Iomega StorCenter px2-300d 2TB review

Iomega’s StorCenter px2-300d Pro 2TB is a solidly built two-bay NAS device, available with 2TB, 4TB or 6TB of storage. A lockable plastic flap covers a pair of 3.5in hot-swappable drive bays at the front of the chassis. Above it, a screen provides basic information about the NAS’s status, system time and IP address.

The first time you connect to the NAS device’s web interface, it’ll prompt you to set your time zone, set up an Iomega Personal Cloud and give the NAS access to your SMTP server so it can send email notifications to a designated address. The Iomega Personal Cloud lets you make your NAS available to anyone with an internet connection and the right access privileges, making it easy to share documents and directories with staff who work remotely.

The Iomega Cloud website lets you choose a name for your device and configures Dynamic DNS services for you, so that you can access your NAS remotely, although you’ll probably have to open ports on your router to make it accessible to remote users. Personal Cloud apps are available for iOS and Android, as well as Windows, Mac OS and Linux PCs, so you’ll be able to access your storage on the move.

Features similar to Iomega’s Personal Cloud are becoming more popular with NAS makers and software module developers, so it isn’t a unique feature, but it’s fairly easy to configure. You can even use it to link a second Iomega NAS in another location to perform convenient off-site backups, assuming your broadband connection is up to it. There’s also support for several online backup services, too, such as Amazon S3, EMC Atmos Backup, Axis Video Hosting and Mozy Backup can all be linked simply by filling in your account details.

Unlike NAS devices from Synology, Thecus and QNAP, Iomega doesn’t have an online centre where you can download extra software modules, but there are a couple of optional components you can install. These include SecureMind Surveillance Manager, which includes a licence for one IP camera and makes it easy to monitor, control and record security footage. You can also install a virus scanning module from McAfee, which could offer some peace of mind if you have a lot of people uploading content to the NAS, but this isn’t a substitute for proper anti-virus software on your local network.

You don’t need to download any extra components to enable most of the NAS’s features, which include UPnP and iTunes media sharing, copying images from your digital camera automatically when you connect it via USB, sharing USB printers with the rest of your network and setting up automatic copy jobs to replicate data from the px2 to another network share or an external USB drive.

The px2 has a USB3 port at the front and a pair of USB2 connections at the rear. The back of the NAS also has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, and it supports NIC bonding and multiple VLANS. There’s also a VGA output, but this only provides external monitoring for the SecureMind video surveillance module and doesn’t allow the NAS to be controlled independently using a display, keyboard and mouse.