Ximeta NetDisk 160GB network storage. Good, Bad...Ugly??

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PaPa

Hi,
I'm considering buying the Ximeta 160GB network storage device. Does
anyone have any experience with this unit? It uses NDAS (Network
Direct Attached Storage) Technology. Never heard of it or used it in
the past. I read one review where he complained of slow tranfer rates
if you don't have a Fast Ethernet Full Duplex compatible switch such
as the LinkSys 4-port'ers. Each PC requires prorietary protocol
drivers installed. I usually stay away from that.

I'd appreciate any comments.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/network_drives/netdisk/index.php

PaPa
 
PaPa said:
Hi,
I'm considering buying the Ximeta 160GB network storage device. Does
anyone have any experience with this unit? It uses NDAS (Network
Direct Attached Storage) Technology. Never heard of it or used it in
the past. I read one review where he complained of slow tranfer rates
if you don't have a Fast Ethernet Full Duplex compatible switch such
as the LinkSys 4-port'ers. Each PC requires prorietary protocol
drivers installed. I usually stay away from that.

I'd appreciate any comments.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/network_drives/netdisk/index.php

PaPa
Click to expand...

I did notice their sales blurb stated this:
 
PaPa said:
Hi,
I'm considering buying the Ximeta 160GB network storage device. Does
anyone have any experience with this unit? It uses NDAS (Network
Direct Attached Storage) Technology. Never heard of it or used it in
the past. I read one review where he complained of slow tranfer rates
if you don't have a Fast Ethernet Full Duplex compatible switch such
as the LinkSys 4-port'ers. Each PC requires prorietary protocol
drivers installed. I usually stay away from that.

I'd appreciate any comments.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/network_drives/netdisk/index.php

PaPa
Click to expand...

I did notice their website said,

" Now you can conveniently store and securely backup all of your files
onto one easily accessible
drive."

Bit of an oxymoron, isn't it? Accessible to all and sundry does not
equal very secure.


Odie
 
I did notice their website said,

" Now you can conveniently store and securely backup all of your files
onto one easily accessible
drive."

Bit of an oxymoron, isn't it? Accessible to all and sundry does not
equal very secure.
Click to expand...

Oxymoron for sure. I think by securely they meant that your data will
secure off of your PC. Some tech marketing just drive me nuts!
 
Hi,
I'm considering buying the Ximeta 160GB network storage device. Does
anyone have any experience with this unit? It uses NDAS (Network
Direct Attached Storage) Technology. Never heard of it or used it in
the past. I read one review where he complained of slow tranfer rates
if you don't have a Fast Ethernet Full Duplex compatible switch such
as the LinkSys 4-port'ers. Each PC requires prorietary protocol
drivers installed. I usually stay away from that.

I'd appreciate any comments.

http://www.ximeta.com/products/network_drives/netdisk/index.php

PaPa
Click to expand...

I bought the above mention device.

So far it seems to work quite well. I first plugged it in directly to
my USB2 port without installing any supplied software. Windows had the
necessary drivers and after a few seconds the disk was usable.I
previously had another high-speed USB drive so Windows may have used
some previously installed USB Storage drivers. Anyway, I was impressed
with that. It requires the AC power to be connected which is
understandable for a full size drive. My little 2.5" USB drive took
power from the USB bus. It took about 4 minutes to copy a 4.5 GB ISO
to it from my local drive.

I then disconnected the USB and attached a network cable to it and
then to my router. (LinkSys BEFSR41) I had to install the NetDisk
Administrator software to access it over the LAN. Each NetDisk has a
unique NetDisk ID and Write Key that must be entered before access is
granted. The same ISO file transferred in 12 minutes. It's nice having
access from multiple PC's without having to physically plug it in.
Hell, one of my beater slave systems doesn't even support USB 2. It
also satisfies my need to take this drive to other locations where
I'll most likely use the USB connect, less need for 3rd. party
software installtion. I have 30 days to evaluate it thanks to the
local resellers return policy, no questions asked. I'll be sure to put
the boots to it too. It's warm to the touch during heavy use but no
where near danger levels.

There are no visible signs of how to open the enclosure. What if I
want to replace the disk? The sales tech guy (a young kid) said I
would have to buy another one. Yeah right. I bet the screws are under
the 4 rubber feet on the bottom. Hehe.

So far so good...
 
PaPa said:
I'm considering buying the Ximeta 160GB network storage device. Does
anyone have any experience with this unit? It uses NDAS (Network
Direct Attached Storage) Technology.
Click to expand...

Looks like proprietary drivers. I'd only consider it if it used
standard protocols, like NFS and SMB.
 
Looks like proprietary drivers. I'd only consider it if it used
standard protocols, like NFS and SMB.
Click to expand...

Well that was my concerns as well. I tend to avoid such hardware but
in this case, it's filling a need I have.

29 more days before my no questions asked return expires.

PaPa
 
PaPa said:
Oxymoron for sure.
Oh?

I think by securely they meant that your data will be secure off of your PC.
Click to expand...

Of course they did. And they didn't say that 'anyone' could access it.
Ignore the Odie troll, it only finds opportunities to flash it's SIG.
 
I'd appreciate any comments.
Click to expand...

I used one some time back, before they released their first version of
the multi-write software. Ignoring the single-user write issues, I
had problems with it. I wanted to use it as a second level archive
for TI7 image files and as an MP3 server.

After copying MP3 files from one PC, they didn't show up right away on
another PC's mapping. I had to disconnect, then reconnect the drive
(in Ximeta's control panel) from the client PC before they'd show. It
wasn't clear to me why this worked sometimes and not others.

The drivers may be more mature now, and I never did test the
multi-write drivers. Keep us posted on your results, as I'm thinking
about buying one again.

I'm also thinking about trying the Linkstation from
www.buffalotech.com. It has the plus of letting you add extra network
storage by way of their USB port (though there are some issues there),
and is just a bit more $$ than the Ximeta.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1641390,00.asp
 
I used one some time back, before they released their first version of
the multi-write software. Ignoring the single-user write issues, I
had problems with it. I wanted to use it as a second level archive
for TI7 image files and as an MP3 server.

After copying MP3 files from one PC, they didn't show up right away on
another PC's mapping. I had to disconnect, then reconnect the drive
(in Ximeta's control panel) from the client PC before they'd show. It
wasn't clear to me why this worked sometimes and not others.
The drivers may be more mature now, and I never did test the
multi-write drivers. Keep us posted on your results, as I'm thinking
about buying one again.
Click to expand...

I haven't experienced this. The version 3 mulit-write drivers seem to
work quite well. Files appeared immediately to all systems on the LAN.
I would get a 'File in use' error if I tried to delete files that were
open on another machine. You cannot have the USB and Ethernet cables
attached at the same time. This would have been nice but I can
understand the potential nightmare for controlling multiple access
through 2 different input systems.

I did some crude speed tests using a 4.2 GB movie ISO file;

Ethernet Write - 7 min 32 secs
Ethernet Read - 6 m 50 s

USB Write - 4 m 51 s
USB Read - 4 m 37 s

(If some bright reader could convert that to Mbps (Megabits per
second) I would be thrilled.)

I use DU Meter to track LAN/speeds and Internet usage. It's odd, DU
Meter showed 10.3 Mbps during a read operation and 450 Kbps buring a
write. Both are listed as a 'download' speed in DU Meter. Despite the
difference in apparent speed, the times for the files copy are as I
stated above. This was a little disturbing but I wrote it off to
Ximeta's LPX protocol.

Also, Kerio firewall doesn't even see any traffic through my NIC
during either a read or a write! What's up with that? Again, I suspect
the proprietary LPX protocol that is used is fooling Kerio and DU
Meter. This also bothers me. I would like the LAN file transfers to be
recognized and understood by industry standard software. I wonder why
they chose LPX over TCP/IP?

One more note. I noticed my tray icon for my NIC always showed
activity when I knew there shouldn't be any. The drive was connected
to the LAN obviously. In a 2 hour idle period (there was a good movie
on TV) DU Meter registered just over 4.5 MB of traffic! It seems it's
a pretty 'chatty' little protocol this LPX. Reminds me of my NetWare
days using SPX.

So, I have a few beefs but nothing too serious. I really don't like
the extra LAN traffic during idle time. I could disconnect the drive
using the NetDisk admin tool but I want it always available to me. No
fiddlling around with attaching and disconnecting.

I have the unit connected to a LinkSys 8-port switch and all my PC's
NICs running 100 Mbit/Full Duplex.

Anyway, that's my 2-bits worth.

I'm also thinking about trying the Linkstation from
www.buffalotech.com. It has the plus of letting you add extra network
storage by way of their USB port (though there are some issues there),
and is just a bit more $$ than the Ximeta.
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1641390,00.asp
Click to expand...

I'll checkout the specs on the Linkstation unit. Thanks.

PaPa
 
PaPa said:
I did some crude speed tests using a 4.2 GB movie ISO file;

Ethernet Write - 7 min 32 secs
Ethernet Read - 6 m 50 s

USB Write - 4 m 51 s
USB Read - 4 m 37 s

(If some bright reader could convert that to Mbps (Megabits per
second) I would be thrilled.)
Click to expand...

Assuming 1 gigabyte=1000 megabytes and 1 megabyte/s=10 megabits/s (two
bits added to allow for start/stop bits in data serialization):

Ethernet write = 4200MB in 452s = 9.29MB/s = ~90Mbps
Ethernet read = 4200MB in 410s = 10.24MB/s = ~100Mbps

H'm. Seems too good to be true for 100Mbps ethernet. Either your
timings are wrong, I've cocked up, or the protocol used has a very low
overhead.

USB write = 4200MB in 291s = 14.43MB/s = ~140Mbps
USB read = 4200MB in 277s = 15.16MB/s = ~150Mbps

USB2 is 480Mbps, but as I understand it, data transfers will never
achieve that speed in real life.
 
Assuming 1 gigabyte=1000 megabytes and 1 megabyte/s=10 megabits/s (two
bits added to allow for start/stop bits in data serialization):

Ethernet write = 4200MB in 452s = 9.29MB/s = ~90Mbps
Ethernet read = 4200MB in 410s = 10.24MB/s = ~100Mbps

H'm. Seems too good to be true for 100Mbps ethernet. Either your
timings are wrong, I've cocked up, or the protocol used has a very low
overhead.

USB write = 4200MB in 291s = 14.43MB/s = ~140Mbps
USB read = 4200MB in 277s = 15.16MB/s = ~150Mbps

USB2 is 480Mbps, but as I understand it, data transfers will never
achieve that speed in real life.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I kind of wish those were the actual speeds. Real world ethernet
speeds rarely exceed 50% of bandwidth and that's with Full Duplex
enabled on all devices and functioning at it's peak.

My evaluation of this device has me frustrated. On two occasions now
it has hung 2 very stable machines at the same time!. One XP Pro SP1
and a 2K Pro. I've narrowed it down to one culprit process;
LDServe.exe. I think it might have something to do with the portable
drive spinning down when not in use. I can hear it click and spin up
when I start explorer after about 30 mins of idle time. There's no
power saving features in the admin app. I hate any clicking sounds
coming from hard drives. It's always spelled disaster for me in the
past.

I may call Ximeta tech support or just return it for a refund, it
depends how I feel tomorrow.

I'll continue to post my findings in this thread as I'm sure some
future Googler will happen upon it and it may answer a few questions.

PaPa
 
I called Ximeta tech support.
They said there are known issues with LDServe.exe hanging systems.
They sent me a link to download 3.0.9 beta drivers. After installing
these drivers things have settled down.

There still seems to be constant send/receive when attached to the
drive over the network. I suppose I can live with this.

As a USB drive I love it. It's dead quiet with no fans at all. The
case is actually a heat sink. As LAN attached storage it's just okay.
The constant traffic and strict Full Duplex connection restrictions
could be a show stopper for some folks. Standard TCP/IP network tools
do not recognice the LPX protocl that this device uses. Overall a cool
idea that needs to mature.

This concludes my review. I'm keeping it.

PaPa
 
Folkert said:
Of course they did. And they didn't say that 'anyone' could access it.
Ignore the Odie troll, it only finds opportunities to flash it's SIG.
Click to expand...

Chill, Folkert.


Odie
 
I've had similar problems the with NetDisk and it hosing my XP machine
here at work. Basically, if I leave the machine on long enought
LDServe.exe will eat up all my memory. Next step is to download the
latest drivers.

Ben
 
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