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We received the product in a plain brown box, but the retail version will be shipped in a branded package.
All we received was a little booklet on the product, locking keys and a software disc.
The product looks industrial and is built inside a metal chassis. It looks very durable and ideal for an office and work environment. It weighs 12.5KG without the drives installed and measures 300 x 215 x 230 mm.
It has full support for Windows 7 (32/64-bit), Vista (32/64-bit), XP, Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), 2008 (32/64-bit), 2003 R2 (32-bit), 200 3(32-bit), Mac OS 10.4 or higher.
The front of the TeraStation Pro 8 Bay has a digital readout in the center, alongside a power button and troubleshooting/status lights. As there are two LAN ports on the back, there are LAN1/LAN2 lights to indicate connectivity. At the bottom of the panel is a locking key mechanism, which is a bonus, especially for a workplace.
The rear of the TeraStation Pro has several LAN connectors, two USB 2.0 connectors and a UPS connector. There is also a USB/HDD boot switch above these. In the center are two large fans to ensure the hard drives receive adequate cooling.
The underside is raw metal, like the rear. There are four raised feet to help with stability on a variety of surfaces.
Getting access to the hard drives is straightforward – simply unlock the front fascia.
The front panel can be completely removed to get access to all the drive bays. It has a dust filter across the full width to ensure the internals remain as clean as possible.
With the front panel removed we can get access to the 8 drive bays, which are split into 2×4 vertical racks.
Removing the drives only takes a few seconds and the bay mechanism is very strong, being constructed entirely from metal.
The drive trays are metal, with a strong plastic front section which is used to unlock the tray from the main unit. Buffalo are using Samsung HD103SI 1TB drives, they are EcoGreen F2 3.0GBps rated with a 32MB cache.
The LED readout gives an up to date status during boot up, testing the memory and hardware for any potential problems. When the system is ready it rotates between the time, the IP address and a welcome message. These can be changed later via the interface.
