NAS by stefan @ 2014-06-02
The Thecus N4560 NAS is built on the well-known Intel Evansport platform which implies usage of the Atom CE5335 SoC at 1.6GHz, which is backed by 2GB of DDR3 RAM. Besides the included bays, we can further expand the storage via the provided USB ports and XBMC integration is welcome for using the NAS as a standalone media center.
At first we would like to thank Thecus for sending a sample of their N4560 SOHO/Home NAS Server for testing and reviewing.
“In today's networked world, digital content is truly the most precious asset. At Thecus, we take pride in developing innovative storage solutions that keep data safe and secure. Founded in 2004, the Thecus team brings decades of R&D expertise, Thecus brand marketing channel development, and a strong customer focus to deliver high-quality products that meet the storage needs of individual, small/medium business and enterprise.
Thecus focuses on hardware and software integration and development, and the core protocols of digital media storage. The result is products that are easier to use and can offer greater connectivity to consumer devices. Thecus envisions greater integration of data storage for both home and office environments, and we strive to be a pioneer in these fields and provide our users with the products that are second-to-none.
To develop optimal storage solutions for such a wide range of users, Thecus has assembled a best-in-class development team with extensive experience in both storage hardware and software development. By combining engineering expertise with a keen focus on the end-user experience, Thecus builds products that are not only powerful but easy-to-use, making advanced storage products accessible to users of all skill levels. Thecus' mission is to transform the most sophisticated technology into easy-to-use solutions to introduce comfortable network storage environment to people's everyday life. By crafting technology that is transparent as possible, Thecus continues to bring exceptional data storage solutions to advanced users and organizations around the world.
Core Values
Quality, innovation, integration, and reliability -- the four pillars that Thecus was built on.
Quality - Commitment to bring only the highest quality products to the marketplace.
Innovation - Investing vast resources into research and development to provide high performance and easy-to-use solutions.
Integration - Understanding consumers' needs and bringing the most complete product line to serve various types of applications and environments.
Reliability - Bringing the most secure, easy-to-use, and reliable storage solutions available.
By expanding service and product coverage worldwide, Thecus' mission is to establish an international service network. Committed to Thecus core values, the entire corporate, research and development, sales, and technical support teams firmly stand behind this commitment of service. We put our words into actions to show our clients that Thecus is the number one choice when it comes to network attached storage solutions. We promise to deliver innovative solutions that empower users, and in doing so, become the top brand digital storage devices.”
5 Minute Complete Installation
The N4560 is designed with ease in mind; it is easy enough for anyone to set up. Overlook the several steps which usually are associated with setting up NAS appliances. Simply plug the power supply, insert the Ethernet cable, boot up the N4560 and set up will be completed within 5 minutes. This breakthrough feature truly makes this a plug-and-play NAS.
Powerful Client Utility
Thecus® developed a unique way to access your NAS without the need to go through web browsers. The client utility is better known as “Intelligent NAS,” it’s a utility that is packaged in the N4560 to offer ease of use. This powerful utility will directly be installed on your computer and auto-Samba your NAS, thus automatically gives you access to designated folders.
DDNS
Have easy access to your NAS via Dynamic DNS (DDNS), this allows users to allocate and access their NAS files via the internet remotely. Since IP digits are often difficult to remember, domain names are utilized to make NAS management much more convenient. When the IP address is changed, the DDNS server will automatically adjust the IP address to make sure that remote access is always available. In short, DDNS provides convenient remote internet access to your Thecus® N4560 by utilizing domain names instead of IP digits.
Photo Flashback
A new feature that Thecus® has integrated in the N4560 model is the Auto Flashback Photo Gallery. When the user utilizes the client utility, they will be presented with a feature of photos from the past, hence flashback. For example, if the current date is “Feb xx, xxxx,” Auto Flashback Gallery will automatically display photos of the same date but different year. If a photo of that date is absent, other photos will simply take its place.
Data Guard
Data Guard backup solution is the ultimate software as it provides both local and remote parts. Currently, data is backed up across RAID volumes, external USB drives, and eSATA. In addition, Data Guard uses innovative technology to sync data across the network to other NAS and servers. More importantly, Thecus® Data Guard is the total backup solution which makes managing NAS user-friendly and convenient.
Data Burn
NAS data can now be burned directly to CD, DVD, and Blu-ray discs with Data Burn, this hassle-free module makes burning data to a disk effortless. In addition, burning ISO image file is also supported. Whether you’re managing audio, media or essential files; Data Burn copies information fast while significantly reducing waiting time. The process of burning file to disk is now easy and smooth with Data Burn module.
Antivirus
Thecus’ innovative hardware helps prevent failures. But sometimes you have to protect the NAS against itself. Adding an antivirus to the already comprehensive software bundle will provide the necessary software protection by scanning the files on your NAS and defending it against possible threats. McAfee is the world’s largest dedicated security technology company and shares Thecus’ spirit of dedication and quality. By establishing a strong partnership with them, Thecus will allow users the benefit of McAfee’s powerful software on their NAS entirely for free.
Cloud Backup
The private and public clouds meet with Thecus’ new DropBox, Amazon S3 and ElephantDrive cloud backup functionality! Guard your data with RAID at home and an additional level of protection in the Cloud. Just drag and drop files into the folder on your NAS and access them on any computer or mobile device with DropBox, Amazon S3 or ElephantDrive.
HDMI Output
Make your NAS into the ultimate multimedia hub! The N4560’s HDMI output allows you to connect your NAS directly to your TV for device management, and even HD video playback. Don’t force yourself to watch movies on that tiny little computer screen anymore, take it to the living room!
USB 3.0 Connectivity
The next generation of connectivity is here with speeds 10x faster than USB 2.0. Whether connecting digital cameras and smart phones, backing up large external hard drives, or extending the capacity of your NAS, USB 3.0 will make sure it's done in no time at up to 5 Gbit/s. Backwards compatibility adds the connectivity of a world full of USB 2.0 and USB 1.1 devices to get the best combination of speed and universal access.
Acronis True Image
Thecus brings the best to the table with Acronis’s advanced backup software. Back up all your data with One-click Protection or pick and choose only your most important files. Acronis sports a slick interface, user-friendly design, and comprehensive features to keep your data safe.
Multiple RAID
When it comes to data management, Thecus NAS truly let you have it your way. Create multiple RAID volumes each supporting different RAID modes including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD for your own balance of performance and data protection. Should a hard drive malfunction occur, changing one is simple thanks to online RAID migration and expansion, hot spare, and auto rebuild.
iSCSI Thin-Provisioning
Get the most out of your storage space with the extreme speed of iSCSI and the efficiency of iSCSI thin provisioning. Connect through iSCSI for the fastest data transfer speeds available and make wasted disk space a thing of the past with thin provisioning's flexible storage functionality.
iOS/Android Connectivity
In the modern world, nothing is as important as reaching your data from anywhere. With T-OnTheGo and the Thecus Dashboard, you can manage your NAS, and upload to and download/stream from your NAS using an iOS or Android device on the go.
User Quota
Divide the massive storage of a Thecus NAS among multiple users. Whether there are two users or 100, user quotas make it easy to divvy up and manage disk space.
In this article we will look upon another NAS, but from a manufacturer we haven’t worked before, Thecus and sporting the Intel Evansport platform, which is really good for home and SOHO. The product is shipped inside a medium-sized enclosure, which a handle on top. Right after picking up the parcel from the courier, we have felt that this NAS is a little bit heavier as a 4-bay unit compared to many previously tested variants:
By looking on one of the box sides, we will be able to see a photo of the product, along with a list of main features:
If we switch the box on the other side, we will be able to see a list of hardware components, included applications, package contents but also supported languages:
If we lift the top cover of the enclosure, we’ll get to see a small guide, which is written in several languages:
The rest of the bundle is packaged separately, in transparent re-sealable bags:
Besides the power lead, we will get one blue LAN cable, some additional leaflets, screws, security keys and the installation disk:
The N4560 NAS from Thecus is a tower model and besides the protective foam, the manufacturer has also wrapped the unit in a transparent plastic bag:
The unit feels very sturdy thanks to the heavy metallic cover and in front we have a plastic door which can be opened in order to reveal the four bays:
Here is a full view of the frontal side, but let’s take a look in ever more detail:
On the left side of the bays we have the status LEDs present:
Further down there is one USB 3.0 port along with the Power button:
Under the bays we will find the LED display with backlight, along with the control buttons:
In the bay area, Thecus has used a metallic mesh in order to help with the ventilation:
Both left and right sides of the NAS are quite plain and do not feature additional ventilation holes:
Now a short look at the back side of the unit; the central 92mm system fan takes care of keeping the internals cool while the power supply is equipped with a smaller fan:
On the right side of the fan grill, we will be able to spot two USB ports along with a single LAN port:
Further down we will find one HDMI port along with the SPDIF:
The power supply can be found in the bottom left corner; what we found a bit weird with the latest device firmware was the fact that the PSU fan continues to run even after the NAS is shut down:
On the bottom side of the unit we will find four medium-sized rubber feet, along with some extra ventilation holes placed in the front:
The frontal plastic door opens up with ease in order to reveal the four trays with locks:
To the internal motherboard we have a daughter board attached, which features a Silicon Image Sil3132 SATA Host Controller:
When taking about the trays, these are pretty sturdy, by having a combination of aluminum and plastic:
The frontal area, which also comes with the locking mechanism, has a ventilation grill:
For vibration dampening purposes when using 3.5’’ or 2.5’’ drives, Thecus has placed some pads in certain areas:
On the bottom side of the trays, we have the pre-drilled holes marked:
Here are some shots with a 3.5’’ drive fixed inside the tray:
To bypass any limitations, we will use two SSDs in RAID0, so here are some shots with them mounted on the trays:
The top cover can be removed by working with the three thumbscrews located in the back. On the left side of the unit we can see the motherboard, which has a decent amount of space available for ventilation:
Some ribbon cables travel to the frontal LCD display and the button interfaces:
One 3V battery is present on the board for keeping the CMOS settings saved:
On the board we can spot one 4GB KLM4G1YE4C Flash memory chip:
The NAS is equipped with 2GB of onboard memory composed of four H5TQ4G63MFR chips:
The microcontroller is placed near the LCD interface and has the PIC24FJ64GA006 code name, from Microchip:
One small buzzer is also located on the board:
The frontal USB 3.0 port is offered by the Etron Tech EJ168A controller:
The central processing unit is cooled by only a small aluminum heatsink:
By revisiting the frontal part of the unit, but with the cover removed, we will spot both LCD and button PCBs:
During boot, the system with display messages on the screen:
After the first NAS boot-up, we can help ourselves by installing the Intelligent NAS utility:
If the drives we are preparing inside the Thecus NAS are not empty, we will be warned by the utility if we should continue the process or shutdown in order to save data:
After the NAS processes some more data, we will be asked by the wizard regarding the RAID creation (automatic or manual via the web interface):
We have gone for the manual RAID creation, so after a while we were permitted to log into the interface:
The Administrator account is preset with a default password:
ThecusOS 6 welcomes us with its really basic interface, which is not at the same level as the one seen at the competitors. On a fresh install, only two icons are present on the desktop (Shared Folder, RAID Management), which we will access in order to set up the NAS:
Since we did not use the tool for getting an automated RAID setup, we will have to go to RAID management and perform the necessary steps:
First, the Volume Creation wizard will show us the available drives, which we can select for RAID creation:
Then, we will be prompted to select one of the available RAID levels:
Afterwards, we will be able to name the RAID volume or even program it for encryption:
With the next wizard step, we will be able to choose the stripe size, along with the file system type:
A confirmation window will appear as the last step:
During the RAID creation procedure, the Status will change:
After the initial setup, we can go back to the Intelligent NAS application and create a new user:
A free Thecus ID can be also created and will provide us with a free DDNS service:
The utility will be then able to show us how the internal data is organized into Documents, Music and so on:
In the next tab we will be able to see the recent copy tasks, ongoing tasks, but also the currently detected network devices or ongoing download tasks:
We will be able to see a list of recent activities in the next tab:
The configuration page allows setting different color schemes for the interface, the language, but also time zone selection:
From the last tab, we are allowed to launch the photo album management and File Manager applications:
The next menu allows managing BT download jobs:
Finally, we have the Manage & Share section, where we can work with the currently defined shared folders:
Speaking of the shared folders, after the volume creation we will have plenty of them created by default:
Of course, we can define new shared folders, which can be public or not:
Let’s go back a little to the main web interface. Compared to the DSM for example, we really miss the customization possibilities of the desktop, but also the integrated widgets which would give us live information regarding the running status:
Control Panel area is the zone where most of the options reside:
The General section shows us details on the model, OS build and uptime:
In Status, we will be able to take a look at the running services, along with the resource occupancy:
System log shows what happens “behind the hood”; this is a place to monitor if we are experiencing issues:
The Date/Time can be set from the next menu:
In the Notifications menu, we will be able to customize the alerts:
An On/Off schedule can be set from the next menu to take effect daily:
From the Config Mgmt menu, we are able to save the current settings to our PC and when needed we will be able to restore them:
The Factory Default menu only comes with the option to reset the current settings; we are also shown which will be the new values after the reset has been completed:
Power Management menu contains the buttons for shutting down or restarting the unit:
A file system check-up can be requested upon the next system reboot:
The NAS unit is also equipped with the WOL feature, which is disabled by default:
Inside the Networking menu, we can set the LAN settings and see the current status:
If we have a compatible Wi-Fi dongle attached, we will have options to monitor and set in the next menu:
If we would like to login to the main apps: Piczza, WebDisk but also to certain Modules right from the initial screen, we should enable the functions here:
A System Monitor menu is also available, but does not look as nice as the one we have seen on the QNAP or Synology OSes:
Some details concerning the installed hardware can be found inside the Hardware Information section:
The User Access log can be enabled by accessing the respective menu:
In order to access Disk Information, we will have to navigate to the next menu; here we will also have the possibility to see info regarding the connected drives on USB and can eject them safely:
We have covered the RAID Management section previously, when discussing about the NAS initialization:
NAS stacking is also available, for expanding the total capacity:
ISOs can be also mounted from the interface:
New users can be defined from Local User Configuration:
We can see a list of shared folders inside the next menu:
We will be able to customize Samba/CIFS options, but also enable the Network Recycle Bin which aids when accidental deletions are performed:
Apple Filing Protocol is also supported:
Inside the next menu we will be able to enable Web Services:
The DDNS service can be enabled and customized inside the respective menu:
For mobile applications like T-OnTheGo, we have the possibility of thumbnail auto-generation:
Thecus ID will provide us with a separate and free DDNS service:
For iTunes server, we will be able to customize the name, password, rescan interval and character set for the MP3 tags:
By accessing the App Center website, we will be able to download additional modules and applications for our NAS. In some cases, applications are dependent on other modules and we will be warned to install those first instead:
ElFinder is one of the 3rd party file managers we can install and run, so here it is:
The main applications are listed inside the NAS Application menu and from here we will be able to install, start or stop them from running:
Piczza is the Photo Album manager supported by Thecus and it works like a regular blog website. With it we will be able to upload our latest photos, organize them in different albums, run slideshows and more:
With the help of Transmission, we will be able to download and seed our favorite torrents:
An antivirus module from McAfee is also included:
Rsync replication can be also set up from the next menu:
ACL Backup/Restore can be also enabled:
The ThecusOS is equipped with a Data Burn to disk module, which is easy to use:
With Data Guard, we will be able to set remote backup from NAS to NAS, to specific folders or to Amazon S3 cloud service:
If we have printers connected to the USB ports, they will appear in the specific menu:
Same thing goes with the UPS:
When talking about mobile apps, we could remind T-OnTheGo which allows us to manage files, read documents, view images and play our favorite videos:
Since the application is also designed as a File Manager, we can perform various actions:
T-Dashboard allows users to login directly to the NAS, in order to see the current status but also to control a number of administrative tools from iOS or Android devices:
ES File Explorer is a well-known file manager on Android and in order to use it for connecting to our NAS, we will have to set up FTP details, thanks to the included guides on the Thecus website:
The N4560 NAS has XBMC version 12.2 available which boots up with the system in case we have installed it previously from the ThecusOS interface:
Guess XBMC does not need an introduction to anyone; with this media-center oriented application we will be able to playback our favorite multimedia content like music, photos, videos but we will be also able to install various modules for adding extra functionality and even skins:
In the designated System Info area, we will be able to find out more about the Linux distribution and hardware details:
CPU : Intel I7 3750K Retail @ 4.7GHz
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
Motherboard : ASRock Z77 OC
RAM : GeIL EVO CORSA 16GB 2400MHz C11
(2GB Exceleram DDR1333 for NASPT compatibility)
Video : Sparkle GeForce GTX 560 Calibre
Power Supply : Cooler Master 850W
HDD : OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SSD
Case: Cooler Master ATCS840
To test the NAS performances, the N4560 was populated with one OCZ Vertex 4 SSD along with one KingFast SLC E-Drive in RAID 0, formatted with a single volume and the NAS was connected directly to the computer, to avoid any limitations by implying additional hardware like a router. The first simple test was performed by loading the test file onto a RAM drive and then it was copied to the NAS, at its shared folder. The speed was recorded with Total Commander:
The second test was to copy the same file back to the computer; for eliminating any HDD speed limitations, the file was copied back to the RAM drive:
For performing a more advanced test, the Intel NAS Performance Toolkit was used, for performing 5 different test runs. Here are the results:
As extras, we have also included ATTO Disk Benchmark and Anvil:
After taking a look at the majority of the N4560 NAS from Thecus, we will be able to draw the final conclusions. The chassis is very solid thanks to its metallic construction and with the help of the LCD screen and controls we will be able to see additional status messages; an extra plastic door with metallic mesh is also included in the front, but for this one we would like to see an updated design considering that with it closed we won’t be able to see the HDD/SSD activity LEDs and the door cannot be properly opened when we have a storage device attached to the frontal USB 3.0 port.
Moving on to the back side of the unit, we will find enough connectivity options and Thecus has chosen to go with a SPDIF Optical audio instead of analog as we have seen when checking out the ASUSTOR AS-304T.
The PSU has a small fan of its own and is also placed on the outside of the unit; some other manufacturers opted to install the PSUs with the fan facing inwards, eliminating some of the extra noise.
Regarding the software, we would like to see a more visually-appealing GUI as we have seen with the NASes from ASUSTOR, Synology, QNAP. The extra applications can be installed as modules and this is not as straight-forward as the App Store from the other manufacturers, which is accessible right from the interface. XBMC integration is a thing we can really appreciate and with it we are able to browse through our favorite multimedia content by simply connecting the unit to out HDTV.
Regarding the performance, we have obtained good results; got the chance to test two separate firmwares of the unit, V6 Build 8 and V6 Build 283 and the new version has brought a notable speed boost. Considering that the Thecus N4560 still trails a bit behind the ASUSTOR AS-304T unit which is based on the same platform, we can say that there is still some room for improvement.
The Thecus N4560 4-bay NAS is priced fair so we can find it online for about 379 Euros.
We would like to thank again to Thecus for making this review possible!