Even families are getting connected these days. Mumsy fiddles with friendster at the first floor, Junior plays online warcraft on the second floor, and Dad… well, he’s visiting Youporn.com in the locked basement. And while they’re at it, they’re sharing their latest finds inside and outside the home. Thing is, all those music, photos videos and apps are starting to take up horrendous space- bits and bytes that the Lacie Ethernet Disk Mini can easily manage for you.
Check out the Lacie. It’s impressive! At 500GB, it’s almost as muscle-flexing as the HP media Smart home server that robs you of $700. But this baby costs only $210 with all the same features.
First off, this cool device links to your router via ethernet. It took me less than 5 minutes to connect- easier than setting up a Linksys WirelessG router! It’s bundled with the HipServ App that must be installed on any PC that will access the server. Once installed, laptops and desktops will recognize it, transforming it into a moster storage device that provides media server functions like streaming video.
Then it goes a step further. The HipServ offers intermediate backup functions. With staggered and full backup protocols, you can restore files after a horrid crash and hit the ground running. Then here’s something the paranoid would love: any folder on the Lacie can be designated as private: grant users permission and only they can access and delete files from it. This serves as protection for your stash of financial data an shufuni downloads. 
Bottomline is, I found this device a darn easy tool to use. If all you want is a central location for storage that’s capable enough for video streaming and secure file protection- this is it. You don’t have to spend more than the cheap $210 price tag!
