I believe that some of you may remember the product by Quantum called Snap Server. This device was designed for network data storage purposes and was none other but a RAID array, which the user would manage via the software interface. The solution looked very much like a black consumer video recorder or a DVD player.

Well, it looks like that particular device appeared a stimulus for the Maxtor engineers to start working on a solution with similar functionality to that of the above mentioned Snap Server. I would also suggest that we keep in mind the fact that Maxtor acquired Quantum storage division some time ago.

So, today I would like to introduce to you a solution belonging to the Network Storage product family from Maxtor ?200GB Maxtor Shared Storage Drive (H01P200)

Closer Look

As you may have guessed from the name of this device the key words there define its major application. According to the info available in the manufacturer's official web-site, the drive is designed to be used in small home and office networks based on TCP/IP protocol. It will be a good storage solution for family photos, music, videos, databases, and other types of information, which can be useful for multiple users working in the network simultaneously.

The preparatory work before setting this drive in operation is fairly simple due to the supplied CD disk with the software called Quick Start CD. Once you have installed the software and configured the device, which is done automatically, the user sees an icon on the desktop symbolizing one more hard disk drive: this is how the user sees this network storage device. By clicking onto this icon the user can access the general and private data from the storage device in no time.

The user's everyday life becomes much simpler due to the brand name Drag and Sort mode. In reality it means that when you drag the files onto the desktop icon symbolizing the network storage, they get automatically sorted out according to their type. As a result, the user's files get distributed between the folders dedicated to music, videos, photos and data without any additional effort on the user's part. Simple and intuitive WEB-interface makes it easy to assign access rights to one or all the folders on the network storage device.