5. Wrap Up

Judging from the glowing reviews the NetDisk has received on other sites, I might be considered a party-pooper, but I wasn't that impressed with the NetDisk. When considered as a USB 2.0 drive, the NetDisk can cost you as much as $50 more than a plain USB 2.0 80 GB drive, and it's certainly less portable than some of its bretheren. As a network device, its one-writer-at-a-time limitation and inability to control who grabs write privileges make it useful only in very limited networked scenarios.

If you think of the NetDisk as an external USB 2.0 drive that can also connect to your computer via Ethernet and don't mind paying a premium, you'll probably be happy with your purchase. But if you're looking for a NAS box at a bargain price, you won't find it in this product.