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Hotway LanDrive HD9-U2LA

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Hotway LanDrive HD9-U2LA
 
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By Ron Prouse
Oct 18, 2006
Tags: NAS | smb | samba | FTP | dhcp | hotway | HD9-u2la | u2la | hd9

An ordinary case external drive case that doubles as a DHCP server. And triples as a Samba server. And Quadruples as...

The LanDrive is essentially an external HDD enclosure constructed mainly of solid, brushed aluminium with extra plastic bits.

The installation of a 3.5" IDE hard drive is straightforward; just remove two Phillips head screws and four thumbscrews to gain access to the drive rack, plug in the internal IDE and power cables and then secure the drive in place. The only file table choice is FAT32, so file sizes exceeding 4GB are a limitation, however it does support 48-bit LBA to a theoretical maximum of 2TB.

The unit is powered by an external switching supply, but at least it is on the end of an extension lead, not an irritating brick. Once operational, the drive is plugged into a network point, and then accessed by a Web-based control panel to set up the parameters and permissions. The first step is to make sure that the drive is configured to your LAN workgroup – missing that little detail cost us about 10 minutes of pure frustration! The LanDrive can also be set-up as a DHCP server, but if it detects an existing DHCP server on the network it will automatically disable this function. As an SMB (Samba) server you can share files and folders, with the ability to set share permissions, and the FTP feature has similar flexibilities. A final nicety is the power management feature, allowing the drive to spin-down after an inactive period of your choice.

Some things just make you exclaim, ‘Oh, yeah!’, and if you get excited about home network NAS capability (as we do) then this product will certainly fire your engines.

 
Product Info
Specs:
Aluminium 3.5" external hard drive enclosure; USB/Ethernet connection; SMB and FTP server.
Supplier:
Price when reviewed:
AUD$129
price check*
$82.50 (Und5) Ex-Demo Enclosure for 3.5" SATA HDD, Hotway, HD9-SU2LA, NAS USB2/LAN...
EYO Technologies (NSW)
$88.00 Hotway HD9-SU2LA NAS Networkable 3.5' Enclosure
SkyComp Technology (NSW)
$91.00 Hotway HD9-SU2LA NAS Networkable 3.5' Enclosure
Opalia Computers (NSW)
$97.81 (Und5) Enclosure for 3.5" SATA HDD, Hotway, HD9-SU2LA, NAS USB2/LAN. Silver...
EYO Technologies (NSW)
$99.00 Hotway Landrive HD9-U2LA NAS 3.5inch External Enclosure for IDE HDD
Penta Computers (NSW)
$99.00 3.5' Hotway HD9-U2LA Lan IDE Enclosure
DIY Computers (NSW)
*Products and prices sourced from staticICE and are in no way associated with Atomic MPC Powered by
 
This article appeared in the November, 2006 issue of Atomic.

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Atomic Magazine

Issue: 107 | December, 2009

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.
 
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