backup become corrupted and need to be re-backed-up entirely. This might not be a big deal for a desktop system, but it is quite a problem with a laptop. My Macbook only backs up when it's on and in use, so when the lid is closed and the system is in standby, no backups. My Macbook also is usually only connected to my network through WiFi. And, finally, it has approximately 100 GB of data to back up.</p><p>These three things mean that my Macbook will NEVER backup on it's own unless I leave it open with an Ethernet cable connecting it to the router overnight. Or maybe two nights. I wouldn't mind doing this once, but in three weeks it's needed the complete backup three times, so one might want to steer clear of the GoFlex if your only systems are Mac laptops. Mac desktops would probably do better with a Time Capsule, but in a mixed household (like mine, Macs and PCs living in harmony), the GoFlex may be a good addition.</p><h1>Initial Backup</h1><p>The initial backup experience could be described as long and "dangerous". Painful it was not - once I set up the software, it backed up diligently. Long though - with about 500 GB of data to back up over 2 machines, the backups took quite awhile. Dangerous because in order to facilitate a faster backup, I had to break out the trusty 50 ft. of Ethernet cabling to run a line straight to the machines; so one needed to be careful on those nights in the house, not to accidentally trip!</p><p>You won't find anything fancy with the included software on the PC - it's pretty bare bones. It seeks out types of files you're likely to want to back up, but will allow you to add specific folders and Windows Mail data. On the Mac, configuration is extremely limited as well. Once it's set up, Time Machine has it's own schedule it tries to maintain, and as I said, if anything goes wrong with the connection between the computer and the disk (like say going into standby at the wrong time), it may corrupt the entire backup, requiring a re-backup.</p><p><PAGE /></p><h1>Advanced Customization & Caveats</h1><p>So you're a tinkering hacker and you'd like to play around with the device. How might one do that? Well, you may notice an open SSH port, however your username and password won't work with it. There are references to an FTP server, although if you're like me and don't like the idea of sending files unencrypted over the Internet, than that might not be all that attractive. The configuration you can get, however, is a fairly interesting web-based configuration utility</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1281065666.usr7.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 1: Like a minimalistic interface? You've Found It!</em></p><p>The web interface lets you configure shares, the "Seagate Share" lets you work with Seagate's predefined shares, and the Preferences lets you set, well, preferences. You may notice the interface takes a bit of time to load...</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1281065814.usr7.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 2: Long enough to let me fire up a screen shot utility and capture this graphic</em></p><p>One might wonder why Preferences on the GoFlex Home takes time to load. After all, my router's web interface loads up pretty speedily. Then one might be tempted to right click and see this:</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1281065916.usr7.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 3: Yep, that's right, it's written in Flash</em></p><p>Yeah, so, I appreciate a good User Interface as much as anyone else; I certainly don't want something that looks ugly. But why in the world would one code the administrative interface to a web appliance, something that most users will only see a few times during normal use, in <strong>FLASH</strong>? Seriously, this thing takes long enough to load that I hope I don't make a mistake and switch tabs too quickly - it'll be another 15 seconds to get back to where I was. In Figure 3 you can see a bunch of nice bullet-pointed items, that you can click on and have expand below. This is how the entire Preference page is set up. Now flash lets you do some nice things, like have tool tips pop up when you hover over something. But Seagate didn't include that, so if I want to find a specific setting, it may take some digging to find exactly what to expand, making the page longer and longer.</p><p>Of course, that assumes that the setting is even there. Remember how I was talking about Time Machine backups? Well Apple in it's infinite wisdom decided that time machine backups should just keep expanding until the disk became full, then start overwriting themselves (How's that for a one user - one time capsule approach?). On a 1 TB NAS, I might not want all the space devoted to one thing. Thankfully GoFlex segregates my Time Machine backups away from the rest of my files. So I'll just head over to the Computer Backup tab and set a quota so it doesn't take up the whole drive.</p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//wpt/auto/1281066258.usr7.png" style="border: 1px solid #d2d2bb;" /></p><p><em>Figure 4: Oh Right, they didn't include quota support</em></p><p>So I guess my Time Machine backups will just keep on going, on and on and on until the disk is full. That's annoying. You can get some additional features if you sign up for Seagate's professional service, however in my book, some of those features should have been free with the purchase of the device.</p><p><PAGE /></p><h1>Pros and Cons</h1><p>Some of the items I found during my testing period really didn't fit into the setup description above, but I felt I had to mention them. Here's a quick rundown:</p><ul><li><strong>Pro</strong>: The GoFlex has an USB port, which lets you attach additional storage. I plugged in a Maxtor External drive I purchased on Black Friday a few years ago and it found the 500 GB drive and mounted it nicely. It even has a special share set up for "External Storage" which automatically shares out whatever is plugged into the port. That's a nice way to let a user go from external hard drive storage to NAS storage without losing valuable gigabytes!</li><li><strong>Con: </strong>The Memeo Instant Backup software is certainly bare bones, but it works. It does have quirks though - for instance, if I switch off wireless internet on my laptop and connect through an Ethernet cable, the software can't seem to find the NAS. A reboot usually fixes this, but switching back to WiFi will not.</li><li><strong>Pro: </strong>This thing is really unobtrusive. Living in a small apartment means that some things live in odd spots. My WiFi router and cable modem are on a dresser at the foot of the bed, meaning the GoFlex has to live next to them. The lights and sound produced by the device are subtle - no bright blue flashing LEDs or loud exhaust fans. This is much appreciated.</li><li><strong>Pro: </strong>For the majority of users, the included setup and configuration options are more than sufficient for the price. A quick search of an online retailer shows plenty of external 1 TB drives that are more expensive than the GoFlex Home, yet provide no network functionality.</li><li><strong>Pro: </strong>For someone like me who has all laptops at his home, the GoFlex is a great way to have storage accessible no matter what computers are running. I can power down my systems and be heading out the door for a vacation when I realize I need something - no powering up the gaming laptop just to get something off it's hard drives! While traveling it is possible to FTP into the GoFlex, which is also a nice feature.</li><li><strong>Con: </strong>You get what you pay for, I would have liked more features and certainly an interface that didn't take forever to load.</li></ul><p><em></em></p><h1>The Final Verdict?</h1><p>The GoFlex Home is a solid product that will do what it advertises. It may have a bit of a clunky interface, and it does use Seagate drives (obviously), so if you're not too crazy about their hard disks (like some of my friends are), beware. However if you want a decent NAS to start with, don't want to run a server at all times at home, and don't run only Macintosh laptops, it will be worth your time to check out. It would also be a great device for someone who is just starting to need something more than flash drives and external hard drives.</p><p><em>Jon Westfall is the News Editor for Windows Phone Thoughts, a member of the Thoughts Media Network. When not writing about technology, he serves as the Associate Director for Research and Technology at the Center for Decision Sciences at Columbia University. In his spare time, Dr. Westfall enjoys sleeping and eating, and spending time with his wife, Karey. You can learn more about him at his website, <a href="http://jonwestfall.com" target="_blank">JonWestfall.Com</a>.</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//ppct/auto/1240336793.usr1.gif" /></p><p><strong>Do you enjoy using new hardware, software and accessories, then sharing your experience with others? Then join us on the <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com/reviewteam.php" target="_blank">Thoughts Media Review Team</a>! We're looking for individuals who find it fun to test new gear and give their honest opinions about the experience. It's a volunteer role with some great perks. 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