Seagate Maxtor Central Axis Review

The Maxtor Central Axis Network Storage Server is a 1 TB network attached storage (NAS) device that is easy to use and configure. The drive, Maxtor’s new Central Axis software, you can back up your computers on a local network, share media files, and access files on the disk remotely. It does not have the fastest file transfer speeds, but home users will appreciate its features and large capacity for the price.

With similar dimensions and design as Maxtor One Touch 4 Plus external hard drive, the central axis is a compact box that is upright and not much space. Inside is a terabyte, 7,200 rpm hard drive with a 16MB cache. The disk works in silence, but because it is a fanless unit, feel warm.

Installation of the Central Axis is a breeze. Maxtor includes a handy quick-start guide that describes the basic settings. In both our PC and Mac setups, we had no trouble dropping the device in one of our local networks. After installing the Central Axis software, our computers easy to find the device on the network.

Central Axis software lets you enable backup, recovery, media serving, as well as internet access and sharing, you can also add additional users. The Central Axis is also launching a Web-based interface, where you can manage settings, users and folders. The software and web interface can not be as detailed as some advanced users may want, and backup functionality is rudimentary, but casual home users who need something easy to navigate and find the Central Axis does the work used. One problem was that the web interface is not in sync with the software: After we deleted a user by user management function in the web interface, the deleted user still appeared in the application.

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One feature we really like using Drag and Sort-when you were a file to disk, it is automatically placed in the appropriate folder. Drop a JPEG file, for example, and the drive will place it in the My Pictures folder (user account) or our pictures (public account) folder.

If all you want to do is file sharing on a network and set up basic backup computer, the setup process you can achieve that. But if you decide to some of the more advanced features as possible, Maxtor has not go far enough in providing the instructions or wizards to help you correct these functions. Some of the coolest features include advanced remote Web access, media sharing to Universal Plug and Play and Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) devices and iTunes compatibility. The USB port lets you connect a printer or an external drive to increase storage capacity or back up the Central Axis drive to an external hard drive via USB.

We had no problem activating these features, but some of them did not work (the disk could not be found when we tried to access from the Web, for example, and a printer would not print when we connected to the station), we could not figure out how to set up the characteristics associated with the link to the documentation. Worse, neither Maxtor, Seagate or parent support services offered to help solve problems. Advanced users who understand NAS drives or networks will be able to solve problems on their own, but home users, the target device, will certainly have trouble.

After we fixed the issue with Web access to the server (it involved manually open a port on our router, which Maxtor’s manuals do not mention or show you how to do), we could drive over the Internet by Seagate Global Access web access interface. It’s simple: Set up an account at globalaccess.seagate.com, coupling with the drive, and you’re up and running in no time. There are, anyone can access public folders and personal folders for individual account holders, and you can share folders with others by sending an email with a link. A 29MB file took 16 minutes and 15 seconds to download, but it requires only 6 minutes and 36 seconds to upload the same file to the device.

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In read/write test, the central axis fell in line with the LaCie Ethernet Disk mini is a bit slow. It took just over 33 minutes to a 10GB file and just under 25 minutes and 23 seconds, write to read. If you are concerned about the speed, you can look elsewhere. But for most consumers, we think the features and ease of use are worth the sacrifice in performance.

If you want a NAS drive to back up computers on a local network and sharing media files, the central axis Network Storage Server is an excellent, affordable solution that is easy to install and use, albeit with some retained in performance. But if you intend to advanced features like Internet access and sharing of media use, make sure you have some problems due to insufficient documentation and help resources meeting.

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