Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

This is a decent device with a fair amount of configurability but I think they missed some opportunities. The firmware offers decent permissions for users and even includes group permissions which was a huge plus. The data transfer rates are a little on the low side and WD's Tech Support is severely lacking. While the device does support UPS integration and monitoring there are not very many UPS devices supported to make this a key feature. The master reset takes almost 2 full days and anyone with physical access can reset the admin password in less than a minute.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

Very easy to set up and use, and great value for the amount of storage. However, this can only be used as a backup/archival storage solution. It is so incredibly slow that it's impossible to use for production. Firmware updates don't help. It's extremely slow. Did I mention it is slow?

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

Using WD's 8Tb Sharespace for archival storage of 10 years of images.

Love that my data is finally archived with redundancy (Raid 5), love ability to access/share data across my network with colleagues/family. Have not tested remote access yet.

Early attempts to back up multiple external drives via Mac Airport were extremely slow (10 min per Gb). Finally resorted to direct LAN link; much better, but still surprisingly slow read time for large volume subdirectories.

Conclusion: good value for immediate need for redundancy, but will save up for larger/speedier rack-mounted system as soon as possible.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

Common access for working video files at the office, easy to connect, easy to use...I love it!
Didn't need a hard-to-maintain server, just hooked it and the computers to a gigabit switch.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

I left the drive in the raid 5 aray. This provides slightly more that 5gb of working space & the balance for back up. I use the drive to edit pictures & then transfer them to different drives. Having an automatic back up makes me sleep easier until I complete working on the pictures. The case is far superior to the 4tb wd drives as it is metal.I needed help from wd to set up the drive. It must go into a router.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

I had trouble getting my network to recognize this product. WD provided me with a knowledgeable person, Mr Christian, who guided me thru the setup. No way could I have done this w/o his assistance. Incidentally, under raid5, you have 5.36tb of usable space with the balance for back up. I was told NOT to reconfigure this drive to either fat 32 or ntfs. This unit must be connected via a router & not via the RJ45 connector on the back of the unit. You would need another open router connection to connect a second 8tb sharespace drive at the same time. This unit is in a metal enclosure. I believe it will make it easier to copy other hard drives & will be a compliment to the 4tb drives. In width, 2 4tb drives are the same width&height as the 8tb & are slightly shorted in length. I need to retract my earlier negative comment re the service with Western Digital thanks to the service provided to me by Mr. Christian. I now have a drive where I can place pictures. I will probably switch to using this as my main external drive due to the raid5 back up configuration & use my other drives for addional back up including off site. Only offsite back up will truly protect pictures in case of a fire. If cloud computing is used, you would need to pay a yearly fee & each picture file will be much smaller.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

Just purchased this product about a week ago. I have been unable to get my computer to recognize it despite putting the rj45 cord into the router & also trying it into my rj45connection on my computer. All I was told by ''Johnny H" of wd was to enter the connector into the rj45connector on my router. He did inform me that this was a UNIX based unit & could not be converted to either fat 32 or NTFS. I already own three 4tb drives from wd & all of them have been converted to NTFS. Wd obviously has a problem with their employees.

Comments about Western Digital 8TB ShareSpace Network Storage Solution with RAID:

Let's face it, storage isn't exciting. It's a lot easier to get worked up about your home theater room than it is your walk-in closet. But this thing has to impress even the non-geeks among us with its small size, low power consumption, and the unbelievable ease with which it installs. I had set aside a couple of hours to get it connected and configured, but fifteen minutes after I'd hit the power button I was already transferring files!

Here's the details of my experience:

Small: It has a diminutive 1/2 square foot or so footprint in its temporary location on my desk in the den.

Low power: When idle, the case is cold to the touch, as is the air lazily being blown out by the variable-speed fan. Even after writing half a terabyte, it hadn't broken a sweat.

Ease of installation: I cheated slightly and skipped the Windows software installation, opting instead for the web interface. (I already had the Bounjour service from other software, and my den computer already has more apps than it knows what to do with.) Most of that fifteen minutes I mentioned before was taken up with things way beyond the basics - user administration, workgroup naming, and security configuration, for example.

The one down side is write speed. I kept it in the shipped-with RAID 5 configuration on purpose, so it takes longer to write a gigabyte than one would like. I expected this, though, and I know the technical reasons for it, so it's hard to complain. And let's face it, the read speed is more important in the long run, and that seems just fine.