Netgear SC101 Review

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★☆☆☆☆
1.3
26.0% of users recommend this

simplelife's review of Netgear SC101

“If it worked the Netgear SC101 would be a great product. ”

☆☆☆☆☆

written by simplelife on 02/12/2006

Good Points
Heavy, and will provide a satisfying experience when the hammer smashes into it.

Bad Points
Corrupts files (e.g. Excel spreadsheets saved from within Excel, are corrupted).
Extremely slow retrieval if you have a folder with a large number of small files in it.
Drives that have been attached disappear.
The latest version of the software will not work at all in the 2 desktop PC's and 1 laptop I'm using (all very new with the latest XP versions).
If the drive is already powered up before the desktop PC's are switched on, they freeze.
Netgear Support.

General Comments
If it worked the Netgear SC101 would be a great product.

Unfortunately, it doesn't, and because it sits in the middle of a network, interfaces to PC's, involves firewalls, and third party drives, Netgear have multiple excuses for problems.



Their support is snail pace - maximum of one response per working day, which on many occasions is to ask you just another question, or more frustratingly, to tell you they are passing the problem on to someone else. The next one - you guessed it - probably from the person they passed it on to, asking the same questions again, or one you have answered days earlier.



I finally got though the "level 3" support, and their only solution to the problems of drives disappearing is to edit the registry! They have not responded at all to the question of corrupted files.



They now want me to let them access my network and PC's remotely to "diagnose the problem" - I've refused on the grounds of security. So we are at an impasse. This will be broken in the next few days. I'm going to get a cheap secondhand low spec desktop, install the drives in that (they will have to be reformatted as the SC101 does not use Windows format), and connect it to the network as an conventional file server.

I then have a heavy hammer ready, and will send Netgear support a picture of the smashed unit.



This may all sound flippant. I have however, persevered with this unit, gone through a lot of frustrating communications with Netgear, edited registry's many times, lived with PC's freezing and needing to be rebooted, restored files from backups when they have been corrupted, and generally spent a lot of time and patience trying to get a reliable installation. This has proved impossible. It's reassuring to have read some other reviewers comments, and I know what they've been through. I'll never buy another Netgear product based on their levels of support.

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Hatesc101's Response to simplelife's Review

Written on: 24/12/2006

I have been having the same problems with the Netgear SC101. Rubbish product. Though I found this article this morning. I might try it out in the new year.
<br/>www.itreviews.co.uk/hardware/h857.htm
<br/>
<br/>Happy Christmas

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Alpha Uk's Response to simplelife's Review

Written on: 06/05/2007

I wasted two weekends trying to get this device working.
<br/>It installed okay, and it managed to update its firmware and software.I then managed to copy 129 GB to the device (which took over A DAY to complete).
<br/>Once I had rebooted, despite all my efforts, uninstalling, (even the uninstal program crashed - causing a reboot) and re-installing, my computer never "saw" the drives again.
<br/>Netgear support were appalling.
<br/>Firstly, merely quoting paragraphs from their knowledgebase, wasn't much help.
<br/>Asking questions that had already been asked and already been answered in previous emails.
<br/>Escalating the problem and taking TEN days to do it.
<br/>After lots of emails, all help dried up, they eventually just ignored my case.
<br/>It just does NOT work.
<br/>Don't touch this product, look on Ebay and see how many are for sale.
<br/>One thing they don't mention in the adverts is that this device uses its own filing system.
<br/>If the device fails you cannot take the drives out and pop them into you PC - your PC just would not recognise them.
<br/>Unless you have a spare device, if you value your data, you would have to buy another - in other words - YOU'RE HOOKED !!!
<br/>It is not compatible with some firewalls such as Zone Alarm.
<br/>Save your money and buy a proper NAS device.

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