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Netgear Network Disk Drive
Author: Tim Higgins Review Date: 7/13/2001
Model: ND520
Pros:
- 10/100 Ethernet support
- Front Panel disk utilization LEDs
Cons:
- Big
- VERY noisy fan
- Windows only. No MacOS or Linux support
- Minimal utilities
Review Updates
None yet.
The
Basics
Indicators
Power
Ready
HD Activity
100M
FDX
20, 40, 60, 80% Disk Utilization
Ethernet Link
Ethernet Activity
Connectors
One RJ45 10/100BaseT Ethernet
Power
Comes
with
printed Quick Installation Guide
Resource CD
One CAT5 UTP cable
Power Cord (US style)
Other
Normal / Uplink switch
100 - 240V power supply
Introduction
NETGEAR's ND520 is a Windows only Network Disk drive. It worked
fine for what it did, but you can get products with many more
features for a little more money.
Details
The ND520 is a 20GB Windows compatible disk drive that you plug
into your Ethernet hub or switch vs. installing into a PC.
It also comes in a less expensive 8 GB size (the ND508). It was
larger (and heavier) than I expected it to be, measuring 13 x
10.5 x 1.7 inches.
Installation is very easy if you have a DHCP server
on your LAN. You connect it to your hub or switch, plug
it into an AC outlet and turn it on. It will grab IP address
info and appear in Network Neighborhood after about a minute or
so. If you don't have a DHCP server on your LAN, you'll
need to run the Windows utility on the CD that assigns an IP address
to the ND520.
The drive comes with two folders: "Public"
which is intended for user files; and "Setup".
"Setup" contains a web page that when opened
redirects you to the built-in web browser based administration
interface. It also contains a "Utilities" folder,
which has copies of a few things that may come in handy for setting
up and using the drive.
The web admin interface is pretty elementary.
About all you can do is set a password for the admin interface,
create new folders and password protect them. There's no
ability to set disk quotas or set user-based folder permissions.
There are also no maintenance utilities, including the ability
to remotely shut down or reboot the drive.
My biggest dislike about the ND520 is its fan
noise. There are three fans (two externally visible on the
rear and side, one mounted on the CPU chip) and the total effect
is noticeably loud...louder than any of my three desktops!
This may seem like a small point, but I think the noise would
drive me nuts if I had to listen to it all the time.
Performance
I did some drag-and-drop Windows file copies to gauge the ND520's
performance.
Both clients and the ND520 were connected to a
10/100 switch, and indicator lights said that everything was running
at 100Mbps, Full Duplex. The results are summarized in the
table below:
Test
Description
File
Copy
[15Mbyte file size]
Seconds
Client 1 to Client 2
4
Client 1 to ND520
10
Client 2 to ND520
7
File duplicate on ND520
11
Comments: The slower copy times to the
ND520 are probably due to the speed of the processor and amount
of memory in it.
Summary
I'll give NETGEAR credit for having Network storage products in their
catalog, and the ND520 is a fine, basic Networked Disk drive. But if
you're looking for MacOS or Linux support, user level access control,
and other similar features, you'll need to look elsewhere.
66.7% | 
33.3% | out of 3 reviews 
