Asustor NAS owners on Reddit and the official Asustor forums have reported that they've fallen victim to a DeadBolt ransomware attack. DeadBolt has been in the wild for some time now, infecting unprotected NAS systems connected to the Internet. The same ransomware previously wreaked havoc on QNAP devices, and it would appear that Asustor was the next target.

DeadBolt's modus operandi hasn't changed much. The attacker remotely slips into the victim's NAS, encrypts the latter's information, and consequently asks for a ransom in bitcoins. Each victim receives a unique Bitcoin address to send the funds. Once the payment goes through, the criminal sends the victim the decryption key to decrypt the files on the infected NAS system. The perpetrators are asking for 0.03 bitcoin, which by today's exchange rate is around $1,154. It's the same sum that the hijackers had demanded from their QNAP victims. Surprisingly, the gang didn't make Asustor any offers. With QNAP, the group had offered to share the vulnerability details with the company for five bitcoins ($184,000) or sell it the universal decryption master key for 50 bitcoins ($1.85 million).

Asustor users that synchronize their files from their NAS to a cloud service like Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive should sever the link as soon as possible. One Redditor commented his infected system pushed the encrypted files to his OneDrive and Google Drive accounts. While he could recover the files from the former, he didn't have any luck with the latter.

Asustor hasn't released a statement regarding the DeadBolt attack. The recommendation from infected owners is to disconnect the NAS system from the Internet and wait for Asustor's fix. Owners speculate that DeadBolt gained access through Asustor's EZ Connect utility, which allows users to connect to their NAS systems from anywhere around the world. What's funny is that even the live demo of ADM (Asustor Data Master), the operating system for Asustor NAS devices, wasn't saved from the DeadBolt.

It's unknown if all Asustor NAS devices are susceptible to the DeadBolt attack as there is user feedback that some models, such as the AS6602T, AS-6210T-4K, AS5304T, AS6102T, or AS5304T, are free of infection. Meanwhile, some affected models include the AS5304T, AS6404T, AS5104T, and AS7004T.

Suppose you're one of the lucky owners that didn't get infected. In that case, one Redditor recommends taking some preventative measures, such as disabling EZ Connect, automatic updates, SSH, blocking all NAS ports from your router, and only allowing connections from within your network.

Everyone in tech knows that person who takes it upon themselves to remind everyone, every chance they get, of the importance of backing up data. Annoying as this behavior can be, perhaps it’s for the better, because there’s also the other that person who never listens to this sound advice. I wasn’t quite the latter, but I definitely didn’t back up as much as I should and could have.

That changed early last year when, for the first time ever, I irrecoverably lost some of my data. Without any signs of impending failure, my Z77 motherboard went up in sparks and killed the SDD and all three of the 1TB hard drives inside my desktop. The SSD was a goner, but advice from the Tom’s forums gave me hope of recovering data from the hard drives. Unfortunately, life was only briefly restored to one of them, and it wasn’t for long enough to evacuate any data.

The CrashPlan Crash

Fortunately, I had backed up the important parts of those drives, so their loss wasn’t crippling. The event did, however, put the fear of god into me, and I resolved not to continue without a solid backup plan. I decided that the cheap and convenient cloud-backup service CrashPlan was the perfect solution. It took nearly a week to upload and synchronize with the server, but I felt I was well protected after. That cozy feeling didn't’ last long long, however, and my CrashPlan Home subscription metaphorically crashed when the service surprisingly ceased operation in late 2017.

I trusted CrashPlan because I knew the service had been operating for years and was generally well-received. CrashPlan did offer alternatives: upgrade to a small business account for exactly double the price or switch to a competitor. I decided to do neither and instead go back to doing local backups, but this time, I’d automate it with a NAS. As secure as cloud services claim to be, there’s no point to them if they stop servicing you.

Back To Local Backups

I was well aware of RAID, which most NAS makers expect people to use, but I was only looking to use my NAS as a device to store individual drives. After a few weeks of research, I settled on the Asustor AS3204T. It’s not the cheapest four-bay NAS--the Qnap TS-431P can be had for less--but it is pretty cheap for one with a quad-core x86 processor, dual rear USB 3.0 ports, and a direct video output. I wasn’t buying it to do video transcoding, because all my media devices have PCs attached to them, so the desire for an x86 processor was admittedly irrational. I planned to use the dual rear USB ports for external expansion and backup, and I convinced myself that the direct video output, which is only HDMI 1.4, might be useful in troubleshooting in case I can’t reach the NAS over the network.

The Asustor AS3204T Is More And Less Than I Need At Once

Although I won’t put the blame on Asustor, the AS3204T proved that my buying criterion were a bit out of line with what a NAS is meant to be. Setting up the device was simple, even for a NAS newbie like me. The AS3204T doesn’t have hot-swap drive bays, so you have to disconnect and open the unit to install drives. This process reveals a well-cooled processor, a well-placed 120mm fan that blows evenly over the drives, and generally high-quality construction. After connecting the NAS to my router, I used its web interface to complete the setup. You can also use an app to set up the NAS, but I didn’t need it, or the HDMI port, because I was instantly able to access the NAS using its IP over the network.

A flawless boot process was a welcome surprise for me, because I knew NASes can be finicky, but some of the limitations of an embedded Linux system immediately started to become apparent. For starters, I wasn’t expecting the NAS’ OS and apps to actually require some space on one of the drive volumes. The NAS itself has 512MB of flash to hold the OS, but that’s not considered a volume. Only drives in the drive bay can be volumes, so you’ll need at least one to even boot the NAS. It effectively uses one of the volumes as a “C:” drive. This doesn’t consume an appreciable amount of space, but it does mean that you can only freely swap out, at most, three of the four drives in the NAS.

Another thing I quickly discovered is that the Asustor can’t use external drives as storage expansion. Like all NASes, the AS3204T can access external drives formatted in file systems different from its own, but it can’t put them onto the network or add them as a volume. You’re limited to accessing them through the NAS’ file browser or backup app.

All-Around Decent

For an experienced NAS user, these limitations might be commonly understood, and they don’t detract from the fact that my AS3204T has operated and performed flawlessly. Its SMB service works by default, so mapping the NAS’ volumes as network drives in Windows is simple. Its speed over the network caps out at ~106MB/s, which is close enough to saturating gigabit LAN to satisfy me.

The AS3204T has also seen major and minor software updates applied without hassle. I don’t have any other NAS to compare to, but so far, I’ve found Asustor first-party software to be reliable. The UPnP server, which I briefly fired up to test, doesn’t transcode media unnecessarily and correctly sends native files according to what my devices support. The automated backup software has all the flexibility I need. And the NAS’ settings has detailed controls for power saving and drive spin-down.

I haven’t dug into the AS3204T’s other features as I basically use it purely as a device to host network drives and run backup routines. In truth, I probably paid much more than I needed to for this basic functionality, but at least it performs outstandingly in its most important functions.

LAS VEGAS, NV -- Most of us don't upgrade our NAS with every new processor or feature release. The category is rarely a hot topic among gamers, but many PC enthusiasts have either built or bought a NAS at some point. The largest problem with these products has always been the cost. Modern burly NAS cost as much as a PC—and they should. The small form factor designs, exceptional software, and hardware costs are very high. The systems cost as much as computers because they are computers, and then some.

Asustor might have just the upgrade to entice those typically hesitant customers. The company plans to release a new model that features 10Gb Ethernet as well as four drive bays, and at a great price point. The new AS4004T (and two-bay AS4002T) could be just what the market needs to break wide open to a new group of users. The AS4004T features two 10GbE network ports, a single 1GbE port, single fan cooling, and a toolless design that will cost less than $400 (unofficial pricing is set at $360).

To help reduce costs, the Asustor AS4004T and two-bay version AS4002T don't use external multimedia ports like HDMI or S/PDIF. The system is mainly a storage box, a true network-attached storage system used to hold data. The low-power Marvell Armada 7020 processor is powerful enough to stream media files over DLNA but we wouldn't expect the system to transcode high bit-rate content without dropping frames. We will have to test that feature when the system comes to market later this year.

Asustor's ADM software is one of the best available. The system's 2GB DDR4 system memory will allow users to load some software, but don't expect to run several third-party add-in packages at the same time without overloading the 1.4GHz processor.

This system's main feature is the speedy 10Gb network connection. Netgear announced a new consumer-focused router at CES 2018 with two 10GbE ports. We've written about this topic at every large trade show since 2015. 10GbE is slowly coming to lower-cost devices like the new AS4004T, but the rate is much slower than consumer demand.

Asustor has entered the toolless drive bay club with this product. We expect to see future NAS products from the company to share the new drive tray design.

Introduction

Like the SSDs I often write about, network-attached storage (NAS) products come in different performance and capacity tiers. The Asustor AS6210T is a premium model with the ability to host large volumes of data, and it's powerful enough to deliver an amazing user experience across several connected devices at one time. For home use and medium-sized business, the Asustor AS6210T is a Tier 1 high-performance product.

Asustor's AS62 series features a quad-core Intel processor with hardware-based encryption and acceleration engines. This series also uses dual-channel memory to increase the memory bandwidth for increased application performance. The system we're testing is the flagship model with ten drive bays that support 12TB hard drives. That provides a total storage capacity of up to 120TB should you invest in the largest hard disk drives available.

The best thing about systems like the Asustor AS6210T is you don't have to populate them fully with drives during the initial setup process. You can add drives as needed and even mix drives in separate arrays. The features make the system very robust by maximizing performance for different uses. For instance, you can build a six drive RAID 5 array for long term storage and fill the remaining four drive bays with solid-state drives for virtual machines that run on remote systems across the network.

Four Gigabit Ethernet ports expand the system to separate networks, and various link aggregation methods increase system bandwidth in multi-user environments.

Specifications

Another year, another processor. The Asustor AS6210T isn't too different from the AS5108T we previously tested. The new system ships with an updated Intel system-on-chip (SoC) processor with higher performance and new features. The two systems share the same chassis design, but the 8-bay model uses a ventilated block-off plate on the top two drive bays. Sadly, you can't convert the 8-bay systems to 10-bays systems by adding two additional drive sleds--the extra SATA connectors are not soldered on the NAS's backplane.

You may have reservations about the Intel Celeron brand based on desktop product's performance, but you shouldn't compare the two despite the identical branding. The Asustor AS6210T features a powerful processor for its class that is more than enough to satisfy the needs of a high-performance NAS. We'll discuss the overall software capabilities on the next page.

The system ships with 4GB of DDR3 DRAM in SODIMM modules. The factory configuration is 2x 2GB to take advantage of the new dual-channel memory configuration. The processor is limited to 8GB of system memory, so any upgrade path should start with dual 4GB modules. We found the 4GB configuration to be more than enough to run the system as a mass storage device and media center at the same time.

The ten drive bays (eight drive bays on the similar AS6208T model) provide us with many storage options that go far beyond a simple storage appliance. The NAS supports several RAID levels, including 1, 5, 6 and 10 for disk redundancy, and RAID 0 for a high-speed array used for scratch space. With systems this large, we recommend dual disk redundancy with RAID 6, or RAID 10 for special-use scenarios like virtual machines running across the network.

The internal array uses the aging EXT4 file system. Other NAS manufacturers have adapted BTRFS, or at least made it an option, but Asustor still relies exclusively on EXT4. You can connect external drives with USB and eSATA connections. The external drives operate with the previously-formatted file system and support EXT3, EXT4, FAT32, NTFS, and HFS+.

Users have numerous options for getting data into the system, as well. The AS6210T features four gigabit Ethernet ports that can operate independently or combined via link aggregation to supply additional bandwidth to multiple users. You can even run the system with two dual-link aggregation groups, with each providing slightly over 200 MB/s of bandwidth.

Pricing & Warranty

We found the Asustor AS6210T online for as low as $999.99 at a number of online sellers. The system carries a three-year warranty.

Packaging

The system ships in a full-color retail box that lists several features and possible uses. The system sits snugly between two form-fitting closed-cell foam pieces that hug the NAS and keep the accessory box away from the system.

The accessory package includes a paper quick start guide, two Ethernet cables, a power cable and screws for both 2.5 and 3.5-inch drives. A software disk rounds out the package and includes backup software and additional manuals.

A Closer Look

The front of the AS6210T is very busy with system status LEDs, drive status LEDs on each drive sled, and even a two-line display to check system status or work through the initial configuration.

The single USB 3.0 port on the front of the system has a special one-touch copy feature. This feature copies the contents from the attached device to the NAS, be it from a cell phone or a portable hard disk drive.

The rest of the IO ports are on the back of the system. There is something for everyone and every configuration. The four USB ports allow for system expansion beyond "just" storage. The USB ports work with printers, uninterruptible power systems, and even TV tuners. Asustor designed the two eSATA ports exclusively for storage expansion.

The AS6210T supports several multimedia features coming from the system. Audiophiles will love the S/PDIF for high-quality music, but the HDMI 1.4b port will steal the show if you have a home theater. Pair the system with Kodi, and you can use the NAS as a high-end playback device that supports the two holy grail features: Dolby Atmos and DTS:X.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

Software Features

Interface

Asustor provides a software installer that allows you to find the NAS on your network. The tool also walks you through the initial configuration to set an IP address, build an array, and dial in other settings. You can also use the built-in display and buttons to initialize the drives and work through the settings.

Once the local installer tool finishes, your browser opens and presents you with a log-in screen. From there, you can enter the NAS. 

If you skipped over building a drive array in the initial setup, you'd want to do that first. Formatting only takes a few minutes, after which the array is ready to accept data. Post-format, the system scans your drives. You can access the array at that point, though transfers are slower until the background scanning process is complete.

Then it's time to work on customization. In the screen on the left, you can configure the LCD with a personalized message or instruct it to display different status updates. You can also program the LED lights on the front of the chassis.

A lot of folks use NAS appliances to backup their desktops and notebooks. The system is easy to configure for those tasks. On the front of the NAS, there is a USB 3.0 port with a button surrounding it. You can configure Asustor's platform to either save files from the USB port to the NAS or copy data from the NAS to a thumb drive.

DHCP is supported, naturally. And even if you're not familiar with Ethernet topology, you can still take advantage of the advanced cloud features. The AS-5108T has an EZ Button, and with just a few clicks Asustor's system will reach out to your router and change the necessary settings for you.

A great number of modern NAS appliances are infused with in-house and third-party software features. Asustor, in particular, leaves no stone unturned. There are so many available applications that we can't list them all, much less explain what each does. You can scroll through the list on Asustor's App Central, though.

If you run into any issues, the Dr. Asustor section will either correct it or help you with support. It's a nice feature only available through Asustor.

Multimedia & Mobile Sharing

Although there are several different software options for playing back multimedia files, Asustor utilizes KODI, and it's an amazing application. The AS6210T can display 4K content through its HDMI port along with 3D video playback. The system also supports up to 7.1-channel audio via HDMI or S/PDIF. If you pair the system with a receiver like the Pioneer Elite SC-99 your sonic options explode! The AS6210T now supports Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, which enables speakers built into the ceiling. We run a 9.2.2 configuration, and the Blu-Ray ISO playback is excellent.

In theory, the AS6210T allows you to divorce yourself from a cable package and still watch live TV, but you need a high-speed Internet connection, and you'll have to jump through a few hoops to configure the capability. Bear in mind that not all of the plug-ins would pass a legal challenge (Asustor doesn't own or govern the third-party plug-in system).

Asustor has a number of applications for different operating systems that lets you access data from any device. All you need is an Internet connection.

Software Features

Featured Apps

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

SMB Performance

Comparison Products

We mixed old and new products in our performance charts to compare and contrast the industry's progress. Even if 10-Gigabit Ethernet is an option on the other products, we test all the systems with a 1-gigabit connection to the dedicated network. We also used the latest supported SMB settings for each system. Older systems do not support the SMB 3 protocol, and that will show in some of the tests.

The QNAP TS-809 Pro represents an older system with a Core2 processor. NAS can run flawlessly for several years, and most of the components are user-replaceable should there be an issue, so there are a number of these systems from this era still in use. The Drobo B810n (for SMB / CIFS tests), B810i (iSCSI tests) and Synology DS1817+ are all very popular new products. The Asustor AS5108T we tested last year allows us to see the progress Asustor made over the last twelve months.

All the systems in this review feature eight drive bays except the AS6210R. We filled the systems with 6TB Seagate Enterprise NAS 7,200 RPM drives and configured RAID 6 arrays with default settings.

Testing Notes

Our test system is a modified Quanta MESOS CB220 Cluster-In-A-Box multi-node server. We upgraded the system with two Intel E5-2670 V1 processors and 128GB of system memory per node. An Intel X520 network interface card with two 10GbE ports resides in each node, as well. The system allows us to deploy four test nodes that execute custom software scripts with industry standard test software to measure our base performance metrics. We've updated the system with Windows Server 2016 to utilize the latest SMB protocols fully.

We also rebuilt our synthetic test scripts. The old script would run consecutive workloads with only a small delay between each workload. The new script injects 30 seconds of idle time between each test to allow the NAS's buffers and cache to flush remaining data to the disks.

We use a custom stack of ten dual Xeon servers, with two 6-port Ethernet Hot Lava network cards apiece, to run the multi-client test with up to 120 users. The test runs custom software with Microsoft Office applications. A single client instance will not push the device under test, but multi-user tests can quickly overrun the NAS, resulting in increased latency.

The test system and devices under test connect via a Netgear M6100 fully-modular switch, which provides ample 10GbE and 1GbE ports to sustain our large testing environment.

SMB Sequential Read Performance

The Asustor AS6210T rockets through the sequential read workload. The powerful processor and ability to utilize SMB 3 facilitate high-speed data transfers even with smaller blocks and at lower queue depths.

SMB Sequential Write Performance

The AS6110T can also ingest data from the network at high speeds. There shouldn't be a significant performance penalty for writing data, even to a RAID 6 array.

SMB Sequential Sweeps Performance

Mixed sequential workloads expose significant performance deltas between the systems. The AS6210T performs very well in this test, but so does the Synology DZ1817+, though the AS6210T gives us a more consistent measurement.

SMB Random Read Performance

At some point, Asustor changed its firmware programming. We usually see the company's products in the same range as the DS1817+ during the random read tests. Asustor ran an aggressive cache algorithm, but we haven't seen it in the last couple of systems we've tested. The system delivers a consistent result, and if you run a virtual machine farm, caching makes a big difference.

SMB Random Write Performance

The random write performance lines up almost perfectly with the random reads. Again, the AS6210T fell in line with many of the other products and didn't utilize the same aggressive cache we'd seen in previous products with older versions of the ADM operating system.

SMB Random Sweep Performance

In case you wonder why we list both 4KB and 8KB random charts, it's because the former is for Windows and Hyper-V while the latter is for VMware EXSi environments. The random sweep test shows us there is very little uptick in random write performance, but at the same time, there is very little drop off as the system deals with incoming and outgoing data simultaneously.

Server Workloads

All these systems use software RAID. Using more drives in a single array can have a negative impact on performance because the processor has to manage the redundancy along with the other background and foreground tasks. It's often better to break up a high-capacity system like the AS6204T into two smaller arrays. With this system, two RAID 5 arrays with five disks in each group would be better for disk performance than a single ten disk RAID 6 array. The other systems in this review only utilize eight drive bays, and that's why the AS6210T provides lower performance in many of these intense tests.

Consumer Workloads

The AS6210T operates in the middle of the pack for most of the consumer application tests. The system doesn't break any performance records, but it also doesn't suffer from poor performance syndrome, either. What we see is a balanced machine that is ready to tackle any task.

Multiclient Workloads

The lightest workload in the review is oddly also the most intense. Each of the client systems runs a series of typical Microsoft Office files located on the NAS. A single client isn't enough to saturate the NAS, but combining several can overrun the system just like in a typical office environment. Some may look at the throughput to gauge performance, but those who understand this type of environment examine the response time.

The Asustor AS6210T comes close to the same throughput as the Synology DS1817+, but matches it step for step in latency.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

Encrypted SMB Performance

Testing Notes

These tests put the AES-NI hardware encryption functions to the test. You'll notice the absence of the Drobo systems in the encrypted data tests. The Drobo systems do not allow us to encrypt the array or specific folders. Some systems don't feature a hardware encryption acceleration engine, but Intel added the feature to several of the newer system-on-chip processors. The promise is that the processor can encrypt the data without a significant increase in CPU utilization. This also increases transfer performance, but there is still a small penalty.

Encrypted Sequential Read Performance

The Asustor AS6210T performs very well in the sequential read test again. After we enable encryption, the queue depth (QD) 1 performance is slightly lower than the standard SMB tests. Even with hardware accelerated encryption, there is a slight penalty. Most users will not notice the difference with the additional features natively supported by the processor. 

Encrypted Sequential Write Performance

The AS6210T took a much larger performance hit when we wrote data to encrypted folders. Not only was the throughput low, but it also needed a higher queue depth to reach maximum performance.

Encrypted Sequential Sweep Performance

The mixed sequential sweep test reveals slightly lower performance. The encrypted volume delivers 92MB/s in the 70% test, but that increases to 115 MB/s without encryption.

Encrypted Random Read Performance

The AS6210T takes it's biggest encryption performance hit in the 4KB random read tests. The older AS5108T outperforms the newer model, but it does recover well in the 8KB test. These two systems are not on equal footing because the older system runs up to eight drives and we tested the newer system with ten drives. That increases the load on the CPU, which can decrease performance.

Encrypted Random Write Performance

The encrypted random write tests show most of the systems performing about the same. The Synology DS1817+ performs much better in 4KB and 8KB workloads, and that's a problem for the AS6210T because of the similar price point.

Encrypted Random Sweep Performance

The low encrypted performance carries over to the mixed test where we sweep from 100% reads to 100% writes in 10% increments. The AS6210T has the lowest 4KB results, but it recovers well for the 8KB test.

Asustor could address the low random performance in future ADM updates. Asustor seems to release a new version every few months to add features, security patches, and increase performance -- just like you get on a desktop operating system.

For home users, the encryption option is nice to have, but not as important as it is for business users that have to ensure compliance with government regulations.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

iSCSI Performance

Testing Notes

iSCSI is one of the most underrated protocols in the computing world. Some may know it better as a SAN (Storage Area Network). When configured, you get a drive letter in Windows just like a local disk in your system. The redundant storage volume resides on the NAS, but it appears as local storage to the host system, which affords several advantages. It's easier to build a silent system with the hard drives in a different area. You can also have a highly reliable redundant array, but still use a small form factor system for the host. iSCSI is also generally faster than SMB/CIFS.

In this series of tests, we bring the Drobo B810i into the charts. This model works exclusively over iSCSI. The B810n used in the SMB tests does not support iSCSI.

iSCSI Sequential Read Performance

As before in the two previous sequential read tests, the Asustor AS6210T mastered this test. The AS6210T delivers the most consistent sequential reads.

iSCSI Sequential Write Performance

The AS6210T's sequential write performance is also impressive. The two extra drives in the array do slow the system down slightly over the older AS5108T, as you can see at QD1.

iSCSI Sequential Sweep Performance

The AS6210T's sequential workload consistency leads to very high mixed workload performance. There is a slight drop off as we move deeper into the write portion of the test, but the buffers restore the performance at 100% writes.

iSCSI Random Read Performance

The two Asustor systems scale well with larger random block sizes, but neither system caches the reads like the other systems. As a result, most of the data reads come from the drives inside the NAS, and not the DRAM or high-speed buffers. Older versions of Asustor's ADM operating systems were the best at utilizing the cache, but newer versions don't deliver the performance we've come to love from these systems.

iSCSI Random Write Performance

We see the same problem with the random write test. Asustor systems used to dominate this test, but the changes have slowed the system down to the same performance level as an older QNAP TS-809 Pro.

iSCSI Random Sweep Performance

The random sweep test with mixed workloads shows how having an effective cache system can increase performance. Sadly, the Asustor systems no longer have the magic.

Consumer Applications

iSCSI with a RAID 6 array delivers roughly the same performance as a single local hard disk drive in your PC. The AS6210T performs well, but we would like to see the consumer applications running with a better buffer management system.

Total Storage Bandwidth

Older Asustor systems could surpass 20 MB/s in these tests, but the ones I remember were four-bay units. If you need more performance, look towards Asustor's 7-Series.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

Conclusion

The Asustor AS6210T is a remarkable NAS that performs and delivers in many areas. It doesn't dominate any single category, but it does well enough across the board to make it a well-rounded system that is difficult to overlook. 

I've said it before, and I continue to preach it; if you are a computer enthusiast, take a lot of photos or have files you never want to lose, you need a NAS. These systems are robust and do more than the category name implies. Properly configured, a system like the Asustor AS6210T will become the center of your digital life. The NAS will link your desktop experience to your mobile experience by giving you access to all of your files at home or while on the go. The user experience improves with each new software add-on release by giving you access to more functions.

Over the last two years, Dolby Atmos and DTS:X have become the buzzwords for home theater enthusiasts. These are two radical shifts in audio technology compared to previous versions. Instead of telling the receiver to play a sound at a certain level from speaker A, B, and C, the latest versions employ positional audio. It requires powerful decoders and playback engines, but that technology is in the receiver. But first, the receiver must receive the signal, and that's been a problem. There are Atmos-enabled Blu-Ray players, but many cost as much as the Asustor AS6210T and you still need a physical disk. Microsoft enabled the feature in the XBox One S, but you still need a disk and a gaming system in the theater room. I'm not trying to invite the kids in my sanctuary of sound isolation -- that defeats the purpose. The AS62 series runs a version of Kodi that supports positional audio, so your home theater could sound even better than the movie theater.

Advanced audio aside, the AS6210T also performs well as a storage device. We would like to see Asustor bring back the advanced cache functions that made these systems outperform most others in the past. Even without the random performance increase, the AS6210T still delivers a very good user experience over iSCSI. Most users will opt for simple SMB data transfers, and SMB 3 support allows this system to satisfy your needs.

Another feature we would like to see on more Asustor products is support for 10-gigabit Ethernet. QNAP and Thecus have offered the feature as an option for several years as an upgrade option by giving users access to PCI Express slots. Most of these systems support Intel's X520 and even older add-in cards that sell for very low prices. To put it into perspective, both QNAP and Thecus now support 40-Gigabit add-in cards from Mellanox, but Asustor has yet to bring 10GbE to systems.

Several companies like to brag about how user-friendly their NAS are. One company comes to mind for the easiest setup and configuration, but the truth is most of these systems are easy to configure for initial use. I prefer to have extra bells and whistles that increase the functionality of the system rather than having limited options for the sake of saying my NAS is the easiest to operate. The AS6210T takes all of five minutes to setup, and three of those are wait time. Once you answer a few questions, the NAS takes care of the rest. At that point, you can log in and choose the features you want, and the options are virtually endless.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All SSD Content

Introduction

Two-Bay Network-Attached Storage (NAS) appliances offer excellent value for storing your data in a secure, central location. The smaller systems offer many of the same features as the larger NAS products, but at a much lower price point. In many cases, the smaller systems improve upon the setup procedures, thus making the initial process easier for less tech-savvy users. 

Users with more technical experience will find great value in some of the products we're testing today. The systems in our roundup fall under two categories; feature-rich or simple to use. None of the products is overly complicated, though, and you shouldn't overlook some of the most feature-rich models if you lack technical experience. Network-attached storage is an excellent way to learn a new discipline, gain experience and enjoy the advanced features.

All six systems in the roundup perform well at basic tasks. You can transfer files to and from the systems over a network at acceptable speeds. You can store the data in a redundant (i.e. safe) RAID 1 array, and even use the systems as a small application server. You may be surprised to learn that basic features now include the ability to access your data from anywhere in the world, even on a non-PC.

Advanced features found on some of the products include built-in antivirus, folder encryption, iSCSI support over the network and an HDMI port for direct video output to a display device, such as a TV. 

Specifications

The Western Digital My Cloud Mirror is slightly different from the other products in the roundup because it is the only model that ships with hard disk drives installed. The other products ship diskless from the factory, but some resellers will build your NAS with hard disk drives before shipping the package to you. Third parties create the bundle packages, so we will not cover the bundle pricing or value-add services that some resellers offer. 

We can divide the six systems into two categories based on processing power. The two key players here are Intel and ARM. The Intel-based systems typically offer more features, more processing power and also demand a higher price. The ARM-based systems support basic NAS features and often ship with less system memory. They do have an attractive cost advantage for users that are just looking for core features.

We laid out many of the key specifications in the chart above, and each system provides its own mix of features. Only some of the systems will support an HDMI output to use the system as a media center, for instance. Folder encryption and iSCSI support also vary.

Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

All six of the value-centric systems fall between $200 and $300, and the Western Digital (WD) My Cloud is the only system that ships with hard disk drives. The WD offerings retail from $299 (4TB model with 2x 2TB HDDs) to $699 (16TB model with 2x 8TB HDDs), and there are several price points in between to account for different capacities.

Five of the six systems ship with a standard 2-year warranty. The Asustor AS3102T is the sole exception with a 3-year warranty. Asustor is one of the newest NAS manufacturers, and it is part of Asus (yes, the motherboard company).

Each of the systems ship with an external power supply, an Ethernet cable and minimal documentation. Full manuals are available online for download.

The QNAP TAS-268 ships with a mini QWERTY keyboard / remote control in the package and Asustor sells an optional remote control. All of the systems that include an HDMI video output have software-based remote control options available for Android and iOS.

The ever-growing software and feature list is actually the ultimate accessory package for all of the products. Asustor, QNAP and Thecus release at least one new feature or software package each month. Synology and Western Digital bring new features at a slower pace, but the companies still have a solid foundation of industry-standard features.

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All Storage Content

Asustor AS3102T & QNAP TAS-268

Asustor AS3102T

Asustor, a division of Asus, is the youngest NAS manufacturer in our group today. As such, the company is hungry. Asustor often prices its products aggressively, and they receive lengthy warranties and ship with more hardware features compared to similar products. Asustor's weakness is its software features. The company releases new software features each month, but its volume is lower than QNAP and Thecus. That said, Asustor has all of the basics covered, and most of the advanced features as well.

The Asustor AS3102T ships in a full-color retail-ready package. The kit includes an external power supply, Ethernet cable, screws for mounting 3.5-inch hard drives, power cable, paper quick start guide and an optical disk with additional manuals and software.

Asustor designed the AS3102T to sit in the open. The attractive (for a NAS) textured cover, and minimum LED lighting allows users to place the system in the living room next to a set-top box and Blu-Ray player. The single USB 3.0 port on the front is the only sign that the NAS is a computing device. The front of the system also has an infrared receiver for the optional remote controls, or users can just use the Android or iOS IP-based application.

Users can expand the system with other peripherals via the two additional USB 3.0 ports on the back. The system uses a single gigabit Ethernet port to connect to your wired network.

This system also comes equipped with an HDMI port. A menu that displays the video applications automatically appears when you connect the device to a TV. Asustor recently added Netflix, which accompanies existing applications that the user can select in the menu system. The standout feature here is Kodi, a media-focused application that has a cult following and thousands of users that contribute to building plugins that expand the feature set.

The system uses an Intel Braswell processor that is more powerful than the ARM-based processors found in many of the other systems in our roundup. Two gigabytes of system memory allow users to run more software applications simultaneously, and it also improves many of the core functions, such as DLNA multimedia distribution and file transfer performance.

QNAP TAS-268

QNAP leads the NAS industry in both software and hardware features. Over the last two years, the company has pushed the boundaries of commodity enterprise hardware with low-cost, mass manufactured systems that support features previously reserved to boutique builders of custom storage systems. The TAS-268 falls at the other end of the pricing spectrum, but the underlying software is nearly identical. QNAP's enterprise push has trickled enterprise features down to its low-cost Intel-based systems, but even some of the standard features are not available yet for the new ARM platform. 

This system is the first from QNAP to use a new dual operating system feature. The underlying software is QNAP's QTS system that the company based on Linux with a custom, easy to use graphical interface. The HDMI display runs Google's Android operating system. The software already supports all of the features and additional software that you would expect with Android, including PlayStore for Android's full catalog. We found the Android software to be functional, but it was not as polished as we expected.

We also found the QNAP software to be lacking, which surprised us. QNAP did not include many of its staple offerings that it developed in year's past, but the list of applications has grown since we first started testing the device.

The QNAP TAS-268 system is the only product in our roundup to include a remote control. The remote includes a USB cable for charging and features a full QWERTY keyboard. Other accessories include an external power supply and paper quick launch guide. The TAS-286 uses a tool-less design for the removable cover and hard drive bays.

The QNAP brand has been synonymous with build quality, but don't expect too much from this low-cost system. The piano black and white finish is probably the best way to display plastic. That said, its rare to see any QNAP system covered in plastic.

QNAP also designed the TAS-268 to sit in the open. The system features a single USB 3.0 port on the front for quick access to thumb drives or for charging cell phones and tablets. We found four USB 2.0 ports for additional expansion on the back of the system, as well as the HDMI port for multimedia functions. A single gigabit Ethernet port connects the system to your wired network.

The TAS-268 uses an ARM v7 dual-core processor with two gigabytes of system memory. The combination is powerful, but it does not deliver the same smooth user experience that we found with the Intel-powered systems. QNAP advertises the HDMI display as 4K compatible, but it only provides up to 15 frames per second with H.264 and 30 frames per second with H.265.

Synology DS216j & DS216+

Synology DS216j

We have two systems from Synology in our review. The DS216j follows the same path as the Asustor and QNAP systems we've already discussed, which means that Synology designed it for entry-level users who want redundant storage at a low price point. At $169.99, the DS216j has the lowest price of the products we're testing, but the processing power and system memory also trail many of the other products.

Synology is one of the most well-known NAS manufacturers and has a loyal following that it earned through years of successful releases, quality support and simplified interfaces. Synology, like Asustor, QNAP, and Thecus, uses the same software interface throughout its entire product line. If you master the setup and management of one Synology system, then you already understand how the software functions on its other NAS. Like the other companies, Synology aggressively brings new features to market, but it falls behind QNAP in the breadth of its library of applications.

Most NAS systems sell online in the US and Europe, so Synology isn't too concerned with flashy graphics on the package. If you do find a Synology NAS in a brick and mortar store, the simple label will explain the hardware inside and list a few basic facts.

The DS216j ships with a paper quick installation guide, screws for mounting the drives, gigabit Ethernet cable and the power hardware.

The Synology DS216j is our third and final system to use the new clamshell design. The system is nearly all plastic except for the inner cage and I/O ports.

The system is small so that the user can place it anywhere. Without an HDMI direct-to-monitor connection, the system doesn't have to be tied to the living room. The system supports DLNA, so users get a hefty dose of multimedia features, but the playback processing takes place on another device, such as a Smart TV or ROKU / Sonos-type of device.

This system uses an Armada 385 1GHz dual-core processor with 512MB of system memory, which is the same as the Western Digital My Cloud Mirror that we examine later in this review. The processor is powerful enough to manage local data transfers and push some light-use applications, such as over-the-web (cloud) data access, but we wouldn't try to run any heavy-lifting applications on this system. 

Synology DS216+

The Synology DS216+ moves up the product stack and is much more powerful than the DS216j (covered above). This system uses a more powerful Intel SoC processor that supports encrypted folders, and it is the first hot-swap NAS in our roundup, which means that if a drive dies in the RAID 1 array, you can replace it without turning the system off, thus avoiding downtime.

The DS216+ uses the same packaging we found on the lower-priced DS216j. Two stickers outline some of the features and its capabilities.

Users get a paper quick launch manual, external power supply and cable. An Ethernet cable is also included in the package, though it is not in the picture.

The DS216+ adds more hardware features to the mix than the lower cost products. The front panel places more emphasis on the features of the NAS with its status LEDs and USB 3.0 port. The system also has a one-touch-copy function button next to the port. Users simply plug in a portable hard drive and press the button to copy the contents of the USB drive to the NAS.

The DS216+ is the only system in our roundup that includes an eSATA port for storage expansion. Users can use the port with a single storage device, or with an add-on chassis that supports more than one drive via a SATA expander. Two USB 2.0 ports on the back give users more options for expansion or accessories, and a gigabit Ethernet port rounds out the IO options.

The system uses an Intel dual-core SoC and 1GB of system memory. This combination delivers high network throughput performance, but we discovered some odd behavior during our testing. The DS216+ supports Encrypted folders and iSCSI over a network, and similar to the other systems in the roundup, users can access data through the internet with a cloud application.

Thecus N2810 & Western Digital My Cloud Mirror

Thecus N2810

The Thecus N2810 is the last product of the group that truly looks like a traditional NAS. The N2810 is the most expensive system, but it is also the most powerful. It features an Intel SoC and dual Gigabit Ethernet ports that provide seven different link aggregation modes. All three of the USB ports are 3.0, and an HDMI port provides direct-to-monitor video playback. Thecus enabled all of its software applications for this system, and it even released its new Thecus OS 7 operating system in tandem with the NAS.

The N2810 ships in a full-color retail package with several paper manuals, a software disk that includes Acronis software for backing up your computers, and access to Thecus' extensive library of software applications. Accessories include an Ethernet cable, external power supply, keys for the locking drive bays and a cable clip to secure the cables to the back of the system (to ease cable management).

The system features three USB 3.0 ports, and two of the ports are on the back of the system for expansion purposes. Thecus tied the USB port on the front of the NAS to a one-touch-copy function. The Thecus NAS is the only system with locking drive bays and a metal exterior shell in our comparison pool, and the company supplies four keys for the two drive bays.

Dual Ethernet ports provide users with several connectivity options. You can run the system on two separate networks, or combine the ports for performance and/or redundancy.

The N2810 has ample processing power to make use of the dual Ethernet ports. It features an Intel Braswell SoC processor and 2GB of system memory from the factory. The Intel processor can use up to 4GB of system memory in a dual-channel configuration, and this is the only system in our roundup that users can remove the SODIMM modules and replace them with 1x 4GB stick. Increasing the system memory gives users a smoother user experience and the ability to run more applications at one time. The additional memory also boosts simultaneous file transfers and provides higher speeds.

WD My Cloud Mirror

The second-generation Western Digital My Cloud Mirror is the oldest product in our roundup, but it continues to be a big seller. Western Digital is the fastest growing NAS manufacturer and has products in many retail chain stores. Retail availability is a big advantage, and it provides local warranty coverage from a physical store, which for many users equates to extra peace of mind.

The system is unique in the roundup because it is the only system to ship with hard disk drives. WD offers the system in five different configurations that range from 4TB to 16TB.

All of the systems focus on simple setup and operation, but unlike many of the other systems, the My Cloud Mirror doesn't offer many third-party application packages. The system focuses on automatic PC, phone, and tablet backup as well as cloud access (accessing your data over the internet).

We used the My Cloud Mirror 4TB for our tests. The NAS ships in a full retail package that includes a wall-wart-style power supply with attached cable, an Ethernet cable and a quick start guide.

The My Cloud Mirror is the NAS made for your mother (or another non-technical person), and as such, it is the easiest of all of the systems to setup and manage. With that comes, or in this case, goes, many advanced features found on some of the other units in this review. The system features two USB 3.0 expansion ports on the back.

The WD NAS provides similar hardware to the Synology DS216j. Users get 512MB of system memory coupled with a low-power Marvell SoC processor. Western Digital offers some application packages to enhance the usability of the system, but the library is very spartan in comparison to the other products.

SMB Performance Testing

Testing Notes

All six of the systems work with traditional SMB/CIFS file transfers. SMB is the easiest NAS protocol because it simplifies file access to where you can simply type in "\\name_of_nas\folder_name" in file explorer to access the data on the system. We test and highlight the performance of SMB encrypted folders and iSCSI volumes on applicable models, but not all of the systems support the features.

Our test system is a modified Quanta MESOS CB220 Cluster-In-A-Box multi-node server. We upgraded the system with two Intel E5-2670 V1 processors and 128GB of system memory per node. An Intel X520 network interface card with two 10GbE ports resides in each node, as well. The system allows us to deploy four test nodes that execute custom software scripts in industry standard test software to measure our base performance metrics. 

The test system and devices under test connect via a Netgear M6100 fully-modular switch, which provides ample 10GbE and 1GbE ports to sustain our large testing environment. This round of NAS testing is the second time we've used this switch. We discovered an issue with our previous switch and some NAS products that significantly reduced file transfer performance. The Netgear M6100 doesn't give us the same performance issues, and it allows us to expand our test environment while still running a dedicated network. 

Sequential Read Performance

The sequential read tests reveal two distinct performance tiers. You would expect this segmentation with the different processors in these systems, but the dividing line is not that clear.

For this class of product, we are looking for high performance at low queue depths. Most users will use these systems for file transfers in single-user environments, so most of the transfers will take place one at a time (sequentially). Typically, when you copy and paste files from your desktop into a NAS folder, it occurs at a queue depth of one. The queue depth increases to 2 if you start two separate transfers simultaneously, and so on.

We expected the Intel-based systems to dominate nearly all of the tests, but that isn't the case. The Asustor AS3102T, Synology DS216j, and Western Digital My Cloud Mirror provide the best performance at low queue depths with 128BK data blocks. Of the three, only the AS3102T uses an Intel processor.

This behavior highlights that firmware and software play just as large of a role in performance as the hardware does, particularly during light workloads.

Sequential Write Performance

The manufacturers release new firmware at a fairly consistent rate to update the products, increase performance, add features, and smooth performance inconsistencies. Many of the systems use DRAM as a cache buffer, which helps to smooth performance, because hard disk drives, by nature, are inconsistent.

The sequential write tests expose some performance abnormalities. All of the products, except the QNAP TAS-268, provide similar performance while writing 128KB sequential data. At higher queue depths, the TAS-268 matches the performance of the other products, but it lags behind the other NAS during light workloads.

Sequential Mixed Workload Performance

The sequential sweeps test cycles through mixed workloads in 10-percent increments. We begin with 100-percent reads (on the right of the chart) and add more right data until we reach the left side of the chart with 100-percent writes. We highlight the 70-percent read test with additional charts because this is the standard mixture for measuring workstation storage performance.

The Western Digital My Cloud Mirror performs very well in these tests while the other products follow the traditional "bathtub curve."

Random Read Performance

The Thecus N2810 performs slightly better with random read data across the range of queue depths. The Synology DS216+ trails the other products in these SMB tests. We spent a considerable amount of time retesting the DS216+ in an attempt to smooth out the issue. Each system requires eight days to complete the full test suite, and we retested the DS216+ with four different software releases, but could not isolate the issue.

The other NAS appliances converge together and provide nearly identical random read performance.

Random Write Performance

The random write test spreads the test pool out and gives us more separation. Most of the products are very consistent and waver only slightly as the queue depth increases, but the Synology DS216+ is, for lack of a better term, all over the place. This pattern reveals high performance as the cache algorithm buffers the incoming data and then low performance as the NAS flushes the buffer to the drives.

Random Mixed Performance

The mixed random test shows how the cache allows the systems to absorb the incoming data at a higher rate than they can read it back to the host system. Again, we highlight the 70-percent read workload with additional charts to characterize workstation performance. 4KB transactions simulate running Windows-based software over the network, and 8KB data highlights VMware performance trends. 

Standard Server Workloads

Very few users, in any, will run a heavy-use email or database server on these entry-level systems, but we like to see the tests to examine the mixed-workload performance in the latency over IOPS charts.

Consumer NAS Workloads

Normally we sort the different products by arranging them based upon performance (best on top, worst on bottom). However, that makes isolating a specific model difficult in this case, because every model on the list is under examination.

Intel's NASPT program tests with recorded traces, which highlights real-world performance better than other techniques. We use the longer batch test setting to record the results, which repeats the workload three times and then provides us with the average results.

Most of the systems performed well in some tests but suffered in others. The Asustor AS3102T and Thecus N2810 provided relatively high performance during each workload, and they also stand out for delivering balanced performance.

Encrypted Folder SMB Performance Testing

Only half of the six systems in the test pool support encrypted folders. Encryption keeps lost or stolen drives from being accessed without the user-selected key. You can encrypt as many folders as you want and use a different key for each. Intel baked encryption-acceleration technology into its Braswell processors, and that shines through in the performance results. The Synology DS216j is the sole Marvell-based system that supports encrypted folders, but the difference between the accelerated and non-accelerated architectures is clear.

Sequential Read Performance

The two Intel Braswell Celeron-powered systems (AS3102T and DS216+) dominate the read bandwidth tests at a low queue depth with encrypted folders, but the low-cost Synology DS216j catches up to the other systems at queue depth 8.

Sequential Write Performance

The Synology DS216+ enjoys a performance advantage against the two other systems during sequential data writes to encrypted folders. The Asustor AS3102T trails slightly, but it doesn't deliver the same performance consistency.

Sequential Mixed Workload Performance

The Asustor AS3102T comes out on top during mixed-sequential transfers (data moving to and from the NAS simultaneously). The DS216+ isn't far behind in any of the 80% charts that we use to isolate desktop performance. The Marvell processor in the Synology DC216j is a bit underpowered for this workload, and it struggles to keep pace with the Intel-based appliances.

Random Read Performance

The Synology DS216+ displays an odd performance profile at various times throughout our test suite, and it trails the lower-cost DS216j in this test. Most users use SMB to transfer data for long-term storage, which is, by nature, a sequential workload. These tests are representative of relatively rare use-cases, such as storing a Steam directory on the NAS and mapping the folder to your PC. iSCSI works better for that use-case, though.

Random Write Performance

The AS3102T increases its lead during this test, but the two-bay Asustor systems don't exhibit the huge performance gulf that we see when we compare its larger NAS to others. Asustor uses more aggressive buffer settings on its large systems, but with only 2GB in the AS3102T, there isn't a lot of spare memory left for the performance-boosting additive.

Random Mixed Workload Performance

Again, we observe the two Intel-based systems with hardware-accelerated encryption deliver a 2x performance increase over the Marvell-based system. This test uses random data, so most users will not encounter this type of environment in a simple usage scenario. 

iSCSI Performance Testing

Four of the systems support iSCSI. The Thecus N2810, another Intel-based system, joins the group for this round. The three systems that support encrypted folders carry over, as well.

Many casual computer users have never heard of the iSCSI interface, or are even aware of what it does. The technology allows users to share a block of the storage space on the NAS with PCs as a local storage volume. Your desktop computer sees the space and manages it exactly as a hard drive mounted inside the chassis. The storage volume then presents itself to the user as a drive letter, similar to a secondary hard drive.

Unfortunately, some software will not install to mapped storage. iSCSI reports as a physical drive in Windows, which is an important technical distinction with a deeper underlying impact that affects how the operating system manages the drive. iSCSI also supports native command queuing (NCQ), which is a performance-enhancing feature that is not available for traditional mapped storage volumes. NCQ allows the system to reorder the incoming data requests to optimize, and reduce, head travel when the HDD retrieves the data. This increases performance when the drive returns the data to the host system. 

Sequential Read Performance

iSCSI performance is often better than mapped storage, and all of the systems provide similar performance while connected via iSCSI, too. The Thecus delivers a solid opening round with iSCSI by delivering slightly better performance than the other systems in two of the three tests.

Sequential Write Performance

The sequential write test highlights the separation between the Intel and Marvell processor systems when writing data. The Synology DS216j offers amazing value, but you shouldn't expect it to provide the same performance as the Intel-based systems.

Sequential Mixed Workload Performance

In general, iSCSI allows systems to provide higher performance than SMB does. The native command queuing (NCQ) support provides smoother performance for a more consistent experience with application workloads.

Random Read Performance

Windows applications rely heavily on 4KB updates, so any Windows application running on a NAS will be 4KB heavy. It's also possible to use these systems for VMware, but it optimizes the data traffic for 8KB random data. The two Synology systems scale the best during random read workloads.

Random Write Performance

The Asustor and Thecus systems perform better with random data writes. If anything, the tests today show that no system outperforms another in all workloads or formats. Each system has a strength somewhere, even if it is just its pricing or its performance during basic usage patterns. 

Random Mixed Workload Performance

Most of the systems group together during the mixed random workload test. The Thecus N2810 trails with lower IOPS performance, but it still delivers a strong showing.

iSCSI Desktop Workloads

In these tests, we measure the amount of time it takes to complete each task. The results are very close to, if not a little faster, than a local 7,200 RPM hard drive installed in the host system. The difference is that the NAS provides a resilient and redundant storage pool with less of a chance of data loss.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, there isn't a standout product in the group that outperforms the other competing devices in all tasks. In some ways, this is representative of the NAS market as a whole. Some may take that in a negative way, but we see things differently. The market has a lot of diversity from the many manufacturers, and competition is good for the market. It pushes each company to find new ways to deliver better of everything with the same common set of components.

Early in the review, we detailed each NAS appliance's components, such as the CPU, memory, drive bays, network configuration, HDMI and so on. In reality, all of the companies have access to the same set of components, and the component selection influences the features and the way we use the NAS. For the most part, every system we looked at supports the same basic features. If the feature you want runs in software and the system has enough processing power to support it, most likely it is included. This includes basic network file transfer capability, access to your data through PCs and non-PC devices over the cloud (internet connection and configuration required), and DLNA media streaming.

Some of the systems claim to support the features fully, but the performance and experience are just not the same during use. One of the most popular third-party applications is Plex Media Server, which allows you to stream content to other devices. It supports everything from your new 4K smart TV to tablets and even older cell phones with smaller displays. Plex can transcode the video stream, which is a CPU-intensive task, to match the device's playback capabilities. All of the systems we tested today officially support Plex, but that doesn't mean all of the systems run all of the features smoothly. The systems with Intel processors don't have a problem with the Plex software because the Braswell-class CPUs feature integrated transcoding engines that provide a radical boost to transcoding performance. The feature is so well implemented in the AS3102T, DS216+ and N2810 that the CPU usage doesn't even increase 10% while transcoding video on the fly. The Arm-based systems have a much harder time, and the end result is often choppy video playback on your viewing device.

Looking beyond the basic features, we found some nice additions on several of the systems today. HDMI video completely changes the NAS and our outlook of what we use it for. In my house, we have a small 2-bay NAS connected to every TV. The kids have a NAS; my wife has her NAS, and I have my NAS. All of the systems replicate the data back to a central NAS. Is it a NAS, is it a media center, or a "cloud storage" device? Well, yes, yes and yes. It is all three, and then some.

I would suggest either the Asustor AS3102T or the Thecus N2810. If the system's primary function were multimedia, then I would choose the Asustor AS3102T because I like the multimedia setup and features of this system. Asustor has spent a lot of time on enhancing the user's interaction with multimedia. It's one of the core features, and not on just this Asustor product, but of all the NAS we have tested from the company. If I needed a general purpose NAS that will never, or only occasionally, handle multimedia functions, then the N2810 is my pick.

The Thecus N2810 is the most well rounded of all the systems we tested today. The TAS-268 is not far behind, but QNAP needs to further optimize the new dual operating system feature. That said, the N2810 is the most powerful, feature-rich system of those tested today. It's also the most expensive diskless system of the group.

The two Synology and Western Digital systems offer the easiest setup procedure and friendliest software environment. It shouldn't come as a surprise that those systems also give users the least amount of extra features beyond the core basics. The Synology systems give users more features than the Western Digital NAS does. The My Cloud Mirror does ship with hard drives preinstalled and takes the whole premise of simple setup, simple use and "simple everything" to a new level. It's the minimalist of the group, and it is very good at making your new NAS experience easy. 

MORE: Best SSDs

MORE: How We Test HDDs And SSDs

MORE: All Storage Content

Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Specifications, Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

We've discussed QNAP's broad portfolio in previous reviews, but we should have saved that conversation for today. The company sells a lot of products with the same processors, memory and number of drive bays—and that confuses some shoppers. It isn't until you start looking at form factors and feature sets that the strategy becomes clear. QNAP has several products with 453 in their name (like the TS-453mini we tested, the TS-453 Pro and the TS-453U). Based on nomenclature alone, you'd never be able to distinguish one from another without a deeper understanding of how QNAP classifies its products. And even with that understanding, nothing could prepare you for the company's newest feature, which has us looking for a disco ball.

In Asia, it's popular to go out with your friends to a special club called KTV. Essentially, you are in a big room with a large-screen TV, a few microphones and a server who brings beverages by the bottle. These rooms are billed by the hour and heavily trafficked late at night after young people leave the clubs. It's not much different from karaoke in the United States, except that you get a private space (until someone posts your performance to Facebook, of course).

What does that have to do with a storage review? Well, karaoke files are larger than MP3s because they use a video format. High-quality karaoke includes audio encoded at a high bit rate, complemented by good-looking video. All of that data needs to go somewhere, and it requires a powerful processor to play it back smoothly. You guessed it; QNAP is answering the call with the world's first karaoke NAS.

More accurately, QNAP sells four models aimed at that market, armed with high bit-rate audio. To enable it, QNAP uses the PCIe slot normally set aside for 10GbE connectivity and replaces the network adapter with a dedicated sound card that accepts two 6.3mm dynamic microphone inputs.

The TS-x53A series also features QNAP's new QTS-Linux dual operating system, which gives the NAS a Linux desktop through a keyboard, mouse and monitor (via on-board HDMI). QNAP released desktop virtualization through Virtualization Station several generations ago. The difference with this new dual operating system is that Linux is more integrated than before.

MORE: Best SSDs For The MoneyMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

The TS-x53A family offers as few as two and as many as eight drive bays. All four models utilize the aforementioned QTS-Linux OS and enhanced audio features. They also employ Intel's quad-core Celeron N3150 (Braswell) SoC that consumes just six watts of power under full load.

For each model, there are two SKUs with different amounts of RAM build-in. The -4G systems include two 2GB DDR3 modules, while the -8G configurations come with two 4GB DIMMs, hitting the processor's upper limit for expansion.

The TS-453A features four gigabit Ethernet ports that support several independent and shared modes, including 802.3ad (link aggregation). Many of the modes accelerate network bandwidth without a switch that supports active-active mode, but you won't see a speed-up connecting the NAS to a single PC.

As with many of its contemporaries, the TS-453A lacks USB 2.0 altogether. Instead, it boasts four USB 3.0 ports. The popular one-touch copy function returns, allowing you to plug a drive in to the front USB port and press a button to pull data down to a special folder on the NAS. 

We've tested other NAS systems with two HDMI ports, but the TS-x53A is the first with independent HDMI. This lets you run two applications simultaneously with video output from each. That's a great capability if you're planning to use the platform for more than just storage. 

Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

We found the QNAP TS-453A available from several online resellers for $600. The price falls in line with other four-bay systems equipped with Intel's Celeron N3150.

But similarities to the competition end there. QNAP includes a remote control with the TS-453A, which is an optional purchase from other companies. QNAP also includes two Ethernet cables, as well as a quick-installation guide, external power supply and a power cable.

The TS-453A includes a two-year warranty that protects the system from defects. QNAP offers an optional warranty package that adds up to three years to the base warranty.

Software

Software Features

QNAP recently released QTS 4.2, its latest operating system. In it, we find support for the company's Container Station, Qsearch function and various incremental updates to existing features. You can read more about QTS 4.2 on the operating system's microsite.

Feature Applications

Interface

There are so many software features that we could write an entire article on the operating system and what's inside. But for now, just know that there there are more native features and optional add-ons than we can discuss in a single device review.

There are hundreds of pages in the QNAP QTS operating system, all originating from the main screen. The icons are similar to what you find in Android; you can move and reposition them across the three default pages. Of course, you can also add and remove icons as needed.

The Health Check feature in the lower-right corner of the dashboard opens to what we see here. It provides a quick way to catch the latest QNAP software news, see details about firmware updates and view the system's status. You can monitor the storage array and the CPU, as well as keep an eye on memory usage and network traffic. Another pane shows if other users are logged in to the system; you don't want to update firmware or restart the NAS if someone else is using a shared file from a remote location.

Before we even get into the applications, let's look at the system's many configurable features. Everything comes set up from QNAP, but you can easily change the options to create a more customized experience.

For instance, you can disable and hide all of the home/multimedia functions by clicking a single checkbox. This helps save processing cycles and system memory if those capabilities aren't needed.

In QTS' Storage Manager, you can build arrays either in volumes or by pools of disks. The latter option, introduced a few years ago, allows the appliance to tackle storage like an enterprise-class SAN. For example, one part of a drive may be a member of a RAID 0 array, while another section is part of a RAID 5 array.

When we review QNAP NAS appliances, we use the single-volume option. Systems with seven or fewer drive bays are tested in RAID 5, while systems with eight or more disks are tested in RAID 6.

You get a lot of networking options, too. QNAP facilitates several modes of teaming, including 802.11ad link aggregation. And there are a few ways to connect to the system from outside your intranet: via QNAP's cloud feature, a free service through a specialized website, or through a third-party DDNS service.

QTS-Linux Dual Systems

The TS-453A supports some new functionality not found on other QNAP platforms. For instance, the QTS-Linux dual system opens up the Internet of Things (IoT) world for developers to build rich applications. Although the QTS App Center is light on IoT applications right now, we expect it to see new and exciting plug-ins over time. In some ways, this is an extension of QNAP's existing desktop virtualization that allows users to run a second operating system from the NAS.

Dual HDMI

The TS-453A also introduces independent HDMI ports, so you can have your Linux and HD Station at the same time. Use the two ports to mirror or extend a desktop from the hosted operating system—even Windows, if you choose to install it in the virtualized environment.

Audio, Video And More

HD Video Station enables Kodi, a successor to XBMC and one of the most popular applications for networked storage today. Kodi might as well be its own operating environment because once it's installed, you can install plug-ins that expand its utility. If you ever dreamed of cutting the cord, consider Kodi your sheers.

OceanKTV - Karaoke At Home

At this time, only QNAP offers the OceanKTV application through its on-board management system. The TS-x53A series was built to complement the software, and the model we're reviewing has a pair of dynamic microphone inputs that allow two people to sing along with music from a GUI.

Dynamic microphones are professional-grade, like what musicians use. The industry standard is the Shure SM58, and these models cost around $100 each. You will need a special cord to connect to the NAS or a wireless system. While there are lower-cost alternatives available, if you want the full experience, the SM58 is an excellent choice.

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.

Four-Corner Performance Testing

Product Comparison

Several four- and five-drive NAS products go up against QNAP's karaoke-optimized TS-453A, some of which are bound to outperform it. Asustor's AS7004T has a faster host processor, but also costs more. On the other hand, Western Digital's My Cloud DL4100 sports the slowest CPU and lowest price. Everything else falls somewhere in between.

Sequential Read

These systems perform similarly when we hit them with sequential reads. As you might expect, throughput is also higher when we test with large blocks of data. And the queue depth benchmarks reveal very little scaling as we intensify the load.

Sequential Write

Aside from the Core i3-powered Asustor AS7004T, most of these machines are on fairly equal footing when we write to them sequentially. They utilize low-power SoCs from Marvell and Intel, so this isn't much of a surprise. Fortunately, every platform we're testing delivers exceptional single-workload performance that's likely limited by the upper bound of gigabit Ethernet. 

Sequential Sweeps

The sweep tests start with 100 percent sequential reads and end with 100 percent sequential writes. The numbers in the middle come from mixing the workloads in 10 percent increments. Our charts show how these systems slow down when they're asked to juggle reads and writes together, even though Ethernet is a full duplex technology.

QNAP's TS-453A follows a slightly different curve than the other systems, which comes from unique tuning. We've noticed the same pattern with the latest QTS firmware on other QNAP appliances. The TS-453A's optimizations result in more performance anywhere from 10 to 70 percent reads when we isolate 128KB blocks.

Random Read

The TS-453A also performs well in the random read tests, beating competing platforms at a queue depth of one. Asustor's entry fares particularly well at higher queue depths thanks to programming that caches more data in RAM. That speed-up makes it hard to see QNAP shine, though. Fortunately, our exploration into application performance later in the review will give us another opportunity to observe this.

Random Write

QNAP's latest NAS employs a modern Intel SoC, so we were expecting high random write throughput. But the synthetics don't bear that out. Sure, you can use an SSD to improve these numbers (QNAP enables caching on almost all of its products these days), but then you lose a drive bay for mechanical storage.

Random Sweeps

Despite the low random writes we observed, the TS-453A handles mixed workloads adeptly. Again, our sweep tests reflect different combinations of reads and writes, in 10 percent increments. Following the line graph, we see random performance increase as more writes hit the buffer. At 100 percent small-block writes, the systems all demonstrate big increases thanks to large DRAM buffers.

SMB, iSCSI And Standard Server Workloads

Each of the four corners come together in real-world application testing. The TS-453A is not the fastest NAS in our charts because we're including products from several different price points.

SMB / CIFS Client Workloads

The SMB tests are representative of transfer performance across your network in Windows. All of the charted systems take advantage of SMB 3.0, except for Western Digital's My Cloud DL4100, which uses SMB 2.0.

QNAP's TS-453A performs well, delivering the results we expected given its price tag. 

Multi-Client Office Workloads

The TS-453A wasn't designed for large offices with many people accessing it at once. With SSD caching, the appliance would serve up greater throughput and achieve lower latency. After all, cache weighs heavily on the multi-client metric, as does CPU performance.

iSCSI Client Workloads

iSCSI is a different protocol than SMB, and NAS manufacturers use a different engine for addressing it. As a result, you can't assume that faring well in the previous benchmarks guarantees a strong performance here.

In our opinion, iSCSI goes underutilized in the home and small business environments. It's much more reliable than SMB in many cases, and creates a drive letter on your machine that makes the volume appear local (rather than mapped). iSCSI consequently makes it possible to install software to networked locations.

Total iSCSI Storage Performance

The TS-453A performs well in our iSCSI tests. It's nearly as fast as Asustor's AS7004T sporting a Core i3 processor. To its credit, QNAP has always provided a strong iSCSI engine.

Standard Server Workloads

We run the server workloads over iSCSI as if in a SAN environment. QNAP's TS-453A doesn't scale as well across more taxing loads as Asustor's AS7004T, but it enables more IOPS than other NAS appliances in the chart.

Conclusion

We have several systems in the lab and more on the way with Intel's new Celeron N3150. So far, we're impressed with its low power consumption, performance and feature set. The connectivity offered by the platform's PCIe opens the door to more functionality, too.

Many NAS vendors load their systems with 10GbE as a differentiator. That's a safe choice for networked storage. QNAP does have several configurations available with 10GbE in the SMB segment, so there's little reason to do another one (especially with four drive bays).

The TS-453A is much more unique with its dual dynamic microphone inputs and high bit-rate audio output. The appliance should really fall into the high-end home/media server category. It does offer good value in the small business space, and includes the features to attract those customers. But we think the extras beg for a place in your living room.

This tug of war is the dilemma we face with a lot of QNAP products. Their feature sets are so broad, and the TS-453A extends out to an entirely new market. Of course, if we had to pay a premium for the A/V-based extras, we'd probably pass. But QNAP adds them as a value; they don't increase the TS-453A's price. It actually costs less than many other Celeron N3150-based systems. At the time of writing, you can find it with 4GB of RAM for $60 less than Asustor's AS204T. 

The 8GB version sells for $70 more on one site. However, we found it with a $250 mark-up on another. As enthusiasts, this makes us gravitate toward the lower-capacity model with an eye to upgrading it ourselves. Besides, we found 4GB sufficient to deliver a satisfying experience with many of the advanced features like Linux Station active. The more applications you load up, the more memory you'll want. At a certain point, it'll naturally make sense to pop another 4GB in to max out Intel's SoC.

QNAP delivers more software features than any other NAS manufacturer. Each package installs with just a few clicks, and a large support forum provides answers to questions that spring up along the way. Some applications focus on consumer tasks like video transcoding. Other applications focus on business requirements. But our favorites, such as CloudLink, land somewhere in between.

MORE: Best SSDs For The MoneyMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.

Follow us on Facebook, Google+, RSS, Twitter and YouTube.

Specifications, Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

Another black-box NAS may seem soporific, but the Asustor AS6204T packs Intel's latest Braswell-based SoC. That Celeron N3150 consumes very little power and adds hardware-accelerated AES encryption to a lower price point.

Asustor was actually the first NAS vendor to incorporate Braswell into its appliances. Four models were introduced at the end of 2015 packing Intel's latest: two sporting four drive bays and two others with a pair of bays round out the company's AS6x0xT family. Between them, Asustor employs two different processors. The AS6102T and AS6204T feature a dual-core Celeron N3050 that runs at 1.6GHz and accelerates to 2.16GHz. The AS66202T and AS6204T get a quad-core Celeron N3150 that maintains a 1.6GHz base clock but only speeds up to 2.08GHz Turbo Boost frequency.

The new SoCs come armed with Intel's AES-NI to speed up data encryption and decryption. Most home users probably won't bother with encryption, but any office that works with sensitive information will welcome the opportunity to reduce the compute requirements of keeping it safe. Encrypted volumes are nothing new to powerful storage appliances, but most are subjected to a large performance penalty with the feature enabled. AES-NI helps circumvent this to a degree.

Braswell improves performance further by arming the new Celerons with dual-channel memory controllers. More bandwidth enables 4K video playback with up to 7.1-channel audio, for instance.

MORE: Best SSDs For The Money
MORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

We've come to expect a lot of I/O from Asustor and the AS6204T doesn't disappoint. Its ports expand the number of roles the platform can play, giving it utility beyond just a medium-capacity file server.

Of course, that remains its main job. You get four hot-swap drive bays and a healthy list of supported RAID types. Two eSATA and four USB ports on the back facilitate external expansion in case you run out of room on the internal disks. Further, a single USB 3.0 port up front allows quick backups to the appliance; pressing the button surrounding that port automatically pulls in data from the attached device.

The AS6204T also supports several multimedia capabilities through its HDMI 1.4b port and S/PDIF audio interface. Beyond its ability to pipe out movies, the HDMI connector also lets you see what's happening on as many as 25 IP camera streams (though you'll need to buy extra licenses if you expand beyond four cameras).

Dual gigabit Ethernet ports are responsible for moving data to and from the system. They can be configured a number of ways, though most folks will simply hook one port up to a home or small business network. We're starting to see proper 802.11ad link aggregation exposed on small business routers and switches, which Asustor supports. The AS6204T also includes other network performance-enhancing modes, in addition to some for fail-over.

Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

The AS6204T is already available in the U.S., and we found it online for just over $575. Asustor covers the platform with a three-year warranty that activates from the date of purchase.

Bundled along with the appliance is an external power adapter and two Ethernet cables. Screws are supplied for both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives. Separately, Asustor offers a remote control (model number AS-RC10) for use with Kodi and other supported multimedia applications. The company also sells single- and four-pack camera licenses for Surveillance Center.

Software

Software Features

Many of these software features are enabled by the hardware. And with the latest ADM operating system upgrade, Asustor added support for SMB 3.0 to increase file transfer performance across the network.

Featured Applications

That's a formidable list of applications, but it doesn't stop there. Asustor has another 200 to choose from. There are also nine Android applications, one of which is a remote control for Kodi.

Software GUI

We took a few screenshots from the Asustor interface. The start page has a Web 2.0 feel to it, with movable icons that invite interaction. Each icon opens a new window inside the main page. As with an Android-based smartphone, you can build pages for the different icons and group similar items together.

Even with all of the capabilities it does expose, Asustor doesn't offer the raw number of add-on software features you get from Thecus and QNAP. Instead, Asustor focuses on getting the most important functions right. Many of the niche extras are cut entirely or still in development.

A Closer Look

The AS6204T ships in a retail-friendly package. Inside, we find the appliance secured in place by dense foam. Its accessories come in a separate box that keeps them from scratching the chassis.

Asustor is a fairly young NAS vendor, and this design dates back to its earliest products launched in 2012. The layout remains clean and modern, though. That's a good thing, as we've started seeing more appliances loaded with plastic to reduce manufacturing costs.

There are several LEDs that indicate power, disk and network activity. When engaged, the one-touch copy function LED also comes to life. All of the lights, including the LCD display up front, can be dimmed or even turned off completely. This is a welcome addition, particularly when the AS6204T sits at the heart of a media center.

Once you get past the setup process, the LCD becomes a novelty more than anything. Prior to that, it'll walk you through configuration and flash the IP to use for accessing the NAS. Should a problem arise later, though, the display can help point you in the right direction.

Over the years, we've heard companies argue in favor of single- and dual-fan designs. Asustor uses one low-speed fan to keep the drives inside cool. Those large blades do help minimize noise, and Asustor claims that the system at idle generates just 17.6 dB(A). That's lower than we can accurately measure outside of an anechoic chamber. Almost all of what you hear from the AS6204T comes from whatever hard drives are inside.

The single-fan design does have one drawback: it adds a single point of failure. Then again, we've tested a number of Asustor appliances and never seen a fan go out. Replacing it wouldn't be difficult, but we also know most folks don't keep spares.

Most of the platform's I/O is accessible from the back, along with a Kensington ClickSafe lock slot. We rarely see eSATA anymore, but we applaud Asustor for keeping the interface; the capacity it enables is useful when you run out, and its performance matches native SATA. You can also offload surveillance recordings to a more secure space using external disks.

Several competing systems also include HDMI connectivity, but the S/PDIF audio output is more unique. Software like XBMC (now under the name Kodi) takes advantage of those hardware capabilities to enable a personal library of entertainment for your living room. Asustor leads with this feature, though other companies are taking steps to close the gap.

The system is mainly metal, including a steel frame and aluminum cover that goes over three sides. We prefer metal cases; they help dissipate thermal energy under heavy workloads. This system uses very little power, but high-capacity drives with a lot of platters do get hot.

The drive sleds support both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch disks. The only fault we found with them is their locking mechanism, which isn't particularly secure. We'd prefer to have a key lock the sleds to the chassis. This is important to SMBs that might not have space free of foot traffic and meddling hands.

Four-Corner Performance Testing

Product Comparison

Sequential Read Performance

Although Asustor products typically perform well in our tests, we ran into an issue with the AS6204T right out of the gate. We took our results to company representatives and had a new firmware one week later. The initial release suffered low sequential write performance at low queue depths. Asustor tells us the workload was so light at a queue depth of one that the system didn't enable Turbo Boost. Instead, it remained in a low-power state. The update fixed the issue, and is now publicly available.

Reading 128KB blocks happens a little slower than on some competing platforms, which is surprising for Asustor. Sequential benchmarks run using different block sizes look better, at least.

Sequential Write Performance

The sequential write tests are kinder to Asustor, though again the AS6204T encounters lower performance when it's faced with certain block sizes compared to other NAS appliances. Though the difference is small, we'll be keeping an eye out for correlation during the real-world tests.

Sequential Mixed Workload Sweeps

These results show how mixing reads and writes affects transfer performance. In a home environment, you might occasionally send and receive files at the same time. That happens a lot more often in an office. It's important that you buy the appliance that best matches your demands, and our mixed workload benchmarks help guide your decision.

Random Read Performance

You'll typically only encounter small blocks of data accessed randomly when you run software that uses the NAS as central storage. Examples include virtual environments like Hyper-V and ESXi (the former is optimized for 4KB blocks, while the latter is optimized for 8KB blocks). Other popular office applications, such as QuickBooks, use 4KB when run from a Windows environment.

Random Write Performance

Many of the random write tests look like waves as we move across queue depths. This is caused by the system cache when it flushes during our benchmark. We've increased the test duration, but the only way to completely remove those peaks and valleys is running each NAS in steady state. Although that'd help mask the cache's impact, we'd also veer further from reality. After all, NAS systems aren't subjected to the same taxing workloads encountered in the enterprise.

Asustor's products have always employed a lot of cache to improve random performance. NAS manufacturers can optimize this parameter from within the embedded Linux operating system. The AS6204T with 4GB of RAM doesn't excel in these charts as much as models that ship with 8GB of system memory, though. 

Random Mixed Workload Sweeps

The effect of caching is obvious when you look at the sweeps across our random mixed workloads. When we hit 100 percent writes, performance spikes as the RAM absorbs incoming data. That steady build-up you see from 100 percent read to 100 percent writes happens when the cache steps in the help the slower hard drives.

Encryption Performance

In addition to our usual benchmarks, we also wanted to test with encrypted folders to see how Intel's Braswell-based SoC works with AES-NI active. In the tests above, we compare iSCSI and SMB transfers to SMB with encryption enabled.

Using encryption still imparts a performance penalty, but it's smaller here than on appliances without AES-NI. Previously, we saw encryption cut performance in half (or worse). That no longer has to be the case. 

SMB, iSCSI And Standard Server Workloads

SMB Client Workloads

In this series of tests, we're using real-world application traces. The AS6204T rips through the heavy read metrics, but is weaker in write performance. In the benchmarks emphasizing sequential transfers, IOPS throughput is naturally less of a factor.

Multiclient Office Workloads

In contrast, the multi-client office suite focuses on random transfers of small blocks in applications like Excel, Word and PowerPoint. Asustor's strong cache takes over here, blasting through the workload. As the benchmark incorporates more clients, the task becomes even more random due to the increasing I/Os. This helps the AS6204T even more since it does so well with random transfers. Of the appliances in its price range Asustor's AS6204T is the best choice for an SMB with users working directly from the NAS.

iSCSI Client Workloads

The iSCSI tests focus more on client-level applications. I'm a big fan of iSCSI, particularly when several systems need access to bulk redundant storage. When you configure iSCSI, you get a drive letter that can be used to install and run software as if it were a local disk. Unlike a single disk in your PC, though, you're on a large array with redundant and secure space.

Our results suggest the AS6204T on a GbE connection is about as fast as a 7200 RPM hard drive in your own machine.

Total iSCSI Storage Performance

These are the throughput numbers combined and averaged together. The AS6204T trails QNAP's TS-451+ by a tiny margin.

Standard Server Workloads

Our standard server workloads show the QNAP TS-451+ and Asustor AS6204T again performing comparably. These two systems really stand out from the other appliances in these charts. And they cost about the same if you configure them with 8GB of RAM, so we can't simply let price determine a winner.

Conclusion

Asustor was the first to market with a Braswell-based NAS, and it feels like the company cut a few corners to get there. Early performance issues blamed on immature firmware are outside of what we expect from Asustor. The AS6204T just doesn't impress like some of its predecessors. Maybe that's because this model follows higher-profile appliances we recently reviewed, such as the AS7 series with Core i3 processors inside and the AS5008T with eight drive bays.

And so I put more thought into my initial impression. At $575, you get a low-power platform with 4GB of RAM. The QNAP TS-451+ we recently reviewed (and compared to the AS6204T in this piece) costs a little less, includes 8GB of system memory and delivers nearly identical performance. That's where Asustor's AS6204T let us down.

Some of our previous stories show Asustor giving you more for less money. The company was hungry for sales, so it over-delivered on features at a value-oriented price. In some cases, we found the Asustor option selling for as much as $100 less than competing systems in the same SMB segment.

It wouldn't be fair to say that Asustor changed as much as the market did. QNAP's TS-451+ is radically different from the company's previous efforts in that $600 to $700 range. The system is nearly all plastic and drops some hardware functionality to hit an aggressive price target, while still giving you 8GB of system RAM. Meanwhile, the AS6204T still offers industry-leading I/O, a mostly metal enclosure, metal drive sleds and a front-mounted display. It still looks like a serious piece of hardware and not a plastic toy.

We'd like to think that if Asustor wasn't trying so hard to be the first company with a Braswell-based system, it might have armed the AS6204T with 8GB of system memory. Instead, this appliance launched at a $660 price point. Fortunately, it has dropped almost $100 since then. A lower price makes the AS6240T more competitive against similar configurations.

But the one hardware addition we were hoping would change the game really doesn't. Intel's Braswell architecture offers limited benefit here. Its AES-NI support is nice, but most NAS users don't enable encryption anyway. And while 4K playback on a storage appliance sounds flashy, there are limited applications for it. Again, we don't know many enthusiasts who hook storage servers up to their TVs directly. And Braswell doesn't do much for power consumption; the AS6204T uses just as much power as previous-generation systems from Asustor. In the end, you'll have to make a judgement call on this one. Is $575, before adding hard drives, worth the price of admission, especially compared to QNAP's TS-451+ at $421?

MORE: Best SSDs For The Money
MORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Specifications, Pricing, Warranty And Accessories

QNAP has two new NAS appliances designed for SOHO (small office/home office) customers: the TS-251+ and the TS-451+, and we have the latter in-house for testing. It's an updated model based loosely on the original TS-451, a dual-core Celeron-based system.

The TS-451+ adds a quad-core Intel Celeron J1900 at 2GHz and doubles the platform's RAM. The extra cores increase the NAS system's multimedia capabilities, while the memory upgrade allows more applications to run in the background. This is the new breed of network-attached devices that extends beyond storage. Many new home and small office QNAP systems fall into this category. Nobody has coined an official term for these systems, but someone really should. Continuing to call them NAS fails to capture everything they're capable of.

Many of the appliances we're seeing employ Intel's Celeron J1900 or a similar model from the Bay Trail family (with Silvermont-based cores). They're attractive processors because of their hardware-accelerated transcode engine and impressively low power consumption, which lowers cooling requirements.

QNAP recently introduced its QTS 4.2 operating system, which is backward-compatible with existing products. We installed the latest software package on a six-year-old TS-809 Pro during its beta phase and then when the release was finalized. We really like that QNAP steadily updates its OS, enabling new features. Not every capability works on the older systems since some are directly tied to hardware functionality, but that's inevitable. Fortunately, if a feature isn't supported, it doesn't show up in the software. In short, you can't do anything to get yourself in trouble.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

QNAP's TS-451+ ships in two configurations differentiated by memory capacity. We're testing the 8GB model. However, there's also a lower-priced 2GB version. Its Celeron J1900 SoC includes integrated HD Graphics and a hardware-accelerated transcoding engine. Some of the systems that cost less than the TS-451+ use AMD G-series and Marvell SoCs. Just above the Celeron J1900 are systems with Intel Core i3 processors based on the Haswell architecture. The TS-451+ falls in the upper-middle range, offering excellent single-user and moderate multi-client performance suitable for small offices.

There are four hot-swap drive bays, though you can expand to 12 with QNAP's UX-800P. While the system supports a typical assortment of RAID levels, most folks will opt for RAID 5 to balance user capacity and data redundancy. The TS-451+ also facilitates SSD caching. It's read-only with a single drive and read/write with a pair of them. The cache algorithm can be tuned for different workloads, but you'll probably go for storage and redundancy over better random-latency performance.

Moving data to and from the system takes place over gigabit Ethernet. A pair of ports allows access from two separate networks or just one in a teamed configuration. If your network can handle it, 802.11ad is supported. QNAP also enables a few specialty network functions that do not require specific hardware to increase performance or reliability.

There are five USB ports in total. The front USB 3.0 interface is enhanced by a feature called one-touch copy, and it works in conjunction with a button right above the port. Around back, one more USB 3.0 port sits just under two USB 2.0 connections that provide a number of additional features. You can quickly set up a print server or even connect a keyboard and mouse. With video output through HDMI 1.4a, you can use the TS-451+ like a virtualized computer running on top of the QTS operating system. That HDMI 1.4a output can also send video and audio signals to a home theater.

This system ships with a QNAP-branded remote control, and if you combine it with Kodi home theater software, you get a powerful combination. I have one friend who recently "cut the cord", but still enjoys live TV broadcasts from a number of Kodi plug-in packages over IP networks. Though that's not a QNAP-supported feature, you can still see how flexible the Kodi package and user-built plug-in system has become. To fully exploit the software's capabilities, you need a powerful processor. Intel's quad-core Celeron J1900 works nicely.

Pricing, Warranty & Accessories

The TS-451+ 8GB model has an MSRP of $649, while the 2GB TS-451 costs $529. Pricing is similar to competing products based on the same J1900 processor and system memory capacity.

QNAP's standard warranty lasts two years, but the company allows e-tailers to sell QNAP-backed warranties that extend coverage up to five years.

The system ships with two Ethernet cables, an external power brick, screws for mounting both 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives, a paper manual and a remote control.

A Closer Look

The TS-451+ ships in a brown box with a small list of specifications, features and capabilities printed on it. Most of these systems are sold online, so there's no real need for flashy packaging. I did recently visit a retail store and discovered NAS products from other companies on shelves in the same labeled brown box. They were easy to spot because there were so many, and they all had a layer of dust on top.

After reviewers started talking about how NAS appliances are packaged, the major players began using dense foam with extra protection in the corners. QNAP has always packaged its products well, and its TS-451+ maintains the status quo. The accessory package is even boxed separately, so your NAS won't get scratched in transit.

Inside the box, we find a quick-start guide and QNAP's 13-button remote control. This is the third QNAP product we've reviewed with this remote, and I was finally able to configure a system with QTS 4.2 and Kodi to use it. The remote is responsive, but lacks strong tactile feedback. Since it uses IR, you can easily clone the signals to a programmable remote from your home theater.

TS-451+ owners also receive two Ethernet cables, screws for mounting 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives in the corresponding sleds, and an external power supply.

If you are a fan of QNAP's two-line display, you'll be disappointed to find it isn't used on this model. I often use the read-out for initial setup. Without it, you'll have to rely on QNAP's Finder Utility to retrieve an IP address and get everything configured.

The original TS-451 had a dual-core Celeron processor and shipped in a white case with this same design. Somewhere around that time, QNAP started using more plastic in its construction, which tends to run warmer than metal enclosures. Given the low-power SoCs we see nowadays, though, heat is rarely a problem. 

A power button and one-touch copy button (tied to the forward-facing USB 3.0 port) are located on the far left side of the chassis' face.

The system has seven status LEDs that indicate power, network, USB and hard drive activity. Aside from them, the rest of the front is fairly sparse. QNAP's drive sleds do not lock, so you won't want to use the system anywhere security is a concern.

The drive sleds employ a newer design than many of the QNAP appliances I've tested in the past. In the image above, you can see that air must pass through a small hole that won't dissipate heat evenly. This could negatively affect drive temperatures, leading to louder operation if you end up choosing hotter-running disks. Manufactures are not afraid to ship six- and even eight-platter drives these days, and some of them get really hot. Fortunately, using our lab's 5900 RPM Seagate NAS disks, we didn't have any problems with noise.

One side of the system has a vent to keep the platform cool. Four rubber feet on the bottom of the enclosure minimize vibration to and from the NAS. Like the rest of the TS-451+ chassis, the rubber feet are low-cost parts. Many of QNAP's upper-range systems are built to a higher standard.

A large fan on the back of the TS-451+ is automatically adjusted to keep the system and drives cool. Without an internal power supply, a smaller fan isn't required to cool that component. Again, there are three USB ports back there, one of which supports third-gen transfer rates. Two GbE ports move data to and from the system.

The less common bit of I/O is a lone HDMI output. Over the last two years, we've increasingly seen HDMI show up in networked storage. It started appearing on high-end systems as Intel pushed integrated HD Graphics. Now the functionality is available down in the company's least-expensive models.

Software

Features

QNAP recently released QTS 4.2, its latest operating system. In it, we find support for QNAP's new Container Station, Qsearch function and various incremental updates for existing features. You can read more about QTS 4.2 on the operating system's microsite.

Feature Apps

Interface

There are so many software features that we could write an entire article just on the operating system and what's inside. In fact, we plan to publish comprehensive feature stories covering NAS operating systems and their GUIs in the future. For now, there are more native features and optional add-ons than we can introduce in a single device review.

There are hundreds of pages in the QNAP QTS operating system, but they all originate from the main screen. The icons are similar to what you find in Android; you can move and re-position them across the three default pages. Of course, you can also add and remove icons as needed.

The health check feature in the lower-right corner of the dashboard opens to what we see here. It provides a quick way to catch the latest QNAP software news, see details about firmware updates and view the system's status. You can monitor the storage array and CPU, in addition to keeping an eye on memory usage and network traffic. Another pane shows if other users are logged in to the system; you don't want to update firmware or restart the NAS if someone else is using a shared file from a remote location.

Before we even get into the applications, let's look at the system's many configurable features. Everything comes set up from QNAP to be completely usable. But you can easily change the options to create a more customized experience.

For instance, disable and hide all of the home/multimedia functions by clicking a single check-box. This helps save processing cycles and system memory if those capabilities aren't needed.

In QTS' Storage Manager, you can build arrays either in volumes or by pools of disks. The latter option, introduced a few years ago, allows the appliance to tackle storage like an enterprise-class SAN. For example, one part of a drive may be a member of a RAID 0 array, while another section is part of a RAID 5 array.

When we review QNAP NAS appliances, we use the single-volume option. Systems with seven drive bays and less are tested in RAID 5, while systems with eight or more disks are tested in RAID 6.

You get a lot of networking options, too. QNAP facilitates several modes of network teaming, including 802.11ad link aggregation. And there are a few ways to connect to the system from outside of your intranet: it's accessible from QNAP's cloud feature, a free service through a specialized website, or through a third-party DDNS service.

Four-Corner Performance Testing

We've updated our comparison units now that we have a sufficient number of mid-range models in the database. In the coming months, we'll publish reviews of Asustor's AS6104T and Netgear's ReadyNAS 214. You can read our review of the Thecus N5810 Pro here.

All of the systems in today's review are filled with Seagate NAS 4TB disks in RAID 5, and they run from a single GbE port through an enterprise switch.

Sequential Data Transfer by Block Size

The sequential read performance for every system is similar at each block size. This isn't a very stressful metric, but it does give us some idea of what to look for as our testing continues.

There's a lot more variation in the sequential write test. Asustor's AS6204T is on the first iteration of the company's newest operating system, and it clearly has some issues with smaller block sizes. The TS-451+ finishes without encountering any issues; it performs particularly well in the 64KB and 128KB tests, posting bigger numbers than Thecus and Western Digital.

Sequential Performance

Now we're looking at 128KB and 1MB blocks, charted across increasing queue depths. Interestingly, the mid-range systems we're measuring don't report higher throughput as queue depths go up. That would normally be bad. But many of these platforms saturate a GbE link at low queue depths, so that's our bottleneck.

The write tests again yield a wider range of performance results. QNAP's TS-451+ performs well, managing to saturate the gigabit Ethernet connection.

Sequential Mixed Data Sweep

All of the systems are optimized for workloads consisting of 80 percent reads. Back when the SSD 520 launched, Intel published a document claiming that 80 percent reads are typical for most client systems. Seventy percent reads are more common among workstations.

The bathtub curve observed here is what we're accustomed to. After all, mixing reads and writes presents a greater challenge than a pure read or pure write workload.

Random Data Transfer by Size

For the most part, if you don't run applications on the NAS or use the appliance as an active disk with a mapped volume, you will rarely transfer files in a random manner. Even when you send small blocks of data over SMB, the information moves sequentially. Hosting an app on the NAS is another story entirely, though.

In both the read and write tests, QNAP's TS-451+ outperforms its competition in random 4KB performance. This is important for running applications with Windows, where 4KB blocks make up a majority of the workload. The 8KB block size is often associated with virtual machines from VMWare. The TS-451+ also outperforms the other products there, though it falls behind two systems in 8KB random writes. 

Random Performance

Ratcheting up the random workload by scaling queue depth doesn't do much for performance. For the most part, these systems demonstrate fairly linear performance as the queue depth increases. 

Random Mixed Data Sweep

Under heavy random writes, all of the systems use cache algorithms to burst performance. None of them exhibit a bathtub curve as we sweep across the mixed workloads. We see very little variation until the test's end, where caching performance differentiates each appliance.

SMB, iSCSI And Standard Server Workloads

Single-Client SMB Performance

QNAP's TS-451+ performed well in the synthetic measurements, so it's not surprising to see it leading many of our real-world tests over SMB.

These benchmarks are traditional home and small business NAS metrics, where users transfer files to and from the system. For most folks, this is exactly why you buy networked storage.

Multi-Client SMB Performance

Each node in the multi-client test falls short of saturating our test subjects. We used real Microsoft Office software to record traces that run from each system with a dedicated gigabit Ethernet connection to the network. The combined workload does tax the GbE link. With some products, we hit other hardware limits before banging on Ethernet's ceiling.

We can see this happen on two of the charts; either throughput sharply decreases or the latency spikes. I like to use latency to determine the load level at which a NAS device still delivers acceptable performance. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of traffic to make a NAS fail outright. But you don't want the nasty user experience preceding that failure, either.

Single-Client iSCSI Workloads

iSCSI is the most underused feature on NAS appliances today. All of our comparison products have the feature installed right out of the box, but we rarely hear about it being used. iSCSI adds a drive letter to the volume and shows up on your computer as a local disk. It's a great way to deal with large game libraries, particularly since the data on a RAID 5 array is redundant.

These results are presented in time units rather than throughput.

QNAP delivers strong iSCSI performance, giving its TS-451+ the advantage it needs to come out on top. The throughput result is about as fast as a 7200 RPM disk inside of your own desktop.

Standard Workloads

Since none of the systems scale as queue depths increase, the snake charts that show IOPS compared to latency are nearly vertical. Only a small number of users will deploy their low-cost storage appliances in one of these single-workload applications, though the systems are powerful enough.

Response time starts out around 8ms across the board. You never want to push much beyond 100ms of latency, and 200ms is a practical maximum.

Conclusion

Even though the TS-451+ is sold as a small business model, its features are more compelling in the home, where you can really take advantage of the multimedia capabilities. To be fair, HDMI output can be used to run a virtual PC, but that's be a progressive application of what this system is meant for. We simply believe that accelerated transcoding, HDMI output and a bundled remote control, when added to a traditional network-attached storage device, scream home theater. Bonus points for connecting the TS-451+ to a receiver able to decode high bit rate audio. 

All of the NAS manufacturers have taken steps to streamline the initial configuration process. The whole network-attached dimension of these systems sounds like it could be complicated, but it's not. Within 10 minutes, you can have the TS-451+ up and running. And if you really do want to get elbows-deep, QNAP enables a comprehensive feature set for you to explore. Most of us don't sit down and spend hours setting up every capability; we'll usually configure the system and then enable the advanced extras as the need arises.

In order to make use of what the TS-451+ can do, you'll want more memory than what the 2GB model includes. I don't know where QNAP buys RAM, but I wish I was the supplier! The price difference between the 2GB and 8GB models is much larger than it should be. You're better off buying the lower-capacity version and adding your own 4GB DDR3-1600 SO-DIMM.

This system isn't perfect, though. It suffers a few negatives I've never encountered from QNAP before. The drive sleds, case structure and overall design fall short of the company's quality standards compared to its higher-end equipment. We expect to find a lot of plastic on appliances destined for home installations, but this thing costs more than $500.

The TS-451+ is also fairly redundant. QNAP's TS-453mini is nearly identical with the same processor, system memory, many of the same features, an included remote control and an extra USB 3.0 port. The TS-453mini's piano black finish also looks better, and it consumes less desk space due to a vertical drive design.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Chris Ramseyer is a Contributing Editor for Tom's Hardware, covering Storage. Follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.

Follow Tom's Hardware on Twitter, Facebook and Google+.

Specifications, Price, Warranty and Accessories

Asustor is one of the lesser-known NAS appliance providers, but its parent company should be quite familiar to Tom's Hardware readers. With massive growth potential, Asus built its subsidiary to provide reliable storage products for the home and office. Today, we look at what we consider to be one of the company's best offerings.

The AS5108T comes recommended by Asustor as a home enthusiast or small business NAS. It packs a quad-core Intel Celeron at 2GHz (capable of accelerating to 2.41GHz) into a pedestal form factor that has eight drive bays. This system, along with Asustor's other new models for 2015, features HDMI connectivity for multimedia applications.

I'll do my best to keep you interested by revealing the price early on. Most high drive-count NAS appliances break the $1000 mark, and several inch closer to the $1500 range. We found the Asustor AS5108T for $787 from a large e-tailer while writing this review. We've tested more expensive four-bay NAS systems that don't hold a candle to the features and potential of the box we're testing today.

Most NAS appliances offer the same general features; there are few exclusives in the NAS market. With that said, much differentiation comes from software. The hardware serves to enable each system's basic functionality, accepting and holding your data. When you want that information back, that's where the companies can really get innovative.

And this is where Asustor sets itself apart. The company dedicates no less than 32 pages to the ADM operating system, dividing features into appropriate categories: Home and SOHO users, Business users, Mobile Applications and a separate section for miscellaneous utilities and browser plug-ins. Don't get me wrong, many NAS appliances have impressive software packages. But when you want to access your data from any device, Asustor is the company to turn to.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

The AS5108T has a solid mix of new- and old-world connections that make this a versatile NAS for power users. HDMI, for example, is included for media center and surveillance use. This system also has an IR receiver, making it compatible with Asustor's remote control (sold separately). S/PDIF, also known as Sony/Philips Digital Interface, is also present, enabling optical audio output. Familiar interfaces include USB and eSATA, a connection that's seldom used but particularly useful when you need additional storage.

It will take you a long time to need those two eSATA ports, though, since the AS5108T has eight hot-swappable drive bays that support both 3.5" and 2.5" disks. Asustor officially supports up to 8TB drives. But with 10TB models beginning to emerge, I suspect official support will soon follow. With eight drive bays filled with 8TB disks, you can install up to 64TB of storage space. We recommend using RAID 6 for dual disk failure redundancy. That'd leave you with 48TB of usable capacity.

The aforementioned Celeron supports hardware transcoding for a wide range of multimedia files. Asustor only includes 2GB of RAM, but the system supports up to 8GB via two DDR3 SO-DIMM slots just under the cover.

Moving data in and out is possible with four gigabit Ethernet ports that support 802.11ad Link Aggregation. In theory, you can transfer up to 500 MB/s at one time with all four ports. This is far from reality though, given hard drive transfer rates and real-world overhead.

Price, Warranty & Accessories

I felt compelled to grab a screenshot when I found Asustor's AS5108T selling for $787 on Superbiiz. In addition to its attractive price, Asustor covers its retail products with a three-year warranty. I've never had to deal with the company's support staff or make a warranty claim, even though I own several of Asustor's appliances.

The AS5108T ships with a software installation disc, power cord, two CAT 5e cables, paper manuals and screws for both 3.5" and 2.5" drives. Asustor also sells an IR remote controller, supported DRAM modules, single- and four-camera license packs for Surveillance Center.

Software

Features

Featured Apps

Interface

Asustor built a software installer that allows you to find the NAS on your network. The tool also walks you through the initial configuration to set an IP address, build an array and dial in other settings. You can even use the built-in display and buttons to initialize the drives and work through the settings.

Once the local installer tool finishes, your browser opens and presents you with a log-in screen. From there you can enter the NAS. 

If you skipped over building a drive array in the initial setup, you'll want to do that first. Formatting only takes a few minutes, after which the array is ready to accept data. Post-format, the system scans your drives. You can access the array at that point, though transfers are slower.

Then it's time to work on customization. In the screen on the left, you can configure the LCD with a personalized message or instruct it to display different status updates. You can also program the LED lights on the front of the chassis.

A lot of folks use NAS appliances to back-up their desktops and notebooks. The system is easy to configure for those tasks. On the front of the AS5108T is a USB 3.0 port with a button surrounding it. You can configure Asustor's platform to either save files from the USB port to the NAS or send data to a thumb drive from the NAS.

DHCP is supported, naturally. And even if you're not familiar with Ethernet topology, you can still take advantage of the advanced cloud features. The AS-5108T has an EZ Button. With just a few clicks, Asustor's system will reach out to your router and change the necessary settings for you.

A great number of modern NAS appliances are infused with in-house and third-party software features. Asustor, in particular, leaves no stone unturned. There are so many available applications that we can't list them all, much less explain what each does. You can scroll through the list on Asustor's App Central, though.

If you run into any issues, the Dr. Asustor section will either set it straight or help you with support. It's a nice feature only available through Asustor.

Multimedia & Mobile Sharing

Although there are several different software options for playing back multimedia files, Asustor utilizes KODI for its AS50- and AS51-series products. The AS5108T we're testing today has a maximum resolution of 1080p through its HDMI port; 3D video playback is enabled as well. The system also supports up to 7.1-channel audio via HDMI or S/PDIF.

In theory, the AS5108T allows you to divorce yourself from a cable package and still watch live TV. But you need a high-speed Internet connection first. Then, you'll have to jump though a few hoops to configure the capability. Bear in mind that not all of the plug-ins would pass a legal challenge (Asustor doesn't own or govern the third-party plug-in system).

Asustor has a number of applications for different operating systems that let you access data from any device. All you need is an Internet connection.

A Closer Look

Asustor hasn't tapped into Asus' full distribution channel to get its products onto many retail shelves, but the company's partner list has grown over the last two years. When I first started testing Asustor appliances, they had to be special-ordered. Now it's possible to have one shipped a day after buying it.

Even without widespread retail availability, Asustor still hits high marks for putting the information required for making an informed purchasing decision right on the package. The message on the box, "More than just Storage", is spot-on.

Inside, we found the NAS securely packaged with its accessories in a separate, smaller box. The closed-cell foam is built in layers and dense to absorb any shock from shipping.

The accessory package is sufficient, though we'd like to see four CAT 5e cables since this system does expose a quartet of gigabit Ethernet ports.

Asustor's eight-bay chassis is identical to the company's 10-bay systems, except for the single cover along the top row of drive bays. Sadly, the SATA ports for the two top bays are not present, so you can't convert the NAS into a 10-bay model. While the cover allows air past, we would prefer a solid piece of plastic to force air over the hard drives.

The AS5108T has several indicator lights. The power button sits above a hard disk drive activity LED along the top-left edge. At the bottom-left, there are two network activity LEDs, and just below is a one-touch copy button tied to the USB 3.0 port.

The AS5108T also has a front LCD display with four buttons to the right of it. Use the display's information to configure the NAS, check the system's status and verify other settings. If you don't like the lights at all, you can dim them or shut them off completely.

Technically, the drive bays are lockable, though just barely. This is one of the AS5108T's weak points. Any slot driver can open the individual drive bay sleds. Really, the locks are less for security and more so you don't accidentally remove a drive. Each bay has two LEDs that shine through a fiber optic system. One shows the presence of a disk and the other conveys activity. If a drive fails, the LED turns red to indicate a fault. These LEDs can also be disabled via software.

The system board side of the AS5108T is perforated to allow air flow over the processor, chipset and RAM. Three screws on the back of the chassis facilitate easy access for memory upgrades.

There are two 120mm fans that keep air moving through the enclosure, while a small fan up top cools the power supply. Even with those fans spinning, this system is quiet under normal use. The hard drives themselves are louder than the other platform components.

All of the I/O is located on the right side of the chassis' rear panel (except for that USB 3.0 port up front). You get four gigabit Ethernet ports, and there is no option to add 10GbE connectivity. Most SMBs don't have that infrastructure anyway, so we don't see its absence as an issue. If you need lots of performance, team the gigabit Ethernet ports and get a theoretical ~500 MB/s of throughput.

As mentioned, one HDMI port and S/PDIF connectivity address multimedia applications in home theaters. Two eSATA ports facilitate expansion through external add-ons.

Four-Corner Testing

Sequential Performance

We have a limited number of high drive-count systems tested with GbE interfaces. Many of this platform's contemporaries either ship with 10GbE or offer it as an option.

All of the systems in today's review are filled with Seagate NAS 4TB disks in RAID 6, our preference for appliances with six or more drive bays. The QNAP TS-563 is actually a five-bay system, but we ran it in RAID 6 as an extra comparison point. All three contenders run from a single GbE port and through an enterprise switch.

Given what we know about Asustor's typical performance, it doesn't surprise us to see the AS5108T leading our sequential read tests. The system pulls away even more when we measure random read IOPS.

The 128KB and 256KB block sizes are the only two where the AS5108T outperforms its competition when writing sequential data. When we look at 1MB blocks, the AS5108T holds steady at 120 MB/s and doesn't let up.

Asustor is aggressive with its buffers. In our 128KB mixed workload, the AS5108T performs well, and in most read/write mixes outperforms the two QNAP configurations. The 1MB mixed workload goes the other way, where performance drops off as sequential writes are added to the mix. I suspect that the buffer filled, forcing the system to pass cached and incoming data to the eight drives at the same time. This would explain the low performance as write traffic increased.

Random Performance

This set of charts shows why we measure performance in different ways. Reading data from the three systems using various block sizes shows the AS5108T under its QNAP competition.

In the 4KB and 8KB random read tests, where we scale the workload by queue depth, storage behavior changes quickly. Asustor's AS5108T caches the reads and delivers SSD-like random performance. For this to happen under real-world conditions, the repeat rate has to be high. But when you're working with that type of workload, this system truly delivers high random read IOPS without a dedicated SSD for cache.

But as we saw from our sequential write tests, the AS5108T is brought back to Earth when it comes time to write random data. Gone are the explosive random transfers, though the numbers we do measure are still impressive.

Asustor's AS5108T falls in line with many other products when we mix the reads and writes. These three boxes show how difficult it can be to stand out, faced with the limitation of gigabit Ethernet. Ten GbE allows much more separation between appliances.

SMB, iSCSI & Standard Server Workloads

SMB/CIFS Workloads

From the synthetics we move to real-world benchmarks using traces from previous workloads. SMB/CIFS is how you transfer data across the network in a Windows environment when you move files to folders or navigate to the NAS. Our results are in MB/s, higher numbers obviously being better.

All three of our comparison systems are considered high-performance models. You don't need Xeon-class processing here. The QNAP TS-563 we tested even uses an AMD SoC, which performs well enough for most basic NAS applications. The same SoC works even better paired with a 10-gigabit Ethernet adapter.

Because the systems are powerful enough, and limited by their network interfaces, there isn't much separation in many of our daily use workloads.

iSCSI Desktop Workloads

iSCSI has yet to really catch on in the home and small business environments. Once it's deployed, though, most administrators never turn back to SMB. Mapping network drives is great and all, but dedicating resources through iSCSI delivers local storage functionality to your PC. It's like having a 64TB hard drive in your system. Configuring iSCSI is easy, and it's a secure connection so your data is safe.

These tests measure performance in time to completion. The results are in seconds, with lower being better.

The AS5108T outperforms the other systems in nearly all of our iSCSI tests.

This chart takes the average throughput from each test and compares it in MB/s. A single Seagate NAS 4TB drive installed in a PC delivers 9.94 MB/s. Using iSCSI, all three appliances we're testing surpass this figure.

Multi-Client SMB Testing

The multi-client test results come from 120 virtualized installations of Windows 7 running across 10 dual Xeon servers. Each server is armed with two six-port Hot Lava network interface cards. The ports are all one-gigabit. But when they're combined, they stress the NAS device under test. The workload is derived from traces in Microsoft Office applications like Word, Excel and Power Point. This is a custom benchmark that took over two years to piece together.

The results are reported two ways. Above, we see the throughput results measured in Mb/s. Since every user in an office will work at a different pace, presenting the server with a unique workload, you can't really use this test to pinpoint the number of employees a NAS will comfortably support. You can, however, see if a system reaches its peak performance before another to make an educated purchasing decision.

The average latency chart holds more weight since it directly relates to user experience. For a majority of the test, Asustor's AS5108T outperforms its competition. At 88 users, the small 2GB memory module becomes overwhelmed and the latency quickly rises. 

Traditional Server Workloads

The AS5108T demonstrates great performance in our standard benchmark tests. The system's cache algorithm accelerates all of the workloads. It also delivers the type of Y over X charts that we see from large servers. As the workload intensifies, Asustor's AS5108T increases its IOPS to work through the load without an unreasonable latency increase. The hook portion of the graph where the IOPS stop rising is where latency starts to climb. You'll want to tune your workload ahead of that curve. Anything else will penalize you with increased response time. 

Conclusion

Asustor's AS5108T hits high marks in almost every category. It's available at a range of price points, depending on the seller you trust to buy from. We found the AS5108T for less than $800 and up to almost $1100. Assuming you're looking at the lower end of that scale, the system represents an excellent value compared to nearly every other eight-bay appliance. We'd especially like to see how it does against QNAP's TS-851; the two sport similar specifications and features.

QNAP and Asustor lead the market in software features. The former's products introduce a lot of enterprise-oriented capabilities to lower-cost hardware. The latter takes a more client-focused approach, implementing those features really well.

The ADM operating system is easy to work with and ties into the platform really well. Most NAS companies have moved over to the Web 2.0 look. But Asustor was the first. Most of the competition followed suit because the layout, drag-and-drop icon placement and overall experience make the OS more user-friendly.

Performance wise, Asustor's Linux-based Data Master operating system utilizes the hardware to its fullest potential. Even with just 2GB of RAM, the AS5108T keeps pace with appliances sporting more powerful SoCs. The limited system memory can become an issue once you start loading up lots of applications. Fortunately, there's always the option to add more through a second slot. That's an upgrade we'd highly recommend.

Update: Asustor released ADM 2.5 after we finished this review. We tested with version 2.4. One of the new features in version 2.5 is the inclusion of SMB 3.0.

MORE: All Storage Articles
MORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Specifications, Pricing, Warranty & Accessories

Most of Synology's products don't include a lot of fancy add-ons that distract you from what a NAS is actually for. The company's DS415+ is no exception. If you need a product to store data, this is a solid choice in the vast sea of competing four-bay products.

Synology has used the (admittedly classy-looking) DS415+ case design for many years now. Its feature set hasn't changed much either. Evolutionary steps from Synology are decidedly incremental in nature. Advances usually come from the internals, with heavy reliance on Intel to push new technology.

Over the past five years, we've seen other appliance manufacturers go off the deep end with new bells and whistles tacked on to their small and medium network-attached storage servers. And we sometimes find ourselves wondering what we are actually looking at: a NAS device, a media center or a desktop replacement?

Synology doesn't give us any issues there. When you buy one of its products, you're getting a storage appliance. With its laser-sharp focus, the company does networked storage really well.

Specifications

The DS415+ uses Intel's quad-core Rangeley design that was rolled into the Atom family of SoCs. Rangeley and its sister processor Avoton contain Silvermont cores. The duo is used in digital signage, light application servers, network products like routers and, as shown today, in an SMB NAS. With a maximum thermal design power (TDP) of just 15 watts, the 2.4GHz quad-core processor delivers a lot of performance in a very small power envelope.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Rangeley supports up to 64GB of system memory, but Synology loads the DS415+ up with just 2GB of DDR3 via a single SO-DIMM slot. Moreover, the company doesn't build in an easy-access trap door for upgrading the RAM. Should you decided to dig in to swap that module out, expect to void your warranty.

The DS415+ supports Synology Hybrid RAID along with RAID 0, 5, 6 10 and JBOD. There are four hot-swappable tool-free drive trays and an eSATA port on the back for expansion. On this specific model, you can't use eSATA to increase the capacity of the internally-configured volume, unfortunately. Most users with four drives available for an array use RAID 5. Synology's Hybrid RAID is also an option, allowing you to swap drives in a live environment to increase capacity. Just make sure the previous rebuild is finished before moving on to the next drive. Synology Hybrid RAID works like RAID 5 when single redundancy is selected. And you only get one option for the array's file system: EXT4.

Technically, SSD caching is supported to accelerate random read operations. It's unlikely that you'll use this feature, but it is possible to run three hard drives in RAID 5 with solid-state storage serving as cache. You can read Synology's SSD Cache white paper here. We don't test SSD cache performance on systems with fewer than seven drive bays, but we do look forward to reviewing one of Synology's larger platforms with SSD cache enabled in the future.

You also get access to two USB 3.0 ports on the back of the DS415+, along with a single USB 2.0 port on the front. There isn't a one-touch copy button on this model, but it is possible to back up data from USB-connected devices.

Network I/O comes from two gigabit Ethernet ports that can run independently or teamed with 802.11ad link aggregation. Synology includes support for other teaming technologies that don't require special network switches. With those options combined, users should see sequential file transfers greater than 200 MB/s.

Price, Warranty & Accessories

We found Synology's DS415+ at Newegg and Amazon for $578, and available from other e-tailers for more. The price is comparable to competing four-bay systems.

Synology's warranty covers NAS products for two years. As we've said before, we would like to see the industry transition to five years or more, as these systems generally stay in use for five to 10 years. The two-year coverage is standard across this segment though, so we can't fault Synology.

Synology includes an external power brick, a power cord, two Ethernet cords and a quick installation guide. The drive sleds are tool-free, but the system also comes with screws for mounting 2.5-inch drives.

Software

Features

DiskStation Manager is now up to version 5.2, and Synology continues making steady progress in its software package. Many NAS-oriented operating systems are as thorough as Windows. Many of Synology's features are designed in-house, and others are built for Linux, packaged with a Synology GUI and plugged into the DiskStation Manager software. You can read more about DiskStation Manager here and the mobile applications here.

Add-on packages include:

• Antivirus Essential
• Antivirus by McAfee (Trial)
• Audio Station
• Central Management Systems
• CloudStation
• Cloud Sync
• Directory Server
• DNS Server
• Download Station
• Glacier Backup
• HiDrive Backup
• iTunes Server
• Java Manager
• Mail Server
• Mail Station
• Media Server
• DLNA Certification
• Note Station
• Photo Station
• RADIUS Server
• Surveillance Station
• Time Backup
• Video Station
• VPN Server
• Docker Support

Interface

The next six images show just how easy it is to configure a Synology NAS appliance for its first use.

After seven pages, the DS415+ is online and ready to go. While it's true that most NAS appliances are easy to set up, Synology's process is the quickest, filling in the most details with the least amount of user interaction.

Logged in, you're hit with a desktop-like experience sporting a full color GUI and a help section to guide you through any advanced features you want to utilize.

On the top-left is a control center shortcut for advanced configuration options and other frequently-used features.

A less intimidating control panel is also available if you need to build user groups, add users or configure shared folders. 

If an update is available for the DiskStation Manager software, there's an option to have the system notify an administrator, who can download and install the update in just a few clicks.

Synology NAS appliances start with an IP address assigned by your router through DHCP. More than likely you'll want to assign a static address to the device, and the software makes this easy. Other configurable fields, such as DNS and your gateway, can be set in the same place.

There are options for indexing media files for DLNA distribution, but they increase the background scanning activities.

Permissions can be set either by feature or by folder. The system has an option that is turned on by default to enable memory compression—a feature Synology says improves the system's responsiveness. Indeed, the operating system seems snappy enough when moving through menus and pages. Since this platform only has 2GB of memory, we'd say the compression capability works well.

With an array in place, you're able to manipulate more of the storage options. Synology exposes both volumes and pools. The pools allow disks to sit under the volumes, and those disks can host more than one volume. For example, one drive might have part of a RAID 0 array on it, while also being part of a RAID 5 array.

SSD caching is now an option for many of Synology's products. A wizard will walk you through the SSD cache configuration process, offering helpful tips on which settings to use.

In the past, Synology's add-on packages weren't up to the same standards as some of its competition. Recently, though, the company caught up and now offers many great options that move NAS beyond storage and into the application server space.

A Closer Look

The Synology DS415+ ships in a retail-friendly package, though our sample arrived in a simpler brown box with DiskStation branding. Our review unit predated broad availability, so we can only assume that Synology didn't have its packaging ready yet. 

Synology's four-bay enclosure has been around for many years and is used for several products. The design is good, but it's showing its age. The front cover forces air to change direction, reducing the noise caused by air passing through the system. It pops off easily and is held in place by friction with four rubber grommets.

Aside from the piano-black plastic cover, the rest of the system is a matte black finish. It's an interesting texture, but not one that can be wiped down easily with a paper towel (small fibers get trapped in the surface). On top of that, the mirror-like cover attracts loose fibers through static electricity.

A series of LEDs along the top-right edge of the DS415+ show system status and disk activity. Just below, on the lower-right corner, there's a power button and LED status light. A USB 2.0 port is also in this area, hinting at the chassis' age. Portable storage backups would happen much faster with USB 3.0 connectivity, and a one-touch copy button would certainly add useful functionality.

The Synology logo doubles as a cooling vent on the side of the system. Most of the air passes over the drive bays, though.

Two cooling fans on the back of the system keep installed storage from overheating. Overall, the system is very quiet thanks to a controller that automatically adjusts the fan's rotation speed. Hotter-running drives will naturally make the fans spin faster, but armed with our Seagate 4TB NAS disks, they were inaudible from a few feet away.

Two fans give users redundancy if one fails. Low cost parts like fans that run constantly can fail at a higher rate than other components.

Most of the I/O comes from the rear panel. Two gigabit Ethernet ports facilitate network connectivity, while USB 3.0 and eSATA allow for expansion. A Kensington lock cutout makes it possible to secure the enclosure with a cable.

The drive trays are tool-free when paired with 3.5-inch disks. You can also use 2.5-inch drives that attach, through holes at the bottom, to the trays. Synology wisely includes screws for the 2.5-inch drives in its accessory pack.

4-Corner Testing

Sequential Performance

Before we jump into the real-world workloads, we'll run a handful of synthetic tests. This helps us understand each product's strengths and the areas where performance could be improved.

All of the appliances we're testing were armed with 4TB Seagate NAS hard disks. As a rule, we use RAID 5 array on all systems with six or fewer drive bays. Larger platforms are tested in RAID 6. And some workload servers are tested in RAID 10 for Tom's IT Pro.

In all but one test, we use a single gigabit Ethernet port from the device being tested to a Netgear S3300-52X 100/1000/10,000 switch. We use a Quanta MESOS CB220 server on the other end to administer the workloads. The MESOS CB220 connects to the network via 10 gigabit Ethernet.

In this section, we read and write sequential data using a few different techniques for recording performance. First, we look at I/O at a queue depth of one while scaling up the block size. This is similar to the way ATTO works, but our version lets us drop to a queue depth of one, while ATTO's minimum is four.

In the next series of tests, we measure sequential reads and writes at two block sizes—128KB and 1MB—while increasing the queue depth from one to 256.

Synology's DS415+ ran flawlessly through both suites. The Asustor AS7004T with a Core i3 processor performed slightly better in a few measurements, but we'd expect that given its higher-end CPU. The AS7004T also boasts four times as much DRAM.

The mixed workload tests deserve special attention. Here, we test with two different block sizes and start with 100 percent reads. In 10 percent increments, we add writes to the mix until we finish with 100 percent sequential writes. As you can see, the systems perform well at the 100 percent extremes. The area in the middle with mixed reads and writes creates a bathtub curve where throughput drops. Our goal is to identify the appliance with the lowest fall-out as it reads and writes data.

The second chart takes a snapshot of the 70/30 mix. This workload is widely considered to be optimal for measuring workstation performance.

All of the systems fare about the same in these tests, but the two based on Marvell SoCs demonstrate the shallowest bathtub curve as the mix equalized at 50 percent.

Random Performance

Next, we run the same tests, this time using random data and smaller block sizes. Random performance is often de-emphasized in the NAS world. After all, most file transfers are sequential. But if you use your NAS to run applications from a host PC, you will want a system that can handle random transfers fairly adeptly.

We're using 4KB and 8KB measurements; 4KB is often associated with Windows environments and 8KB is VMware's magic number.

The DS415+'s random reads scale well as queue depth increases. We didn't see a large increase from a queue depth of one to two, but between four and eight there was a large boost to IOPS.

The random data sweeps show a different profile from our sequential results. Still, all of the charted systems perform similarly in these tests.

SMB, iSCSI & Standard Server Workloads

SMB/CIFS Workloads

The real-world NAS workload tests over SMB agree with our synthetic benchmark results. Synology's DS415+ delivers respectable performance. In a few metrics, it even outperforms the Asustor AS7004T, which costs nearly twice as much.

The DS415+ is also really well-balanced, with only a slight deviation between its read and write numbers.

iSCSI Desktop Workloads

Microsoft introduced iSCSI support in Windows 2000, but the feature didn't take off in home or small office environments until small SSDs became affordable. Desktop enthusiasts can use the technology to run Windows and a handful of applications from local storage, and then install less critical apps to the NAS. iSCSI gives the host PC a drive letter for a volume of storage on the networked appliance.

In the office, system administrators can use iSCSI to centralize data. Keeping all of the important files locked away ensures the right users get the information appropriate to them.

With all of our time-based results calculated and converted to throughput, we see where the systems land. Synology's DS415+ falls right in the middle, and doesn't trail QNAP's TS-453mini by much at all.

Multi-Client Testing

The multi-client test moves us away from the Quanta CiB setup and over to 10 dual-Xeon servers loaded with a pair of Hotlava Shasta NICs, each of which supplies 12 gigabit Ethernet ports per server. Through the magic of Hyper-V, each server mimics 12 office-class desktops that run workload scripts with real Microsoft Office software applications on the device being tested.

Synology's DS415+ makes it through our multi-client test in good shape. Its throughput drops off at 96 clients, and the latency chart shows us why: that's where the system becomes overwhelmed. 

Traditional Server Workloads

The IOPS scaling we saw in our synthetic tests at increasing queue depths carries over to traditional server workloads. The quad-core Rangeley-based Atom in the DS415+ is older than the Celeron J1900 in QNAP's TS-453mini. But we think the IOPS it adds are worth paying a little more for. Intel's ARK tells us that the Atom costs an extra $20 and consumes five more watts. But if you want to use your system for serious workloads, you know which processor to pick.

Conclusion

Synology sells a lot of NAS appliances, but over the years, I've never really been impressed with the company's products. Does that change with the DS415+? Yes and no.

The DS415+ chassis is like the old Chieftec case that everyone bought in 1998 but you could find new in 2008. It's still effective; however, newer models from other manufacturers are more compact and only require one large fan, compared to the DS415+'s two smaller fans. The NAS also puts a USB 2.0 port up front, right where we'd like to have USB 3.0 connectivity accompanied by a one-touch copy button for backing up data from external storage devices.

Aside from the portable storage backup, none of this really matters to someone just looking to add storage to a LAN or access an Internet-attached repository. For most of us, that's enough. All of the HDMI, 7.1-channel sound and home automation gizmos are extras that look nice on a specification sheet, but are often impractical and go unused.

DiskStation Manager, Synology's GUI, is now up to version 5.2. And the company is starting to get more competitive by adding software-based features to its storage platforms. Docker, the latest craze in virtual technology, was brought up by Synology and QNAP right around the same time. The rest of the NAS appliance makers are still trying to catch up. Synology also released SSD caching early on. Clearly, value-added capabilities are showing up in DiskStation Manager much sooner now than in the past.

The DS415+ ships with only 2GB of DDR3 RAM, but the compression engine allows the DiskStation Manager to remain snappy. Even with compression, the small system memory size will prevent you from loading this system with a lot of applications.

This model is all about storage, and it's very good at that primary task. Our test results tell the story there. We didn't find any weak spots from the optimizations Synology has in place. In fact, the system is so well-tuned that it competes with Asustor's AS7004T, which costs nearly twice as much.

MORE: All Storage ArticlesMORE: Latest Storage News
MORE: Storage in the Forums

Asustor has announced the integration of its Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices with USB digital-to-analog audio converter (DAC) models from Asus to give you a greater listening experience.  Previously, users could plug headphones or speakers directly into their NAS device for multimedia purposes.  Now, connecting a compatible USB DAC device to their NAS helps speakers and headphones reach their full potential and allow users to enjoy an increased musical experience.  Teaming with Asustor’s own SoundsGood music player app, connecting a USB DAC device effectively brings out stronger bass and other musical enhancements. 

 “Asustor has made great efforts to support the increasing multimedia demands of NAS users by providing compatibility for a wide range of peripherals. With this integration of USB DAC devices, Asustor users will be able to savor a fully enhanced hi-fi listening experience when playing music from their NAS,” said Steve Huang, Product Manager at Asustor.

With users always looking to enhance their multimedia experience, this new feature is available on all Asustor NAS models.  The compatible ASUS USB DAC models include theXonar Essence III, XonarEssence One, XonarEssence STU, and Xonar U3. 

Following on from the announcement of the Atom CE5300 series earlier this month, Asustor has announced that its latest generation of 3-series NAS devices will be powered by a 1.2 GHz Atom CE5315 SoC. The company's 3-series units will all include extensive firmware options, Gigabit LAN, HDMI ouput and will be available in both a 2-bay and 4-bay version.

Asustor's 3-series is expected to arrive on store shelves in June 2013 and will have a lower cost than the comparatively better equipped 6-series devices.

_{Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback}