SmallNetBuilder

Features

Figure 4: ShareSpace web admin - Advanced view

A run-through of most of the ShareSpace's features can be found in the slideshow. So I'll just summarize them here and expand on a select few.

• JBOD (span), RAID 0, 5, 10 modes
• NFS and SMB/CIFS network filesystems (no AFP)
• Active Directory and NT Domain support
• User and anonymous FTP
• User and group level permissions
• HTTP and HTTPS web administration
• "One touch" backup from and to USB-attached drive
• iTunes server
• HTTP and FTP Download manager
• Email alerts
• USB UPS shutdown support
• Remote access to shares via MioNet Web service

The feature list covers the basics, but falls short against competitive offerings for both home and small business users. Home users won't find support for BitTorrent downloading in the Scheduled Downloads feature, only HTTP and FTP. And there is no support for general UPnP AV / DLNA media streaming in addition to the iTunes server, nor is there any photo webserving available.

The main missing feature for business users is the lack of scheduled backups, either to USB-attached or networked drives. The USB Backup feature doesn't have a scheduled backup mode and you can't use the Download manager to copy networked shares (unless they are served by HTTP or FTP). WD does throw in a three user license for its Anywhere Backup Windows app, which I didn't try out.

Both home and small-biz users might miss a built-in print server, but I don't think that's so great an omission.

The other weakness for business users is in the RAID management features. On a positive note, each mode has an illustration to help clarify how the volume is going to be set up. But the downside is that there is no ability to configure drives in multiple volumes, or support for RAID 5 + spare. Figure 5 shows the only RAID 1 mode presented in the four-drive version of the ShareSpace, which actually looks like a RAID 10 configuration. You can't set up a two-drive RAID 1 configuration, or limit the number of drives used in any of the modes.

Figure 5: Manage RAID screen

I also was confused by the Manage Volume Edit and Manage RAID screens, which seem like two ways to do the same thing; i.e. create a volume. The subtle difference is that the Edit screen presents a subset of volume options, depending on the current configuration, while the Manage RAID screen presents all options.

The Manage Volume Option table shown in Figure 6 that I grabbed from the User Guide is, I think, an attempt to convey the options available. But the table is presented with no useful explanation and I didn't find the table to be self-explanatory.

Figure 6: Manage RAID options

It appears from the table that some sort of volume migration is available, i.e. the ability to add drives and/or change RAID modes without having to lose all your data. But neither the User Guide nor marketing material specifically mention RAID migration. And the inability to limit the number of drives used in a volume makes me doubt that migration is supported.

MioNet

The last time we looked at WD's MioNET remote access option, we didn't have a very good experience. But that was over a year ago and shortly after WD acquired the service. I gave it only a brief look, but still encountered some startup hiccups. Figure 7 illustrates the problem.

Figure 7: MioNet web access

The set of greyed-out shares in the Java applet were the first ones created when I initially set up the account. But I was never able to get them to be active and WD wasn't able to offer any guidance. At some point when I went to give it a final try, a pop-up appeared that asked me to (if I remember correctly) choose a name for my shares, which I thought I already had done. But I entered the WDStorageSNB name anyway, which produced the accessible shares that you see in Figure 7.

With the shares now available, I was able to click on a share to open a browse window (Figure 8). Depending on the permissions on the share, you can drag and drop to file copy in both directions.

Figure 8: MioNet Web - share browsing

The view defaults to an Icon view, with Thumbnail and List (shown) alternatives available. But there is no way to set the view and it changed back to Icon view each time I entered a folder. I also couldn't find a way to display the file type suffix.

You get the ability to access your ShareSpace's shares for "Free for the Life of Drive" according to the Upgrade page (Figure 9). If you want the other features shown, there are monthly and yearly subscription plans available.

Figure 9: MioNet upgrade options