NAS Network Attached Storage (GIGA NAS Dongle by Sumvision) review and disassembly

I DO NOT RECOMEND IT see bellow

UPDATE
For a long time now, I wanted to set up a Network Storage solution so that files could be accessed, from all the computers in the home network. Dedicated Hard Drive NAS systems, were out of the question, since I needed the solution to be as cheap as possible and use external hard disks I already had.

The solution arrived unexpectedly. It is called, Giga NAS Storage Dongle made by Sumvision and has one USB storage port and one USB print port to share a network printer.

There are quite a few similar devices out there even from known brands, but most of them have speeds of 10/100 mbit which is very very slow by today's standards. Perhaps that was adequate a few (a lot) years back, but certainly not today.

Giga NAS dongle, however uses 10/100/1000 mbit connection, which allows about 1.5 MB/sec file transfer which is not much but ok even for video transfer with no serious lags.


Pictured is the device.
It has an ethernet port,
a reset button,
DC connector,
3 leds,
and the 2 usb ports mentioned

It comes with a CD rom with the software needed to set up the device, a power adapter and a 20 cm Ethernet cable.

It is very easy to set up and the CD manual is very informative and acts as a step by step guide. The hard disk connected needs to be formated with FAT 32 from the software provided and after setting up user and administrator usernames and passwords you are good to go


This is the set up at home:
D-Link DIR 615 router,
and 500GB seagate drive I already had.











the set up has been on for a few days now, with no glitches.

The downside as I see it, is that the hard disk is continuously on which probably limits its life and the dongle itself becomes a little bit hot so I am considering putting it on an old laptop heatsink.

Considering it costs about 40£ to buy online, its almost all I was asking for.

I also disassembled the box to make some photos. It has no screws to hold it in place, but in doing so I damaged two of the four the pins that hold the cap in position.












































Update: There must be a bug on the device. I have noticed, something strange. It has happened twice so far. I copied 2 large files (a few days apart one from the other) about 600MB each. The file, seemed to be copied ok. Lated however when I tried to access the file from my PC, the file had somehow vanished. The file itself was there the name, was there with the proper filetype, but the size was different. Instead of being 600MB, now it was 30KB and of course unaccessible. The file had vanished.
Now I dont know why that happens. If perhaps was a faulty transmission, or something worse.The disk itself was working flawlessly before, so I dont think its a problem with the hard disk.
Another problem is that the device doesnt live up to the expectations of the Gigabit ethernet. The speed doesnt come close to Giga, which is a huge let down, since I only bought it hoping it was way faster than the competition.
Unfortunately the website of sumvision there is no way to contact them and inform them about it and there is no new firmware for this device. The only hope perhaps is SnakeOs. The founder there, told me this looks like the devices he is working on and I keep my hopes high!

Update 2:
It has been almost a month since I am using it, and it keeps destroying files!!!
at least 5-6 600MB files bit the dust for unknown reason. Hence it is not useful for backup