When it comes to network storage solutions, Synology Inc. announced their product, USB Station 2. When it comes to swiftness of a network uplink and casual network storage needs, USB station 2 is a portable NAS server for home users. Through this product one can transfer data stored in external USB drives into a wireless medium. It has a robust web interface and features two USB ports for inputs.
Design and setup
The Design of the USB Station2 can be safely said to be compact, portable and comes in with reasonable features that would fulfill the needs of a local home user. It is probably the smallest devices seen in the market with a size that can dwell in a hand. Synology USB Station 2 features 2 USB ports, hosting capabilities upto a mammoth 6TB of storage, 3TB apiece.
The front face of the device has 3 LED lights for power, connection status and hard drive activity. On the back, there is a Gigabit Ethernet port and power connector with USB ports just besides it.
The device comes with a CD that contains software that helps setting up the device. Once installed, the software does the rest; it detects the NAS server, maps the shared folders and launches a robust, web interface. Furthermore, it has customizable features, for example once a device is connected via USB, it automatically turns into a public share folder that anyone can access. Later restrictions can be applied via Web’s Interface. The server supports both MAC and PC platforms, all one has to do is to plug in the removable device into the USB station 2.
Features
The USB Station 2 has a reasonable amount of features, keeping in focus the idea that it was meant to serve local home users for their everyday usage it lacks many advanced features one can have in a network server. It lacks a surveillance, photo stations, and inability to comply with RAID configurations. Never the less, it supports Apple’s time machine.
Interestingly, the USB Station 2 has the ability to stream digital content to all UPnP and DLNA compliant streamers and download station that allows downloads without a PC. The USB Station 2’s download station allows the server to download files from Internet automatically along with torrent services and finally to user’s ease, also allows downloading files from websites that require authentication. This feature is best for those users who download substantially, as this doesn’t require a PC.
File Station is also an attribute of the USB Station 2 where one can get into the NAS server storage through internet. It supports a long list of DDNS hosts and one can register through the devices Web Interface. Once that’s done, the File Station permits the NAS server share folder on the Internet. Other than this, multiple users can use the feature, where one can download a single file or a full folder and upload simultaneously.
The USB Station 2 also has a built in Disk Station manager, which has an excellent, robust, Web Interface, having a resemblance to that of an OS.