Posted by
Hecules
17 yrs ago
Can anyone suggest a computer shop where I can buy one of these? I've tried the Wanchai Computer Centre but without success. It seems to be a top of the range external hard drive which is probably designed for professional use. Is there anywhere specific I should visit?
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Try some of the stores at the top of Computerzone (298 Hennessy Road). They are a bit more receptive to ordering stuff for you. Otherwise you can try Golden Arcade in Sham Shui Po, whih is way larger than the WCCC.
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>It seems to be a top of the range external hard drive
Not exactly. It is a network attached storage (NAS) device. What that means is that it connects to home/office/whatever network (that you presumably have), rather than directly to the computer (i.e., you cannot just connect it via USB).
Anyway, I have seen them in Wanchai Computer Centre. I will be there in the next couple of days and can give you specific store names.
Golden Arcade and Mongkok Computer Centre are other good options.
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"
Not exactly. It is a network attached storage (NAS) device. What that means is that it connects to home/office/whatever network (that you presumably have), rather than directly to the computer (i.e., you cannot just connect it via USB)."
beachball is correct. There is a big difference between an external HDD and a NAS. As for "top of the range", this kind of NAS device is not really.
BTW how will you use the device? Not to put you down but if you don't know quite what a NAS is ...
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scuse me for sounding like an ignoramus, I am not the most IT informed person but surely there must be a USB option as well, I cant believe they would make a huge storage device and force you to use a network to connect, surely there is a USB option as well it cant increase costs of production that much, and it allows people who want to connect a single computer to it to purchase the product, which would be a good thing no??
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*** puts on professor hat *** ;)
There are indeed (many) 1 TB USB drives. But the application is very different. NAS devices are built from the ground up to be network devices and do not offer USB direct connection. USB connection as an option would probably not cost much more, but it would never be used so I guess there's no point adding it.
It's not a question of forcing you to use a network, simply that a NAS has that application in mind. The whole fact that it is a huge storage device means multiple users (network) are a logical application.
I've had a lovely Infrant (now Netgear) NAS for about 1½ years now and it's just great. One place for all the files. No worries about which computer has my documents on it. Backups from one location. My wife can grab desktop or laptop and her "My Documents" folder has the same contents. Interestingly, my NAS has two USB connections so I can connect "auxiliary" USB drives or printers to it.
USB drives don't have the same application. They are strictly single (simultaneous) user devices.
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axptguy38 is correct and DB is wrong.
Few if any NAS drives allow for access to the volumes via USB. Reason is the scenario described by axptguy38 - multiple users working with the drive simultaneously over the network., require a more complex disk and file management. Managing data storage for access over a network is quite different from mounting it as a single USB drive. In theory one could design an NAS drive with USB access but it would be slightly elaborate, very hard to make work together with the network interface (likely only as a fall-back facility), and pointless.
As axptguy38 mentions, many NAS drives have USB ports for adding external drives or printers (some even have print serves built in), but these are not for accessing the NAS volumes.
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You cannot be wrong when you ask a question, that is grammatically impossible actually. re read the post.
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Haha, actually it is a question of logic and not grammar - although the grammar of your post was certainly dodgy, too, mixing a statement and question :-)
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"You cannot be wrong when you ask a question, that is grammatically impossible actually. re read the post."
I'm with DB on that one.
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Grammar my friend, is the rules of the written word, I asked a question, there is not one but two question marks at the end of the post, and I used the word "surely" twice within the post which both times implied a question, in fact there are 3 questions within the post the only things remotely dodgy about my grammar were I should have used question marks where there were commas, and perhaps broken up the sentence into more than one. There was no ambiguity in whether I was asking a question or not. Your answer would have been sufficient without suggesting that I was wrong. I made it very clear at the beginning of the post that I am not an IT savvy individual and in that regard don't know what I am talking about. Perhaps it would have been more prudent to say that the answers to all my questions were no and then give the reasons that you did??
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While DB is spoiling for an argument, I will address the original question:
At least half of the shops on the lower floor of WCC carry external hard drives. Most of them have NASs as well, including models by LaCie, Netgear, and Buffalo. Foresoon Computers (along the far side) in particular has the Buffalo Linkstation.
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No mate, not particularly spoiling for an argument, I just think it was a little rude that you passed the buck to me when I said it is grammatically impossible to be wrong when one asks a question. I don't think there was any ambiguity in whether I was asking a question or not and I don't mean to cause you any offence.
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Ed
17 yrs ago
Please note this is not a spelling bee... lets save the grammar lessons for the classroom...
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Ed I appreciate you have laid down the law, I shall refrain from posting further myself after this post.
You cannot be wrong if you ask a question, it is just not possible so you can maintain away. I'm afraid whether you find an argument holds water or not is largely irrelevant. If anyone is wrong here, it is not I. I really cannot be responsible if you either failed to comprehend my questions properly or did not see the question marks.
I do thank you though for explaining to me why a network storage device will not support a USB connection, that is ultimately what I was looking for, there really was no need for colour.
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Many thanks everyone, for clearing up in my mind what the hardware will do for me and advising from where I might buy it. Greatly appreciated.
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