The DNS-323 from D-Link enables you to make your own network-attached storage device. We say 'make' because this is only an enclosure and doesn't come supplied with any drives - you have to buy them separately. Extra storage space is always welcome, but if the thought of rolling your own with something like this doesn't fill you with confidence, think again.
The DNS-323 takes SATA drives, installing them is simple. Lift off the front of the chassis, make sure that the drive is the right way round (the ports line up with the connectors) and slide the drive in.
Give each drive a gentle push to locate the ports and you're done. Similar enclosures are available for PATA drives, but they aren't as straightforward as this. With the drives in place, the next step is to plug in the power and connect it to your network.
Unfortunately, setting the drive up posed more of a problem. The manual isn't as helpful as it could be. All it says is that you should connect the Ethernet cable to the drive and then to your network, or directly to your PC for configuration.
When we tried this nothing happened initially. So with the network cable connected, we turned the drive off and on again. After a few minutes the drive appeared in the detection software.
Although the software states that you can then map the drives inside the device, we had no luck with this, despite following the manual. We also had problems configuring the drive. According to the drive's literature you can set it up as either as a RAID 0 or 1 device, or as two standard drives.
One other feature is the USB port on the chassis. This means that you can connect a USB printer to it and then share it over your network. This is useful to have, but not essential.
The problems with the configuration spoil what's otherwise a useful piece of kit. If this is the sort of thing you're after, there are better examples available elsewhere.
