Hard Drive & Storage - News & Reviews

Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server

With Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server organizing and sharing files remotely is very easy. Maxtor Fusion is a self-expressive way to organize and personalize all your digital photos, videos, music and documents and share your experiences with family, friends and colleagues either privately or publicly in a secure environment. It supports both Windows and Mac, and enables quick remote access to all your content from anywhere, at anytime. It is very easy to use because it features the drag and drop functionality to your files into the Fusion interface to quickly organize your music, videos and photos. It saves hours of uploading time and it’s a unique product that stands out with its ease of file organization, labeling, and sharing. Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server can also be used to backup files, but only a administrator can back up the Fusion.

Design and Set-up:s

Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server is shaped like a short section of I beam. The sides of the device are encased in a firm rubbery plastic to ensure a solid grip. On the front of the drive you have LED’s that indicate power, drive activity, and network activity. On the back of the drive you have a power button, two USB ports, and a Gigabit Ethernet port.

Setting-up Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server is a very tedious and long process. To start, connect the drive to an available LAN port on your router and plug in the power cable. Once it’s powered up, you can insert the included installation CD into your PC to install the software. You’ll be prompted to enter the drive’s serial number and to create a administrator username and password for the drive. The rest of the setup process includes entering SMTP settings (for e-mailing a share link); providing a dynamic DNS host name if you already have one (or setting one up if you don’t); and configuring port forwarding on your router, so people outside the network can access the Fusion drive. Once you are done with installation, accessing the drive is pretty simple. You can type its IP address into a browser window, or if you’ve installed the icon shortcuts, you can just double-click the Launch MyFabrik icon on your desktop. Under Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server you can create up-to 13 additional sub-users, who can access the drive and share files.

Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server Includes:

• Maxtor Fusion
• Power Adapter
• Ethernet Cable
• Maxtor Fusion Install CD
• Printed Set-up Guide
• On-line User’s Guide
• Maxtor 1-year Limited Warranty.

Features:

• It can easily organize your files with iconic buttons, thumbnails, tags, descriptors and folders.
• Maxtor Fusion is always on, always available so you and your invited friends and colleagues have access anytime, from anywhere.
• Provides a secure environment for private and public sharing.
• Multimedia Support: Mix all types of media, including videos, photos, music, and documents.
• Supports Windows, Mac and Linux.
• Fast Gigabit Ethernet connection to network router.
• Data Link Protocol: Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet.
• Storage Capacity: 500GB, which can store 384,000 photos or 36 hours of DV video or 8,300 hours of music.
• Simple email invitation to your audience for easy sharing.
• Easy expansion- Two USB ports for additional hard drives.
• Viewing options - thumbnails, lists and slideshows.

Limitations:

• Setting-up the devices is a very complex process. It would be difficult for newbie because it requires familiarity with some networking concepts.
• No built-in photo editing features.

Comments:

I’m really impressed with the ease of file sharing and adding feature of the drive. However, the set-ups looks complex initially, the instructions provided in setup and user guides are highly detailed. The setup wizard takes you through how to set up a dynamic dns, how to set up your router, and all of the other details that would usually require some real technical know how. The important thing is to follow the instructions closely. It saves a good deal of time, as you just drag and drop the files you want to share and not upload them.  It provides a secure environment for both private and public sharing. With good storage capacity of 500 GB, Maxtor Fusion Personal Web Server helps to organize and personalize all your digital photos, videos, music and documents and share your experiences with family, friends and colleagues.