Synology
DS212+
Ratings:
5/5
Price:
$411.99
Website:
www.btshop.bt.com
Synology DS212+
The 2-bay
DS212+ comes with plastic cover but still owns a solid feeling. Two disk trays
come out in the enclosure’s front from the rails. They have washers having
ability of absorbing sound to helps reduce vibration and necessary long screws.
Finally, a front panel with rubber buttons reduces more and more tremors.
Setting up
the NAS device is pretty easy but you will have to read and follow quick start
in the accompanied CD, which shows you how to install hard disks into DS212+
and where to find DiskStation Manager (DSM). DSM is
an operating system that you have to install before being able to use DS212+.
The CD contains program for Windows, Mac anf
Linux.
Once the Synology Assistant finishes setting up the NAS device, you
can enter it via web browsers, where you can create a shared folder that can be
mapped like Windows shared folder. Client’s account is disabled at default so
you have to activate it if you want any device in your network to enter the
folder with no password required. Like all NAS devices, you can create
different folders and give users different levels of access.
Synlogy’s
devices are really outstanding due to the screen’s quality. When opening the
web interface of DS212+, you have 1 window-type GUI, so many tips helping you
to find shortcuts for needed features easily and you virtual features that you
may imagine. You can connect and share more storage via two USB3 ports, one USB
port, one eSATA port and one SDXC card slot. These
USB ports are used to connect printer, too. An intelligently designed package
manager helps you to easily install supplementary features such as the software
package that monitors IP camera or LDAP server, while backup manager enables
you back up the device’s contents to many offline or online locations. Beside Synology’s official packages, a community developing
project offers other application, from different proxies to different file
managers.
As expected,
DS212+ did well in tests of transfer speed. Configured as RAID 1, it achieved
an averaging speed of 42.5MB/s for big files and 12.6MB/s for small files. It
has a reasonably $411.86 price, owns a solid design and wonderful interface,
wins our 5 star rating. However, we prefer QNap’s
Turbo NAS TS-219P II, which is competitively easy-to-use but appears faster in
our tests.
Summary
Consideration: This is a smart enclosure with an
outstanding interface and numerous features but not the fastest in this range
of price.
NAS
enclosure:
10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet connection, 3 USB ports, UPnP and iTunes media
servers, print server, USB, web, FTP
Thecus
N4800
Ratings:
5/5
Price:
$733.5
Website:
www.span.com
Thecus N4800
This 4-bay
NAS device bears more resemblance to PC than most enclosures on the market
because of its processor (third generation Intel Atom, 2.13GHz) and 2 GB RAM.
It is
accompanied by Acronis True Image and Twonky media servers, as well as its own installer, which
makes N4800 easy to be found on your network. Once it’s detected, you can
configure it via the web interface or continue with the wizard, allowing you to
specify network address and the device’s password. Unlike most configuration
wizard, it doesn’t guide you through the processes of either formatting disks
or creating disks.
You will
have to that in the browser’s interface, which is one of the best today’s
interfaces. After logging in administration page, you would choose RAID
management icon. From here, you can create a RAID or JBOD drives by using many
drives. You can also create one or more drive as backups in RAID 0 and RAID 1
modes. When making RAID drives, you may create a new folder or combine with
several existing ones as a network shared folder. You’d rather do this with
separate tools of Windows than the installation disc.
As you
expected from a single unit at this price, N4800 has more features than most of
the other NAS devices. It owns a solid metal case, and disks inside separate
caddies which is easily opened. Helpful lights on the front panel inform the
operation as well as statuses of disks in each caddy. There’s also a mono LCD
status display letting you carry out some basic features, for example, running
USB copies.
N4800 comes
with many types of ports. The front panel has 2 USB3 ports and the back one has
2 USB ports, 1 eSATA ports, 2 Ethernet ports plus VGA
and HDMI outlets. This means you can connect keyboards, mouse and screens to
control N4800 directly. You can even uses it to watch videos or browse webs
though it lack a necessarily wide range of supported formats to become a
full-time alternative to the traditionally PC center other media streamer.
N4800 also comes with batteries to protect it from local power cut.
N4800 has
one of the best interfaces we’ve ever seen on a NAS device. When logging in as
an administrator, you’ll be shown with shortcuts for main features, including
RAID management, file sharing, many status monitoring tools and optional
configurations for iTunes and FTP servers. You can enter more options by a
tab-type navigational window. They consist of settings making detailed
schedules to turn on/off N4800, routing functions for WAN and LAN connections
and ability of configuring iSCSI as well as backup
targets.
You may
install more applications, including 1 control interface and IP camera control.
However N4800 has fewer applications than other opponents like Synology’s DS212+. Nonetheless, it’s very fast and it
reached an average transfer speed of 93MB/s in RAID 0 and 76.1MB/s throughout
the test for big files. The result with small files was faster than most,
giving an average speed of 17.6MB/s in RAID 0 and 15.3MB/s in RAID 1.
This is a
fast, powerful and versatile NAS device, and we like its ability of connecting
screen and keyboard. Clearly, the $733.58 price puts it the realm of business
users and media dedicated ones but it’s worth the money and wins our Ultimate
award deservedly.
Summary
Consideration: Pricey as it is, the device is
perfect for business users. It can even connect screen, keyboard and mouse
directly.
NAS
enclosure:
10/100/1000Mbit/s Ethernet connection, 4 USB ports, UPnP and iTunes media
servers, print server, USB, web, FTP.
