Thecus N5550 NAS with Western Digital Red Drives

Details: Category: Storage; Published: Friday, 23 November 2012 12:01

Page 1 of 7

title When it comes to storage, there is no question that cloud storage is growing in importance every year. For some this is all that you might need, but if you are like me, you need a lot more than what is available on the cloud. When combined with laptops and multi computer households, adding more storage to just your PC isn’t always the best option. This is where Network Attached Storage comes in: you can have almost endless amounts of storage available in your home. Companies like Thecus have built on that with a collection of features like built in antivirus, Bit-Torrent support, and multimedia support. We are going to take a look at Thecus’s N5550, a 5-bay NAS with USB 3.0.

Product Name: Thecus N5550 NAS with Western Digital Red Drives

Review Sample Provided by: Thecus

Written by: Wes

Pictures: Wes

Specifications

Thecus N5550 Hardware Specifications

Item	Spec
Processor	Intel® Atom™ Processor
System Memory	2GB DDR3
LAN Interface	RJ-45x2: 10/100/1000 BASE-TX Auto MDI/MDI-X WOL supported
USB Interface	USB 2.0 host port x4 (back x4) USB 3.0 host port x1 (front x1)
LCM Module	LCM display 4 buttons (ENTER, ESC, UP, DOWN)
SATA DOM	1GB
HDMI Output	HDMI port (back x1)
VGA Output	VGA port (back x1)
Audio	MIC input, Line input, Audio output
Disk Interface	5 x SATA for internal 1 x eSATA for external
Power Supply	200W Power Supply
USB UPS	Supported
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
Buzzer	Adjustable frequency alarm
Buttons	Power button LCM button
Environment	Temperature: 5°C to 40°C Humidity: 0 ~ 80 % R.H. (Non-condensing)
Chassis	Tower Metal Chassis
Dimensions (HxWxD)	230 x 190 x 240 (mm)
Certificates	CE/FCC/C-Tick/VCCI/BSMI RoHS WEEE VMware, Citrix

N5550 Software Functions

RAID
RAID Modes	RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD
Auto-rebuild	Supported
Hot-swap	Supported
Hot Spare	Supported
Online RAID Migration	Supported
Online RAID Expansion	Supported
RAID Volume Encryption	AES256bit
Disk
Power Management	Available spin-down on idle setting
Bad Block Scanning	Supported
SMART Info	Supported
SMART Test	Supported
Disk Roaming	Supports volume-based roaming to other Thecus NAS
Network
Configuration	Fixed IP address, dynamic IP address
Transport Protocols	TCP/IP/AppleTalk
File Protocols	SMB/CIFS, HTTP/HTTPS, FTP, NFS v4, AFP
Link Aggregation	Load balance, Failover, 802.3ad, Balance-XOR, Balance-TLB, Balance-ALB
TCP/IP	IPV6 & IPV4
DDNS	Supported
SSH	Supported
UPnP	Supported
UPnP Port forwarding	Supported
System status
System Monitor	Monitoring CPU, memory, temperature, fan, network utilization and protocols access user count
Syslog Management	Send syslog to assigned location Act as syslog server to receive log info from other systems
Data Access
Client OS Support	Windows 8/7/Vista/2003/XP/2000 UNIX/Linux Mac OS X
FTP	Built-in FTP server with bandwidth control
Secure FTP	Built-in secure FTP server with bandwidth control
TFTP	Users can download and upload files with TFTP programs
Download Manager	BT download (via Transmission module) NZB download (via NZB module)
Printer Server (IPP)	Supports USB printers Supports a wide range of IPP printers Client can manage print tasks (list/delete) via web user interface
Data Backup
Client Incremental Data Backup	Acronis True Image (OEM version)
Client System Disaster Recovery	Acronis True Image (OEM version)
Client Side Backup Software	Thecus Backup Utility (Windows/Mac OS X)
Data Burn	Create files to ISO image and burn to optical disc Create files to ISO image Read ISO image from optical disc and write to NAS
Mac OS X Time Machine	Supported
Data Guard	Remote Backup/Local Backup
Block Level Access
iSCSI Target/Initiator	Supports Microsoft/Mac OS X/Linux initiators and Thecus NAS targets
iSCSI Thin Provisioning	Supported
MPIO	Supported
MCS	Supported
Clustering	Supported
SCSI3 Persistent Group Reservation	Supported
Power Management
Scheduled Power On/Off	Supported
Volume Management
Multiple RAID	Supported
Multiple File System Selectable	EXT3/EXT4/XFS
Multimedia Support
iTunes Server	Supports AAC, MP3 w/ID3 tag and WAV
Piczza!™ Photo Server (via module)	Supports GIF, JPG (JPEG), BMP and PNG Supports EXIF display Supports slide shows
Media Server	Supports uPnP AV streaming protocol (via Twonkymedia module)
User Authentication
Local User	Supports built-in user accounts
Local Group	Supports built-in user groups
Windows ADS	Supported
LDAP	Supported
Access Guard	Supports Black & White list/IP Filter
Cloud Backup
DropBox	Supported (via module)
ElephantDriver	Supported (via module)
Amazon S3	Supported
File System
Type	Journaling File System
Language Support	Unicode Support
Authorization (ACL)	“Read”, “write”, or “deny” privileges to individual users or groups in folders and sub-folders
User Quota	Supported
Administration
User Interface	Web-based user interface supports English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Polish, Portuguese, Turkish and Czech.
Utility Program	MS Windows Setup Wizard Supports Windows 8/7/Vista/2003/XP/2000 Mac OS X Setup Wizard
Email Notifications	Sends system messages via email to the system administrator
SNMP Trap	System information trap out
Mobile Applications (iOS/Android)
Thecus Dashboard	Mobile monitoring and administration (via module)
T-OnTheGo™ (iOS)	Upload, download and stream multimedia
Data Security
Virus Scan	Supports McAfee® (via module)
Capacity Expansion
Stackable	Can extend for 5 additional iSCSI volumes from other Thecus NAS
Others
Recycle Bin	Supported
Web Disk	Supported (via module)
Web Server	Supported (via module)
ISO Mount	Supported
IP Cam Surveillance	Supports up to 5 IP cameras (via module)
Auto Module Installation	Thecus’ module server automatically provides the latest modules and updates through the user interface.
Local Display	X-Window via HDMI output

Western Digital Red 1TB Hard Drives

Model number	WD10EFRX
Interface	SATA 6 Gb/s
Formatted capacity	1,000,204 MB
User sectors per drive	1,953,525,168
Advanced Format (AF)	Yes
SATA latching connector	Yes
Form factor	3.5-inch
RoHS compliant	Yes
Performance
Data transfer rate Buffer to host (max) Host to/from drive (typical)	6 Gb/s 150 MB/s
Cache (MB)	64
Rotational speed (RPM)	IntelliPower
Reliability/Data Integrity
Load/unload cycles	600,000
Non-recoverable read errors per bits read
MTBF (hours)	1,000,000
Limited warranty (years)	3
Power Management
12VDC (A, peak)	1.20
Average power requirements (W) Read/write Idle Standby Sleep	3.7 3.2 0.6 0.6
Environmental Specifications
Temperature (°C, on the base casting) Operating Non-operating	0 to 70 -40 to 70
Shock (Gs) Operating (2 ms, read/write) Operating (2 ms, read) Non-operating (1 ms)	30 65 350
Average acoustics (dBA) Idle mode Seek mode	21 22
Physical Dimensions
Height (in./mm, max)	1.028/26.1
Length (in./mm, max)	5.787/147
Width (in./mm, ± .01 in.)	4/101.6
Weight (lb./kg, ± 10%)	0.99/0.45

Posts in discussion: Thecus N5550 NAS with Western Digital Red Drives

garfi3ld replied the topic: #28490 23 Nov 2012 18:04

For those of you who aren't stuck in lines shopping, this is something that should keep you busy for a while. Enjoy!

Wingless92 replied the topic: #28491 23 Nov 2012 20:57

garfi3ld replied the topic: #28492 23 Nov 2012 21:09

It does support 4tb drives and there are people running minecraft servers on them as mentioned in the review

It also supports backing up to the cloud via Amazone S3 (and other options when using after market modules)

The price is actually less than other 5 bay devices.
www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?...sNodeId=1&name=5-Bay

I also found it available for $360

www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home...&Q=&is=REG&A=details

Wingless92 replied the topic: #28493 23 Nov 2012 22:37

Didn't see the Minecraft item. I wasn't saying let the server back it up to the cloud just that you should have a 3 backup system. One local, offsite and in the cloud.

L0rdG1gabyt3 replied the topic: #28494 23 Nov 2012 22:38

On the Pros/Cons, you list the Atom processor and 2GB of ram as Pro's.

How is an Atom processor a pro in any evaluation?

Wingless92 replied the topic: #28495 23 Nov 2012 22:47

Not sure, I know when I had my laptop the Atom CPU was a pile of garbage. Then again it was cheap as hell, lol. Kinda get what you pay from. It was a couple of years ago and CPU's have improved but still. I wouldn't say its a pro.

Cool that you can upgrade the memory. It just seems that it's trying to be a full windows server box and a NAS at the same time. I would much rather have it be just a NAS and be done with it.

As for other NAS boxes, people love Drobo's cause they are built like a tank and they have been proven over the years to be great at data redundancy. I would like to know what would happen with this NAS if, lets say, you had all of the drives populated, started copying stuff over to one drive and then yanked it out and stuck another drive in. I know my machine would crash and burn, lol. Would this do the same? I'm guessing so, just wondering.

I have looked at the WD Red's before I built my current WHS box but the read writes are much slower than what I wanted, but that's me.

garfi3ld replied the topic: #28496 23 Nov 2012 23:30

L0rdG1gabyt3 wrote: On the Pros/Cons, you list the Atom processor and 2GB of ram as Pro's.

How is an Atom processor a pro in any evaluation?

Low power usage yet still more than enough power to handle everything I did with the box. The D2550 Atom processor used in this NAS was only recently introduced. It is dual core and also includes hyperthreading with a clock speed of 1.86 GHz. This isn't the same Atom processor that you have used in the past, but this also isn't an extremely demanding application. You want your NAS to use very little power as well. Thats where the 10 watt TDP for the CPU comes in handy.

Wingless92 wrote: Not sure, I know when I had my laptop the Atom CPU was a pile of garbage. Then again it was cheap as hell, lol. Kinda get what you pay from. It was a couple of years ago and CPU's have improved but still. I wouldn't say its a pro.

Cool that you can upgrade the memory. It just seems that it's trying to be a full windows server box and a NAS at the same time. I would much rather have it be just a NAS and be done with it.

As for other NAS boxes, people love Drobo's cause they are built like a tank and they have been proven over the years to be great at data redundancy. I would like to know what would happen with this NAS if, lets say, you had all of the drives populated, started copying stuff over to one drive and then yanked it out and stuck another drive in. I know my machine would crash and burn, lol. Would this do the same? I'm guessing so, just wondering.

I have looked at the WD Red's before I built my current WHS box but the read writes are much slower than what I wanted, but that's me.

Also Wingless, have you had a NAS box? These are features that almost all of the companys offer in their NAS's anymore (modules and whatnot). The main thing that stands out between this and what I have seen in the past is the variety of modules that are available. You don't have to run any of the modules if you don't want to and it will still perform fine as a NAS as it sits. I'm not sure why you would be upset that a NAS has more features

This NAS and the Drobo would handle that situation the same as any other device. Pulling a drive out mid data transfer is any situation is going to end badly.

garfi3ld replied the topic: #28497 23 Nov 2012 23:35

I also should have mentioned that the Atom CPU used in the N5550 is faster than what is used in most other NAS, that is why it was a pro. On top of the low power usage.

Arxon replied the topic: #28498 24 Nov 2012 00:14

Been debating on getting a NAS. Are they worth getting?