| Thecus N3200 3-Bay SOHO Network Storage System
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Operation (continued):
The two screens below show portions of a desktop application provided on CD that can access some of the same configuration steps as the web interface. The options are rather limited, and I would say you could skip installing it without missing out on anything. What we see in the below left image is the device discovery screen showing the single N3200 connected to the network, and the below right image shows the hard disks setup screen where the three 250GB drives have been configured in a RAID 5 array.
 
Thecus also includes a backup utility on the CD, and this is another application I would say you could skip. The software is rather generic and very basic, and there are no features provided that you couldn't get from other titles. Even if you don't want to pay extra for backup software, there are several freeware titles out there that will give you much more flexibility and control over backups.
 
Once everything was configured, using the N3200 was rather easy. Checking for computers on the local network showed a new icon for the N3200, and clicking it revealed all the folders created by default, as well as a few new ones I created. Mapping any of these folders to a drive letter on a host computer would be my prefered means of accessing the N3200, but it can be done in other ways.
By returning to the web browser based initial screen, individual users (created by the admin) can log in to the N3200 and access files they have been given permissions for. You can upload or download from this interface, but it is a bit slow and far less convenient than using Windows Explorer.
Another means of access was achieved when enabling the media server feature of the device. Once I let the device know what kind of media I would like to share, a new icon popped up in the list of networked computers, this time listing the "N3200: Mediabolic Media Server". Clicking the icon instantly launched Windows Media Player instead of Windows Explorer, and the appropriate file types were available for immediate playback.
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