The LaCie Network Space is an entry-level NAS system with a limited range of options. As you can see in the photo above, the manufacturer has reused the enclosure of the LaCie Hard Drive designed by Neil Poulton.
There are, however, two differences, with a USB port at the front to connect an external hard drive and a Gigabit Ethernet port at the back to give the Network Space access to your network. Two versions are available, 500 GB and 1 TB.
Interface
File sharing and other featuress
The features available on the Network Space are very limited compared to what its competitors offer. It only supports the CIFS/SLB and AFP protocols, which is fine for Windows and Mac users, but leaves Linux networks out in the cold. You can also give secure remote access to your files over FTP, or use it a multimedia server for DLNA-compatible devices.
File transfer rates
As we saw in the introduction, you can connect a USB key or an external hard drive, and either organise a manual or an automatic backup of the data contained on it onto the Network Space. Unfortunately, however, the speeds are absolutely terrible and we can't advise you use it in this mode. During our speed tests, we reached an average of 1.6 MB/s for writing and 0.6 MB/s in reading. Note that drives formatted using NTFS are read-only.
The speeds are just as appalling over FTP. We found speeds of 4.5 and 4.9 MB/s for writing and reading respectively. As a result, we can't recommend this NAS.
There are, however, two differences, with a USB port at the front to connect an external hard drive and a Gigabit Ethernet port at the back to give the Network Space access to your network. Two versions are available, 500 GB and 1 TB.
InterfaceThe tool used to configure the Network Space is the same as the one found on the 2Big Network. It's very simple, but rather limited. As a result, it's very clear and setting things up doesn't take long. However, it's not long before you reach the system's limits.
File sharing and other featuressThe features available on the Network Space are very limited compared to what its competitors offer. It only supports the CIFS/SLB and AFP protocols, which is fine for Windows and Mac users, but leaves Linux networks out in the cold. You can also give secure remote access to your files over FTP, or use it a multimedia server for DLNA-compatible devices.
File transfer rates
 Lacie Network Space 1 TB  Synology DS209 |
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Reading USB Writing USB |
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USB speeds (MB/s)
As we saw in the introduction, you can connect a USB key or an external hard drive, and either organise a manual or an automatic backup of the data contained on it onto the Network Space. Unfortunately, however, the speeds are absolutely terrible and we can't advise you use it in this mode. During our speed tests, we reached an average of 1.6 MB/s for writing and 0.6 MB/s in reading. Note that drives formatted using NTFS are read-only.
| Lacie Network Space 1 TB Synology DS209 |
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Reading Writing |
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Speeds using CIFS/SMB (MB/s)
The drives in the Synology DS209 are installed as RAID 0
Although the transfer rates are better over Gigabit LAN, they're still the slowest in our collection of NAS systems. The results that we found using CIFS/SMB were an average of 3.4 MB/s for writing and 4.4 MB/s for reading. You'd better have a lot of time ahead of you if you've got a lot of backups to do ...The drives in the Synology DS209 are installed as RAID 0
| Lacie Network Space 1 TB Synology DS209 |
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Reading Writing |
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FTP Speeds (MB/s)
The drives in the Synology DS209 are installed as RAID 0
The speeds are just as appalling over FTP. We found speeds of 4.5 and 4.9 MB/s for writing and reading respectively. As a result, we can't recommend this NAS.
Pros
- Easy to use interface
- Quiet
- Attractive design
Cons
- Dreadful speeds
- Just one USB port
- Minimum number of features
Conclusion
With incredibly poor speed test results and a lack of features, this is a NAS system to avoid.
OUR SCORE
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