Cracking open the D-Link DNS-323 NAS device

Box - Side 1

High-speed storage in a package smaller than a breadbox.

Box - Side 2

For such a small package, the D-Link DNS-323 has many features found in more expensive storage devices.

Box - Side 3

One thing you can say about D-Link, they let you know exactly what you are going to get.

Box - Side 4

The inside documentation recommends at least 256MB RAM, but the box says 512MB. I think the box is closer to the truth.

What you get

Toast anyone?

The D-Link DNS-323 looks like a kitchen toaster and is about the size of a short-loaf of bread.

Compact

The depth of the device is just about the length of a typical 3.5 inch hard drive. The desktop footprint is so small as to not really be a factor.

Gigabit and USB

The ports on the back are for a Gigabit Ethernet connection and USB device.

Locking mechanism

The locking mechanism for the two hard drive bays is just a simple lever system.

Operation

After removing the front face plate where the sliding door attaches, it was obvious that to get to the components the back panel would have to be opened. I found four screws hiding under rubber pads on the back panel.

Silver screws

Removing the back panel revealed four silver screws which held the internal component rack in place.

Slide it out easy

Once the four silver screws were removed, the internal housing for the circuit boards slide out the back without any problem.

Single board

All of the chips necessary to manage the D-Link DNS-323 are located on one circuit board.

SATA connections

Two standard SATA drives connect to the device at this point.

Chips

The D-Link DNS-323 relies on chips from Marvell and Nanya.

Simple design

The circuit board sits under the drives saving space -- that is the key to producing such an compact device with a small desktop footprint.

Power

Power control is a major concern for any NAS device.

All of the pieces

Here are all of the pieces laid out together. As you can see, the D-Link DNS-323 is a designed to be efficient and compact. There aren't many moving parts and everything fits together like a glove.