Ximeta NetDisk
- Easy to set up and use;
- fast USB2.0 interface;
- inexpensive
- Can get warm in constant use
- Editors' Review
- Specs
Storage is perennially in demand, and the problem gets worse as the growth of multimedia files continues apace. And if you're conscientious enough to back up your systems, the problem doubles. Ximeta's trio of NetDisk products could be the answer. All connect over both USB and Ethernet but in varying quantities: the NetDisk Office has eight Ethernet ports, while the smaller NetDisk Mini offers a more pocket-friendly form factor. Our mid-range NetDisk unit also connects via either Ethernet or USB and there's one of each socket; of the three products, this is best for small office/home office use.
In the box is the drive itself, a power pack (yes, that's another mains socket occupied), USB and Ethernet cables. The 7200rpm, 80GB drive is housed in a reasonably attractive, round-edged casing; bigger (and more expensive) drives are available up to 250GB in capacity (120GB/£159, 160GB/£189 and 250GB/£279, all ex. VAT).
We found the NetDisk simple to set up and use. In terms of setup, you only need to flip a switch to configure it to accept power either from the pack or the USB port. If you choose the latter, you'll need a double-headed USB cable to plug into the host computer as the power drain is too great for a standard connection. Although the clear and concise instruction sheet suggests that such a cable is included, there wasn't one with our review unit.
Once running, under Windows XP you'll find that the unit just powers up and the OS recognises it as an external drive. There's nothing else to do. Users of Macs and older Windows PC users will find drivers on the accompanying CD, but we didn't test these.
The unit's fairly quick too. We copied a full CD's worth of data -- over 700MB -- to and from the NetDisk several times, and each time it took just over 32 seconds, demonstrating a real-world data transfer rate of some 22MB/sec.
The NetDisk CD also contains software that allows you to manage access to the disk -- critical when the device is connected to the shared Ethernet network. The software is simple to use and doesn't do anything else.
Top ZDNet Reviews
Neat, simple to use and attractively styled, Ximeta's NetDisk could be just the ticket for mobile storage, backup and supplementary storage of, for example, multimedia files.