NAS In Your Home: Vox's BlackBox

Features
By Marcel Binder
published

Features

Like most NAS devices, the Vox BlackBox can be fully configured through a Web browser to help keep things simple—an especially appreciated attribute for equipment used at home. Less advanced users might still find the Web interface of the Vox BlackBox difficult to deal with, though.

Blast From The Past: Not The Best-Looking Interface

The appearance reminds you of a site design from the ’90s, and the confusing menu structure makes it easy to get totally lost. If you’re hoping for online help for the different menus you’ll also be disappointed. For many settings you have to search for the correct menu item. Lengthy delays loading the management interface are also frustrating.

Network Protocols and BitTorrent Downloads

The Vox BlackBox supports the SMB/CIFS, FTP, NFS, and Bonjour network protocols, the latter of which is needed to run the integrated iTunes server. Furthermore, the Vox BlackBox NAS has the option to download files using the BitTorrent protocol.

To add a download to the queue, you have to be logged onto the Web interface. The corresponding .torrent file is then uploaded to the Vox BlackBox using the browser. However, this only worked with Internet Explorer. When using Mozilla Firefox, uploading would always be canceled with the error message “Connection Interrupted.”

Storage Space Allocation for Users and Groups

Less advanced users might also have trouble when setting up users or group permissions. For example, when setting up a new user, you can choose the location of their home folder in the file system. However, if you attempt to change this location later, you will almost certainly run into problems. For each user account you can set a maximum amount of storage space.

NAS Device as DHCP Server

The Vox BlackBox can be operated as a DHCP server in your network, though the feature is turned off by default. Standard settings like Gateway or Primary DNS server, as well as IP addresses, can be assigned to the MAC address.

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Data Security Using RAID

Besides the RAID 0 mode, which stripes both hard drives for maximum performance, RAID 1 mode is also possible on the Vox BlackBox. This mode is also known as mirroring, which means that data is automatically copied to both hard drives simultaneously so that data is still available even if one of the two hard drives crashes. Setting up the RAID modes is easy.

More Pictures of the Web Interface can be found in our Picture Gallery.

Marcel Binder
Marcel Binder
18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • DFGum
    I swear i saw another company selling the same thing for 80 dollars or so recently.
    Reply
  • Did you use a gigabit ethernet ?
    Reply
  • dblizzard
    I just had a struggle installing two different NAS devices in the home office. The D-Link device DNS-323 has firmware problems and can't finish formatting 1tb Seagate drives. Swapped out the D-Link for a Cisco Linksys NAS200 and it works well but if a drive fails in raid-1, both drives need to be reformatted when a replacement drive is added. Beware...
    Reply
  • smelly_feet
    I really wish THG would also plot power draws at the wall idle/full use for all "always on" devices in general in all their articles. It would be nice to compare the power draw of all these nas devices, including a watt/performance charts. The VOX box may score less on the performance charts but maybe it draws much less power too. On the otherhand, if it draws the same or more power and also performs worse than its a complete waste of money unless it has some other unique usefull features.
    Reply
  • michaelahess
    I bought this device for a bit under $200. Cheapest I could find it. Sold as the Raidon/Stardom SL3620-2S-LB2.

    I had to reflash the bios with the newest firmware twice to get it to detect my two 1TB drives properly. Once that was resolved it worked great. Interface is very easy (I'm biased as RAID and Security are two of my daily tasks) and works well. It is simple looking though, but I prefer that to flashy interfaces like D-Link. I don't have the bittorrent feature even though it says I should. Also, they are NOT hot swappable drives. The box says they are, the manual says in no uncertain terms not to do it or you risk loosing your data.

    From what I can tell, it's based on a SIL4726 controller which is about middle of the road for consumer devices.

    I can only write to it at about 7-8MB. Reads are a little faster (RAID-1). I can safely stream 720p content, haven't tried 1080i yet.

    Overall, compared to other NAS devices, I'm pleased with it. It cost considerably less than most comprable devices and seems to run very stable and cool.

    I just with the designers would get the firmware right. Or that someone would come out with a better os to flash onto it!

    On a side note, the AMS Venus T5 has the same chipset, it's esata and works like crap. I've sent it back for repair as it keeps dropping my array. Unless it comes back working, avoid that product. It does support upto 5 true hotswap devices, but only if you're lucky and get a working one.
    Reply
  • michaelahess
    smelly_feet, I'll throw my power meeter on it tonight and see what I get.
    Reply
  • "I swear i saw another company selling the same thing for 80 dollars or so recently." You did its a Sans Digital brand. I have the Sans Digital one. I have had it for about a year. I think these guys ripped off Sans Digital.
    Reply
  • tvoice
    I think the Sans Digital is a JBOD, not a real RAID.
    Reply
  • One thing I wish more NAS reviews included is information similar to what the cisco nas users mentions, how do these units handle drive failures or going from one drive to a second drive.

    With more small businesses unfortunately starting to use these devices, it would be useful info to include.
    Reply
  • michaelahess
    The Sans Digital are just esata, firewire, and usb devices, not NAS devices, that I can tell. They do use the same enclosure though.
    Reply