QNap’s TurboNAS TS-219P II is a two-bay NAS enclosure that
looks innocuous and business-like thanks to its black plastic exterior. Hard
disks are installed in two removable caddies at the front, and although the
trays feel a little cheap, everything slots into place comfortably. There's
also a USB port on the front, as well as two more and two eSATA ports on the
back. Unlike many current NAS devices in the same price range, the TS-219P II
lacks USB3 support.
QNAP TS-219P II turbo NAS
The installation disc includes the QNap Finder utility,
which searches your network for a QNap NAS device and then guides you through
the process of configuring it. The configuration screens are actually in the
device’s web interface. We were first prompted to initialise our blank hard
disks and then install firmware from the installation disc. Updated versions
are also available online.
During firmware installation, you're prompted to name the
NAS server, set an admin password, set the time and enable the services you
want it to run, such as its FTP server, UPnP and ¡Tunes media servers, shared
folders, web and SQL server and more. Finally, you must set up its disk
configuration, choosing between Raid 1, Raid 0 and JBOD, as well as choosing
between Ext3 and Ext4 file systems. The process is clear, simple and easy to
follow.
The NAS device can
also run a number of applications that let it act as an iTunes or UPnP media
server, web-facing storage, BitTorrent client and a monitoring centre for IP cameras
The web interface is well designed, with the main options
and settings sorted into a tree structure in a pane to the left of the browser
window. Parent folders include categories such as desk management, where you
can format and set up your disks' Raid configuration, Access Rights Management,
where you can create users, give them quotas and set access privileges, and
Network Services, with options for enabling the NAS device's web and FTP
servers, plus SSH or Telnet access and file-sharing options.
The NAS device can also run a number of applications that
let it act as an iTunes or UPnP media server, web-facing storage, BitTorrent
client and a monitoring centre for IP cameras. You can add further features
with downloadable QPKG packages, which include applications as varied as
WordPress blog hosting and an NZB download client for downloading content from
Usenet.
The TS-219P is
very reasonably priced at $344, and its wealth of features and great interface
make it a best buy.
The TS-219P M’s plentiful supply of USB and eSATA ports can
connect external storage devices that you can share across your network or use
to back up data stored on the NAS device. You can also use the USB ports to
share a printer on your network. There are even backup features and options for
turning the device into your own web-accessible personal cloud storage with
help from QNap's MyCloudNAS service.
The TS-219P II Turbo NAS performed brilliantly in our tests,
with Raid 0 average transfer speeds of 15.5MB/S for small files and 58.3MB/S
for large files. Its Raid 1 speeds were also swift at 12.4MB/s for small files
and 38.9MB/s for large files. The TS-219P is very reasonably priced at $344,
and its wealth of features and great interface make it a best buy.
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Info
Price: $345
Details: www.qnap.com
Summary
Verdict: We loved this NAS enclosure's fast transfer
speeds, reasonable price and excellent user interface
Network storage enclosure: 10/100/1000Mbit/s network
connection, 3 USB ports, UPnP media, iTunes, print, USB disk, web, FTP
servers
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