Product Description

Technical DataStorage Hard Drive / TypeStandardTechnical DataStorage Removable / TypeNoneTechnical DataOptical Storage / TypeNoneTechnical DataStorage Controller / TypeSerial ATATechnical DataStorage Controller / RAID LevelRAID 1Technical DataNetworking / TypeNetwork adapterTechnical DataNetworking / Data Link ProtocolGigabit EthernetTechnical DataDimensions & Weight / Widthcm13.8Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Depthcm24.3Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Heightcm8.2Technical DataDimensions & Weight / Weightkg1.6Technical DataStorage / TypeNAS serverTechnical DataHeader / Product LineRaidSonic ICY BOXTechnical DataHeader / ModelIB-NAS4220-BTechnical DataHeader / CompatibilityUnixTechnical DataHeader / ManufacturerRaidSonic TechnologyTechnical DataOptical Storage (2nd) / TypeNoneTechnical DataHeader / Packaged Quantity1Technical DataStorage Hard Drive (2nd) / TypeNone

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #46921 in Consumer Electronics
• Brand: Icybox
• Model: IB-NAS4220-B
• Released on: 2009-02-19
• Dimensions: 32.28" h x 54.33" w x 95.67" l, 5.73 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Gigabit RAID & 7 servers in one!;The ICY BOX IB-NAS4220-B is a network storage device with RAID function. Simply share data with several computers via the network interface and store it safely on 2 SATA HDDs. You can select between RAID 0, 1, Spanning (NRAID) or JBOD (Just a Bunch of Discs) and the EXT2, EXT3 (RAID) or FAT32 (JBOD) file system. A HDD encryption using 128 AES is possible in JBOD Mode. If the EXT3 file system is used, a quota can limit the disk space for every user.;Thanks to the Gigabit network interface the IB-NAS4220-B belongs to the fastest SOHO-NAS, Quiet operation is achieved by using a smart fan which is controlled by temperature, thus lowering power consumption – The NAS4220 saves money and protects the environment in contrast to the conventional PC. The built in Bit Torrent client can stay running without the use of running a PC.;With the ICY BOX IB-NAS4220-B you can share data via Samba, FTP or NFS. Via Samba standard Windows network shares are accessible to Windows, Mac and Linux. For UNIX and Linux NFS provides the standard Unix shares. Via FTP you can access your data even through the internet. Access rights can be defined for an unlimited amount of users or groups. The Twonky Media Server (30 days trial) connects to all Network Media Players using UPnP-AV. Bonjour including iTunes® Support connects to your MAC World. The included DHCP server configures your Network automatically if none such server is available.Supported servers include Samba, FTP, NFS, DHCP, UPnP-AV, Print Server, iTunes®.

Customer Reviews

ICY BOX IB-NAS4220-B
The unit reminded me somewhat of the difficulties in setting up an NSLU2 which has a similar philosophy - to use headless embedded linux to provide control and networking functions for NAS/FTP/Samaba disk access. The NSLU2 was not something I would recommend however.

The unit is very straightforward to setup but dropped the connection when performing the initial copying of a large data set that I want to backup in the RAID 1 configuration. There were some other peculiarities with the unit in that on powering down it resets the admin password to admin (which is I would say a security issue) and also that the reset button on the rear appears if held in for 5 seconds to do the same as the recessed restart button which is also on the back and is for causing a factory reset. However, despite the warnings that factory reset would erase all my data this wasnt the case although I guess it would have been if the data was encrypted as the username / passwords would have been lost. In the end re-flashing to the later firmware seemed to fix a few things.

For me the unit would have benefitted from SSH or telnet connections which are apparently available with the firmware upgrade. I did the upgrade and some of the previous instability issues, including the unit locking up, appear to have reduced but I still couldnt get SSH or telnet access even by adding the packages as per the user group instructions.

The pros of the unit are as follows:
1. cheap and likely to be reliable so long as not used for transferring very large amounts of data (e.g. > 100GB) at a time. (in which case the connection can be lost as the unit hangs - possibly a temperature issue of the HDD's). The cooling fan is inadequate when on.
2. the disks spin down reduces wear on the disks so the unit can
sit dormant for long periods.
3. is a cheap RAID solution and quite effective in this regard.
4. FTP/Samba/NAS access and torrent functionality.
5. JBOD for spanning two disks (if you wanted to do such a thing).

The cons of the unit.
1. still very buggy, no support for SSH, telnet.
2. unit hang when the disks get warm - even with fan running the cooling
power is not sufficient.
3. reset and restart buttons appear to do similar things (reset made changes to the config as did restart if held for 5 seconds - the former should only do this if held for 5 seonds, whereas the latter did the same if held for 5 seconds). Restart functionality was incorrectly documented and the two are confusing. A reset button would have sufficed and restoring config to factory defaults should be by holding this button in when the unit is rebooting. Its to easy to do this as things stand particularly as the other button isnt recessed into the case.
4. as above the manual is incorrect regarding these buttons on the rear and only one should have been present - the recessed one for reflashing the firmware. In the end press the power switch on the front once and the unit powers down which is as good as although admin password is lost for some reason.

Overall the build quality is very good and its a nice looking solid unit but I am afraid it needs a *proper* firmware revision to get rid of the many glitches. Would still recommend as there is nothing for a similar price and it is also good for linux nurds who like hacking.

If you stick with it and have the patience it will do the job very well. Given that the source code is available no doubt the linux hacking community will probably be able to produce a much improved firmware revision - although at present the product lacks maturity in terms of reliability issues and can be quite irritating. Good product but needs work to reduce all the hastle.

Robin Aspey

Avoid
I've has this device for nearly a year, fitted with 2 Samsung 500GB HDDs. I have memories of it being a right pain to set up initially.

I've now replaced those 500GB drives with 2 Samsung 1TB drives and the pain has returned. I've lost count of the number of reboots and hard resets I've had to do as I struggle to get the device to (a) reliably and consistently recognise the drives, and (b) set them up as RAID 1.

Once it's up and running things seem to be OK - but NEVER turn the NAS off otherwise it will lose a disk and have to rebooted several times before it finally finds it and then it'll spend the rest of the day remirroring. This inability to be turned off is a problem for me as I'm trying to be 'green' and shutdown devices that aren't in use. The IcyBox fails miserably at this simple requirement!

Good but not as good as it could be
First things first, the speed of this device is not all it's cracked up to be, I put that mainly down to the software on the box itself as well as the operating system connecting to the device. The hardware is fine.

I'm using 1 x 1TB Western Digital WD10EACS Caviar, I haven't got another drive for RAID just yet. Make sure your drive is formatted as FAT32 before you put it into the box otherwise you will be wasting time getting it out again.

Once in, it's relatively easy to create a new share and access it across the network. File transfer speed is peaking at 12MB/s, which tbh, is not gigabit LAN speed, hence why I think the internal software is playing part in this. I was hoping to get around 100MB/s transfer speed, but as it's the same as I had before I am happy enough.

Support for the product seems to be dire and unless you can read german, don't expect to be able to use the dedicated site for the box, besides, it's pretty pointless anyway.

I have found that sending a large quantity of files is best done by FTP as you can easily restart the ones that failed to transfer (why this happens I have no idea).

I'm yet to try the media server capabilities...