Once you log in with the default username and password of admin / admin you will be presented with the web configuration interface which resembles more of a desktop computer than a website. The amount of features and widgets on the “virtual desktop” is a nice touch. The list below shows a rundown of some of the included features:
• File System Browser
• “Recycle Bin” support
• Photo Album
• Media Player
• Address Book
• Social Network browser (Facebook, Flickr, YouTube)
• File Downloader
• Disk Manager
• Preferences/Configuration Manager
The first place to head is the preferences/configuration. This area will allow you to setup all the options including the Dynamic DNS host which will allow you to access your DC01 from over the web. In the registration area you can come up with a name you would like to call your DC01 and once you register it you will be able to access it via the Internet from
The file system browser is broken down into sub-sections called “My Server” which basically opens the root of your file system. More specific browsers include a “My Photos”, “My Music”, and “My Videos” which open the respective folders for each type of content. Navigation of the file browser is straightforward and contains basic file management functions like move, copy, delete, rename, etc. There is also native recycle bin support similar to Windows that allows you to recover items you may have deleted on accident or otherwise need back.
The Photo Album applet allows you to create basic photo albums and that’s about it; it is very basic. More interesting is the media player which will allow you to stream videos and music on your DC01 from within your web browser. In some basic testing, this feature worked well enough to stream music over the Internet to an iPhone which with a little effort could allow you your own personal music stream accessible anywhere. Streaming a decent resolution movie was not as successful but this is more due to limited bandwidth and you can easily download the movie first.
The disk management utility is pretty straight forward allowing you to setup logical partitions, RAID arrays and general management of disks. It works well enough to get the job done, and does provide some atypical RAID levels such as RAID 4 and RAID 6. This is of course all software RAID handled by the embedded Linux Kernel, but with the dual core CPU dedicated to storage, this is not really a hindrance performance-wise.
There are also some more basic applets. One handles an address book which could be handy, but with free and highly available services such as gmail, it may get little use. There is also a Social Media applet allowing you access to Facebook, Flickr, and YouTube. It is a little confusing what use this applet has and it seems like it may have been thrown in there just to add another bullet point on the features list.
Lastly the file downloader allows you to plug in a direct URL or the direct URL to a torrent file to download files directly to the NAS. Depending on the person, this could get some use and is a valid feature for the unit, especially considering the NAS can be accessed remotely. You could potentially kick off a few downloads while you are gone for a trip and have them waiting on you when you get home. Both features worked well enough in testing, but don’t expect an intensive and detailed interface like you would get from a native downloader or BitTorrent client running within a modern OS.
Let's move ahead and cover some limitations before wrapping up with a conclusion.
