9. Closing Thoughts

The SimpleShare brings some unique features such as encryption, SMART diagnostics and RAID 0 and 1 support to the consumer level market. And its support of external FAT and NTFS drives should be popular with Windows users. The print server feature worked well for all my systems, and the NFS support was a bonus for my multi-OS home network.

Alas, the SimpleShare isn't perfect. Its write performance was a bit below that of comparative products and that may be a consideration for people who will be using the device to store and retrieve DVD-sized files. But hopefully this could be an area where Simple Tech or Broadcom can make driver tweaks in an updated firmware to improve performance.

The glitches I encountered using OS X's Safari browser for configuration were also frustrating, but once I figured out a work-around weren't show-stoppers. And finally, while the lack of bundled or built-in backup could be an issue for some people, there are commercial packages that can fill the void.

Overall, despite the performance issues and browser problems, the SimpleShare would be a useful addition to most any home network. Its solid construction and unique capabilities help it stand out from the pack and perhaps into your shopping cart.

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