QNAP TS-453A NAS Review

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A Closer Look

QNAP's TS-453A ships in a brown package with a sticker that shows the model. The company actually got quite a bit of information on the small label. Most of these systems sell online, and several companies have moved away from full-color boxes to save money.

Inside the box, we find a well-secured NAS with accessories in a separate compartment.

After the initial setup, you mostly interact with the system's front. An LCD warns you of any errors that might crop up, in addition to conveying health status and network information. A series of status lights show system, USB and network activity. And an LED just above each drive sled reports individual drive activity with a green light. If a disk fails or has a problem, the green turns red, showing you where the issue is.

There's also a power button and special USB 3.0 port up front. Another button surrounding that port lets you connect a thumb drive, for instance, and copy data from it to a special backup folder on the NAS. The front USB port also charges mobile devices quickly.

Structurally, the system is built well using a steel frame and a brushed aluminum cover. The four feet on the bottom use foam rubber to isolate vibration. And a removable sticker up top gives you the access code for cloud functions.

Most of the I/O is naturally found around back, including four GbE ports and three additional USB 3.0 ports. Two HDMI 1.4a ports support 4K video at 30Hz, and again, both work independently so you can use the appliance as a desktop computer and run another application in the HybridDesk Station.

A single 120mm fan keeps installed disks and internal electronics cool. The platform is very quiet; the only noise you'll hear comes from the hard drives.

Finally, there are the 6.3mm microphone inputs we've been talking about. On the same PCIe card is a high bit-rate audio output to connect to an amplifier.

Chris Ramseyer
Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews consumer storage.
  • Confusias1
    "We found the QNAP TS-453A available from several online resellers for $60." Please tell me where this reseller is....
    Reply
  • Lulzon
    Did you mean $600? Not $60?
    Reply
  • Confusias1
    17891974 said:
    Did you mean $600? Not $60?

    They did indeed mean $600.
    Reply
  • littleleo
    "We found the QNAP TS-453A available from several online resellers for $60." Please tell me where this reseller is....

    You need to read the entire sentence:
    "$60 less than Asustor's AS204T."
    So it's $60 less then the AS204T, it's not selling for $60.
    Reply
  • Confusias1
    17893394 said:
    "We found the QNAP TS-453A available from several online resellers for $60." Please tell me where this reseller is....

    You need to read the entire sentence:
    "$60 less than Asustor's AS204T."
    So it's $60 less then the AS204T, it's not selling for $60.

    I am quite aware of what I read, my comment was accurate. The article has since been corrected.
    Reply
  • jasonelmore
    I wish QNAP would just sell their Nas OS with Visualization Features.

    I wanna build a skylake DDR4 nas, with their top flight os on top, but its a pipe dream. Their upcoming skylake ddr4 nas's are coming out in a few months but even the i3 version will costs $1500 diskless I guarantee it.
    Reply
  • littleleo
    17893950 said:
    17893394 said:
    "We found the QNAP TS-453A available from several online resellers for $60." Please tell me where this reseller is....

    You need to read the entire sentence:
    "$60 less than Asustor's AS204T."
    So it's $60 less then the AS204T, it's not selling for $60.

    I am quite aware of what I read, my comment was accurate. The article has since been corrected.

    Well that explains it. I guess I read it all after it was corrected. Cheers!.
    Reply
  • Confusias1
    I wish QNAP would just sell their Nas OS with Visualization Features.

    I wanna build a skylake DDR4 nas, with their top flight os on top, but its a pipe dream. Their upcoming skylake ddr4 nas's are coming out in a few months but even the i3 version will costs $1500 diskless I guarantee it.


    That would indeed be awesome. There are several NAS manufacturers that I would love to be able to install on top of my own hardware. I'd even consider a software licensing fee to be able to use QNAP's or Synology's OS... It'll only take one to start doing it and the rest will follow.
    Reply
  • CRamseyer
    I have not tried this yet but here you go.

    QNAP - https://sourceforge.net/projects/qosgpl/

    Reply
  • Confusias1
    17894607 said:
    I have not tried this yet but here you go.

    QNAP - https://sourceforge.net/projects/qosgpl/

    Awesome, now if only I were savvy enough to compile a build from source... My *nix skills is that area are rather lacking.
    Reply