D-Link DNS-323 NAS

[Rob Williams]

There's something to be said for convenient, mappable network storage. NAS not only offers an affordable way to keep your data safe, but also a handy way to share all your "stuff". As our review states, this name branded BYOD NAS box delivers on all fronts.

You can read the full review here and discuss it here!

[Merlin]

Looks like a lot of usable features,

In the test of speeds, what drives did you use?

I could see using a couple of 500 mb drives to total a tera bite storage.
And also I see Circuit City being the cheapest.

Merlin

[Greg King]

The drives used in the review were a pair of Seagate 750 GB ES drives. Just to keep you posted, if you like network storage, wait for the next two NAS boxes we look at. They take the functionality of this D-Link and add a lot more. Should be fun.

Glad to have found this review; I've been looking at them for a while, but .....

I didn't notice in your post any reference to what OS you used. The manufacturer's site says Win XP, with Vista soon .... I've got a mixed network with Vista and XP (okay, and one old Win 98, but that's just for vintage games), and would like to know if anyone has some experience with this NAS in Vista? Also, perhaps a few words from anyone that's used the print server function? Thanks for your input!

[Greg King]

The print server functionality of the NAS is pretty straight forward. As for it working with Vista, I will try that out today and get back to you. I cannot imagine it not working with Vista, just map the drive with the correct path but I will confirm this for you this afternoon. Thanks for reading through the review.

I appreciate your quick get-back.

I know the print server function should be straight-forward, but this is the real world. I've been through a few other NAS's that were supposed to offer this function, only to run into a long series of snafus ... you know, the kind where even with their tech support (and I'm not exactly computer illiterate myself) there was no positive resolution.

Similar with Vista; should be straight-forward, but nothing with Vista seems full-cooked. And that doesn't even count the half-baked drivers the manufacturers are putting out ... but I diverge....

Anyway, THANKS for your post, and your follow through!

[Greg King]

Don't thank me yet

Give me a day or so and I will test out the print server and Vista connectivity and report back with any information thats remotely relevant.

Will this work in a Mac/PC Mixed Network? Also can an Xbox 360 connect to the media?

Thanks,
Jamison

[Greg King]

From what I have read online, getting the 323 to play nicely with both Macs and PCs is difficult and requires a debian install on the DNS itself. With that said, I do not own a Mac so I can't guarantee any of this to be true.

As for the 360, if you will give me some time to look around, or barrow one, I will test this out for you as well. I am currently waiting for my 360 to come back from Microsoft. I am glad they made the warranties 3 years.

I've installed the DNS-323 and I can't get it map to my computer. Funny enough, I was able to get it map on my XP PRO installed in virtual server (MS Virtual PC 2007) on my Vista machine. I spoke to level 2 support at D-LINK for 2 hours and wasn't able to be fix (they are very bad). Seems that we need to wait for the Vista driver... unless someone get it right. If so, just let me know and post your solution.

Yann

you mentioned you were going to review 2 other NAS devices. has those reviews been published? curious as i just purchased a DNS-323 and now im thinking this purchase maybe premature

thanks

I too have vista and having problems with mapping the drives. Anybody knows the solution other than waiting for a new firmware?

[Greg King]

I will contact D-Link tomorrow about this issue and see if they are knowledgeable about any resolution... that and I can retest the device and see if I can get things to work.

I've just bought a DNS-323 and couldn't get it to map from Vista. In my desparation to get it working I downloaded the beta 1.04 of the firmware from some obscure site.
The Vista mapping now works great and speed is fantastic and thought my problems had been fixed.
But no, the firmware has ISSUES with Office 2007 files, namely Excel .xlsx files and screws up the permissions, so even if you copy them back, they are corrupted.

Sure, its beta software and I shouldn't have used it. I haven't lost my originals. But due to the mapping issues with 1.03, I was forced into the beta firmware.

Unless this issue is solved soon, I'll be investing in a legitimate NAS, not this solution

This is an issue with the version of samba used on the DNS-323:

Run secpol.msc

Go to: Local Policies > Security Options

Find "Network Security: LAN Manager authentication level"

Change Setting from "Send NTLMv2 response only"
to
"Send LM & NTLM - use NTLMv2 session security if negotiated"

Vista defaults to only send the more secure NTLMv2 protocol, which these NAS devices / Samba do not support.