Iomega 35439 StorCenter ix4-200d Cloud Edition Network Storage - 8 TB, (4x 2TB), 4x 3.5" Bays, RAID 5, 10, JBOD, Dual Gigabit Ethernet Item#: I21-6420  |  Model#: 35439

Awesome Home NAS

I bought this NAS to store network files, backups, and our movie collection. I currently have a virtual server running on this unit that is acting as my primary domain controller. The spin-up for the server is very fast. I can go from a cold-boot, to fully functional in less than two minutes. Another reason I bought this unit is its ability to allow me to access my files from anywhere. The setup was easy. A few quick settings within the admin console, and an email was sent to the members of the house to allow them to connect their devices. The NAS serves our movie collection (about 300) to our TV wirelessly without any delays. We have watched probably 10 movies streaming from the NAS without a single hesitation. The one thing that has disappointed me is that the internal fan has already failed. While this is not a major issue, it is an annoyance.

Good Product

Ok, this server is easy to set-up and it is easy to use even if your a tech newbie. The only down side is you don't actually have eight TB's of space it's more like five and a half TB's of space. If you intend on streaming HD or standard movies to Apple TV, IPads, or other external devices than make sure you upgrade to a gigabit router like the Netgear N900 which is on here also. My regular eighty dollar N-Router would not stream movies without a lot of buffer. The gigabit router works great with this product.

Able to run virtual machines

I was stunned by the performance of the StorCenter ix4-200d as my office was able to run 12 virtual machines. These 12 machines are a combination of Windows and Mac. The ix4 is the hard drive for all these machines and can be accessed using iSCSI. It was amazed at the fact when Iomega people told me that it can run 20 virtual machines from the ix4. Since the machine is mac compatible I was able to backup using Time Machine. The features were truly impressive and not just meant for the catalogue. Performance wise I found the device awesome. It has improved the performance of our company and that too at a small investment.