One hard disk can not guarantee the safety of your files, and several hard drives can - if they are assembled into a single NAS-system. Network drives are interesting not only in capacity, calculated in dozens of terabytes - these “mini-computers” allow you to manage information simultaneously from several devices, broadcast video or exchange files within a single network. We offer a detailed overview of such miracle systems for home and corporate segment.
Network drives for home and small offices
Asustor AS6404T - productive system under the media library
NAS Asustor runs on a fresh Intel Apollo Lake platform with a powerful 4-core Celeron processor capable of accelerating to 2.3 GHz.
The drive is designed for 4 magnetic hard drives or solid-state drives. The form factor is not important - the main thing is that they have an interface compatible with SATA III and the total capacity is not more than 40 TB.
Pros:
- The strong metal case and the damped sled under disks. Everything is done conscientiously - even anti-vibration measures are taken.
- 4 gigabytes of RAM on board allow you to quickly process any requests and smoothly play video files even in 4K format.
- It is possible to expand the OP to 8 GB.
- Integrated Intel HD graphics engine with hardware transcoding, increasing its performance by almost a third.
- 5 USB ports - three standard 3.0 and a pair of Type-C.
- Support for most axes - from Windows XP and macOS X 10.6 to mobile iOS and Android systems.
- The ability to connect a complex speaker system up to format 7.2.
- HDMI 2.0 output and rich functionality, sharpened by working with media content.
- Several levels of data protection that can be independently distributed on the disks.
- The WOL / WOW functions constantly keep the drive in sleep mode to save energy, but at the same time “wake up” it in a couple of seconds.
- Additional control is possible both from the NAS front panel and from the console.
Minuses:
- Weight almost 3 kg.
- The cost of 44-47 thousand rubles.
Drobo 5N - experimental NAS for disks with different volume
The 5-disk drive has a relatively small, but quite sufficient for operation, an OP volume of 2 GB, as well as a dual-core Marvell Armada XP processor — average in performance, but with minimal heat release.
The system itself is packaged in a metal case reinforced from the inside with a glossy front panel, behind which are hidden HDD cells.
Pros:
- Effective work with disks of different sizes - the device breaks them into blocks so that you can use all the available memory.
- Create backup copies for two HDDs.
- 4 flash memory modules - two 64 MB and another couple of 500 megabytes.
- To increase the performance of the device, there is an additional mSATA slot where you can install another solid-state drive (it will work in caching mode).
- Installing drives without mounting screws. SSD is completely inserted into its bay just under the spring clip.
- The front panel is attached to the magnets, and to eliminate vibrations and chattering around it, a seal is laid around the perimeter.
- The ability to reconfigure the brightness of LED indicators, which is clearly not superfluous, because there are a dozen of them here.
- Built-in emergency battery for properly shutting down drives during power outages.
- Removable cables on the network adapter.
- Textile bag for transporting the device in the kit.
- The price is 32-38 thousand rubles - and this is for the thoroughbred American NAS on 5 disks.
Minuses:
- It works correctly only with relatively fresh operating systems - Windows is not younger than the seven and macOS X, starting with the 10.9 series.
- Circuit OP soldered on the motherboard and can not be replaced.
- Lack of external USB-ports, 4K-video adapter and other pleasant things.
QNAP D2 Pro - the best network drive for home
The model based on an inexpensive Intel Celeron N3060 processor with two cores is designed for installing 2 HDD with a total capacity of up to 20 TB. And it is equally well "friendly" with disks of formats 2.5 and 3.5 inches.
The drive is distinguished by a good speed of work due to the connection via the SATA 3 interface and its own RAM for 1 gigabyte.
Pros:
- The Quick Access option simplifies the installation and connection of a network drive, and also provides direct access to files.
- The base frequency of the integrated CPU, although not impressive (only 1600 MHz), can automatically accelerate to 2480.
- The possibility of expanding RAM up to 8 GB thanks to an additional slot.
- The presence of a hypervisor to create additional virtual computers.
- Support for working with 4K video.
- An excellent set of external interfaces: 2 Gigabit Ethernet jacks, 3 USB 3.0 ports and another micro-B standard, audio output plus an additional mini-jack, as well as an SD-reader and HDMI.
- Low power consumption - 17 W at work and no more than 8 in sleep mode.
- Backup with the creation of a single "mirror" is performed by simply pressing a button.
- A large set of proprietary applications for synchronizing, searching, restoring and organizing information from any connected devices.
- Compact size and light weight 1.3 kg.
- Remote control included.
Minuses:
- The volume of the OP is only 1 GB (by modern standards, this is not enough).
- 22 thousand rubles - a little expensive for a NAS on 2 disks.
WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra - drive, sharpened for cloud storage
The pretty NAS model on two disks has a somewhat non-standard design - here the hard drives are inserted not into the side baskets, but from above, under the ventilated cover. Ahead there were only color status indicators and nothing more.
The drive supports a total memory capacity of 16 TB and can even be supplied with branded WD Red discs of different capacities.
Pros:
- The presence of two high-speed ports USB 3.0.
- Compatible with the most popular OS - Mac, Windows and Linux.
- The firmware is already installed.
- Access to your own WD cloud and the ability to share files with other virtual storages.
- A large set of additional programs for content management, including proprietary software for servicing the drive itself.
- Ability to schedule backups for individual partitions and folders, as well as third-party devices connected to the internal network.
- Economical power consumption not exceeding 15 watts.
- The complete power supply comes with optional plug adapters for different types of sockets.
- Three-year manufacturer's warranty.
- Price without discs 12 thousand rubles.
Minuses:
- 1 gigabyte of RAM.
- There is no standard Power-button - the device is turned off via the program interface.
- Dust will fall through the top grille into the NAS.
Network drives for large enterprises
Qnap ES1640dc - the most spacious and reliable NAS
Already 16 hard drives with a total capacity of up to 128 TB can be placed in this storage. At the same time, the drive itself is a complex 2-in-1 system where all the main nodes are duplicated: motherboards, processors, cooling modules and power supply units.
Even the 16-gigabyte NVRAM has its own battery and the possibility of emergency copying when power is removed. In general, a drive with any failures will not allow to lose all data in a flash.
Pros:
- 6-core Intel Xeon processors with a clock frequency of 2.2 GHz.
- 32 gigabytes of RAM (can be increased to 64 GB) and another 2 gigabytes of ultrafast flash.
- Possibility of 8-fold expansion of memory due to connection to additional external blocks.
- SnapSync function to effectively recover information in case of any failures.
- 6 network Ethernet ports with a bandwidth of 10 and 40 Gbit / s.
- In the event of failures in one of the “halves,” the server automatically transfers all operations to another, and after the elimination of the problems, it restores normal operation.
- Three built-in 60-mm cooler on each server module with hot-swappable.
- Full compatibility with most operating systems, Microsoft and VMware products, as well as cloud platforms.
- Optimize and compress data to save disk space.
Minuses:
- The price is about 1 million rubles.
- High power consumption - 500 W in operation and a little more than 300 in standby.
Synology DS1817 Plus - the best server for a small office
The 8-disk system allows you to collect up to 80 TB of information in one place, and SSD caching provides high processing speed.
You can install 2.5 and 3.5 ″ hard drives here, the first being fixed with screws, and the second with side panels with pins and do not require the use of a screwdriver. Also, the device has additional slots for installing external solid-state drives or an Ethernet adapter.
Pros:
- Performance processor Intel Atom 2.4 GHz.
- OP 8 gigs with the ability to replace the strap and expand the memory to 16 GB.
- 4 Ethernet ports 1000 Mbit / s, the same USB 3.0, one second-generation PCI and the most pleasant - 2 eSATA interfaces for system expansion.
- Create backups on other NAS devices, in the cloud or on remote servers.
- Configure virtual computers with unified management through a centralized application.
- Greater formatting capabilities, support for AES-NI instant hardware encryption and a snapshot function for system rollback.
- Mobile support for Apple, Android, WinMobile and even Symbian OS.
- The ability to manage Internet traffic by increasing the bandwidth of the ports to be merged or by redirecting it from the “problem” line to the backup.
- For SSD, you can set different usage scenarios - read, write and read cache, or with specific sections.
- The device is given a three-year warranty.
Minuses:
- Supports only modern OS - Win7, macOS X 10.10 and everything that is “younger”.
- There is a modification with 2 GB of RAM, which does not have the proper level of performance, but differs from the older model in price by only 3-5 thousand.
Thecus N7770-10G - durable and productive network drive
The tower model, which fits 7 discs, is designed for use in medium and large offices.
Each HDD basket is locked with a key, and the case itself is made of rather thick metal - even the front door is aluminum. Inside, there is a completely “adult” motherboard with a powerful, albeit elderly 2-core Core i3-2120 processor (3.3 GHz frequency).
Pros:
- Ability to install in the baskets SSD-drives, as well as disks with a form factor of 2.5 and 3.5 ″ up to 10 TB.
- Several different backup scenarios - within the system itself, to external devices and storage, in real time or on schedule.
- A good amount of RAM - 8 gigabytes with the ability to expand it to 32, if necessary.
- 2 gigabytes of flash memory, which is already recorded operating system.
- Interface to connect SATA III drives.
- A pair of USB ports conveniently located on the front panel of the device. True, these are the connectors of generation 2.0, so that the transfer speed to them does not exceed 480 Mb / s.
- A rich set of interfaces on the back cover - 4 USB 2.0 connectors, a couple of 3.0, two video outputs (VGA and HDMI) and two full-time Gigabit networkers.
- Work with optical discs - recording, image creation, etc.
- Powerful branched cooling system - almost every heat-generating module has its own mini-coolers, in addition to the two main ones in the case.
- Included is a network adapter with a bandwidth of up to 10 Gbit / s.
- Three years warranty.
Minuses:
- Clumsy design, which has not changed for years 5.
- The power supply is built-in, which increases the size of the device and its weight up to 8.4 kg.
- Slow processing of information from encrypted volumes.
- No interaction with popular cloud services.
- Price 81-83 thousand rubles.
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