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Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro (AS3304T) NAS Review
Posted by: on: 07/16/2021 11:19 AM [
9 comment(s) ]
ASUSTOR, in an effort to bring you a more affordable yet powerful and fast NAS, just released their Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro (AS3304T) NAS which we review today. The unit is powered by a new Realtek RTD1296 Quad-Core 1.4 GHz CPU and includes Multi GigE Ethernet in the form of a 2.5GigE connector. This SOHO NAS is aimed at distinct audiences, including consumers that stream. Realistically though, it might be one of the most interesting NAS units we have tested to date as it is only 329 USD for a 4-bay unit.
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AlmondMan
Senior Member
Posts: 817
Senior Member
Posts: 817
Posted on: 07/19/2021 01:16 PM
Well you can try it.. but always found out that is better to build full blown PC as Nas with Full Blown desktop OS of your choice, that this 1 sided devices.. dedicated to data backup, but not much else.. Its also great to have backup pc, when main is out of order.. Or NAS / HTPC in one.
Even spec wise.. full blow PC is cheaper and for 329$ you can get better HW.. These boxes make sense, for people without big PC knowledge.. im even hesite to say that they are saving time to setup.. because its not so simple, you have to learn Nas specific system, same as with some PC Backup / Recovery tool.
You get SO MUCH from like a Synology box - stuff that would otherwise either require some sort of license or purchase, or excessive hours of setup. Just works out of the box. It might look like it's not powerful hardware, with a 4000 series Intel Celeron or whatnot, but it's fine. It's the software solutions that you are really paying for.
Well you can try it.. but always found out that is better to build full blown PC as Nas with Full Blown desktop OS of your choice, that this 1 sided devices.. dedicated to data backup, but not much else.. Its also great to have backup pc, when main is out of order.. Or NAS / HTPC in one.
Even spec wise.. full blow PC is cheaper and for 329$ you can get better HW.. These boxes make sense, for people without big PC knowledge.. im even hesite to say that they are saving time to setup.. because its not so simple, you have to learn Nas specific system, same as with some PC Backup / Recovery tool.
You get SO MUCH from like a Synology box - stuff that would otherwise either require some sort of license or purchase, or excessive hours of setup. Just works out of the box. It might look like it's not powerful hardware, with a 4000 series Intel Celeron or whatnot, but it's fine. It's the software solutions that you are really paying for.
ruthan
Senior Member
Posts: 482
Senior Member
Posts: 482
Posted on: 07/20/2021 11:12 AM
You wrote so much.. but without any example, so it has some backup software and media server included and what next?
Some Intel Celeron, is always < worse than some low power Core iX or Ryzen APU and you cant upgrade it as with open standard pc..
You get SO MUCH from like a Synology box - stuff that would otherwise either require some sort of license or purchase, or excessive hours of setup. Just works out of the box. It might look like it's not powerful hardware, with a 4000 series Intel Celeron or whatnot, but it's fine. It's the software solutions that you are really paying for.
You wrote so much.. but without any example, so it has some backup software and media server included and what next?
Some Intel Celeron, is always < worse than some low power Core iX or Ryzen APU and you cant upgrade it as with open standard pc..
WhiteLightning
Posts: 29100
Posts: 29100
Posted on: 07/20/2021 12:30 PM
Well you can try it.. but always found out that is better to build full blown PC as Nas with Full Blown desktop OS of your choice, that this 1 sided devices.. dedicated to data backup, but not much else.. Its also great to have backup pc, when main is out of order.. Or NAS / HTPC in one.
Even spec wise.. full blow PC is cheaper and for 329$ you can get better HW.. These boxes make sense, for people without big PC knowledge.. im even hesite to say that they are saving time to setup.. because its not so simple, you have to learn Nas specific system, same as with some PC Backup / Recovery tool.
A full PC would be better, but building one with parts would cost you more in total. it also uses more power then a NAS. I don't know why you say it is hard to setup a NAS either, because it is really simple.
Well you can try it.. but always found out that is better to build full blown PC as Nas with Full Blown desktop OS of your choice, that this 1 sided devices.. dedicated to data backup, but not much else.. Its also great to have backup pc, when main is out of order.. Or NAS / HTPC in one.
Even spec wise.. full blow PC is cheaper and for 329$ you can get better HW.. These boxes make sense, for people without big PC knowledge.. im even hesite to say that they are saving time to setup.. because its not so simple, you have to learn Nas specific system, same as with some PC Backup / Recovery tool.
A full PC would be better, but building one with parts would cost you more in total. it also uses more power then a NAS. I don't know why you say it is hard to setup a NAS either, because it is really simple.
anticupidon
Posts: 6219
Posts: 6219
Posted on: 07/20/2021 12:30 PM
@ruthan
Let's clear this out.
As many of us guru here, I like to tweak, modify and build my own computer to accomplish various tasks.
I went the route you suggested, and boy at first I thought that I reinvented the wheel.
But realistically, power consumption and hours spent to maintain everything and install, update, try different solutions turn out to be a chore.
I just want to get home and everything just works and I have to do minimal maintenance. And power consumption has to be frugal.
And yes, as an enthusiast I bought a Synology box.
Never, ever I thought I would buy this or even praise it. But reality is reality, like or not.
More so, the SHR and BTRfs snapshot replication is just awesome. And all services you can have in the same box, paying the same bill.
Examples:
Synology Active for Business has my work laptop backed up and periodically snapshot. Even IF I get a ransomware , I can boot up from the Synology recovery boot disc, wipe the laptop and restore the last clean snapshot.
For this alone, it's worth mentioning that Synology has so many fans.
More:
Docker with Portainer
Where I have the following:
Productivity :
Bookstack
Only Office
Duplicati
Calibre
Joplin
Heimdall
DokuWiki
Tools
Guacamole
Ubiquity Controller
Nginx Proxy manager
Remmina
Security
PiHole
BitWarden
Multimedia
Jellyfin
YouTube downloader
And so many more.
As @AlmondMan said, you pay for the software and it's well worth it. And it's less than spending hours maintaining all of it.
But different opinions, different points of view.
@ruthan
Let's clear this out.
As many of us guru here, I like to tweak, modify and build my own computer to accomplish various tasks.
I went the route you suggested, and boy at first I thought that I reinvented the wheel.
But realistically, power consumption and hours spent to maintain everything and install, update, try different solutions turn out to be a chore.
I just want to get home and everything just works and I have to do minimal maintenance. And power consumption has to be frugal.
And yes, as an enthusiast I bought a Synology box.
Never, ever I thought I would buy this or even praise it. But reality is reality, like or not.
More so, the SHR and BTRfs snapshot replication is just awesome. And all services you can have in the same box, paying the same bill.
Examples:
Synology Active for Business has my work laptop backed up and periodically snapshot. Even IF I get a ransomware , I can boot up from the Synology recovery boot disc, wipe the laptop and restore the last clean snapshot.
For this alone, it's worth mentioning that Synology has so many fans.
More:
Docker with Portainer
Where I have the following:
Productivity :
Bookstack
Only Office
Duplicati
Calibre
Joplin
Heimdall
DokuWiki
Tools
Guacamole
Ubiquity Controller
Nginx Proxy manager
Remmina
Security
PiHole
BitWarden
Multimedia
Jellyfin
YouTube downloader
And so many more.
As @AlmondMan said, you pay for the software and it's well worth it. And it's less than spending hours maintaining all of it.
But different opinions, different points of view.
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Senior Member
Posts: 482
Well you can try it.. but always found out that is better to build full blown PC as Nas with Full Blown desktop OS of your choice, that this 1 sided devices.. dedicated to data backup, but not much else.. Its also great to have backup pc, when main is out of order.. Or NAS / HTPC in one.
Even spec wise.. full blow PC is cheaper and for 329$ you can get better HW.. These boxes make sense, for people without big PC knowledge.. im even hesite to say that they are saving time to setup.. because its not so simple, you have to learn Nas specific system, same as with some PC Backup / Recovery tool.