Cisco-Linksys WRT600N Linksys Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link by Linksys
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Digital camera reviews of Cisco-Linksys WRT600N Linksys Ultra RangePlus Dual-Band Wireless-N Gigabit Router with Storage Link
Digital camera Review: Great Replacement
Summary: 4 Stars
I was looking for a replacement router that would not limit my speed to the slowest machine. This was it. I have it configure so the slower machines are on the 2.5 Ghz band and my faster machines are on the 5 Ghz band at the same time. It did take an hour to set up. I would recommend this router to anyone with multiple demands.Digital camera Review: Great Router
Summary: 5 Stars
I have tried a number of g routers with no success in my house this "n" router did the trick. 40% signal where g would have 0-10%.Digital camera Review: Great Router With DD-WRT Firmware
Summary: 5 Stars
I had major problems with my WRT600N speed slowing down to a stand still every 24 hours.
It didn't happen immediately after flashing with a new Linksys firmware but I believe it may have had something to do with a log file in the router becoming full.
A reboot would solve the problem but that was a hassle.
Eventually I flashed its firmware with the DD-WRT and I never looked back.
It must have been one of the Linksys firmware upgrades that had a problem and flashing with DD-WRT which is a far superior to the Linksys solved it's slow down problem.
I would have to say that the router's hardware is great (unlike the cheap stuff you see for sell now in 2011) but the Linksys firmware needs some work.
Just flash it with something besides Linksys and be done with it.
Digital camera Review: Great Wireless Connectivty, Limited Storage Link Capability
Summary: 2 Stars
I've had this router for several days, and generally am pleased with the wireless connectivity, using Wireless-N to my laptop (HP Pavilion with built-in Wireless-N card) Speeds have varied from 108 Mbps to 270 Mbps, sitting about 30 feet away from the router in another room. However, I am VERY disappointed in the Storage Link implementation, thinking that this would provide a Network Attached Storage solution without having to buy one of the expensive NAS boxes. If you are thinking like me about NAS, this is NOT the solution!!! Most of the reviews on this site don't go into much detail on the Storage Link feature, so I just bought this thing figuring I could make it work the way I wanted. Big mistake! Here are the details:
1. Router firmware version 1.0.36 Build 4 (one release up from what is currently on Linksys' web site.
2. Connected Western Digital My Book 750GB USB 2.0 external drive, first formatted via computer to NTFS, and then plugged in to the router's USB port.
3. Got everything set up properly including shared folders on external drive, user access, permissions, etc, and mapped network drives on laptop (Vista Home Premium) and desktop (XP Home) computers, so far so good.
4. Attempted (twice) a drive image backup of laptop using StorageCraft ShadowProtect Desktop 3.2 (latest release). Backup completed (44GB), and I could see the file on the external network drive, but file was corrupt and failed verification.
5. After much research, decided to re-format the external network drive using the router's formatting capability. Discovered that router will only format using FAT32, but proceeded anyhow, and again successfully set up shared folders, user access, permissions, etc.
6. Since FAT32 will not address files larger than 4 GB, decided to abandon a drive image backup, so tried a files-and-folders backup from the laptop using Genie Backup Manager Home 8.0. This was successful as long as I didn't try to back up so many files and folders that the resulting file was larger than 4GB.
7. Also copied individual files and folders over to external drive with no problem, but had to exclude a video file that was slightly larger than 4 GB.
8. Re-formatted the external network drive to NTFS again using the computer, and tried another files-and-folders backup from the laptop using Genie, this time purposely selecting enough files to push the backup file size over 4 GB. This should have worked since the drive was formatted to NTFS, but the backup failed twice.
Conclusion: Storage Link implementation only allows basic capability to move files and folders less than 4 GB in size due to it's FAT32 format limitation, and is totally unsuitable for using automated backup software to backup large numbers of files or do drive imaging to the network drive. So if all you want to do is move files manually to the network drive, and don't have any huge files larger than 4 GB, and don't care about automated backups, then Storage Link seems to work OK. However, IMHO, this is WAY too limiting, and does not even come close to a NAS solution. I'm returning my router today, because it is hard to tell when a firmware upgrade might be released that would remove these serious limitations. There are cheaper Wireless-N routers out there without this Storage Link (non)capability.
Digital camera Review: Great if all you wanted was WiFi. Garbage if your interested in the Storage Link option
Summary: 3 Stars
I purchased the WRT600N and a Dlink DIR-655 for comparison. I really wanted to keep the WRT600N but my main reason for buying it over the DLink, the storage link, turned out to be a joke.
I first tested it with my 8GB USB 2.0 flash drive that was formatted Fat32 and the speed was HORRIBLE. I connected the same flash drive that was connected via Ethernet to the linksys and shared out the drive and the speed was 10 X faster than through storage link. I formatted NTFS and the storage link was faster than before but still 3-4 times slower than when shared through another computer. I then tried my 300GB USB 2.0 external drive. It was already NTFS but it was still 3 times slower via the USB Storage link than when shared out through a wired computer :(
Linksys promises a USB connectible streaming server via Storage Link. They did not deliver as this seriously dissapoints.
As far as the WiFi is concerned it was easy enough to set up as I am familiar with their web interface. I got 270 Mbps pretty much right out of the box. I put it in my "Network" / linen closet on the second floor of my house and while sitting pretty much under it I got 270Mbps. When I oved about 20ft away the speed dropped to low 100's after that.
If all you want is Wifi its not a bad unit for that but if you think its worth the extra money over other units for Storage Link... Think Again!!