I used to download various things using torrents but I have a relatively slow internet connection. So I had to keep my computer turned on for long duration which I obviously don't like. One of my friends mentioned about Network Associated Storage (NAS). So went on looking for NAS but those were very expensive but later I found some bit cheap NAS on ebay. Model number is NS-320U. But some say that it shares the same motherboard with NS-K330 . Anyway so I bought this NS-320U NAS. Seller was very good and shipped the item very quickly. I connected the NAS to my computer using the ethernet port and typed http://NAS in the address bar. But I coun't connect. The problem was DHCP client in the NAS was turned OFF by default. So I manually assigned an IP for ipv4 and then i was able to log in. Then I straight away went to the torrent client and started a download. It was horrible. Download speed fluctuates from the maximum speed to 0 every moment. After playing around with the NAS for a while I decided it is due to the poor original firmware. So I decided to upgrade the firmware. The new firmware of choice is was SNAKE OS. It is an open source firmware available freely. Since I was upgrading the firmware from the original firmware to snake os I had to download SNAKE OS - FROM ORIGINAL file. Then I unzipped the file and there were two files. I had to use the bin file. Not the file with .md5 extension. I made sure the NAS has an uninterrupted power supply. and started upgrading the firmware using the firmware page. It was very easy but of course very dangerous. The slightest mistake may brick your NAS. Then I turned ON the device with SNAKE OS . That firmware is great. It has many functionalities. But it doesn't have the media server functionality. you can create a swap file with snake os and it's pretty usefull since this device only has 32MB RAM. And processor usage is also optimized in snake OS.
No come to the torrent client part in snake OS. It's actually the transmission torrent client. It has many functionalitie and a good graphical interface. I started my first download. Dissapointing! It gave me an Error " Error: Can not save resume file no such file or directory". After hours of searching finally i found an way to fix it. As i figured out TRANSMISSION has an problem accessing subfolders. So I changed the curren torrent folder path in transmission settings page to /USB/SDA1 ( USB - Is my flash drive , SDA1 is my partition in that drive) After that downloading started with out giving errors. But still the download speed was low and I limited the upload speed. It improved my download speed to maximum achievable level.
If you want to power off the device while downloading first disconnect the internet connection the leave for 2-3 minutes. Then unpulg the device When you do that it's easier to resume the downlaod next time.
Another thing is this NAS get bit hot during operation. But according to the seller is normal. ( Still i dont have a problem with it. )
My final conclusion is this is a good product at this price. but to unlock it's full potential you have to upgrade the firmware to SNAKE OS ( If you are upgrading take measures to not to brick your device and when you upgrade you loose the media server functionality read the snake OS manual completely before upgrading.)
No come to the torrent client part in snake OS. It's actually the transmission torrent client. It has many functionalitie and a good graphical interface. I started my first download. Dissapointing! It gave me an Error " Error: Can not save resume file no such file or directory". After hours of searching finally i found an way to fix it. As i figured out TRANSMISSION has an problem accessing subfolders. So I changed the curren torrent folder path in transmission settings page to /USB/SDA1 ( USB - Is my flash drive , SDA1 is my partition in that drive) After that downloading started with out giving errors. But still the download speed was low and I limited the upload speed. It improved my download speed to maximum achievable level.
If you want to power off the device while downloading first disconnect the internet connection the leave for 2-3 minutes. Then unpulg the device When you do that it's easier to resume the downlaod next time.
Another thing is this NAS get bit hot during operation. But according to the seller is normal. ( Still i dont have a problem with it. )
My final conclusion is this is a good product at this price. but to unlock it's full potential you have to upgrade the firmware to SNAKE OS ( If you are upgrading take measures to not to brick your device and when you upgrade you loose the media server functionality read the snake OS manual completely before upgrading.)
