| The Netgear SC101 (Storage Central) is a | | | | mounted on the system with very little hassle |
| networked external hard drive enclosure for up to | | | | (although the software update facility caused the |
| two IDE hard drives (ATA6 or above) which | | | | system to crash) and we decided not to run a |
| connects via an RJ-45 cable (standard network | | | | RAID setup due to the different sizes of the IDE |
| cable) to your wireless router, wireless modem or | | | | drive that we had available. At this point we still |
| switch. | | | | liked the SC101 and thought that maybe we had |
| It is cosmetically quite a clean, modern looking | | | | an isolated problem to do with the desktop we |
| case and considering it can house two drives is | | | | were using and the initial install software. |
| quite compact. | | | | All was well for a week, until one day we |
| The hardware setup is very easy with access to | | | | powered our desktop on and there were no |
| the SC101 case being screwless (There is a small | | | | drives from the SC101 available! No number of |
| catch on the front of the unit that when twisted | | | | reinstallations of the SC101 SCM software allowed |
| allows the case to be opened). Once you have | | | | access to the drives, and access to the drives |
| opened the case, the only hardware setup is the | | | | was never regained through the desktop |
| insertion of either one or two IDE hard drives | | | | computer. Luckily the drives were still accessible |
| (ATA6 or above) of your choice and connection | | | | through a laptop that we setup using the SCM |
| through the available 40-pin IDE cable and the four | | | | software and files could be retrieved. It seems to |
| pin power supply cable. It is then simply a just a | | | | us that the software that is used to run the |
| case of shutting the unit up and connecting to the | | | | drives is very unstable on certain systems (the |
| power supply and router. So far so good!! | | | | closest answer we could get from customer |
| This is where the problems start, the software | | | | support for the problem with compatibility with |
| installation and its stability. The SC101 software is | | | | the desktop system was that there was a |
| available through the Netgear site (here) and | | | | conflict with certain SCSI drivers utilised by certain |
| includes a SCM software utility for connection and | | | | mainboards, which although an answer, did not |
| management of drives and a firmware (Netgear | | | | really solve our problem!). |
| Storage Central Manager) and firmware for the | | | | At this point we decided to cut our losses and |
| network hard drive enclosure. | | | | decided to use other forms of external enclosure |
| Although not a deal breaker, this is where issues | | | | as the SC101 seems to be far too unstable as a |
| arise from. Ideally if you have a network drive, | | | | backup device and we just could not take the |
| you don't really want to have to install software | | | | risk. |
| on every computer you want to access the | | | | I am afraid that I really would not recommend |
| drives, a simple ftp access would have been | | | | the Netgear SC101 (Storage Central) to anyone |
| much simpler and user friendly. | | | | even when taking into account the cost of the |
| The Storage Central Manager utility appeared to | | | | unit, which is fairly cheap for this type of product, |
| us to be inherantly flawed. When we tried to | | | | the instability far out weighs the potential money |
| install our SC101 on an XP home desktop system, | | | | saved. |
| the installation failed twice for no apparent reason, | | | | For more useful articles and product reviews visit |
| before the software would install "correctly". | | | | Computer Takeaway. |
| After this the drives could be formatted and | | | | |