Evaluating this only as a NAS it is decent, probably 4 stars. The read speed is fine accessing HD video on my xbox over a 802.11G network works fine. Write speeds are not as great. Transferring a 300MB files takes about a minute.

So while it might not seem that bad, the “features” are where this really starts to fall apart. First, all of the setup must be done using a web browser. Lacie provides a taskbar program, but it does nothing except provide the link to the browser admin page. The bittorrent client is WORTHLESS. The only stats that it provides, or status, is the percentage complete. No speed, seeds, peers, NOTHING. Not to mention that to actually use the BT client you have to login to the NAS through a browser, then click on media, then click on bittorrent, then upload a .torrent to it. Why couldn’t it just watch a folder named “Torrents” and download anything that enters?

Also, the remote power feature is complete BS. It is billed as being able to turn itself on when a network devices is requesting it. And it does, as long as you are referring to using the taskbar app and clicking on Wake Up Device. Same goes for it turning off, you have to use the web interface and pass through 4 menus to click “shutdown” It is basically just a digital power switch. Thats all.

I sound like I hate this, and I really dont. I just was not happy paying for features that do not exist. I was able to get a partial refund and keep it. But you might want to look elsewhere if those features are important to you.

I had my old Disk Mini unit sitting in a cabinet with my cable modem and router and it worked out fine. When I put the 1TB D2 in the same cabinet and did my first backup the unit over heated and shut itself down (I must say it was nice to receive the e-mail from the unit when it over heated — a great feature) Since then I’ve had to move the unit outside of the cabinet and it has not overheated. Another advance in the D2 (over the Mini) is that you can remotely shut it down and start it up. The start-up function is nicely controlled from the desktop icon (in both mac and pc) however to shut it down you have to go to the unit’s web page, click through several pages and then press a button — but hey, they added the feature!

Over all the 1TB D2 seems good I use it to back-up a windows vista laptop as well as a os x leopard laptop. However we will see if this circuit board will fry after 3 years of use.