The Buffalo TeraStation network-attached storage series are

network-attached storage Network-attached storage (NAS) is a file-level (as opposed to block-level storage) computer data storage server connected to a computer network providing data access to a heterogeneous group of clients. The term "NAS" can refer to both the techn ...

devices. The current lineup includes the LinkStation and TeraStation series. These devices have undergone various improvements since they were first produced, and have expanded to include a Windows Storage Server-based operating system.

History

Buffalo released the first TeraStation model, the HD-HTGL/R5, in December 2004. The second generation models, the TS-TGL/R5, was released the following year with uninterrupted operation and improved operational stability. This was followed up with the TeraStation Pro and the TeraStation Pro II in 2006, which offered

iSCSI Internet Small Computer Systems Interface or iSCSI ( ) is an Internet Protocol-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities. iSCSI provides block-level access to storage devices by carrying SCSI commands over a TCP/I ...

support, as well as 2U

rackmount A 19-inch rack is a standardized frame or enclosure for mounting multiple electronic equipment modules. Each module has a front panel that is wide. The 19 inch dimension includes the edges or "ears" that protrude from each side of the equ ...

models. in 2008, the fourth generation TS-X models were released with

hot swapping Hot swapping is the replacement or addition of components to a computer system without stopping, shutting down, or rebooting the system; hot plugging describes the addition of components only. Components which have such functionality are sai ...

and

replication Replication may refer to: Science * Replication (scientific method), one of the main principles of the scientific method, a.k.a. reproducibility ** Replication (statistics), the repetition of a test or complete experiment ** Replication crisi ...

, along with IU rackmount versions.

TeraStation

The TeraStation is a

device using a

PowerPC PowerPC (with the backronym Performance Optimization With Enhanced RISC – Performance Computing, sometimes abbreviated as PPC) is a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architecture (ISA) created by the 1991 Apple– IBM ...

ARM architecture ARM (stylised in lowercase as arm, formerly an acronym for Advanced RISC Machines and originally Acorn RISC Machine) is a family of reduced instruction set computer (RISC) instruction set architectures for computer processors, configure ...

processor. Many TeraStation models are shipped with enterprise-grade internal

hard drives A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that stores and retrieves digital data using magnetic storage with one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magne ...

mounted in a

RAID Raid, RAID or Raids may refer to: Attack * Raid (military), a sudden attack behind the enemy's lines without the intention of holding ground * Corporate raid, a type of hostile takeover in business * Panty raid, a prankish raid by male colleg ...

array. Since January 2012, the TeraStation uses LIO for its iSCSI target.

LinkStation

The LinkStation is a

device using a

processor designed for personal use, aiming to serve as a central media hub and backup storage for a household. Compared to the TeraStation series, LinkStation devices typically offer more streamlined UI and

media server A media server is a computer appliance or an application software that stores digital media (video, audio or images) and makes it available over a network. Media servers range from servers that provide video on demand to smaller personal compu ...

features.

Current Product Lineup

LinkStation

The LinkStation is notable among the Linux community both in Japan and in the US/Europe for being "hackable" into a generic Linux appliance and made to do tasks other than the file storage and sharing tasks for which it was designed. As the device runs on Linux, and included changes to the Linux source code, Buffalo was required to release their modified versions of

source code In computing, source code, or simply code, is any collection of code, with or without comment (computer programming), comments, written using a human-readable programming language, usually as plain text. The source code of a Computer program, p ...

as per the terms of the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end user In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ulti ...

. Due to the availability of source code and the relatively low cost of the device, there are several community projects centered around it. There are two main replacement firmware releases available for the device: the first is OpenLink which is based on the official Buffalo firmware with some modifications and features added. The other is FreeLink, which is a

Debian Debian (), also known as Debian GNU/Linux, is a Linux distribution composed of free and open-source software, developed by the community-supported Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock on August 16, 1993. The first version of De ...

distribution.

TeraStation

Like the LinkStation, TeraStation devices run its own version of

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

, and some models run Windows Storage Server 2016.

and

Gentoo Linux Gentoo Linux (pronounced ) is a Linux distribution built using the Portage package management system. Unlike a binary software distribution, the source code is compiled locally according to the user's preferences and is often optimized for t ...

distributions and

NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...

are reported to have been ported to it.

Operation

The device in various iterations ships with its own

Universal Plug and Play Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence on the ...

protocol for distribution of

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradi ...

stored on the device. It can also be configured as a variety of different media servers TwonkyVision Media server, a SlimServer/ SqueezeCenter server, an iTunes server using the

Digital Audio Access Protocol The Digital Audio Access Protocol (DAAP) is the proprietary protocol introduced by Apple in its iTunes software to share media across a local network. DAAP addresses the same problems for Apple as the UPnP AV standards address for members of the ...

, a

Samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

server, an LIO iSCSI target, MLDonkey client, as well as a

Network File System Network File System (NFS) is a distributed file system protocol originally developed by Sun Microsystems (Sun) in 1984, allowing a user on a client computer to access files over a computer network much like local storage is accessed. NFS, li ...

server for

Posix The Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) is a family of standards specified by the IEEE Computer Society for maintaining compatibility between operating systems. POSIX defines both the system- and user-level application programming inte ...

-based systems. For use as a backup server, it can be modified to use

Rsync rsync is a utility for efficiently transferring and synchronizing files between a computer and a storage drive and across networked computers by comparing the modification times and sizes of files. It is commonly found on Unix-like operatin ...

to back up or synchronize data from one or many computers in the network pushing their data, or even having the LinkStation pulling the data from remote servers—beside the use of the Buffalo-provided backup software for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

. It has also found use in a number of other ways, notably through its USB interface which comes configured as a

Print server In computer networking, a print server, or printer server, is a type of server that connects printers to client computers over a network. It accepts print jobs from the computers and sends the jobs to the appropriate printers, queuing the jobs l ...

but can also use the

Common Unix Printing System CUPS (formerly an acronym for Common UNIX Printing System) is a modular computer printer, printing system for Unix-like computer operating systems which allows a computer to act as a print server. A computer running CUPS is a Server (computi ...

to act as such for a USB Printer. Users have managed to get it to use a number of other USB devices with the version 2.6

Linux kernel The Linux kernel is a free and open-source, monolithic, modular, multitasking, Unix-like operating system kernel. It was originally authored in 1991 by Linus Torvalds for his i386-based PC, and it was soon adopted as the kernel for the GNU ...

's enhanced USB support. Additionally, because the Apache HTTP Server software is already installed for the purpose of providing the Buffalo configuration screens, the device is easily converted to be a lightweight web server (with the Buffalo content deleted) that can then serve any content of the operator's choice.

Achievements

The LinkStation and TeraStation NAS devices have won various industry awards since their introduction, such as the TS51210RH winning Storage Product of the Year for the 2018 Network Computing Awards. The TeraStation has also won the SMB External Storage Hardware category of the CRN® Annual Report Card (ARC) awards, which recognizes exceptional vendor performance, for three years in a row.

Gallery

File:TeraStation 6000.png, TeraStation Desktop File:LSSOHO.jpg, LinkStation SoHo File:TS51210RN.jpg, TeraStation 51210 Rackmount File:TS6400RN front top.png, TeraStation Rackmount File:Buffalo LinkStation Mini and a PP3 battery.jpg, LinkStation Mini and PP3 battery File:Buffalo LinkStation Pro and KuroBox Pro together.jpeg, LinkStation Pro and KuroBox Pro File:Kuro-box pro.jpg, Kuro-box pro File:Kuro-box hg.jpg, Kuro Box File:Terastation.jpg, Two TeraStations stacked

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buffalo Network-Attached Storage Series Network-attached storage Storage area networks Computer storage devices Backup ARM architecture Linux-based devices Server appliance

History

TeraStation

LinkStation

Current Product Lineup

LinkStation

TeraStation

Operation

Achievements

Gallery

See also

References