For many years I utilized various Windows versions for my file and printer sharing for home and small business use. I finally decided to seek an alternative that would improve available storage capacity while decreasing ongoing costs for maintenance, upgrades, electricity, etc.

I read reviews and compared prices of various network-ready external hard drives; the WD NetCenter received good reviews and cost less than the competitors (namely Lacie and Maxtor). The NetCenter connects with both Macintosh and PC computers.

I decided to purchase the Western Digital NetCenter external hard drive. I bought the 250-GB version (WDXE2500JB), since the cost per GB was less than the 160 GB or 320 GB models.

After plugging the NetCenter into my ethernet router using the supplied CAT5 cable, setup was straight forward and simple. The supplied software quickly found the unit on the network, and within minutes of unpacking the box, the unit was up and running and ready for use.

Creating shared folders on the NetCenter is quick and easy via the built-in web browser interface. Each shared folder can be public (no password) or private (password required for access). You can set a different password on each shared folder if you desire.

Security settings for shared folders are straight-forward, but limited to one password and one level of access per shared folder. In other words, you cannot assign full access for Joe and read-only access for Tom to the same folder; your access-control options are either all or nothing (full control or no access) per user per share. If you need access-level folder control, then the password protected shared folders of the NetCenter will not meet your needs.

The enclosed software can be installed on each network client and used to map network drives to various shares on the NetCenter; however, if you are familiar with mapping network drives, then the supplied software need not be installed on each client. I like this feature, since I do not want to load extra drivers on my machines.

The NetCenter includes print sharing capability via the 2 USB 2.0 ports on the unit. Although my printer (an HP Laserjet 1320) was not on the list of supported printers, the NetCenter detected the unit immediately and shared it quickly and easily.

You can also connect another standard external USB hard drive to the NetCenter to add even more storage to your network.

A few "gotchas":
1) The NetCenter hard drive has a built-in power-saver feature; after a period of inactivity, the drive will enter power-saver mode. This "feature" results in a short but noticeable delay while you wait for the drive to "wake up" if you try to access it after it has entered power-saver mode.
2) If you have mapped drives to shares on the NetCenter, be sure to "un-map" the drives from your client machines before you remove the shares on the NetCenter.
3) After you power-on or reboot a client machine, the NetCenter prompts the user for a password the first time the user accesses each password-protected share. You can get around this by setting your share password to be the same as your Windows password; however, in the case of password-protected folders used by more than one person, each user would be required to have the same user password. However, If each user has only their own share with the password coordinated to their Windows password, then this is not an issue.

Based on my experience with the unit so far, I will be recommending the WD NetCenter to some of my small business customers, and to friends and family.

From the Western Digital web site:
- Centralize and share data in your home or office
- Connect a printer and share it with any computer on the network.
- Create private, password-protected folders.
- Back up files from any computer on the network.
- Connect with both Macintosh and PC computers.
- Access files any time, from any computer on your network, even when all other computers are off.
- Connect another external drive to add even more storage.

Western Digital provides all the specs you need; just follow this link:

http://wdc.com/en/products/products.asp?DriveID=151


Recommended: Yes