LaCie 5big NAS Pro Review - Part I
by Ganesh T S on January 7, 2013 7:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Enterprise
- Storage
- NAS
- LaCie
LaCie's Hybrid Cloud - Wuala and a LaCie NAS in One Interface
LaCie's marketing impetus for the 5big NAS Pro is focused on three main aspects - the rescue web admin, SimplyRAID and the Hybrid Cloud. The first aspect is innovative, but nothing ground-breaking. The second aspect is simply LaCie catching up with the competition in terms of RAID management features. The third aspect is what we feel may make certain consumers strongly consider the 5big NAS Pro for their usage scenario.
Wuala - Cloud Storage and Backup Done Right
I had been vaguely aware of Wuala as a Dropbox-like service from LaCie. Dropbox, undoubtedly, has caught the imagination of the general public like no other cloud storage company. Personally, I use Dropbox to backup and maintain versions of my review notes and other material which I need to work on from multiple computing platforms. Would I trust Dropbox to backup really sensitive data? I would probably not, because, Dropbox hasn't been the most secure solution going around, and is often cited as a poster child for cloud insecurity.
Under these circumstances, it is important that the public be made aware of solutions which offer additional security. Wuala is one such service. Similar to most other cloud storage services, there is 5 GB of free space upon sign up. However, the differentiating aspect is that the data stored on the Wuala servers is encrypted before even being uploaded. Even, LaCie doesn't have access to the user data. A slight downside to this aspect is that web access to an account on a computer without the Wuala client is not possible without Java.
When compared with Dropbox, Wuala provides many more features. Some of these include the ability to choose multiple pre-existing folders on the computer for storing to the cloud. There is no specific 'My Dropbox' folder. Easy access to all stuff stored in the cloud is available through a separately mounted Wuala drive network location. In addition to the locally associated folders, it also has data backed up / synced from other computers associated with the same Wuala account. Unlike Dropbox, Wuala differentiates between backup and sync. Syncing ensures that data updated on one computer is also reflected on another computer associated with the account. Backup, on the other hand, periodically updates the contents of the relevant folder in the Wuala servers. Versioning is also available.
Hybrid Cloud - The Differentiating Feature
How does Wuala tie in with the LaCie 5big NAS Pro? While installing Wuala on a machine, it searches for compatible NAS devices in the same network by broadcasting a UDP multicast message to which the NAS responds. These devices can be added to the Wuala account. In addition, after associating a NAS with Wuala, it is possible for administrators to use the Wuala interface to provide an access code to any e-mail address (creating a new user in the process). It becomes possible for a remote NAS and its contents to be associated with a Wuala account, without the user actually being connected directly to the same internal network (through VPN or otherwise).
After associating devices with a Wuala account, the concept of a hybrid cloud becomes much more evident. Within the same interface, it is possible for users to look at both their backed up / synced folders as well as the NAS content that they have access to. On top of that, the devices appear in the Wuala network drive too. NAS units to which admin access is available can also be configured from Wuala.
The hybrid cloud concept is definitely a very impressive differentiating point, and LaCie deserves a lot of credit for this. It will be slightly difficult for other NAS vendors to match this feature because of the non- availability of a in-house Dropbox-like solution. That said, some work needs to be done to make the Wuala features easier to use. From the perspective of a LaCie 5big NAS Pro administrator, it might make more sense to control / edit / add Wuala user account names from within the web configuration interface. Currently, only enabling or disabling of the Wuala service is available through the NAS web interface.
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
30 Comments
View All Comments
julieno - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
Hello,Indeed Wuala can be used to:
- back up certain shares from your NAS in the cloud to secure them offsite. Don't forget that to backup the NAS' entire content, you can buy a second one and use it as full backup target offsite
- sync folders between employees that are highly mobile / often remote.
The plus being that Wuala does not scan, share or know a thing about your data or password.
wirelessrouters - Tuesday, May 21, 2013 - link
Its only for small business. Too much high price so out of reach for general user.philipma1957 - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
My point is the device can have 10tb of info with ease even more. Wuala offered 1tb for 1100 a year. For the single user. 1tb out of 10tb would be selective. For a single user it would be expensive. Basically cost prohibitive unless the info was truly need for making money. Ie a small business The business plan had only one offering 100gb and 5 users. It was 429 a year. They did say they had other plans to call them.If I load this device with 4tb drives run as raid5 with a good ups setup. I can store 16tb of info. 100gb out of 16tb is not much. 1tb is more reasonable. So if the un named business plan is 2k for 2tb and 10 users as a business owner it may be okay. But I was not able to find out what a large business plan costs. Hence my question "so how much is wuala?" Is a 5 to 10 user 2tb plan cost prohibitive?
Don't know. I do know that a 5 user 100gb plan is 429 and that is okay. but 100gb of info out of 16tb is not much.
I would think more info on a large size plan would be a factor for a user. As a small business user I want to know the yearly cost for gear up front. As i see it 550 for the unit 5x 4tb hdds at 425 is 2125.
Total 2675. Setup as raid5 running an eaton 5125 ups as a back up . A 5125 runs 400 extra battery pack is 300 2 battery packs 600. so 1k for a good ups setup. I am at 3675. Plus the computer Lets say 2500 for a good but not great server.
So 6k Gives me the gear to run the business. Not too expensive for a money making business. If I need 2tb or 3tb out of the possible 16tb to be on the cloud will it be too costly.
I WAS not able to determine cost for more then 1tb as a single user or 100gb as a multiple user. So if I was going to spend for this I would have like to know my cloud cost for 2tb 3tb of cloud.
Death666Angel - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
You can reply to certain comments by hitting "reply" under the user name/user logo. And you haven't added anything to your original post which ganesh replied to and you still seem to be confused as to the purpose of the Wuala service it seems to me.bodacious - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
My late 2010 LaCie 1 TB Hitachi drive worked a treat until just before X-mas 2012, when it tipped over onto my desk and wrecked the hard drive. Built like a tank, fragile as glass. I won't buy another LaCie product.Subyman - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
LaCie makes HDDs with bumpers for clumsy people too.tygrus - Wednesday, January 9, 2013 - link
Any pictures of any physical damage ?Have you tried the internal drive with another external case/dock or PC ?
Was there damge to just the HD or just the LaCie electronics or both ?
If just the HD and no backups, then did you ask a data recovery company to access recoverability ?
Subyman - Monday, January 7, 2013 - link
Wuala has me interested in this device. Can I assign certain folders within the NAS to be synced with Wuala or does this have to be done through a workstation? It would be great to have a mission critical share automatically backed up to Wuala through the NAS without any further bother.julieno - Tuesday, January 8, 2013 - link
Hello, you can do that through the workstation. Though we're working on the headless system.Crazymayhem - Thursday, January 10, 2013 - link
Hi, anybody know what if the internal motherboard in the 5Big NAS / Office is a mini-ITX format? The 4Big Rack Office and the older ethernet disk rackmount versions used/use a IT format motherboard.Unfortunately there are no halfway stylish HTPC-esque looking 1U 19" cases out there for 4 3.5" drives with a max depth of about 19"......