Digital Trends

Linksys NSLU2

June 26th, 2006 | by Brandon King

Features and Design

At one point or another, everyone outgrows their computer's hard drive capacity. Whether music, movies, or games, the glut of information is making hard drives swell with exhaustion. Or perhaps the slow and steady progression of stable and usable Linux builds has piqued your interest, but you don't want to give up a considerable chunk of drive space. There's always the option of adding another hard drive, but what if you want to be able to access media and documents from any computer in the house, without having to keep a PC powered 24/7? This is where the NAS comes in.

NAS, or network attached storage, is actually a general term for a device that can access a network, with or without a full PC tethered to it. There are three options to choose from:

1)                           A dedicated PC with either Windows or Linux installed. If your electricity bill and available space are of no concern, this option offers the most flexibility.

2)                           A NAS adapter. These devices either plug into an Ethernet port on your router (or switch), with some offering wireless access.

3)                           NAS enclosures. These look just like external hard drives that you may plug into a USB or Firewire port, but include an Ethernet adapter. Careful when choosing an enclosure, as some have specific OS requirements.

The Linksys NSLU2 falls into the category of NAS adapters and has many advantages. The drives attached to the NSLU2 can be swapped out, upgraded, and attached directly to PCs (or Macs) for faster access. The device itself uses a flavor of Linux, which should thrill computer pros, and scare consumers. Don't worry. All the details are hidden and only a few hoops must be jumped through in order to access the advanced options.

Out of the box, you get the NSLU2 device, a power adapter, Ethernet cable, vertical stand, and instruction manual. The device itself is very small, measuring 5”x3.5”x 1” and sports status lights along the top-front edge. The only ports are located along the back, and include an Ethernet port and two USB 2.0 ports. The front contains a single power button. That's it! The unit has a minimalist touch, which is the way a consumer device should be. However, under the hood there is a truckload of functionality.

The Linksys NSLU2