My New Toy: PCI Gigabit SOHO Network Storage NAS-01G

I recently got a new NAS device from Hong Kong, and decided to move my file server role from my PC to this neat little network device. Essentially, it is a Now I can turn off my PC, and still be able to access my files from my laptop. For some reason, entry-level NAS devices targeted at the general home user are not very common in Australia. In Hong Kong, there was even a mass review of similar devices from the PC3 Magazine (in which this model unfortunately didn’t make an appearance).

Ok, let’s start by taking a look at the box. I always read the box before I buy something – at least I know what I might be getting. Some of the features are quite interesting: Gigabit LAN, FTP, Web, Print server, and it even has DLNA compatible media server plus bittorrent client. Something that might be a little confusing is “JumboFrame. Initially I thought that it referred to an excessively bulky physical enclosure, but it turns out to be an enlarged TCP frame, so that more data squeezed into the same number of transmission units.

The device about three regular 3.5″ hard drives thick. The cross section is about the size of two of those hard drives side by side.

Essentially, it’s not that small but at the same time, it’s much smaller than your average file server computer. Let’s take a look at the specs:

• CPU: Motorola MPC8241 266MHz
• RAM: 64MB
• Flash: 4MB
• 1x 3.5″ ATA/133 hard disk slot
• 2x USB Ports

The guts of this device is fairly decent, much more than one would need to operate a simple file server. So I was quite content with what I got.

I remember that the sales guy pointed out to me a particular CD that would upgrade the functionality of the device. As usual, I decided to give it a try. Rather than a firmware upgrade that I expected, it turns out to be some sort of a hack to tap into the power of the device’s UNIX core. Basically, it consists of a shell script named “backdoor” that loads dropbear, a minimal SSH server, plus other features including UPnP and media server. How interesting.

Something that is even less expected is that PCI Japan actually supports the installation of Debian Linux on this NAS.

My final set up is, the NAS has replaced my PC and has taken over its role as File Server, Print Server and SSH Server. It is runnig Debian Sarge on kernel 2.4.21, and I’m starting to like it very much. I’ve discretely tucked it behind my trusty laser printer so it’s even freed up some of my desk space!