Tag Archive for NAS

QNAP Pushes Out Native iPad Media Streaming App

March 31, 2011 Matt No comments
Qmobile

Network storage producer QNAP released a free iPhone app a while back that allowed you to stream your photos, music and video from your QNAP NAS to your portable device over the internet, now they’ve taken it one step further and released a native iPad version of their Qmobile suite.

There isn’t any additional functionality when compared to the small screen version, but the additional screen real estate of the iPad means that the whole experience is a lot more pleasant.

Basically, with a little bit of port forwarding set up on your home router, you’ll have full access to all of the media stored on your QNAP NAS drive from anywhere with a WiFi connection.  Even on a 3G signal you’ll still be able to browse your photo library, though music and video will be off limits unless you can find a WiFi hotspot.

Qmobile will play back any MP3, WMA or (unprotected) AAC audio file.  Unfortunately, video playback is restricted to the same MP4 files that the iPad can natively play, so you can’t stream, say, an AVI file to the iPad.


That being said, audio playback works absolutely fine, in fact I’m sitting in a hotel room right now streaming Newton Faulkner to my iPad as I type this.  There’s literally a one or two second gap between tracks while it buffers but other than that playback is flawless, you’re even treated to a thumbnail of the album artwork should one be available.

Video playback is a slightly different story, I’m sure that with a faster internet connection available I would be able to receive streaming video, but so far I’ve just been treated to a black screen while it buffers.  You also have to consider the upload speed of your home broadband connection, mine is reasonably quick but I doubt that many basic broadband customers would be able to stream video at all, at least for now anyway.

All in all, this is a great free update for QNAP, especially considering that it supports NAS drives that are now nearly 3 years old, as well as their latest models.  It’s not exactly a reason to buy a QNAP NAS in the first place, but if you have one and also have an iPad it’s a fantastic way to reduce the amount of space tied up with music.

 

**UPDATE** – Well, I left the iPad buffering a video (more out of curiousty than anything else) while I went to have a shower, I came back and it was blissfully playing “The Marine” to itself (yeah, I know, but it’s the only film on my NAS in MP4 format).  It obviously took a while to buffer but playback is flawless, it seems if your WiFi connection is fast enough you CAN happily stream video via Qmobile to your iPad.

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Review: Synology DS411j NAS Server

March 4, 2011 Matt No comments

Over the last couple of years, networked home storage has been growing in popularity.  During that time, more and more technology manufacturers have gotten on board and churned out so called “Home Servers” that blur the line between corporate grade storage and home media management.  The problem is that while a lot of these devices from major manufacturers such as Netgear and DLink do a respectable job, the market has fast become bogged down with cheap imports and copies from the Far East that feature slow processors, low amounts of memory and, sometimes, questionable compatibility.

The DS411J is not one of these products, it’s produced by a relatively new company called Synology who, despite their short presence in the industry, are fast cementing their place as a major player in this area of the market.  The DS411J enters towards the top of their home and small office range and is essentially a 4-bay home storage and media server.

The list of features is comparable to those other devices already in the market place, but we’ll get to that.

First lets take a look at the device itself in more detail.

Packaging and Contents

Synology do a respectable job of packaging up the DS411J, the unit arrived over-boxed for added protection but I dare say it wasn’t needed, the box itself has a place for everything and, more importantly, everything was in it’s place.  The unit was held firmly in the box and well cushioned, it’s hard to imagine receiving one of these that’s been damaged in transit.

Contents of the box were:

  • The DS411J unit
  • Driver, utility and manual CD
  • Paper “Getting Started” guide
  • Paper legal notice
  • Power Supply brick
  • IEC mains power lead
  • Network cable
  • Variety of fixing screws

It’s hard to think of what else Synology could have included, though the decision to not include much in the form of paper instructions may trouble some users.  However, all the documentation is held on the included CD and it took mere seconds to locate the full installation instructions and technical manual on the disk.  And even in the event that the disk is lost or damaged, all of the manuals and utilities are also available on the Synology website.

 

Next Page: First Impressions

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Review: Qmobile App for iOS Devices

January 20, 2011 Matt No comments
Qmobile

One of the more popular names amongst enthusiasts when it comes to home storage is QNAP.  Not only do their network storage drives offer quick and easy access to your files but they also come with a whole host of additional features like download stations, surveillance features for IP cameras, web hosting and print servers.

However, one thing that QNAP drives have become quite well known for is providing a home for your home media libraries.  I myself use a QNAP TS209 network drive to stream all of my films and TV shows around the house and beyond.  The problem is that, until recently, there was no official way to access the files on a QNAP drive from a mobile device such as the iPhone.  But not any more!

The guys at Qnap have recently released the Qmobile App for both iOS and Google Android devices.  In this review I’ll be taking a look at the iOS version of the app and showing how it can be used to access the media files stored on your NAS from anywhere.

I’ll begin by saying that this app is essentially an extension of the “Multimedia Station” interface on the NAS for mobile devices.  The original version is viewable via a web browser and can prove useful in itself if you need to access the media from shared PC’s or from a friends house.

There are better options available for accessing the media on your drive, including the free TwonkyMedia uPnP server that comes with QNAP devices, but uPnP clients for iOS are not exactly great and, essentially, not free.

Enter the Qmobile app.  Download-able for free from the Android or Apple app stores, it effectively mimics the interface of the web browser version on your mobile device.  From there you can view your pictures, listen to music and even view certain video types over a WiFi or 3G network.  It’s worth noting that this app can only playback the same file types that the web browser version supports, which means that very little video formats are supported (pretty much none except for Flash video).  But audio and image file-types are well supported and I found I was able to access all of my photos and audio over a WiFi network with no problem whatsoever.

Of course, when it comes to accessing these files over a mobile network, you’re going to want to control how much bandwidth you use.  Luckily the QNAP guys have thought of that.  For one, you can simply turn off access over mobile networks, meaning it will only ever work in the presence of WiFi connections.  Secondly, the App caches the audio files that you listen to locally, so you only download songs once rather than every time that you use them.  This is great if you’re inclined to listen to certain songs over and over (as we all do from time to time).  You can also set the number of songs that are cached so that you don’t chew up too much space on your mobile device.

In practice, I found the overall experience to be inconsistent.  The music part works very well, songs streamed quickly to the devices and playback was flawless once it had cached for a few seconds.  Unfortunately the same can’t be said for other areas:  Photo’s took way too long to load (even thumbnails) meaning that if you were in a hurry to show an album to someone you may end up staring at your phone in embarrassed anticipation.  As well as this, the video portion is as pointless as it is on the browser version; with so little support for open video formats it’s a wonder why QNAP even bothered.  The difficulty in achieving this in a browser is understandable, but these are mobile devices designed for playing back video, surely something could have been done to sort this out?

That being said, the app is free and does offer a tailored solution for QNAP devices that makes it easier to access your media on the go.  Providing you’re comfortable in setting up your home network so that you can access your NAS from the Internet, setup should prove extremely simple; just input your public IP or server name, your user name and password and the app does all the rest for you.  Unfortunately, QNAP seem to assume that every home user is up to this task which just isn’t the case.  It would be good if QNAP could provide a walk through on how to configure your NAS for internet access, but with such a wide range of network hardware and internet companies available it’s easy to understand why they haven’t.

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Review: Huawei E585 MiFi Wireless Router on “3″

November 4, 2010 Matt 2 comments
P1070770

I recently reviewed the Novatel 2352 wireless router and found it to be quite a nifty device for those that need internet access on-the-go.  The device I reviewed was loaned to me by a colleague as I wanted to investigate the potential for these devices not just in general, but for myself specifically.

After a little bit of deliberation I finally took the plunge today and visited my local “3″ shop and walked out with their equivalent device, the Huawei E585 MiFi Wireless Router.

Now, for those unfamiliar with these types of devices, they’re essentially a mobile phone and wireless router combined.  They access the internet by using the mobile 3G network, and they connect to your computing devices using WiFi.  So, you can turn on this little box anywhere that there’s mobile phone coverage and have internet access on any device that has WiFi (mobile phones, iPad’s, handheld consoles, laptops, etc.)

The E585 is available in the UK on the “3″ network, on either pay as you go or contract (more about this later), to start with lets take a look at the device and what’s in the box.

Here you can see the paperwork that comes, relating to the device itself and the “3″ network.  You get a quick start guide, some quick reference cards, some details about 3 and a rather useful business card with your WiFi credentials on it:

You also get a mains charger and two Micro-USB leads (different lengths) for charging the device and connecting it to a PC or laptop:

Useful in themselves, but lets take a look at the star of the show, here we have the device from the front:

From the front it looks rather un-assuming, it’s a nice matt plastic finish with a large perspex panel for the display.  The plastic is neither such a high quality that you worry about damage, nor so cheap that you want to hide it away, in essence; it’s just right.  It’s a good look to go with, and it’s physically smaller than some of the other models I’ve seen (such as the Novatel).  The logo on the front makes sure that you don’t forget what network you’re on, but this shouldn’t bother most users.

The rear of the device has a different feel to it, it’s silver for a start, and the plastic feels a little rougher on the front, though still of a decent quality.  To one side of the device you have the solitary power button, which is the only control on the device itself (all other options are accessed through a web interface).  On the other side is a MicroSD memory card slot which allows you to insert upto 32GB of storage into the device to share between users.

Now I’ve taken you through the basic layout of the device, lets talk about the functionality.  Once turned on it takes around a minute for it to boot up, establish it’s wireless network and then find and connect to 3′s mobile broadband service.  The display gives a lot more information than the Novatel I reviewed did, as you can see below you get indications of battery life, WiFi connectivity, 3G network and signal strength, data transfer and connection time.  The latter two are very welcome seeing as most users will want to keep an eye on how much data they’re using given the cost of running these devices.

Once turned on, every device in my home (a Mac, a PC, a PS3, an iPad, an iPhone and a laptop) managed to connect to the WiFi network and browse the internet.  Speeds were generally good for general web browsing, although it becomes obvious that your bandwidth is significantly lower than a home broadband connection when you come to things like streaming media, which took forever to buffer.  However, you could argue that YouTube is not the primary focus of mobile broadband, it’s far more about web browsing and Email access on the go.

Like the Novatel, the E585 can be accessed via a web browser for configuration, you just need to point your browser to the address shown in the instructions and your presented with the information screen for your device:

This screen gives you all the information present on the front of the device, and allows you to send and receive text messages direct to the device.  It also offers a portal to your online account with 3 which allows you to see your usage habits in better detail.  If you login to the device, you get further configuration options as shown below:

This gives you a lot more options for configuration of the WiFi network and for the on-board storage, very similar indeed to the options provided by the Novatel product.  What the Huawei doesn’t have is a separate configuration application though (which the Novatel does) which means that all of your configuration has to be done through your web browser, which is a shame if you want to use the device to send and receive large numbers of text messages.

You can also connect the MiFi to your computer directly using the supplied USB cables, doing so allows you to utilize the 3G network access directly (as apposed to over WiFi) which is great if you only want to use the device on one computer and want the fastest possible speeds.

Speaking of speeds, the Huawei is capable of the theoretical maximum for mobile broadband devices: 7.2Mbps.  In tests I was able to achieve speeds of around 4.5Mbps, which is not bad in practice, and certainly enough for day to day web browsing and light media use.  Your connection speed will obviously depend on a number of factors such as signal strength and your choice of network, but 4.5Mbps isn’t bad at all given the stressed nature of the UK’s mobile network (it’s certainly quicker than I get on my mobile).

With regard to costs, the unit itself will cost you between zero and £80 to buy (depending on your tariff), it’s available on both pay as you go and contract tariffs with different download limits to suit your needs.  For those who know they want it, but aren’t sure for how long; the best deal is the 1 month rolling contract at £15 per month, which provides you with 5GB of downloads per month.  If you go with this deal then the device itself will set you back £39.99.  You can get it for free, but you need to tie into a 24 month contract, which is a big commitment for what is still a non-essential device for many.

A word to the wise if you choose to buy it on pay as you go:  a 3GB top up will cost you £15, and will expire if not used within 30 days, so you may as well go for the £15 per month contract, as I did.

All in all, this is a excellent device, definitely comparable to the Novatel in terms of performance.  It also has the added advantage (or hindrance) of being tied to 3′s network, which may be an inconvenience but also means that the device is heavily subsidized and therefore a lot cheaper than the Novatel.  Out of the two, I’d go for the Huawei every time.

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How To Create A NAS Drive From An Old PC.

April 29, 2010 admin No comments

This walkthrough is actually a referral to a walkthrough by Mike Glover at www.mikeglover.co.uk
His walkthrough can be found here

At some point I will be following Mikes guide to create a NAS, and then I’ll document how to set up the partitions etc. so that it’s usable. Hopefully exploring some of FreeNAS’s many configuration options and features.

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