We would like to introduce you a
multi-functional 4-bay NAS, designed for home use and small business from Asustor.
It is a cost-efficient, full featured network storage solution, which not only
protects your data but also offers a diversity of apps to enhance productivity.
A new brand emerged in the network storage
market at the end of 2012. It is ASUSTOR and it launched its products based on
the x86-platform. Such NAS devices are known for their capability of delivering
high performance, and of course at a high price too, so ASUSTOR plans to
compete with famous brands such as QNAP, Synology and Netgear in the top-end
market segment. Beside hardware, software is also important for this purpose as
the software components account for the larger share of a top-end NAS’s price.
It is not easy to find a good position in such a highly competitive market, but
ASUSTOR has one advantage is its relationship with AUSTeK Computer, a leader of
the IT industry. We will also see that the product design and some software
features aren’t really original and may be familiar to users of other NAS
devices.
ASUSTOR launched 4 models for hard disk
drives: 2, 4, 6 and 8. We will check out the 4-disk AS-604T model which is
targeted at professional users and SMBs.
The
Asustor AS-604T NAS device
Package and Accessories
The NAS device is contained in a plain
cardboard box with a sticker shows you the image of the product, its name,
specs and accessories. The device is quite heavy (3.5kg), so the box has a
carry handle. The NAS device is secured during transportation with the species
of foam rubber.
Asustor
AS-604T’s plain cardboard box
The accessories are standard enough for
this product line: a power cord (its plug depends on the particular region),
two Ethernet cables, HDD screws and a CD with electronic documentation and
softwares (Control Center, Backup Plan, Download Assistant). The names of the
software tools are self-explanatory. The first and third are available for
Windows and Mac OS whereas Backup Plan is only compatible with Microsoft’s OSes.
Asustor’s
accessories
Thus, we haven’t encountered anything
abnormal so far. All NAS’s accessories are available on the market.
Exterior design and hardware configuration
Its exterior design is similar to the
latest products of QNAP. Asustor AS-604T even has the same dimensions of
17x23x18 cm. The front panel is made of dark matte plastic. On the top, we can
see a 2-line dot matrix display with 4 control buttons. However, these 2 lines
of dot are not enough for the display to be really easy to use. In the bottom,
there are 4 HDD bays that lack any locks. These 4 HDD bays are installed above
a frame made of metal and plastic. Each bay has two LED indicators. On the left
and below the manufacturer’s logo, there’s a Power button, some indicators
(power, status, LAN, copying), a USB 3.0 port and a Quick Copy button. You can
adjust the brightness of the LED or even turn them off altogether.
Asustor’s
front side
The bronze-colored top panel is made of
aluminum. In the back, you can see a large grid of the NAS’s 120mm cooling fan.
The PSU’s vent grid and mains connector are above it. The PSU also has a
cooling fan, but it hides inside to reduce noise. NAS’s I/O connectors are
placed among the right edge of the back panel: a second USB 3.0 port, 2 eSATA
connectors, 4 USB 2.0 ports, 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports with indicators and an
HDMI input. The hidden Reset button (you can disable it) and a Kensington slot
can also be found here. The NAS device stands on 4 feet with rubber soles.
Asustor’s
back side
AS-604T’s exterior design is similar to
other devices in this class. The PCB mainboard, disk bays, power supply, fans
and front panel are all secured in a steel chassis. The product’s quality is
impeccable. The hardware platform is based on the Intel Atom 2007 processor
which has clock speed at 2.13 GHz, consist of 2 cores and can execute 4
instruction threads at the same time. The processor accompanied by an Intel
ICH10R chipset whose SATA and USB 2.0 controllers are used to support the NAS’s
external ports. The disk bays are connected via SATA 6 Gbit/s Marvell 88SE9125
chips when USB 3.0 is implemented via NEC D720200. The Ethernet interface is
based on Broadcom’s BCM57781 controller. There are two SO-DIMM slots for the
system memory but only one of them is used for 1 GB DDR3 module. You can
enlarge the amount of memory by installing the second module. However,
replacing the first one will affect the warranty term. The 1 GB flash disk you
put on the PCB saves a boot loader and firmware. The OS is installed on a 2GB
partition on the HDD.
Asustor
AS-604T without case
The integrated PSU from FSP is rated for
250 watts. Its 40mm fan is hidden inside the NAS’s chassis and doesn’t produce
much noise. The rear 120mm fan doesn’t responsible for ventilation. Using a
3-pin connection, it supports automatic and manual speed regulation. The
hardware components lack any fan and only have a couple of heatsinks. The main
fan never accelerates to high speeds so the NAS is overall average in terms of
noisiness, which means that you will hardly want to keep it on your desk.
Asustor
AS-604T without case in the back side
Thus, Asustor AS-604T is a typical
x86-based NAS platform enhanced with external controllers. The SATA 6 Gbit/s
looks more like a formality but USB 3.0 may come in handy for expanding the
storage capacity.
Settings configuration
After installing new HDDs, you can boot
this NAS device in many different ways by using its display and buttons, its
web interface or Control Center utility. In the first case, you will not able
to change any settings because this is an automatic process. The other two
methods allow you to specify such parameters as network name, password, system
time, network addresses and disk volume type. You can optionally create an
account at the Asustor website which is needed to install additional software modules.
Firmware
1.0.8 R2K3 version
The AS-604T can check out software updates
via Internet connection and then report to the user. If the user accepts, NAS
device proceeds to download and install that new update. We used firmware
version 1.0.8.R2K3 for our tests.
The web interface is available with many
languages and can use HTTP (you can change the number of port and install your
own certificate). It has an integrated help system with search capability. You
can lock it automatically after a specified period of time. Its interface is
original but resembles other NAS devices in certain points. The main window
offers 11 icons by default. You can open several windows at the same time,
switch between them, minimize them into the status bar but cannot resize them.
The user interface’s background and text color are customizable.
NAS’s
interface
Ordinary users can access the web interface
as well but will only see what the administrator allows them, for example the
file manager.
