Buffalo LinkStation Mini User manual

User Manual
LS-WS
LinkStation Mini
www.buffalotech.com v1.6

2
Introduction
Congratulations on your new LinkStation Mini. This user manual is intended to assist you
in conguring it.
Because we’re constantly updating our products, the images and text in this manual may vary
slightly from the images and text displayed by your LinkStation. These changes are minor
and should not affect the ease of setup adversely. As time passes, future user interfaces,
updated software, and later versions of this manual may be freely available for download at
our web site www.buffalotech.com.
If you run into difculties or need additional help, feel free to contact our technical support.
Contact information for Buffalo Technology and our technical support is available on pages
68 and 69.

3
Table of Contents
Back Panel Layout ............................................................4
Installation .......................................................................5
Power Mode Switch ...........................................................8
Using your LinkStation with a PC .....................................9
Using your LinkStation with a Mac .................................13
Add USB Devices ...........................................................17
Front Panel Layout .........................................................18
Using the Function Button ............................................. 19
Advanced Settings .......................................................... 21
Network Settings.............................................................25
Disk Management ...........................................................27
Shared Folders................................................................ 33
Groups ...........................................................................37
Users ..............................................................................38
Passwords....................................................................... 39
WebAccess...................................................................... 40
DLNA Media Server .........................................................44
Installing a Printer ..........................................................45
Troubleshooting Multiple Shares.....................................50
Backups .........................................................................52
Maintenance & Notication ............................................. 56
System Status ................................................................ 60
Client Utility ...................................................................64
Troubleshooting .............................................................. 66
Technical Specications ..................................................67
Contact Information (USA) ..............................................68
Contact Information (Europe) .........................................69
GPL Information .............................................................70

4
Back Panel Layout
USB
Power Switch
Power Plug
Ethernet
(to Router)

5
Insert the LinkNavigator CD into your computer’s CD-ROM drive.
On a PC, setup should automatically launch. If it does not, manually
launch setup.exe by pressing Start and selecting the Run... option.
When the Run dialog opens, type d:\LSnavi.exe (where d is the drive
letter of your CD-ROM drive). Press OK to continue.
Installation
If you are installing the software on a Mac, open the CD and click
LinkNavigator to begin installation.

6
Press the Begin Installation button to begin.
LinkNavigator Setup
If you’re installing on a PC, click on Easy Setup (the pink,
upper button). Mac users can skip this step.
Click Next to step through the installation.

7
LinkNavigator Setup
The wizard will step you through installation. Follow the
directions on each screen and continue pressing Next to step
through the installation.
When installation is complete, you may close the installation
window.

8
Power Mode
The “Power Mode” switch on the back of the unit
has three positions: “Auto”, “On”, and “Off”. The
“Auto” position automatically powers the unit on or
off based with your PC. If your PC is turned on the
LinkStation will power up; if the PC is turned off
the LinkStation will power down.
You must have installed the NAS Navigator software
on your PC for this feature to work. Otherwise, if
you move the switch to “auto”, your unit will power
down by itself and you will have to manually turn it
back on.
Also note that the unit needs to be powered on if
you want to use the Web Access feature. When
using Web Access, it is best to leave the Power
Mode switch set to “On”.
Move the switch to the “Off” position to turn the
LinkStation off. It will take about 35 seconds to
shut down. Do not unplug or interrupt power to
the unit until shutdown is complete and all LEDs
are off.
Power
Mode

9
Two new icons will be on your desktop: Shortcut for LinkStation and
Buffalo NAS Navigator.
Clicking Shortcut for LinkStation takes you directly to the folders on
your LinkStation. Share is the main folder that you can put les and
folders in. Info contains a copy of your user manual.
The Buffalo NAS Navigator icon opens the LinkStation’s client utility.
Turn to page 64 for more on using the NAS Navigator client utility.
Using your LinkStation with a Windows PC

10
To Access LinkStation Data from a PC:
Your LinkStation uses “shares” (folders) to hold data. A share called “share” is already
congured on your LinkStation, and you can create additional shares using the Shared
Folders option. To start using your LinkStation, you can either click on the Shortcut for
LinkStation on your desktop, or you may just use drive L in My Computer, which setup has
mapped to the default share in your LinkStation.
Accessing LinkStation Data from your PC

11
You can map additional drive letters to shares on your LinkStation.
From the Start menu, select Run.... Enter your LinkStation’s
hostname (if you don’t know it, you can get it from the NASnavigator
utility) or IP address. Press OK.
Your LinkStation should open. “Share” is a data folder in your
LinkStation by default. “Info” contains your user manuals. If you
have created other folders, they will be visible here too. You can map
drive letters to any of these folders.
Accessing LinkStation Data from your PC

12
From the Tools pull-down menu, select Map Network Drive. Choose a drive letter from the Drive:
pull down menu. To specify the folder to map, either nd it with Browse or enter \\LinkStation_
Name\share_name in the Folder: eld, where LinkStation_Name is your LinkStation’s hostname
(page 21) and share_name is the name of a folder on your LinkStation. Check the Reconnect at
logon checkbox to have Windows connect to this mapped drive everytime it starts. When nished,
press the Finish button. Your share is now mapped to a drive letter.
Accessing LinkStation Data from your PC

13
After installing the LinkNavigator software, your Mac will have two
new icons on the desktop.
The LS-ProDuoSettings.txt le contains the IP address of your
LinkStation. NAS Navigator is the LinkStation’s client utility.
With the information in the LS-ProDuoSettings.txt le, you can easily
connect to the LinkStation from any of your computers on your local
network.
The NAS Navigator icon opens the LinkStation’s client utility. See
page 64 for more on using the NAS Navigator client utility.
Using your LinkStation with a Mac™

14
You can add a link to your LinkStation’s share
folder to your desktop by adding it to the Mac’s
server list. Begin by clicking Go, and then
choose Connect to Server.
Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac
In the Server Address eld, enter your
LinkStation’s IP address in the form smb://
ipaddress (where “ipaddress” is your
LinkStation’s IP address), and click Connect.
You can get your LinkStation’s IP address from
the LS-ProDuoSettings.txt le on your desktop,
or see page 16.

15
Select Guest and click on Connect. Note: If you have congured share
permissions on your LinkStation, select Registered User and enter your
login credentials.
Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac
Select the volume that you want to mount, such as share or share-mac,
from the list of folders on the LinkStation.
The share will open. A link to it will appear on your desktop.

16
If you don’t know your LinkStation’s IP address, there are
several ways to get it.
One simple method is to use the NAS Navigator client utility
(included on your CD) to nd your LinkStation(s). Just click
on the icon for your LinkStation and you’ll be able to read its
IP address.
The LS-ProDuoSettings.txt le on your desktop contains the IP
address of the linkstation at the time that the setup program
was run.
You can always get the LinkStation’s IP address from your
router’s conguration utility. Many Buffalo routers list this
information on the Client Monitor page, as shown to the right.
Consult your router’s documentation for instructions on
identifying the LinkStation’s IP address.
Accessing LinkStation Data from a Mac

17
LinkStation Expansion
LinkStation Mini has a USB 2.0 port on the rear. This port can be used for adding an external USB
Hard Drive or a USB Printer. LinkStation will share connected USB devices, allowing everyone on
the network to use them. To connect a USB hard drive to your LinkStation, simply plug it into the
USB port.
Once your USB hard drive is connected, see page 29 for conguring your LinkStation to use it.
To congure a USB printer, see page 45.

18
Front Panel Layout
Function Button - See the next page for
instructions on using the Function button.
Function LED - Blue. This ashes to indicate
various functionality of the Function button.
Link/Act LED - Green. This LED lights up
when connected to a network and ashes
when data is sent and received over the port.
Info/Error LED - Orange. This LED ashes to
indicate system errors and messages. See the
Troubleshooting section for error codes.
Power LED - Blue. Lit when the LinkStation
is on. Flashes during boot or shutdown.
Lock Mount - This slot is for mounting a
security lock to the LinkStation Mini.







19
Using the Function Button
Direct Copy - You can copy digital media les directly to the
LinkStation Mini from a USB storage device, such as a digital
camera, USB ash drive, or external hard disk.
1. Connect your USB device to the port on the
back of the LinkStation Mini. The Function LED
will glow solid blue for 60 seconds.
2. While the Function LED is still
glowing blue, press the function
button on top of the LinkStation.
The following folder is created
automatically:
DirectCopy/pictures/yyyymmdd
where yyyy is the year, mm is the month, and dd is the day. The following letypes will be copied
for USB MSC devices: avi, divx, asf, mpg, mpe, m1v, vob, mts, m2ts, m2t, mpeg, mpeg2, vdr,
spts, tp, ts, 3gp, mov, m4v, wmv, dvr-ms, xvid, mp4, m4v, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, tif, tiff, yuv, bmp,
mp3, mpa, wma, aac, apl, ac3, lpcm, pcm, wav, m3u, m4a, mp4, m4b, aif, aiff, ac, ogg, mp2,
mp1, mp4. If the USB device doesn’t follow the USB MSC standard, then all les will be copied.

20
Using the Function Button
Initialization - You can easily bring your LinkStation Mini back to factory
settings with the following steps.
1. Move the power switch to the ‘Off’ position. The LinkStation Mini will shut
down after about 45 seconds.
2. While holding down the function button, move the power switch to the ‘On’
postion. The Function LED will begin to ash blue.
3. Push the Function button again while the Function LED is ashing.
Dismount - Before disconnecting USB devices from the LinkStation Mini, they should be
dismounted. Hold the function button down until the Function LED glows blue, and then turns
off. It’s now safe to unplug your USB device.
Note: Unplugging USB devices without dismounting them rst may corrupt your data!