Accessories

NAS (Network Attached Storage) drives are becoming the solution of choice for storing a wide range of digital media, including downloaded movies and TV, music, images and CD/DVD/Blu-ray rips. Speed, capacity and reliability are essential, and Buffalo’s Linkstation Pro LS-VL has all three.

This ‘Multimedia Shared Network Storage BitTorrent Download Box’, ships with a power supply, LAN cable and installation discs, and is available with built-in SATA hard drives in 1Tb, 1.5Tb and 2Tb sizes. Windows and Mac OSX compatible, the unit is simply plugged into any network Ethernet port or into the back of your wireless router, and instantly accessed from any networked device in your house.

The device features maximum transfer speeds up to 76MBps courtesy of a 1.6GHz CPU. DNLA compatibility means it will talk to practically any other networked device (such as a Smart TV), and it has a web-based BitTorrent client feature, so it can download files while your PC sleeps. Noise, while audible, is not distracting.

Software provided includes WebAccess and an App for accessing from portable devices.

Incorporates a USB port to attach devices such as printers and drives and for quick transfer of files from portable devices.

NovaBACKUP, TurboPC and Time Machine software are provided for efficient file backup.

Doesn’t feature USB 3.0, which will increasingly become available on portable devices.

Web-based management software can be a bit inscrutable at first.

Buffalo Linkstation Pro LS-VL
Price: £170 Approx

Overall: 4/5