The D-Link DNS-320L is an upgrade of the DNS-320. It has a faster processor on board and design changes to the box. I've just had it a few days and it seems to function fine. The on-board fan has high and low speeds and defaults to off/low/high so it runs quietly most of the time (although the low speed fan isn't loud) when it is backing up, but sleeps when not in use. I am a Mac user so it is important to note that this device works fine with Time Machine. It mounts when it is time to back up and unmounts afterwards.

I am running OSX Lion (10.7.5) and it is important to note that the Set Up Wizard that comes on the CD is flawed. DO NOT USE IT! Once you get the DNS-320L plugged in to your network, go to it via the Web interface. There is a set up wizard in the Web GUI that will help with the basic setup, and then you can go Management-Disk Management and set up your Hard Drive Configuration (which will format the drive(s)), then go over to Applications-Local Backups-Time Machine where you can enable Time Machine (which starts the AFP service) and then add individual shares under Settings for each machine you want to back up. I also recommend creating a user for the back up connections because if you try to connect to the NAS with the admin password, Time Machine will ask you to change it. Not the case with a mere user.

The problem with the Set Up Wizard failure is that it apparently is the only way you can set up an account with mydlink.com, which is how you can connect to the NAS from your smart phone or tablet (iPhone and iPad in my case). My desire to do this led to a great deal of aggravation because when it fails, it corrupts your password and configuration, and I had to reformat the drive (losing backups that took a long time to do, about 3.25 hrs. for 156 gigs). I've filed a support ticket and hope this gets resolved soon. Meanwhile, if you are a Mac user, some features of the DNS-320L will not be available to you.

Bottom Line: Incremental backups are quick and automatic for my little Mac server and iMac. That's what I wanted. The set up and personal cloud functions are up in the air for now.

The unit names each drive in the order of installation. Cannot change the name of the drive. Internet search has some work-rounds, which as somewhat cumbersome. The unit has to reformat every drive install into it--be careful not to lose your data. The hard drives formatted by the unit can be read independently using an UNIX machine. The included software package work OK. The Surveillance Center works full time (no on-line computer required) but is difficult to setup. The software is automatically loaded onto one of unit disks (selected by the software) and all recordings are hidden from view--they can only be accessed through the Surveillance Center. Internal data transfer is easy to setup with the provided software, but all settings are lost each time the unit is losses power or is powered down. Data transfer rates are very good.

I already had 3 of these Storage bays. Each one has two 3tb Seagate Barracuda drives. Very happy with the setup and, at this time, do not really have a storage issue. A few weeks ago, I installed a new ASUS router, also from Amazon, and it crossed my mind that these bay storage systems were getting more expensive all the time and, if one of my bays went down, I would not have a backup.

So, I started searching around for an additional unit. There is one other reliable supplier that has this at the same price. However, I prefer Amazon. Let me warn you, if you want to find this unit from Amazon ($99.99 on Prime), you have to use the following search . . . "D-Link ShareCenter Cloud Storage 2000 2-Bay (Diskless) Network Attached Storage (DNS-320L)". If you search any other way, all you will find are used units for the same or more money.

Since I had two new Seagate Barracuda 4tb drives I decided I would get the ShareCenter from Amazon and add that mix to my system. When I installed my current units, I had to download a patch from D-Link so that Windows could recognize a 3tb drive. I also had to use the Disk Manager to format and configure the drives. So, after I installed the 4tb drives in this unit, I was very pleased that the D-Link Installation app was easy to use, formatted the drives and installed them in windows in a matter of minutes.

For the price, I do not believe you can beat this ShareCenter. If you want more than a two drive setup, the price of the bay units escalates very fast. If you want a four drive system, using two of these is less expensive than most four bay units. Also, I feel that it gives you more flexibility and security. If all your drives are in one unit and it goes down, what do you do? Therefore, I prefer to have redundant units rather than one big box.

The units have a built-in fan to keep them cool. They can be attached directly to your PC or to your router for a neat network

I would recommend these units to anyone looking a reliable, easy to use, inexpensive way to increase the storage capacity of their network (system).

I replaced a DNS 343 that had failed out of warranty with this device. I use the NAS server for network storage on my home network, including storing my music library. Reliable, un-attended service is important to me. The DNS 343 had worked well in this environment until server the hardware failed. So I purchased the DNS 345 as a replacement. There was nothing wrong with the original disk drives, so I moved them to the new server.

That was my first disappointment. The new server required that I re-format the disks, so all data on them was lost. I do make backups, but reloading from a backup takes quite a while--the whole reason for running a RAID server. Granted, I did move to a new server model, but that was pretty much required since the old one was out of warranty and out of production. Something to think about when a single point of failure can cost you your data.

I have had only one problem with the DNS 345 which appears to have been resolved by D-link technical support. When the system restarted the clock was reset to November 29, 1999 in spite of being configured to get its time and date from an NTP server. Most likely this problem was introduced during firmware update since I did not notice it for a while. (The system does not restart often since it is on a UPS power supply.)

I spoke with D-Link technical support twice while resolving the problem. The first technician instructed me to restore the device to factory default to possibly clear up any badly stored data from the firmware upgrade. This (by itself) did not resolve the problem so I called back. This time I spoke with Marvin #AR004612 who walked me through a second set of steps. This time when the device restarted the time and date were correct. Hopefully this is s permanent fix. Certainly before the steps the restart had always reset the time back to November 1999.

I have purchased a D LINK DNS-345 I had a problem with it this morning so I called DLINK and I got Briegan (badge #AR00414) on the phone. I cannot tell you how helpful he's been with fixing my problem. He was patient, willing to fix any other problems that I was aware of and problems that he found that I was not aware of. He's probably one of the best customer service reps. that I have talked to in a long time. If I call back I won't be shy about requesting Briegan. As we all know, you do repeat business with companies that have great customer service.
Breigan, DLINK should be proud to have you as an employee! Thanks for all the help.