BUFFALO DriveStation Duo 2-Bay 8TB 2x4TB TAA Desktop External Hard Drive USB 3 2

What this is - an external USB hard drive, not a network drive (NAS). The main reason to buy - reliability. There are 2 identical hard drives inside that record the same data, so that if one fails then the other still has your data. That's what RAID technology gives you, among other things. 20% of mechanical hard drives will fail before 4 years. Compare to NAS - NAS is basically a file server on the local network. It's accessible to multiple computers and should be turned on all the time. On the other hand, this Buffalo DriveStation attaches to a single computer via USB 3 port. It turns off automatically when the computer turns off. Both use RAID technology with multiple hard drives. Compare to SSD - People think SSD is more reliable because there are no mechanical moving parts, but when left unplugged and under hot weather, the electrical charge can leak out, causing data lost. Hard drive is actually better for archival purpose, i.e., years of storage. SSD is only more reliable for shorter duration, such as less than a year. Compare to a single hard drive with cloud back up - Cloud back up is very expensive, although very reliable, because the cloud is still there if the hard drive is burned out or stolen. Transfering several TB of data to cloud storage will take days even on fast broad band. This option is only viable for small amount of data, such as less than 200GB. Clouds are also prone to computer hacks, so don't put anything there that you don't want the whole world to see. Installation - plug-and-play just like any external disk drives. Works great on my Windows 10. The utility on included disk can configure different RAID modes if needed. There are instructions for Mac, although I haven't tried. One wierd thing about the utility is that no application window shows up when it runs. To launch, right click on the Buffalo RAID utility icon in the system tray instead. Hardware - fan is nearly silent on idle and can spin up much louder on start up or when the drives get hot. The front plate can pop-out to show meanings of different color and blinking combinations of the 3 front LEDs. There's a physical off switch, which I like because hard drives last longer when they are not used frequently, and no hackers or viruses can affect a power-off hard drive. Read more

Easy to setup with great redundant storage space. Read more

The RAID utility on the Buffalo support website was last updated in 2013! Unless your Mac is very old, this drive cannot be configured. Read more

Easy configuration...used as a NAS device for file backup. Read more

Good price per TB, very good installation formatting options, manual is easyread, no frills, small footprint, Buffalo online support is respectable. 4star why? I had an issue with HD spin noise in a silent enviro when the unit is set in standard upright position , nothing mechanically wrong with the HD's , I think it has more to do with the type of case and dampening design. So, I experimented with laying the unit flat on it's side , issue resolved! I spoke to Buffalo tech support about my findings and they indicated that it was okay to use in this manner without any ill-effect to the HD's. I would recommend to others , strongly compare to owned LaCie products. Read more

I have the NAS version for my network. I wanted a personal one for my main computer. This worked but same with my only complaint being it lacks any documentation. You have to go to their site for it. On the NAS version you get a CD with a link to the Main site. Read more

The Drivestation Duo 4TB is nicely built. The basic RAID 1 software is OK. However, one of the key feature for me did not work: the email alert when something is wrong with the drive, for ex., if one drive is bad. The email-alert uses SMTP with no authentication, which may have worked 10 years ago, but is outdated today, no mail server will accept SMTP without password these days. I called the support center, there is nothing they can do about it, it seems the company no longer spend any time on the software. Read more

Stable, reliable, and virtually silent. If I didn't know it was on, I'd be checking it every so many minutes. Great external HD. Read more