Setup
Setting up the BlackArmor is quick and easy. I just need to plug in the network cable and the power cable, let the DHCP server assign the BlackArmor with an IP and it’s good to go. The BlackArmor arrives pre-configured in RAID5 with all of the space allocated to a single volume. The default shares include Download and Public with the public share having subdirectories used by the DLNA and iTunes server.
For configuration, It comes with a CD containing a discovery utility that can be installed either on a Windows or Mac OS system. The CD also contains the BlackArmor Backup Software. There is actually no need to use the discovery tool as clicking manage on the discovery tool brings up the same web based console as you keying in the IP address of the device on the web browser.
Login Page
Upon logging in, you will have to go through the initial setup of the device with a setup wizard. Here, I had trouble going through the final screen due to a programming issue on the web page. It took me some time surfing the Seagate forums to find the remedy here.
http://forums.seagate.com/t5/BlackArmor-NAS-Network-Storage/Help-set-up-wizard-stalling/m-p/35924?view=by_date_ascending
Problem Page
With the problem solved, we are ready to do more advanced configuration of the BlackArmor.
First thing I did was download the latest firmware from Seagate website and updated the firmware to version 4000.0671. After flashing and rebooting, I'm greeted with the following screen upon login.
There are many configuration options within the web interface. Here are some of the features that are available.
System Menu
From this menu, you will be able to config the name of the device, time zone and NTP server. There is also an option to select HTTP or HTTPS for web management and you can either paste in an existing SSL key, or auto generate an SSL key.
This Advanced menu also includes a HDD standby feature – added in the latest firmware update. Your option is to enable or disable HDD Standby. You don’t have control of drive spin-down times, however.
The BlackArmor supports email notifications of certain events. Included in BlackArmor is a SMTP server, so you do not need a SMTP server to use this feature. You only need to enter an email address. There is also no options for logging events in BlackArmor which is a disappointment.
The System menu will also let you configure the BlackArmor for manual or automatic firmware updates. If you select Automatic, you can specify that the updates be applied at a specific time or be prompted to apply the updates. In addition, the system menu will let you manage an attached UPS, change the admin password, shutdown/reboot the device or access the S.M.A.R.T drive status menu.
The Backup Client license sub menu displays the status of your backup software licenses. The licenses are tied to the MAC address of the computer using the license, but there’s no way to reclaim a license for a system pulled out of service. BlackArmor comes with 10 licenses for Windows systems only, and, of course, you can buy more.
Network Menu
In the network menu, there standard configuration settings for each of the two Gigabit Ethernet interfaces, you can config basic stuff like a using a DHCP server or assign a static address.
You can also set the workgroup name or join an Active Directory Domain. If there is a printer attached to one of the USB ports, this menu lets you manage the print queue. The BlackArmor also supports Dynamic DNS through dyndns.org.
In the services menu, we can change the ports for HTTP and HTTPS web access. There are options to enable the built in FTP server.
Storage Menu
The storage menu lets you manage the disks, create/delete disk volumes, create/delete shares, manage USB shares for devices attached to the USB ports and enable quotas on the RAID volumes. For each share, you can enable a recycle bin as well as Drag&Sort, a Seagate feature that automatically sorts drag-and-dropped files into directories based on file extension.
The BlackArmor is configured as RAID 5 by default, with all of the available space allocated to a single “DATAVOLUME”. Making any changes to either would result in losing data already on the default volume. The BlackArmor supports only RAID 0, 1, 10, 5 and JBOD. There are no advanced features like Online Capacity Expansion and Online RAID level migration.
Other submenus include a download management menu. The download is limited to HTTP and FTP. No bittorrent support here.
The more interesting submenu is the Backup Manager. It lets you backup and restore files to/from an attached external USB drive or a network device. You can either perform the task one time, or you can schedule a backup task. NAS-to-NAS backup is supported, but only to another BlackArmor.
Access Menu
This menu allows you to create users and groups, manage folder share permissions, USB share permissions, and enable the Global Access remote access feature. When you create a new user, you can assign them to groups as well as create private shares for them. Creating a private share automatically creates a share with the user’s login name and sets access rights so that only the user has read and write rights to the share.
Global Access, if enabled, allows users to access their files from anywhere on the web using Seagate’s free Global Access service which allows users to access files on Seagate storage device and share those files with other people via the web.
Media Menu
This last menu item allows the configuration of DLNA media and the iTunes servers.