Network Attached Storage (Nas) is a good description of what the EasyStore does. By connecting one or more hard drives to your network, with the firmware to handle it, you can have a common point for backup and media serving. The EasyStore can handle automated backups and serve photos, music or video.
While you can achieve the same using local storage, the advantage of Nas is that you have multiple drives physically separate from the Macs they serve. With two or more drives - the 1TB EasyStore has four 250GB Sata drives - you can arrange them in a Raid configuration, providing two levels of back-up in one unit. With a Raid 1 configuration one drive mirrors everything on the other.
This way, if a hard drive in the Nas fails, and eventually all hard drives will fail, all your data is still safe on the other. By simply sliding out the dead drive and sliding in a new one, you can restore the whole Nas. The EasyStore automatically copies the data from the surviving drive to the added one and you're double protected again. Using this configuration halves the total available space to 500GB, of course. The Easystore also supports Raid 5, which provides the same redundancy as Raid 1 but, because of the way it distributes data, makes 750GB available for use. If you don't need the extra protection, you can use Raid 0 and stripe all four disks for extra speed, instead.
Physically, the EasyStore is around the size of two Mac minis turned on their sides, so it doesn't take up much room. At the front are four drive bays, each with a quick release latch, so you can exchange drives should the need arise. There are rather small indicators for drive and network activity, and not much else. At the back are power and network sockets and two for USB drives.
Access to the EasyStore setup is simple via a web browser and you can setup individual user accounts to provide security when several people are sharing the storage space. You can define shared storage areas too, for pooling files across a business or workgroup.
To set up the EasyStore initially, you're advised to connect direct from a computer to the Nas, via an Ethernet cable. You have to put your Mac into the same IP address range and subnet as the default settings on the easyStore to achieve this.
The EasyStore could really do with an installation guide written in good English and not aimed for the network manager of an IT department. This product is intended primarily for small businesses, most of whom won't have dedicated support staff, so the kind of networking language used isn't always helpful.
Also unhelpful is the lack of any Mac-based backup software. PC customers get free software to automate scheduled backups, but there's nothing included for the Mac. There are plenty of third-party back-up applications available, so it's a shame Acer couldn't bundle one or make it available for download.
Once installed, the easyStore is a no-fuss solution for fast, secure backup of all kinds of Mac data, but a bit more help with the setup wouldn't go amiss.
Needs Ethernet network + Knowledge of addressing, backup softwareAuthor: Simon Williams
Acer EasyStore 1TB