This is a good flexible solution for NAS (Network Attached Storage) since it can grows as you need and can.

This is a good flexible solution for NAS (Network Attached Storage) since it can grows as you need and can.  Read Less

If you read the Netgear specifications carefully and know what you are doing, the Netgear SC101 Storage Central is an excellent...  Read More

If you read the Netgear specifications carefully and know what you are doing, the Netgear SC101 Storage Central is an excellent value and phenomenally useful. The unit has limitations which must be observed, lest you be disappointed. It will work only with ATA-6 hard drives and even then some may not work. (Netgear has a compatibility list on its site, but you have to hunt a bit for it.) The unit at best is SAN, not NAS. The Zetera formatting used is not standard: you will not be able to mount the drives you use in Storage Central directly on a Windows machine. The device will not work in a complex network environment: it must be used on a single network. Finally, transfer speed will be limited by the LAN. In a typical home or very small business environment, none of these limitations really matter. For very little money, you get a box that will accept two hard drives of up to 750 GB as two separate drives or a RAID 1 configuration. The latter provides mirroring so you always have a backup. Transfer speeds will be slower than if the drives were installed in your computer but for most purposes, the average user won't notice this. If your transfers are many gigabytes, the slowness is slightly noticeable, but so what? Let the job run over night. I've loaded a couple of hundred gigabytes so far . . . while I slept. Access to files is also a bit slow, but not a major detriment. Music and video files stream without probelems once accessed. The Netgear software installs easily on Windows 2000 SP 4 and Windows XP. If you're using any other version of Windows or any other operating system, forget it. My unit has been running for several days and the fanless case does an excellent job of dissipating heat: it is barely warm to the touch. Some have criticized the unit for not allowing assignment of a static IP. On a small network, this is a not an issue. The more important issue is that the drive letter assignment remain constant - and it does. Netgear technical support response is quick, if somewhat empty-headed. I have a firewall issue on one machine and tech support didn't really answer my question which was about a knowledgebase entry on their own site. Instead they told me to go to the firewall publisher. Uh no . . . I asked about a Netgear article. I've responded asking for the question to be moved to a higher tier. Have to wait to see what happens. Overall, for the price, and its limitations, this is a great value for the home and very small business network. It does not pretend to be NAS and those people who criticize it for not being NAS simply didn't read Netgear's specifications. It is not as speedy as much more expensive solutions. But if all you need is a way to add up to 750 Gigabytes of mirrored storage or 1.5 Terrabytes of raw storage, you can't beat the price and ease of the Netgear SC101. Just be sure you understand the limitations of the SC101 before you purchase it.Jerry  Read Less