Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-200d 8 TB (4 X 2 TB) Network Attached Storage Server 34563
From Iomega
The Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d NAS Server offers content sharing with advanced security, and is ideal for small office, remote office or home networks. Based on enterprise-class EMC storage technology, the StorCenter ix4-200d provides dual GbE connections, easy file sharing, iSCSI block access, and multiple RAID configurations for optimized data protection. Business users will appreciate the robust data protection features such as UPS support, print serving, folder quotas, Rsync device-to-device replication, and user replaceable drives for business continuity and disaster recovery. The easy-to-use interface, Active Directory support, and remote access provide no-hassle management. The StorCenter ix4-200d supports up to five Axis IP security cameras for simple video surveillance applications. Home users will particularly benefit from the advanced media features such as the DLNA certified UPnP AV Media Server, PTP (Picture Transfer Protocol), torrent download compatibility, Bluetooth upload, and Colliris slide show plug-in. Award-winning EMC Retrospect Express backup software and RSA BSAFE encryption for protected installs and upgrades are included for advanced backup and security. Supports PC, Mac, and Linux clients and is VMware certified for NFS and iSCSI. Available in 2TB, 4TB and 8TB capacities.
Size: 8 TB Brand: Iomega Model: 34563 Dimensions: 6.60" h x 7.70" w x 7.90" l, 12.80 pounds Hard Disk: 2TB
What safety? I bought an Iomega 2Tb NAS (just like this, only lower capacity) two years ago. The motherboard died. Shouldn't be a big problem, should it? Well. Iomega's "policy" does not including selling replacement parts. It's out of warranty, so they told me to take a hike. My $1300 "peace of mind" equipment is now a piece of scrap metal. And I still have to recover the data, which hopefully will succeed. My lesson, buy from Iomega if you can amortize the cost over the warranty period. They have no concept of standing behind their products. And this is for the product whose purpose is to provide safety that your data will always be there!! ix4-200d is GREAT for VMware vSphere 4 I purchased the Iomega ix4-200d 4TB for an iSCSI server for VMware vSphere 4. Easy to set up, once you have your desktop on the same physical switch as the ix4-200d. It's discover protocol is not the best, but on the same switch it was found instantly. It is very, Very, VERY slow to create the iSCSI LUNs. Expect about an hour per 100gb to create. vCenter found the target instantly. The software enishator worked on the first try via the Dynamic Discovery. Had no problem putting a VMFS on the iSCSI LUN. The ix4-200d 4TB had 2.7TB of usable space. I was expecting at least 3TB with parity turned on. I now wished I purchased the 8TB server. It's a tad slow, but I must admit I have non-managed cheep switches in my test lab. Going to try some high end Cisco switches and see what happens. Promises, Promises Iomega StorCenter ix4-200d Promises, Promises The Iomega StorCenter models are a promising trend in NAS devices: there needs to be solutions that address the needs of the small office / home office without invoking requirements to have a mini-IT department to run things for you, and the ix4-200d seems to fill that bill. So when I picked-up the Iomega Storcenter ix4-200d last weekend, I was quite hopeful. Who can argue with the value of the following? 4 TB of raw storage, RAID 5 / 10 / JBOD capability, 1 GB network connectivity and even VMWare certification (for those of us who tinker with many OS's and need such a thing). But more importantly, I like others, have grown out of the Western Digital MyBooks that litter our offices and recognize the need for a more robust storage solution. So, as my first venture, I set the thing up to be the main backup unit in my home. It was a mistake. I am familiar enough with Windows and Linux to recognize that as I configure the thing for the first time that there is some embedded version of a *nux OS with Samba running with a nice front end to make it an easy experience to add the storage into my network. and I was doubly impressed to see that I could add the device to my active directory domain. To top it off, the iSCSI functionality inspired my thinking around my use of VMWare and the use of virtual storage solutions. But as excited as I was to explore all this functionality in such a cost-effective box, my prudence forced a more conservative approach, and I focused my energy on just creating a solid data store environment. My prudence paid-off: I can't get the thing to run reliably for more than 2 or 3 days at a time, and it has been a pain to get any of the special features to work for me. For example: That WD MyBook drive I mentioned above was 300 GB of data. I wanted to use the "QuikTransfer" feature advertised on the device. So I plugged-in the drive to the Iomega USB port, and waited...and waited...and eventually the device display shows a window asking if I want to transfer data (I assume it was cataloging what needed to be copied). I select "yes" (and very happy with the simplicity of the approach) and then waited. And waited. Slowly, VERY slowly, it reports 1% complete, then 2%, then 3%...by the end of the day it gets to 25%. Why so slow?? But I'm patient, and I wait. 2 days (!) later I check in the morning, and the thing fails. I mean, just stops at 71% complete. No response. No activity. No error message! With 2 days invested I try everything I can to revive the box, but to no avail. So I reboot the box. I try one effort to restart the copy process, but it doesn't work, so I give up. OK, I'm thinking the Quiktransfer feature (which is quite prominent in the device marketing) is buggy, I can live with that. So I plug the WD MyBook drive into my PC with 1.4 TB of storage to spare and copy the contents over in the matter of a few hours. Then I transfer that content to the ix4. It was MUCH faster and a more transparent process, so that is what I plan to do for the other USB storage devices that I plan to consolidate. The next morning, I check back on how my new storage array is doing. I had copied all my archive files and music into the thing and was looking forward to playing with the media sharing abilities. But what did I find? A dead brick. While I could ping the IP, none of the networking services worked. So I reboot again! Fortunately, the data didn't go away. On the other hand, that is not much comfort for spending $700 on a device that was going to be the backbone of SOHO accessibility and reliability! I'm sorry to say that I'm back in the market for the right device. Perhaps I just picked up a unit before the software team had a chance to catch-up to functional spec and by the time you read this they've scrambled on fixing the thing. I sincerely believe the feature set is dead-on and Iomega/EMC has a potential winner, but it is a BIG miss from a marketing standpoint if they think they can push storage reliability products out the door before the product is truly ready. Good luck guys.
