Asustor AS1002T NAS review - 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 Exabyte and then Zettabyte.

So we passed the Terabyte marker. With our hefty demand in storage capabilities, the industry had to constantly adapt and introduce new features in hardware. Storage units got much bigger in volume over the year, 6 TB HDDs have just been introduced onto 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. Pretty much they are little servers that you can hook onto your network and then function as file-server.

The NAS units are often small, do not use a lot of power compared to say your PC, but they are highly configurable, offer redundancy as some models can even handle RAID internally. Network Attachable Units are among the most advanced home servers available on the market today. Products feature multiple HDDs 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 Asustor AS1002T

The Asustor AS1002T can house up to two hard drives or SSDs.  The unit is tied to a Gigabit Ethernet jack, meaning 1000 / 8 minus QOS and random overhead like error-correction is roughly a maximum of 100 to 125 MB/sec. You can install two storage units in today's tested device NAS (AS1002T), these can be set up in a RAID 0/1 array. The RAID functionality of the unit supports RAID 0,1 or with the 4 HDD models  (AS1004T) RAID 5. Once you have installed your hardware, you'll need to bind the NAS towards your Ethernet with a CAT5e/6e cable to a switch; the Asustor NAS offers more connectors though, you may also make use of eSATA or USB 2.0/3.0 making this NAS unit really a bit of a DAS unit as well. 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 setup your configuration. Please look at the install CD for that. Or if you have a smartphone, simply use a smartphone app like FING and scan the network, Asustor will show up with a corresponding IP. Type in the IP into your browser and you can start setting up the unit. 

The Asustor AS1002T/AS1004T Hardware

The Asustor AS5102T based upon an Marvell ARMADA-385 1GHz (Dual-Core) Processor that can boost towards 1 GHz. Factory installed is a 512MB memory IC that is SMT soldered onto the PCB,so you cannot expand memory. The Asustor AS1002T can eat two 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch SSDs or HDDs, but being the budget model does not come with hot-swap trays. You will notice USB 3.0 connectors (one at the back one in the front and one located at the backside). The unit sports one Gigabit Ethernet port.
 

Brand	ASUSTOR
Model	AS1002T
Highlights	ASUSTOR AS1002T 2-bay NAS, Diskless, Marvell ARMADA-385 (1.0GHz) Dual-Core Processor, 512MB DDR3 RAM, GbE x1, USB 3.0, WoL, System Sleep Mode.
Hardware Specification
CPU	Marvell ARMADA-385 1GHz (Dual-Core) Processor
Memory	512MB DDR3
HDD	3.5" SATA II/ III x 2
Maximum Internal Raw Capacity	16TB (8TB HDD X 2, Capacity may vary by RAID types)
Expansion	USB 3.0 x 2
Network	Gigabit Ethernet x 1
Output	N/A
System Fan	70mm x 1
Input Power Voltage	100V to 240V AC
Certification	FCC, CE, VCCI, BSMI, C-TICK
Operation	Power Consumption: 19.4W (Operation); 6.6W (Disk Hibernation); Noise Level: 33dB (Operation) Operation Temperature: 5°C~35°C (40°F~95°F) Humidity: 5% to 95% RH
Eco-Friendly Design	Auto-Standby for Both Internal and External Disks Auto Fan Control LED Night Mode Power Schedule: On, Off, Restart
Size and Weight	Size: 165(H) x 102(W) x 218(D) mm Weight: 0.99 kg / 2.18 lbs
Package Contents
Package Contents	1 x AS1002T Unit 1 x Installation CD 1 x AC Power Cord 1 x AC Power Adapter 1 x RJ-45 LAN Cable(Cat 5e) 8 x Thumb Screw (for 3.5" HDD)
Software & Features
Operating System	ADM 2.5 Onwards Supports Online Firmware Updates
Supported OS	Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2012 Mac OS X 10.6 Onwards UNIX, Linux, and BSD
File System	Internal Disk: EXT4 External Disk: FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, EXT4, HFS+
Storage Management	Volume Type: Single disk, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 Support for Online RAID Level Migration Support for Online RAID Capacity Expansion
Energy Control	Configurable Disk Hibernation Wait Time
Network	TCP/IP (IPv4 & IPv6) Jumbo Frame (MTU) VLAN Cloud Connect Wireless Network* DDNS and EZ-Router Supports Wake-on-LAN (WOL) * USB Wi-Fi dongle not included.
Backup Solutions	Rsync (Remote Sync) Backup Cloud Backup FTP Backup External Backup
System Administration	Log Type: System Log, Connection Log, File Access Log Real-time Online User Monitor Real-time System Monitor User Quota Virtual Drive (ISO Mounting, Maximum 16) UPS Support
Network Defender	Auto black list Trusted list Black/White list - Supports IP/IP range/geolocation
External Devices	Supports USB External Storage Devices USB Wi-Fi Dongle Support Bluetooth Dongle/Speaker Support USB Printer Support USB DAC Support CD ROM Drive/DVD ROM Drive/Blu-Ray ROM
Featured Apps
iTunes Server	For iTunes on Mac & Windows Supports AirPlay Supports iOS Remote Pairing Supported Audio Formats: AIF, M4A (AAC & Apple Loseless), M4P, M4R, MP3, WAV Supported Video Formats: M4V, MOV, MP4 Supported Playlist Formats: M3U, WPL
Mail Server	Each ADM Account can Become an Independent Email Account Email Activity Monitor (Over 1 Week, 1/3/6 Months) Provides SMTP, IMAP and POP3 Mail Protocols Supports SMTP Relay and Verification SMTP-SSL Secure Connections Spam Filter and Black List Settings Antivirus Scanning for Emails Email Alias Creation and Mapping Monitoring of Mail Queue Mail Service Activity Log Exclusive Email Backup Mechanism Auto-Forwarding and Auto-Response Protocols
Photo Gallery	Supported Image Formats: JPG/JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, RAW (ARW, CR2, CRW, DNS, DCR, ERF, K25, KDC, MEF, MONO, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, PPM, RAF, RW2, SR2, SRF) Image Library Import Album Access Control Supports video playback Unique Pinterest Style Photo Album with 5 Photos on Cover Supported Image Format: JPG, PNG, GIF, Raw
Surveillance Center	Up to 24channels in 720p on single live view display(4 Free Channels) On-screen camera controls including camera PTZ, manual recordings, take snapshots,configure camera settings and open Maps Up to 4 channels of synchronous and non-synchronous playback with audio Intelligent video analytics including motion detection and foreign object detection Supported Browsers: Windows Internet Explorer, Firefox, Mac Safari, Mac Firefox Event notification supports SMS, E-mail, and mobile push notification Automated event action rules Role-based access control RTSP streaming server (video and audio) AiSecure mobile app for iOS and Android with Push notification ONVIF 2.4, Profile S certified Two different camera license packages are offered: single channel and 4 channels. Maximum IP Cam (4 Free Licenses; Additional Licenses to be Purchased)
Takeasy	Download from YouTube, Vimeo, YouKu, Tudou and More Selectable the Video Type and Quality Automatic Downloads with YouTube Subscriptions Preview Downloads in Progress Online Playback
UPnP Media Server	Supports PS3 and other Digital Media Player Capable Devices Supports On-The-Fly Transcoding for Most RAW Images and Audio(OGG, FLAC) Supported Image Formats: BMP, GIF, ICO, JPG, PNG, PSD, TIF, RAW Image⁴ (3FR, ARW, CR2, CRW, DCR, DNG, ERF, KDC, MEF, MOS, MRW, NEF, NRW, ORF, PEF, RAF, RAW, RW2, SR2, X3F) Supported Audio Formats: 3GP, AAC, AC3, AIFC, AIFF, AMR, APE, AU, AWB, FLAC1, M4A, M4R, MP2, MP3, OGG Vorbis1, PCM, WAV, WMA Supported Video Formats: 3GP, 3G2, ASF, AVI, DAT, FLV, ISO, M2T, M2V, M2TS, M4V, MKV, MPv4, MPEG1, MPEG2, MPEG4, MTS, MOV, QT, SWF, TP, TRP, TS, VOB, WMV, RMVB, VDR, MPE
VPN Client	Supported VPN Protocols: PPTP, OpenVPN Transmission Package Monitor PPTP Authentication: PAP, CHAP, MS CHAP, MS CHAP2 PPTP Encryption: No MPPE, MPPE (40, 128 bit), Maximum MPPE (128 bit) OpenVPN Port Control OpenVPN Link Compression
SNMP Server	Supports SNMP v1, v2c, v3 and trap ASUSTOR NAS MIB provided
Syslog server	Supports standard syslog protocol Graphical log monitoring by time and device Supports TCP and UDP Auto log archiving User-defined email notification

Operating system compatibility wise the NAS supports file sharing across Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms. We will be testing with Windows 8.1 and 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 PC's 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.