Thecus N4100PRO NAS Review

[Apoptosis]

Thecus N4100PRO NAS Server Review

With more and more mainstream people making the move to an almost pure digital world, central storage and data backup is becoming more and more of an issue. Businesses have used Network Attached Storage or NAS boxes for some time now, but now the everyday home user is starting to look at NAS solutions for data storage and backup. Join us as we look at the N4100PRO NAS box from Thecus and see what this little box can do.

The Thecus N4100PRO uses an AMD Geode LX800 processor and 256MB of DDR memory for powerful data-processing capabilities. The N4100PRO has the capacity for four 3.5" SATA hard disks for up to 4TB of storage! To keep data secure, the N4100PRO features various RAID modes, including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD. Managing your RAID array is easy with the N4100PRO's advanced RAID management features, including RAID expansion and RAID level migration. To top it off, the N4100PRO comes equipped with a big, bright LCM module, which displays useful status messages such as IP address, date and time, and RAID status, making it easy to keep an eye on the condition of the N4100PRO.

Article Title: Thecus N4100PRO NAS Server Review
Article URL: http://legitreviews.com/article/888/1/
Pricing At Time of Print: $412.99 plus shipping

[KnightRid]

Seems nice, but i just can not get over the prices for these things.

I like the last paragraph about building your own computer to do the same thing ;) Only difference is, the computer would do a LOT more.

Mike

If someone would give me one, I would use it, but i just can not see myself going out and spending $400 and up on a case to hold drives that will cost another $400 and up! I cant see the wife giving approval for that either..lol

[bubba]

What do you mean by a lot. This thing will do everything I would want a storage server to.

Can be a web server, FTP server, BT down loader, Print server, iTunes server, steam media, even mount disk ISO's. For user access you can set up groups and/or just users, then specify what folders they can see and what they can't, then of the ones they can see control if they can just read or write to it, and limit how much they can put in it.

Hell the dam thing will even EMAIL you if there is a system error.

What else would you want it to do?

[KnightRid]

What do you mean by a lot. This thing will do everything I would want a storage server to.

Can be a web server, FTP server, BT down loader, Print server, iTunes server, steam media, even mount disk ISO's. For user access you can set up groups and/or just users, then specify what folders they can see and what they can't, then of the ones they can see control if they can just read or write to it, and limit how much they can put in it.

Hell the dam thing will even EMAIL you if there is a system error.

What else would you want it to do?

not saying that, just saying that a regular computer will still do more than a straight up server. You could play games on a regular computer, even small ones, you could edit video, etc. I am saying for the cost of a plain server, you could just have a regular computer sitting there.

I LOVE the servers, I just cant see why they need to be so damn expensive. I can throw hard drives in a computer and do backups through the network, share items, etc, without spending an extra $400 on a box.

If they would come down in price, or included some storage for that price, I would jump on one in a heartbeat. At $400, I just cant see it being worth it.

Mike

I am cheap too :p Wife made me that way..lol

[FeRaL]

I guess the great thing about this is that you don't need to be a rocket scientist or spend a lot of time researching on how to make it do the things it is able to do. Seems like a real no brainer which is what most of your average Joe/Jane user needs, or if you are just plain over worked and don't have all the time to do a big build and then learn how to make the OS do what you want it to do.

[bubba]

Ok I got this set up with four 640GB drives, I started the RAID 6 format at 5AM this morning. It just finished. So that is a hair over 9.5 hours, I can't imagine how long it would take for four 1.5TB or 2TB drives.

I'll do some speed tests tomorrow with these drives and post the results here. They are the Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD6400AAKS drives that were on sale the other day.

[Apoptosis]

wow, amazing how fast newegg and the shipping company... Glad to see the drives all worked!

[bubba]

Most of the stuff comes out of Memphis. If I get it ordered by 9 or so in the morning on a week day (no later then Thursday) I usually have it the next day and that is with the 3 day shipping. If it comes out of Jersey (printers normally do) it will take the full 3 days.