Specifications, Availability and Pricing

The Patriot Valkyrie is a two disk storage system that is accessible via Gigabit Ethernet or USB 2.0. The retail product ships without hard drives, so you will need to supply your own to have the system up and running. Users should use two identical hard drives for best operation, but it is possible to use a mismatched pair.

The Valkyrie uses a 500 MHz processor and 128MB of memory that is embedded for smooth trouble free operation. The NAS also has a built in operating system that is held on an independent, onboard 16MB flash drive.

For storage you can set your hard drives up as JBOD (single drives), RAID 0 (high speed, no redundancy) or RAID 1 (data protection redundant). Most users looking for long term storage should opt for the RAID 1 setting as it will mirror the data from one drive to the other. If a single drive fails then all of your data is safe and secure.

The Valkyrie also utilizes the latest Gigabit Ethernet technology that allows for high speed transfers to your computers. Unlike Direct Access Storage devices that attach to a single computer, Ethernet allows for all of your computers to access the data independent of other computers on your network.

The Patriot NAS also has all of the built in media sharing functions that we have come to love about the larger models being offered from some of the larger, dedicated NAS providers. If you have an Xbox or PS3 then you are already familiar with media sharing over Ethernet and the Valkyrie will enable you to tie those and more devices to it. Another feature that some of the younger crowd may enjoy is the built in BitTorrent client that when used will download your items without tying up your PC.

When it comes to the cost, I was surprised to see the Valkyrie being sold for only 165 USD on Amazon and only145 USD after a mail in rebate. Over the last few months we turned our attention to DAS products and this is right around the same amount of money most DAS systems sell for without network connectivity. Being able to access data through Ethernet is much more appealing than having your music, movies and documents tied to a computer.

Let's take a look at the Valkyrie's hardware.