Buffalo LinkStation 420 8TB Cloud Storage Review

Introduction & Hardware Specifications and Pricing

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Recently, Buffalo announced the launch of the LinkStation 400 series. Delivering 2TB – 8TB of storage capacity, the LinkStation is a plug-n-play solution for those that want easy to setup network storage. The features don’t end there though, Buffalo offers a DLNA certified device with the LinkStation 420, making it a streaming solution as well. Additional features include Nova Backup professional for Windows and the inclusion of a Time Machine backup solution for Apple users.

In addition to the tremendous capacity option , the LinkStation is serves also serve as your basic NAS appliance offer datum redundancy through raid 1 and increase performance through raid 0 . A personal cloud service is also offer with each LinkStation with app available for ios and Android platform .

Let’s dive in now and take a close look at the 8TB model.

Hardware Specifications and Pricing

Modern NAS servers is moved have move beyond data storage through a wire network . In order to get the most out of a NAS , you is need need to look at the extra I / o hardware and the mountain of potential software feature .

The LinkStation 420 is offer as a two bay NAS appliance , while there is a diskless option , most model come with drive instal . Here we is have have between 2 TB and 8 TB of capacity ready to go to serve your need . include on the back of the unit is a single Gigabit LAN port with an additional usb 2.0 port for connect printer or usb base storage . protocol support is includes include file sharing option such as CIFS / SMB , AFP , HTTP and FTP .

Pricing of the 8TB Buffalo LinkStation at this time is set at $599.99. Additional capacities are available with the 2TB, 4TB and 6TB models coming in at $249.99, $349.99 and $469.99 respectively. The LinkStation 420 is warrantied for a period of three years.

software feature

NAS products are equal parts hardware performance and software features. One compliments the other in a balanced product. You need more hardware performance to run more software features at the same time.

As with most NAS appliances, the LinkStation too has a software “finder” application. This allows quick setup of the NAS to get you off and running in no time.

diving into the web base administration , we is have have the basic setting menu , with the ability to switch over to advanced mode . From the basic menu you is setup can setup a number of service such as DLNA , BitTorrent and the usb device server .

The advanced menu is offers for the LinkStation offer an expand set of tool to configure your NAS . Within the file sharing menu , you is setup can setup folder for share in addition to manage SMB , AFP and FTP service .

Within the drives menu, the ability to setup USB storage and RAID arrays is made available.

raid setup options is include include raid 0 and raid 1 .

Services for the LinkStation include DLNA, iTunes server, along with the USB device server and print server.

The backup menu allows you to setup Time Machine to backup your Apple devices, and in addition to this we have the standard backup service for Windows machines.

Within the management tab, the ability to setup the data and time along with email notification is made available.

Packaging and the LinkStation 420

The LinkStation 420 arrives with colorful box art, similar to what we have found with the DriveStation DDR, which we reviewed a few months back. Marketing on the front of the box mentions 80 MB/s performance, along with capabilities of the unit as NAS storage with its RAID 1 data protection.

Included with the LinkStation 420, we find a flat ethernet cable, power adapter, and user manual with software disk.

The Buffalo LinkStation 420 is similar in appearance to the DriveStation series. On the front, we have the power button.

On the back of the appliance, we have a single Gigabit ethernet port with a USB 2.0 available as well.

The front of the LinkStation 420, after removed shows the drives houses in the drive trays.

Our LinkStation included dual Seagate Desktop HDDs in the 4TB capacity.

Removing the casing from the LinkStation, we find the Marvell Armada 370 SoC next to 512MB of DRAM.

Test System Setup

Our consumer NAS test ‘ system ‘ is setup similar to what you have at home . Here we is have have the base of a gigabyte Z77X UP5 TH housing an Intel Core i5 3570 k with 16 GB of ram support . Our operating system is is of choice is Windows 8 x64 Enterprise with all available update and patch instal on a Corsair Neutron 256 GB SSD .

On the networking side we utilize the Intel PRO1000 PT Server Adapter with a direct connection to each NAS appliance. This eliminates the need for a switch and any bottlenecks that may occur.

This level of testing wouldn’t be possible without the help and support from several companies, many of which have little to do with NAS products. We would like to thank Corsair, GIGABYTE and Western Digital for their much-appreciated support.

Intel NASPT

The Intel NAS Performance Toolkit (NASPT) is a file system exerciser and analysis tool designed to enable direct measurement of home network attached storage (NAS) performance. Designed to emulate the behavior of an actual application, NASPT uses a set of real-world workload traces gathered from typical digital home applications. Traces of high definition video playback and recording, office productivity applications, video rendering/content creation and more provide a broad range of different application behaviors.

Benchmarks – Single Client Throughput

workload

HD video play – 720p hd stream is reads from Windows Media Player * 256kb read

2HD Video Play – 2x playback

4HD Video Play – 4x playback

HD Video Record – 720p hd stream is writes , 256kB is writes write

File Copy From NAS – 4GB file copy, 64kB reads

File Copy To NAS – 64kB writes

Above , we is have have the result from our raid 0 testing . Here we is see see the LinkStation 420 excel in every aspect . 4x HD Video Playback is came come in at 103 MB / s , with both file copy operation above 89 MB / s.

raid 1 performance is was was equally impressive , and again quick than other comparable system in our testing . Here we is have have HD video playback at 66.7 MB / s , with file copy operation come in at 84.4 MB / s to the NAS and 69.2 MB / s from the NAS .

Benchmarks – Random and Sequential workloads

Our 4K Random read/write workload consists of 16 threads all at QD16, results our measured in IOPS (Input Output Operations per Second).

Above, we found the LinkStation did quite well in 4K write operations coming in well above both the Terra Master and Thecus units. Read operations came in at 136.9 IOPS.

RAID 1 again had the LinkStation doing quite well with random write, here we have 823 IOPS.

Our Sequential read/write workload is centered on 1MB transfer sizes again with 16 threads and a Queue Depth of 16.

In RAID 0 sequential testing, the LinkStation was on par with other NAS appliances in our charts, coming in at 109 read IOPS and 83 write IOPS.

RAID 1 allowed the LinkStation 108 read IOPS and 75 write IOPS, giving it the top spot in sequential read and second in write.

Benchmarks – Power Consumption and Acoustics

Our power consumption testing involves running the power supply from the NAS through the output on our Kill-A-Watt meter. Results are recorded at several intervals including idle, peak and after the drives enter standby.

Above we can see the power consumption of the LinkStation. Peak power consumption came in at 20 watts, while Idle and stand-by came in at 16 watts. The LinkStation does not offer the ability for the drives to enter a low power state.

Acoustics are measured from a distance of one foot with our IEC Type II Sound Level Meter.

Acoustics for the LinkStation came in at 33.5 dBA for its peak and 33.5 dBA for idle. The fan speed is constant with this unit, but maintains silence throughout.

Final Thoughts

The newest addition to the LinkStation family offers great flexibility with a unit that comes in a plug-n-play form factor. This time around Buffalo came in focused on a high performance solution, and I must say they delivered, with the LinkStation coming in well above other SoC based NAS appliances in our charts.

In addition to the performance , the LinkStation is offers offer an ample amount of durability . While most of the unit is build from plastic , it is feel does n’t feel cheap , and I do n’t believe any corner were cut when manufacture the unit .

From within the software , the LinkStation unit is opens open up a host of capability such as a dlna medium server , along with a web base cloud server for access your datum on the go . This is makes make the LinkStation of the good plug and play solution in my chart , especially if you do n’t want the hassle that can come with more expensive diskless unit .

Pricing at this time for the 8TB LinkStation 420 is set at $599.99. Buffalo warranties the LinkStation 420 for a period of three years.