Hi , I recently purchased a ex2 , took it out of the box , set it up and plugged a usb drive into the back.
Started a job of backing up the data from the usb drive onto the ex2
This took hours to complete and failed around 56%
Tried again and same result , so I returned it to Amazon.
Would I fare any better with an ex2100 or should I get something like a Synology 214+ ?
It will be mainly used to backup photos and have a usb drive connected to periodically provide another backup
I know nothing about these two units, but I do have the “step up” of the EX2100; I have the DL2100 (w/faster CPU). Copying data from a USB drive to/from the NAS is not how I use it. I connect the USB drive to my fast Win 8 PC, and copy my data on external drive through the gigabit network to NAS… It is very fast and I never have issues. The NAS devices are best-suited to use through a (wired) network connection, (use wireless of PC if necessary) and not USB cables. I would only connect the USB drive directly to NAS in a pinch – meaning if I cannot do what I currently am doing.
Thanks for your reply
I see what your saying about the USB , however I thought this was the point of the drive having USB ports in the first place , id like to have a reliable backup function without having to plug in a usb drive into the laptop.
As a side note you have now made me aware of the DL2100 , which is only £20 more on amazon for the 4TB option.
No, the USB input is not the main purpose of this NAS. It’s main purpose is as a media server in a RAID configuration so whatever is on it is backed up automagically; duplicated on both drives. It is to connect to a network and be primarily addressed via the network. If you have a drive in your PC or connected to your PC, via USB; either desktop size or portable size, you go through your PC to copy to and from NAS. It’s a lot faster. The USB port is for quick little jobs, like a flash drive, etc.
The DL2100 has a bigger brother – 4 drive slots rather than two. There are also little brothers, the EX2100/4100. The main diff is the DL series has a faster CPU, and perhaps why one is the EXpert series and one is the Business series, but the guts are basically the same except for the CPU, and either can be used for home or business. I have the DL2100 with 2, 4TB WD Red drives installed.and is used as a media server for my home entertainment. This series was introduced at the first of 2015, and basically is the “newer models” of last years EX2 and EX4 NAS.
mike27oct wrote:
I know nothing about these two units, but I do have the “step up” of the EX2100; I have the DL2100 (w/faster CPU). Copying data from a USB drive to/from the NAS is not how I use it. I connect the USB drive to my fast Win 8 PC, and copy my data on external drive through the gigabit network to NAS… It is very fast and I never have issues. The NAS devices are best-suited to use through a (wired) network connection, (use wireless of PC if necessary) and not USB cables. I would only connect the USB drive directly to NAS in a pinch – meaning if I cannot do what I currently am doing.
i agree with mike27oct. My EX2100 system works very nicely across my network as a NAS. I’m pretty sure the built-in USB feature is not reliable nor is the WD backup software. I experimented with adding an external (WD) drive using the various included backup software. Lots of problems. If it didn’t work so well as a NAS I would have returned it.
Terry, you indicated that the WD backup software isn’t reliable. What do you use?
