NEWS
D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router
By VARINDIA - 2010-04-21
The D-Link DIR-685 Xtreme N Storage Router has a lot of features stuffed into a small, attractive package. It has several distinct features, but perhaps the most unique is the slot for snapping in your own 2.5-inch SATA hard drive. This turns the router into a network-attached storage device, and inserting the drive is quite easy. You can also plug in up to two external disks or printers.
Once you turn on the router, you will notice it has a 3.2-inch colour LCD, which shows 1.6 million colours in crisp detail. Since the DIR-685 also doubles as a digital picture frame, the screen is mainly for photo viewing, but you can also see router status and storage allocations.
The options available on the LCD screen of the DIR-685 are helpful, and the controls are fairly intuitive. You can scroll left or right and click a centre button to make selections.
The set-up process was quick and easy. It took about 10 minutes in total. You need to configure a SATA drive, set up an account for accessing the picture frame, copied over media files, and set the router options for security and access. D-Link wisely puts all of these settings and options in one place. You do not need a separate set-up for the NAS functionality, picture frame, or router.
One surprising feature: The router uses the FrameChannel service for uploading and managing photos on the router’s display. In a jaw-drop moment, we uploaded about 25 photos, pressed a button on the router (the LCD screen shows icons for the FrameChannel service, photos stored on the device, and other settings and status screens) and saw that the photos were already viewable.
Although the DIR-685 has two USB ports and D-Link’s SharePort Technology (which lets you share any connected external drives over the network), the router also has a bay that accepts 2.5-inch SATA hard drives up to 1TB in size. The snap-in feature on the router is true plug-and-play; we snapped one in and the router found the drive immediately (consumers must provide their own storage drive; the DIR-685 does not come with one). The formatting and configuration options are fairly rudimentary, and you access them by typing the IP address of the router into your browser. All in all, this may prove a bit intimidating for novices.
Specifications
VPN Support No
Ports 2 USB; 4 Gigabit LAN
Wireless Bands 2.4 GHz
Supported Protocols 802.11b/g/n; 802.3; 802.3u
Security Features WPA, WPA2
Warranty/Support One year limited
Size 4.4 x 5.8 x 1.2 inches
Weight 0.5 poun
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