Maxtor is taking its Shared Storage Drive (network-attached storage device) and doing some addition. The Maxtor Shared Storage Drive Plus adds back-up software and a media server to the existing NAS box. Not only will this let users centrally store digital photos, music and video files, but it also will provide for easier and automatic back-up options and let customers use the media server to route multimedia content to any network-attached TV or stereo equipment.

In addition, the company has upgraded the capacity of the Shared Storage Drive Plus to a whopping 500 bytes at the high end. The drives will be available in October for $299.95 (for 200G bytes), $399.95 (300G bytes) or $499.95 (500G bytes).

The new back-up feature will let users schedule backups by day and time, and includes wizards for back-up and restore settings, historical version settings (up to 10 different versions of the same file), and password protection for specific files or folders.

After the first back-up session, subsequent backups can be done that only track changes (known as incremental backup). The software also includes an at-a-glance storage and back-up status window (SimpleView), which gives users a quick look at network users, how much storage they're using and the status and timing of the last backup.

The media-streaming component lets users view their digital photos, videos or listen to music on any networked home entertainment system (currently through the addition of a networked media player, such as the D-Link MediaLounge player) without having the content tied to a host PC. This basically lets users view or listen to multimedia without having a Media Center PC or a separate PC powered on. Maxtor has teamed up with Mediabolic to provide the streaming engine platform.

Maxtor plans to give current Shared Storage owners a free firmware upgrade that provides the Maxtor Backup software and media streaming abilities (click here), so you can buy an existing Shared Storage Drive now (200G-byte and 300G-byte versions) and get the free upgrade in October.