Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQ )

• Question: Does the LAN Drive work with MAC OS?
  Answer: Yes, Driver installation is not required for systems using Mac OS 10.1.2 or above. Simply connect the LAN Drive using the included USB cable and access the data by clicking the “Untitled” HDD icon located on your Desktop.
   

• Question: Can I access the LAN Drive over a network?
  Answer: Yes, the LAN Drive can connect directly to a Home Network or Office Local Area Network (LAN) using the included RJ45 LAN cable. The LAN Drive will appear as a shared drive on your network.
   

• Question: What sort of Network equipment do I need?
  Answer: The LAN Drive supports direct connection to a USB port, in which case no additional networking equipment is required. The LAN Drive also supports both Ethernet (10Mbps) and Fast Ethernet (100Mbps) and will automatically detect and adapt to whichever it is connected to.
  
  In a home environment:

  •  A broadband router/firewall will typically have several LAN ports to connect multiple device to share the broadband connection. In this case simply plug the LAN Drive into a spare port. The LAN Drive will appear as a shared drive on your network.
     

  • If your broadband router/firewall only has one LAN port (for a single PC), you will either need a small LAN switch, or use the USB connectivity option. A Linksys EZXS88W, Netgear FS605 or equivalent LAN switch would be ideal (cost around £20).
     

  • If you do not have a broadband router/firewall, again you can either use the USB option, or purchase a broadband router/firewall such as the Netgear RP614 or Linksys BEFSR41 or equivalent at around £30.

  In an office environment:

  •  Simply connect the LAN Drive to a spare port on your Local Area Network (LAN) switch, using the RJ45 cable supplied.

  The Ethernet port on the LAN Drive is Auto-MDI/MDIX, which means you can connect it using either a crossover or a direct network cable.
   

• Question: Does the LAN Drive support power management?
  Answer: Yes, the LAN Drive supports 'sleep mode'. When there isn’t any hard drive activity within a pre-defined time (configurable between 5 and 60 minutes), the LAN Drive will power down the Hard Disk Drive to reduce power consumption and disk noise. The sleep time can be configured via the web control panel.
   

• Question:  How does the LAN Drive achieve its data sharing capabilities?
  Answer: Utilizing the SMB (Server Message Block) protocol, the LAN Drive allows any computer client that supports SMB to share files. SMB, also referred to as CIFS or SAMBA is the standard method for sharing network drives in Windows, Linux and Macs. The built-in FTP server also allows any clients with internet connectivity to access the LAN Drive.
   

• Question: Which file system does the LAN Drive support?
  Answer: The LAN Drive supports FAT32 when used as a LAN device. It also supports NTFS and FAT32 when used as a USB device. As a cross platform file server, FAT32 format is compatible with all major operating systems (Windows/Mac OS/Linux). The FAT32 format has a maximum single file size of 4 gigabytes. The LAN Drive operating system cleverly circumvents this limitation for files larger than 4GB by splitting and re-joining larger files transparently, on-the-fly (when used as a LAN device).
   

• Question: What is the size limitation for the LAN Drive?
  Answer: The LAN Drive support LBA (48-bit Logical Block Addressing) which in theory includes all hard drives from 32 gigabytes to 2 terabytes.
   

• Question: How do I format the disk? Do I need to format a disk before installing it into the LAN Drive?
  Answer: Formatting the disk is simple via the admin control panel. The control panel is accessed by a browser and has a disk utility that allows you to format the disk drive. Just drop a new unformatted SATA drive into the LAN Drive and it can be formatted as FAT32 in situ via the control panel. If a drive already contains data in a FAT32 partition, it will be automatically identified and be ready for use, you will not lose that data. NTFS drives can be installed and used via a USB connection, but will not be accessible over the LAN..
   

• Question: Can I use the USB port to attach other Disk Drives for future expansion?
  Answer: The USB port allows you to connect the LAN Drive to a PC and have it appear as a Mass Storage Device (like a very large flash drive!). It is not intended to allow you to connect other drives. To expand in the future, simply add a new LAN Drive to your LAN (!).
   

• Question: What kind of hard drive is compatible with the LAN Drive?
  Answer: The LAN Drive supports 3.5” Ultra DMA/ATA hard drives which are mostly manufactured after 1998. Below is a list of manufacturer websites you can refer to for more information on the hard drive you own.

  • Western Digital - http://www.westerndigital.com

  • IBM/Hitachi - http://www.hitachigst.com

  • Samsung - http://www.samsung.com

  • Seagate - http://www.seagate.com

  • Maxtor - http://www.maxtor.com
     

• Question: Which versions of Windows support the LAN Drive?
  Answer: The LAN Drive is supported under Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98 (SE), Windows ME.
  
  For USB Connectivity, driver installation is not required for Windows XP and Windows Me. Simply connect the LAN Drive using the included USB cable and access the data via “My Computer”.
  
  To utilize the USB connectivity under Windows 98 (SE), Windows ME, please install the drivers included on the CD shipped with the LAN Drive. These drivers are also available in the downloads section.
  
  Please ensure that you install the device driver before connecting the USB port. When you complete the driver installation, reboot your computer, connect the LAN Drive to your computer and access the data via “My Computer”.
   

• Question: How do I connected my LAN Drive's control panel.
  Answer:  You should be able to connect to the LAN Drive's control panel via a browser. You will need to know the IP address of the LAN Drive in order to do this. Enter the IP address of the LAN Drive in the browser's address bar as follows;

  •  http://169.254.0.1 (replace 169.254.0.1 with the IP address of the LAN Drive)

  You will then be prompted for a Username and Password. The defaults are;

  • Username: admin

  • Password: admin

  For security purposes, your login information can be changed via the web control panel.
   

• Question: What is an IP address? How do I find out the IP address of my LAN Drive?
  Answer: Every device plugged into a network requires a unique IP address. IP addresses take the form of 4 numbers separated by dots (such as 169.254.0.1). Any two machines that need to communicate over a LAN must have IP addresses in the same range . typically this means that the first 2 or 3 numbers (depending on subnet masks) must be the same on both machines.

  The LAN Drive will be assigned an IP address in one of three ways

  • Automatically - using  DHCP (see below). If a DHCP server exists on your network, the LAN Drive will be assigned an IP address automatically. If the IP address is assigned automatically you should be able to check which IP address has been allocated by checking on the DHCP status screen of the broadband router/firewall or office router - see the documentation for your broadband router/firewall or office router to see how to do this.
     

  • By Default - If the LAN Drive cannot get an IP address assigned automatically, it will default to 169.154.0.1. You may be able to connect directly to it on this IP address if your machine also has an IP address in the range 169.254.x.x.
    
    When you connect to a network with no DHCP server, Windows automatically assigns IP addresses in this range (called an Automatic Private IP address), so your PC or Laptop and the LAN Drive may be in the same range and should be able to communicate.
    
    To confirm the IP address of your machine type 'ipconfig' at a command prompt (to get to a command prompt click 'Start' then 'Run...' and enter 'cmd'). Alternatively, in Windows XP right click on 'My Network Places' in the start menu and select 'properties' . Then double click on your network adapter and select the ' Support' tab.
     

  • Manually - Once you have connected to the LAN Drive's control panel, you can manually set the IP address. Please note that an understanding of IP addressing is required before setting this address. Once set, you will need to reconnect to the LAN Drive by entering the new IP address in your browser. You cannot manually configure an IP unless you have connected to the LAN Drive using either Automatically assigned or default IP addresses.
     

• Question: Does the LAN Drive support DHCP? What is DHCP?
  Answer:  Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) simplifies configuration on network devices such as  PC's Laptops and the LAN Drive, by automatically sending configuration information to the device when it is attached to the network.
   
  Typically a broadband router/firewall or office router performs this DHCP function, in this case the LAN Drive will automatically be configured (with network addresses, gateway addresses, DNS server etc.) when you connect it to the network.
  
  If a no other devices on your network are performing DHCP, the LAN Drive can also be configured to act as a DHCP Server and perform this function for the network. The default IP of the LAN Drive in DHCP server mode is 169.254.0.1 and any device that is connected to the network will be assigned an IP of 169.254.0.x automatically.
   

• Question: How does the LAN Drive DHCP service work?
  Answer: The LAN Drive functions as a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server when it does not detect the presence of other DHCP servers in its network. DHCP is an Internet protocol for automating the configuration of computers that use TCP/IP by automatically assigning IP addresses.
   

• Question: Can I use the LAN Drive to stream media like MP3s or AVI movies over my network?
  Answer: The LAN Drive can certainly be used to serve MP3's DIVX movies, and AVI files. The LAN Drive supports Fast Ethernet (100Mbps) and the maximum data read throughput is around 25 Mbps.
  
  A compressed MP3 file requires only 200-300 kbps, which is easily achievable
  A typical 2 hour DivX movie of around 700 - 800 MB in size, requires about 1 Mbps, again easily achieved.
  A full DVD rip of around 4.7 GB, typically requires around 5 Mbps, again well within the capabilities of the LAN Drive.
  
  So in most cases media streaming from the LAN Drive works perfectly well.
  
  The LAN Drive provides streaming ability via SMB shared drives, it is not a uPNP server and does NOT contain any streaming media servers (such as SHOUTcast, ICEcast or SlimServer).
   

• Question: Can I access files on the LAN Drive over the Internet?
  Answer: FTP would work fine remotely, however you would typically need to set up port forwarding on your router/firewall. Anonymous FTP is supported but disabled by default, you can set up multiple accounts and determine which users have read and/or write permissions to which folders etc. Users can also be given a default home directory.
   

• Question: Can I access files on the LAN Drive over a VPN (Virtual Private Network)?
  Answer: Yes, this should be easily achieved. The LAN Drive will appear on you LAN just like any other machine, and if you can access your current PCs on this LAN then you should be able to access the LAN Drive.
  
  One issue may be the use of CIFS/SMB for file sharing, as this may not work over your VPN (depends if it forwards netbios broadcasts) if not then you can still use FTP to access the LAN Drive.