Buffalo TeraStation ES 4-Bay 12 TB (4 x 3 TB) RAID Network Attached Storage (NAS) - TS-XE12TL/R5

I have had my unit for 9 months and its been working great. The web interface is easy to configure and the unit comes with Nova backup software that will help you schedule copy and back up jobs. I am really satisfied; the first unit we received failed during the first 4 days a drive went bad in it. This machine makes it very obvious when something like this happens blinking the blue display red and also putting a red light on next to the drive that failed. The most non-technical person can quickly assess what is going on. It emails reports if you want to give you status if there is a failure or if it fails something on the monthly diagnostics.If setup properly you really don't have to do much interaction with the device; it will notify you if something needs attention; having dual nics is also nice; but for what I do; it was a bit unnecessary. I also like the fact that you can back up the NAS to USB hard drives if you want.I would buy it again without regrets.

This particular unit is very troublesome for a novice. I love Buffalo products, but this one is not for beginners. Lucky for me I've setup multiple buffalo products so when it failed ootb, i knew exactly what to do. I didn't need to send it back to buffalo, it just needed to be reinitialized.

Have 5 of these. It works. Another one, 2 years old....3 drives went and most data lost. So RAID doesn't necessarily mean that safe and totally backed up. You need a backup of this RAID backup to be safer. Then maybe hard copies on duns as well. If not too much data involved, offsite storage might work. If lots of data, offsite is too pricy.

I have to say up front that the first one that was delivered did not boot up and had to be returned. The first one however, was not shipped inside an outer box and that may have cause the problem. The second one arrived well packed and worked. I have been running a 4TB Buffalo TeraStation for about 7 years in RAID5 and have found them to work very well. The 4TB had a disk that failed several months ago, I hot swapped it for a new disk and it rebuilt the system in about 4hrs. I did not lose any data. I keep identical spare disks on top of each case so the swap can be done quickly. Be aware that there is special instructions on the supplied CD that explain how to hand a disk failure. You should print them out and place them with the spare hard disk so you can find it easily. You can set the TeraStation to email or SMS its status too.

We bought 2 of them about 4 or 5 years ago. One of them has been a workhorse, running non stop since it was taken out of the box. The other has never worked right. When doing backups, in the middle of the process, it will lose network connectivity and the back ups will fail.. a very unreliable drive.Because the network interface is integrated into the main board, we have never been able to get a replacement part. I put a service call in about 8 months ago. After a technician checked it out and confirmed that the main board needed replacing.. we never heard back from the technician. Since then, we have transitioned to the Drobo 800i.3 Drobo's and not a single issue so far.

For some unknown reason, the drive reboots itself about once or twice a day, usually when it's not being used. I've reviewed the logs, but can't find any clue.Other than that, it's quick to set up, has good performance (although RAID 5 is slower than other modes because the checksums have to be calculated).It has a simple, easy UI, and no other problems.(UPDATE)The drive reboots because when I installed it I accidentally set a small power switch on the back to "Auto" (or it's on by default) which shuts the NAS off when there is no PC running a special Buffalo "keep alive" service. After I set it up, I deleted the unneeded software, and the drive started shutting down whenever my main PC was not online. I switched the switch to "Manual" and all is good now.Upgrading my review to 5 stars.

Bought 2x of these in Oct '13 for use as backup drives. One is fine and has no problems.The other has failed 4 hard drives in the same slot as of Apr '16. Buffalo keeps sending drives but won't replace the whole unit.Very disappointed with Buffalo's customer service.

I love this NAS drive.Works great, Bought it with the case dented but no problems so far.Lots of room and transfers files fast.Never any buffering.And got it for a fraction of the price of a new one.

Easy to setup (raid 5, ftp, email notification, share folders), very quiet (have it in living room next to my tv). 1 month now and absolutely no issues. Very satisfied especially for the price I paid as it was refurbished.** UPDATE: Running for 7 months now like a charm. Not a single error or crash.

Solid server. Easy to setup. Performs as expected, very quite, quick disk access speeds. Set it up in Raid 10.I would recommend this unit to colleagues.