TechIndia

When it comes to NAS (Network Attached Server), the first name that comes to mind is Thecus. With data redundancy in mind, they have the N4100PRO NAS device that can work with up to four hard drives and is capable of using RAID 5, 6, and 10 to make sure that your data is safe. Not only does it serve the purpose, it also looks good. While a PC can certainly serve the purpose of a NAS device, it can’t do it as efficiently as a NAS device. NAS devices are optimized for data server purposes, consume less power and occupy a small footprint. They come with broader range of features too. We have the Thecus N4100PRO with us today and will try to find out how well it fares in our tests.

Bundle

• Thecus N4100PRO
• Ethernet cable
• Power cable
• User manual
• Software discs
• Pouch with screws and keys

The N4100PRO comes with a power cable and an Ethernet cable. A user manual is also provided so that you do not face any difficulty setting it up.

Features

The Thecus N4100PRO is beautifully designed and is contrary to the idea of what you normally think of when thinking of NAS devices in general. We can say that you will not shy away from keeping it even in the living room. Most of the surfaces have a non-reflective black finish (except the front door). The sides have a black brush-metal finish.

Looking from the front, the upper right portion has perforated grills, which allow air intake to flow over and cool the hard drives situated in the bays inside.

Near the lower portion at the front, there is a blue backlit LCD display with two rows of characters. The backlit LCD can be easily seen even in a dimly lit room. When the unit is turned on, it displays information such as IP Address, Date and time, RAID status, etc. one after the other.

Just below this LCD, there is a group of four buttons present, which are styled nicely. These consist of UP, DOWN, ENTER and ESC. Keeping the ESC pressed for three seconds turns off the LCD backlight, while pressing any of the buttons turns it back on.

There is a USB port on the left of the device to connect external storage devices and printers. Just above the USB port, there is a vertical line of LEDs present, which indicate status of hard drives, WAN and LAN, while there is the power button just below it.

This section of the panel can be easily opened like a door to gain access to the hard drive rails. Once opened, you can see that there are four drive bays present within. You can easily unlatch the drive caddy from its position, place the hard drive in it, and fasten it using the provided screws.

After attaching the hard drive, all you need to do is to simply align the caddy and slide it back into position. After the latch is closed, the front panel can be closed back into position. You can also lock the latch by means of the provided keys.

At the back we see a large fan that throws out the hot air from within and maintains the airflow to cool the interior. The fan is remarkably silent and we think that it may not be spinning at top speed. There is yet another small fan near the bottom and this cools the power circuitry present within the enclosure. Please note that unlike the M3800, the N4100PRO does not come with an external power adapter and hence everything is situated inside.

To the right, there are Gigabit LAN and WAN ports for network connectivity. Providing a Gigabit port makes sense as the N4100PRO is meant to stream HD content and a high speed network eliminates any bottleneck. There are also two USB ports present near the top. Finally, you can see the power connector socket.

Overall, the construction is very sturdy and we did not see any flimsy moving parts anywhere. There are rubber feet under the N4100PRO and this not only helps it get a grip over any surface, but also help dampen the vibrations of the hard drives spinning inside it.

Opening up the N4100PRO

Curious as we are, we opened up the N4100PRO to peek at what lies within. Inside is an AMD Geode LX800 500 MHz processor powered system. The memory and SSD can be seen in the photograph above. The N4100PRO features 256 MB of DDR2 400 MHz memory and a 128 MB SSD.

Performance
We connected the Thecus N4100PRO to our test bench via the WAN port and powered it up. Before that, we installed a WD GreenPower AV-GP 2.0 TB hard drive in it. We inserted the software CD into the drive and the easy to use Thecus Setup Wizard was launched.

The wizard quickly discovered the N4100PRO, made basic network configuration settings and created a system password.

After the wizard completes, you can simply launch a web browser and enter the IP assigned to the Thecus N4100PRO to be launched by its web interface. Now you can configure the RAID array on the N4100PRO.

As you already know, the N4100PRO supports RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD. Setting up is as easy as it can be. All you need to do is to go to the RAID configuration page in the Storage area of the web interface, select the preferred RAID level, select the drives to be used in the array, and click ‘Create’. It is as simple as that. Hot-plug is supported, so you can just plug in an additional hard drive without switching off the system and the RAID array will automatically grow.

After the creation of the array, you will be presented with a RAID information page where the status of the array will be displayed. Building a RAID array can be time-consuming, so it may take a few hours to create a RAID 5 array of four hard drives.
After creating the array, you are ready to play around with the N4100PRO. There are different things that you can do.

1. File Server: This will let you host files on your network and allow users to access them from other devices on the network. Permissions can be set for users and groups.
2. FTP Server: This facility lets you host files across the internet by means of an FTP server which lets you access the files on this device from anywhere.
3. Backup Server: You can use the bundled Thecus Backup Utility to backup your important files to the device.
4. Media Server: Being a DLNA certified device, you can use the N4100PRO in combination with any DLNA devices you may have. Additionally, it has UPnP support too so connecting it to a device such as the Playstation 3 is also possible.
5. WebDisk: The WebDisk function allows users to access the system over the network from any web browser. Users can access shared folders for which they have permission.
6. Nsync: You can backup a shared folder to another N4100PRO, which is the Nsync Target, or to any FTP server (with appropriate access rights). You also have the option to transmit files securely between the two N4100PROs while using Nsync. Adding multiple tasks and scheduling is also possible.
7. iTunes Server: There is an iTunes Server built inside the N4100PRO and this lets you stream your music across the network.
8. Webcam Server: Another nifty feature built into the N4100PRO is the Webcam Server, which lets you connect a supported USB webcam to capture images according to the your decided schedule. This may be used as a surveillance device.
9. Printer Server: You can connect printer devices to the USB port and they can be used as network printers using the Printer Server functionality.
10. Downloader: Similar to most NAS devices today, there is also a built-in download manager that can be scheduled to download files to the NAS server at any convenient time. What is good about it is that in addition to normal downloads it can also download torrent files.

Backup Utility v. 1.0.3

Thecus provides a basic backup utility that requires no installation - all you need to do is just run the executable. This is in no way connected to the web interface we have seen earlier. It lets you schedule tasks, but since it does not run as a service, you may need to manually place a shortcut to this utility in the Startup folder for it to start automatically with Windows and follow schedules. Also, one folder can be backed up in a single task instead of multiple folders, which is very inconvenient.
Luckily, DriveClone Pro 5 is also bundled with the N4100PRO.

This software lets the user create various backups and store them onto the NAS device. You can take snapshots and automatically monitors even sector-level changes on the hard drive. Similarly, you can restore files or even the entire hard drive, migrate to a new hard drive, create disk images and make incremental backups.

Performance
We transferred sequential and assorted files to and fro to find the read and write speeds. We had to use a single hard drive since more could not be arranged to study the various RAID configurations.

Without a doubt, this is the fastest NAS throughput we have achieved in this test so far. Earlier NAS products would not let us achieve anything more than the transfer speeds of an external USB hard drive, while here we have something similar to a 5,400 RPM hard drive performance.

Verdict

The Thecus N4100PRO is certainly adept at what it is supposed to do. The performance is par excellence and there is simply nothing to complain about. It supports all the varieties of RAID configurations, and the data redundancy offered keeps your data safe and secure. It also sports features such as FTP, iTunes server, printer server and webcam server and has option to connect to Gigabit Ethernet networks as well as wireless networks by means of a separately available Wi-Fi dongle. With a solid build, it even looks good.

Support for up to four hard drives with hot-plug capability is certainly a feature that sets it apart from most other NAS devices. Setting it up is very easy and the web interface is very intuitive. There are so many features to explore that a single review may not be enough for this product. The bundled backup software is also good at what it is supposed to do.
Thecus N4100PRO is priced stiffly at Rs.36,750 - the price is really too stiff for most to pay. Furthermore, it does not come with any storage capacity (not even a single hard drive inside) and you have to install a hard drive to make any use of it. While the prices are not as high as before, we still feel that they should drop further before you can go for this product. For small businesses and SMBs, we think that this device will offer data storage and security and if your data is really important, it is worth investing in this product.

Specifications

1. Hardware Platform

2. Software Functions