Review: Four NAS Machines
1. Product Survey: NAS
Our Tests
The system we use to test NAS systems uses the following hardware:
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Motherboard: MSI P35 Neo2-FIR
RAM: 2 x 1 GB Corsair XMS2 PC2-6400 CL4
Hard Drive: 2 x Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB RAID 0
Case: A+ Case CS-Monolith
So as not to slow our test system down, we use Western Digital Velociraptor 150 GB disks configured as RAID 0 on our test computer. Rather than connecting our NAS systems to the computer over the network, we connect them directly to ensure a fair comparison between each test.
The speed tests have two main elements. Firstly, we copy files from our Windows network and others from an FTP server. We test RAID 0 and RAID 1 configurations with three typical folders: one with small text files, another with medium-sized music and photos and the third with large video files. We then calculate an average read- and write-speed.
To ensure a fair scoring system between all of the different products, the final score is calculated using a weighted average. Eighty different criteria in five broad areas are included: the management of the hard drives, network support, extra features, interfaces with external peripherals and finally speed tests.
Network Attached Storage systems--more commonly known as NAS--are file servers allowing you to access files from across your network, or even over the Internet from elsewhere.
Currently best-known in the business world, NAS is a storage system that is beginning to interest more and more home users. It's a solution that works perfectly when you have files to share across several different computers. Because they usually include more than one hard drive, they allow you to safeguard your data by creating a RAID array. As we'll see, though, they're not just useful for storing files, and some models can also run FTP, e-mail or printing servers on your home network.
RAID 1 and 0: Pros and Cons
RAID is an acronym that stands of a Redundant Array of Independent Disks, and it's a technology that allows you to save files across several hard drives at once. The extent to which the system s fault-tolerant depends on how you configure it:
RAID 0 significantly improves performance by working over several hard drives in parallel. If you have two drives, for instance, half of the data is written to one, and half to the other. If either one of the drives fails, you lose all of the data. This is a configuration to avoid.
RAID 1 is often used in NAS systems to improve data security. It essentially creates a mirror of the first hard drive on the second, with the NAS constantly keeping the two drives in sync. If one or the other of the two drives fails, then all of its data is entirely recoverable. Unfortunately, though, such reliability comes at a price: if you want to be able to store 1 TB of data, then you'll need two 1 TB drives.
If you want to use all of the storage capacity that you have, you can also use Jbod mode, which simply strings the hard drives out one after the other to create a single file system. The performance is not as good as with RAID 0, and your data is less secure than it would be with RAID 1.
The main uses and protocols
As you'll see in our tests of individual products, the options available vary from one manufacturer to another. However, there are a few standard features, including support from the CIFS/SMB protocol to access your NAS over a Windows network, the ability to run an FTP server and individual user accounts.
Protocols: as well as CIFS/SMB, some NAS systems support the AFP and NFS protocols so you can use them with Mac and Linux networks. It's also possible to access your data from offsite, with some products offering the choice between FTP and HTTP, with encrypted connections to extra security.
Backup: by their very nature, NAS systems have an important role in backup. Some allow you to copy the entire system to an external peripheral, and the opposite is of course also possible. Some manufacturers include a dedicated hotkey to immediately backup an external hard drive or USB key.
Downloading: although NAS systems are in theory designed for storage, they can also do other things too. Almost all of the models we've tested include some ways of downloading content, with some manufacturers sticking resolutely to FTP/HTTP while others support BitTorrent with advanced download management.
Web Server: this feature allows you to manage your files over an Internet connection. Just use a web browser to log into your NAS server and you'll be able to download, copy, move, delete and rename all of the files that you've saved there.
Multimedia: as you might have noticed, NAS systems offer a lot of features. Some also allow you to publish music, videos and photos online. Others work as multimedia servers, which mean DLNA-compatible equipment can access the files they contain directly over the network. However, because of the different problems associated with compatibility between different file formats, we recommend you use a NAS system as a simple file server. If you really want a multimedia system, then connecting a dedicated multimedia hard drive to your network will avoid these problems and provide better performance than NAS for this particular function.
Note: if you want to match the performances that we measured in our tests, all of the different components in your network need to support Gigabit Ethernet--the WiFi routers provided by
One of the things I would like to see in a NAS before I actually purchase one is hardware encryption of some sort. It would be nice to know if the unit were stolen that the data on it couldn't be accessed without proper credentials of some sort. For this very reason I still choose to run my storage from a real PC is so I can fully encrypt all the drives.
Ignoring price for the moment, I would love to see these, or some other future NAS boxes assessed in a RAID 0+1 configuration, where u get the benefits of both striping, and redundancy. Four 1TB drives though, only to end up with 1/2 the total storage of 2TB is a b*tch though, I know... =)
There are 4-6 drive NAS enclosures out there relatively affordable.
Do yourself a favor - if you're interested in Network Storage, DON'T get a 2 Drive appliance. Get a larger unit and populated it as funds allow. Something like the Intel ss4200-e ($160-$200), 4 drives.
Good article. Obviously these commercial solutions are nice. For pure interest sake, I'd love to see a NAS DIY build thrown in to see performance and usability comparisons. A lot of us have spare stuff around to build one minus the hard drives. Thanks for the review though.
^^ Yeah, a DIY description or follow-up article would be cool!
just do a google search on NAS DYI review and you will find several sites dedicated to NAS reviews and comparisons. There are so many ways out there to build one depending on which OS you plan on using.
Why not build your own NAS from a cheap computer using OpenSolaris and ZFS? That's what I would do if I need to extend my storage capacity. ZFS also offers features that are way more reliable than what RAID can offer.
I was disappointed not to see my ReadyNAS Duo in the line-up; I think it easily matches the features, it has an active community producnig "add-ons" e.g. in development is a feature for ip security cameras, there's one to stream music over the net, there's an itunes server, at least 3 torrent clients, plenty of local media streaming, as well as normal stuff like storage, RAID, UPS support, backup management
What the hell is this reviewer talking about. I just purchased the Lacie NS2 - i have a constant transfer rate of 11 MB/s over my LAN using a Dlink Dir-635 router standard G.
This review is just plain wrong. I recieved my Lacie NS2 a few days ago, and the speed is fine.
I use mine on a gigabit lan, and my speed is around 30 MB/s read, and 20 MB/s write on a normal explorer transfer.
My sentiments exactly. This is a link to a danish review but you can see the transfer speeds under "Benchmark": http://www.laptopworld.dk/Anmeldel [...] ml?start=4