NAS Explained

Network Attached Storage

Times have changed and our storage requirements have moved from Kilobytes, to Megabytes, to Gigabytes and now even Terabytes of storage. And sure, it won't be long until we reach Petabytes either. Oh and after that there's Exabytes and then Zettabytes.

So we've already passed the Terabyte marker. With our hefty demand in storage capabilities, the industry has had to constantly adapt and introduce new features in hardware. Storage units have gotten much bigger in volume over the last year, 6 TB HDDs have just been introduced into the market with 10TB already in the pipeline. In that line of storage solutions there is one product series growing fast and now reaching SOHO and consumer based markets. They are called NAS units, Network Attached Storage. And there has been a lot of development in these nifty little boxes. They are pretty much little servers that you can hook onto your network which then function as file-servers.

The NAS units are often small, do not use a lot of power compared to say your PC, but they are highly configurable and offer redundancy as some models can even handle RAID internally. Network Attached Storage units are among the most advanced home servers available on the market today. Products feature multiple HDD setups, partitions, RAID, USER and USERGROUP based access, FTP, web server, MySQL, hot swappable drives; these are just some of the features that a NAS unit can handle. And though expensive, a product like this is just too darn handy when it comes to file-storage and management over your network. 

The Thecus N4810 in a nutshell

The Thecus N4810 can house up to four hard drives or SSDs. The unit is tied to two Gigabit Ethernet jacks, meaning 1000 / 8 minus QOS and random overhead like error-correction is roughly a maximum of 100 to 125 MB/sec on a single link, this unit does allow pairing with the second Ethernet jack for link aggregation. As such the N4810 could also manage, say, 200 MB/s read and write speeds with active usage of 2 Gigabit LAN ports. Your home or office infrastructure will need to support that though, and the reality is that it is a hard thing to set up for the novice end-user. The 4810 supports seven modes of link aggregation and System Failover creating data, network, and system redundancy.

The HDDs can be set up in a RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD array with hot-swap supported (change a HDD when powered on). Once you have installed your HDDs, you'll need to bind the NAS to your Ethernet with a CAT5e/6e cable to a switch; the NAS offers more connectors though, you may also make use of USB 3.0 and also HDMI, DisplayPort and line out audio. When you have your HDDs installed and the device connected through your PC, you'll need to start up a software suite to bind and set up your configuration. Please look at the install CD for that (Thecus Setup Wizard). Or if you have a smartphone, simply use a smartphone app like FING and scan the network, the Thecus will show up with a corresponding fixed IP, likely 192.168.1.100. Type the IP into your browser and you can start setting up the unit. If you are using another subnet, you'll have to use the Thecus Setup Wizard though. An interesting fact I want to mention is that you are not tied to EXT4 file-systems solely, you can opt for EXT3/EXT4/XFS and even Btrfs (but at the cost of performance).

The Thecus N4810 is based upon a N3160 quad-core CPU, the Celeron is a 1.6 GHz processor that can turbo upwards to 2.24 GHz. Factory installed this unit comes with a 4GB SO-DIMM DDR3L memory module, but you may expand to a maximum of 2x4GB or 8GB (single channel) (one DIMM slot). The Thecus N4810 features two Gigabit Ethernet ports to support fail-over and dual-IP setups. Very interesting to see is that at the backside you will also spot an HDMI and DisplayPort connector for media playback, missing however is a S/PDIF connector. But yes, the unit can function as a worthy HTPC as well if combined with software like Kodi (available from the NAS App center). You can play back videos from your NAS directly to your HDTV and/or audio system. This functionality is controlled via the web interface, or alternatively a smartphone app, or you can simply attach a keyboard and mouse to the unit's USB ports, that actually works. You will notice plenty of USB 3.0 connectors; USB 3.0 host port (Front x1, Back x2) (A Type) and even a USB 3.0 host port (Back x1) (C Type).

Item	Spec
Processor	Intel Celeron N3160 1.6GHz burst up to 2.24GHz Quad Core
System Memory	4GB DDR3
Memory expandable up to	4 or 8GB
LAN Interface	RJ-45x2: 10/100/1000 BASE-TX Auto MDI/MDI-X WOL supported
USB Interface	USB 3.0 host port (Front x1,Back x2) (A Type) USB 3.0 host port (Back x1) (C Type)
LED Indicator	Power LED: Blue WAN/LAN1 LED: Yellow LAN LED: Yellow USB LED: Activity/Failure: Blue/Red
Display Output	HDMI port (back x1) / DP port (back x1)
Disk Interface	4 x SATA internal
Power Supply	90W extend power adapter
Thermal/Fan control	Thermal sensor on processor temperature System FAN speed controlled by temperature
System Clock	Battery-backed up system clock
Power Management	Auto power on after shutdown due to power loss
Buttons	Power button
Buzzer	Adjustable frequency alarm
Environment	Temperature: 0°C to 40°C (Operation) -40°C to 70°C (Non-operation) Humidity: 0 ~ 80 % R.H. (Non-condensing)
Chassis	4bays Tower Metal Chassis
Dimensions (HxWxD)	192 x 172 x 250 (mm) / 7.56 x 6.77 x 9.84 (in)
Certificates	CE/FCC/C-Tick/VCCI/BSMI RoHS WEEE

Operating system compatibility wise the Thecus N4810 supports file sharing across Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms. We will be testing on two boxes with Windows 10. Also, for the more advanced among you, Windows AD (Active Directory) is supported to help create an easy-to-access environment. SSH login and web page SSL login enables users to transfer, store, and share data securely. Since this product acts as a server, ALL PCs within your network can connect to it, with or without access rights. You can manage it from any client as you simply log into the web-interface and configure it.

But let's dive into a more detailed photo shoot.