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 |
|
USB Interface |
USB 2.0 host port x4 (back x4) |
|
LCM Module |
LCM display |
|
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 |
|
Power Supply |
200W Power Supply |
|
USB UPS |
Supported |
|
Thermal/Fan control |
Thermal sensor on processor 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 |
|
Environment |
Temperature: 5°C to 40°C |
|
Chassis |
Tower Metal Chassis |
|
Dimensions (HxWxD) |
230 x 190 x 240 (mm) |
|
Certificates |
CE/FCC/C-Tick/VCCI/BSMI |
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 |
|
Data Access |
|
|
Client OS Support |
Windows 8/7/Vista/2003/XP/2000 |
|
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) |
|
Printer Server (IPP) |
Supports USB printers |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
|
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 |
