Asustor AS6202T NAS Review

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Final Words & Conclusion

Final Words & Conclusion

Asustor NAS servers are intricate pieces of hardware combined with the right amount of software. If anything all reviews on their products have shown that. For the normal consumer we doubt you would need such a powerful solution. Then if you have some security camera's connected to your network, this units can functions as security suite. Also if you download heaps and heaps of use-net or torrent content, hey... this unit offers fast downloads/uploads and has the processor and memory to deal with it easily. If you like to host a simply web application or run your own web-server, again the AS6202T can do it all. Realistically though you can do it also with the much cheaper AS1 series as the simple fact remains that the ADM software is incredible efficient and can do massive things with just 2 cores and 512 MB or memory as well, but yes, if you like the little extra performance and features then every euro or dollar spent on the AS6202T is well invested. Obviously we tested the 2-bay model, if you like to build a little more raid redundancy, there are 2, 4, 8 and even 10 bay versions available as well. It almost seems a little bias as every review that we pump out is so positive, it is for good a reason though, I really find Asustor in the year 2017 to offer an incredibly good and well balanced product series with proper quality control, good hardware and an excellent software solution. In the end it is exactly that symbiosis that offers a tier 1 based NAS series. So all the way from a budget for enterprise downwards to the 200 USD/EURO level these products simply offer value and performance. In security related matters and software compatibility I can say this, we see regular firmware updates from Asustor (I have been running a unit for my office and another one for personal usage as media-file server). 

Pricing

Priced at €389,- the AS6202T for a consumer might feel steep for a two-bay unit. But it still is a price competitive unit, especially for the small business owner and heavy consumer. Basically the AS6202T is an energy friendly server offering a wide range of features including file-sharing, usenet download, web applications, download systems, security center and so on. Combined with a quad-core processor that offers plenty power and 4 GB of memory with the option to upgrade to 8 GB this NAS is very comfortable for you centralized storage needs. The AS6202T is silent and for a quad-core unit relatively energy friendly as well. Combined with the extensive ADM software suite that now sits at revision 2.7.x this NAS simply ticks all the right boxes as we haven't even talked about the amazing software suite that is available to you.

Overall Usage

The AS6202T is configurable and flexible in terms of HDDs capability. We tested the 2-tray version, obviously we can only select RAID 0, 1 or JBOD functionality. Performance wise with current gen HDDs you will not need RAID as you simply cannot pass the 125 MB/sec marker Gigabit over Ethernet on a single link) anyway. If you can get it working (and trust me it is hard) with activated link aggregation (pairing) your performance will go up. But for the regular consumer link aggregation is simply not viable. For SOHO environments it however can recommended, but even then you'll by tied to expensive solutions as capable compatible switches let alone getting your PC compatible.

We have high hopes that 5 and 10 GigE will go mainstream later this year as even HDDs these days are much faster and are bottleneck by Gigabit connections. But hey, with this unit on one Gigabit jack you'll still hover close to 125 MB/sec on read and write performance, you cannot complain there. If you decide to go for an Asustor NAS unit please check the HDD compatibility list and purchase your HDDs based upon their tested and recommended HDDs. In a past review I used Seagate Archive 8 TB HDDs, and these did not run very well. So, please make sure you select your HDDs wisely.

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Performance

We reached excellent transfer speeds over a single full duplex Gigabit Ethernet connection. Ethernet will always bring in some performance and lag issues over a network connection I must admit that I liked what I saw, it's plenty fast for all your activities. With large files and a fast enough HDD over a Gigabit connection you will reach 110~120 MB/sec on read and writes. So for this type of Ethernet connection, really it can hardly go any faster. In a SOHO environment with 2-way link aggregations and proper equipment you can multiply that number by roughly 1.8x, but I do admit it is a feature mostly used in business solutions. The performance is lovely when you take the processor into account, the quad-core low power Celeron combined with 4 GB memory. The AS6202T simply did not run into any performance issues and is has plenty stamina thanks to very clever memory management. The GUI and ADM OS we feel is responsive and very fast. The usage of this processor also makes your applications fast enough, anything Apache and MySQL/MariaDB related for home usage will function fine as well as it serves all your download needs. We reached 30 MB/sec downloads on torrents and NZB files, that last one even over a proper SSL connection.

Flexibility

Here we land at the rest of the features and functions. You'll have your FTP server, you can upload images and music, make slide-shows out of it and show it on the web server of the device or watch photos and videos with the help of a software suite on your smartphone. You can stream DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) and this NAS can be automatically discovered by Digital Media Players (DMP), Digital Media Renders (DMR) and Digital Media Controllers (DMC) allowing Pictures, Music and Video to be shared instantly at any time at home. All DLNA Certified Devices are capable of streaming content instantly from this NAS. The NAS can act as an iTunes server, with your mobile or say Apple iPod Touch you can stream music over Wifi. You can share files over the internet if you wanted to, and the list goes on and on. Keep in mind though that everything on this box is targeted at consumers and small business users (SOHO). Though you can access the WEB directory and make your own website, control and configuration over say the MySQL server we do warn you to take security measures. Make sure you secure your public files with proper Unix/Linux permissions. Thus at least a CHMOD 755 on directories and preferable 644 on files. You can login to the box through SSH. The application list you can use on this machine is ginormous. Who even thinks of making a torrent download server inside the NAS box? You insert a .torrent file in the software option and all of the sudden the NAS is downloading content from the internet. It's nearly crazy to witness, how nice is that.

Energy Efficiency

In a single SSD/HDD setup the NAS in it's entirety consumes roughly 20 Watts, which is great bit a tiny bit high for just one HDD. Well, that's the result of choosing a quad-core processor, it will consume a tiny bit more energy. Once we setup one SSD for fast application performance and then another HDD we idle at the 25 Watt range, and when the HDDs go to sleep we end up at that 20 Watts range again. I am very comfortable with that. If your HDDs are not used for say 30 minutes (or your own configured sleep time), it'll go into sleep mode and thus does not use any extravagant power. The unit also offer hibernation mode, the unit will go to sleep and consume less then a watt when sleeping, waking it up again however involves pressing a button or use a smart-phone app an activate it by WOL. ASUSTOR offers very energy efficient NAS units, which is an important thing considering they run 365 days a year 24 hours a day. If I do some really rough math here, let's say we consume 15 watts averaged out. ((0.015 Watt x 24 hrs) x 365 days) x 0.21 KWh/eur =  26 Euros cost per year.

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Final Words & Verdict

You just can't go wrong with an Asustor NAS. Their products are refined, well-balanced, powerful and energy efficient. For you as a consumer or small business owner it's just a matter of making choices: e.g. how much trays do I need and do I need a very powerful solution? In that last category you'll spot this AS620 range, these really are flagship units that simply will not disappoint. All that processor performance and scalable memory however does come at an increased price. We feel it is money well invested, Asustor is going to back that hardware with 3 years warranty. Also you may expect regular ADM software updates keeping your running software up-to-date and secure. We do have to admit that the unit as tested today might be a little much for the average user and consumer. While power consumption is really good for what it is, it might be a little high for consumers, for you we can strongly recommend the dual-core models. Surely the AS6202T range is targeted a bit better at a SOHO environment. But here again I will make a side-note: right now each household might have 3 or 4 PCs all with their own storage units. Laptops, Tablets, Smart-phones, Smart TVs and media boxes stream series and movies, and so on have grown into the living room. When you think about it, doesn't it make a lot of sense to have a bit more powerful centralized server in your house-hold? NAS units like these will easily last you 5 to 10 years, so in the grand scope of pricing it might just be a very relevant purchase. Remarks then, well I do not really have them other then two observations. For a flasgship NAS unit I would have liked to see some sort of power failure UPS functionality. And yeah, an optional 5 or 10 Gbit Ethernet jack would have been nice as in the not too long future we all will make that move. Other then that the unit is future proof, even with the nice upgradable memory configuration. Building a media center, this AS6202T also comes with a HDMI 1.4b output that you can use. Install Kodi (available app) and your NAS will be able to playback Full HD content, even Ultra HD and HD audio streams. Though we doubt you'd be placing a NAS unit next to your TV, we do feel it can make sense. Also all new TVs have excellent Smart TV functionality and thus you access content from your NAS that way. But it's certainly a nice feature to have and yes, it did work well with KODI. The €389,- / USD  price-tag feels a little steep, then again for this class of build and it being a flagship product it would be a fair amount of money to pay.

Combined with the latest ADM 2.7.x software suite and applications this relatively low power unit will be a terrific choice for a truly proper home server. File-sharing, Usenet, file-server, streaming you name it this AS6202T simply offers it all.  The AS6202T a top of the line product with RAM upgradability. We recommended it highly if you need this much raw performance in a NAS. The NAS is covered with a three year warranty and deserves our storage sweetness award.

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