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Review: QNAP NAS Website: https://www.qnap.com Price: $500-2000 (depending on the model)
From the web page: QNAP Systems, Inc., headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, provides a comprehensive range of cutting-edge Network-attached Storage (NAS) and video surveillance solutions based on the principles of usability, high security, and flexible scalability. QNAP offers quality NAS products for home and business users, providing solutions for storage, backup/snapshot, virtualization, teamwork, multimedia, and more. I have been adding a lot of QNAP NAS products for clients in the past two years, and I thought I would share my experiences with you. If you already have a NAS set up, or your own server, you can probably skip this article. The QNAP NAS, however, is fully loaded with features, so if you have ever battled setting up your Ubuntu server with SAMBA and DLNA, etc, this may be for you.
The Units: I have mostly been installing two- and four-bay NAS units as most of my clients use it for backup rather than all of the other built-in features. That said, there are bigger units available, six- and eight-bay NAS units are not uncommon. The feature set is quite extensive. The units have a metal chassis covered by a plastic shell. They are not meant to stack, but will sit on top of each other without an issue. The units also ship with two network ports, so connection is a breeze. The power supply is not built in, rather it is a laptop power supply, so the units are not heavy. The shell comes in more than just black, so you can put it on a shelf in the office and it will blend right in. As with most NAS boxes, you have to buy your own drives, so do your sums before purchase. The units do not have an abundance of RAM or CPU power, but it handles encryption and other tasks seamlessly.
Set up: You have two options here, once you have screwed your drives to their caddies and clicked them home. You can use the software provided, or you can configure it via a web page, if it is on your network. You can have your drives separate, or in a RAID configuration. Because it is Linux under the hood, you can have logical volumes set up. Setting up accounts and permissions is very simple and straightforward, and there is an overview (dashboard?) to see who can do what. Adding applications is like using the Ubuntu store, you pick one and install it. QNAP have also made management from the internet easy with a handy QR code on the outer shell. Everything is very intuitive, but help is never more than a click away should you get stuck. Setting up the NAS is really a pleasure, and I would encourage you to poke around, as everything has tool tips and hints and you cannot really break it at setup time.
Usage: As previously stated, my client’s main use is backup. Since Qbackup is provided free of charge, this alone can justify the purchase of one of these units. Qbackup is a basic solution, but gives you everything you could need including email notifications for home users and small business users. The unit also has USB ports if you want to connect another USB drive to it, to back up your data, should you wish to. The unit is also an excellent music server and photo repository, integrating with your computers and mobile devices on the local network and even across the internet. The interface is reminiscent of an Android tablet, so anyone should be able to use it. Once you have it set up the way you like it, the only time you will ever interface with it directly would be to update firmware or add new features. Once it is working, it will get out of your way and operate flawlessly. The tiny fan is really quiet and there are only two small LED’s, so you do not have a disco going at night. (Unlike other brands like Synology where you need sunglasses at night to counter all the blinking lights).
The applications: These guys have literally thought of everything. There are applications in the store for music streaming, video streaming cloud storage, torrent seed boxes, Plex servers, etc etc. You actually have to have a look at all the options to comprehend it. All these applications are add-ons to your NAS that extend its usefulness and value, not only to the home user but also to the business user. I have still to see if the enterprise class devices have the same add-ons available, but I have not used any of those. The ‘apps’: As my iPad is out of date (I do not plan on updating it as Apple just introduces slowing down routines to force you to buy new), I can not comment on AppStore applications, but I will endeavour to talk about the Android ones here.
Mostly I use Qmanager and Qfile. The first to manage the device and the second to check on backed up files. Now you can also use your NAS for other things, like streaming music and video, backing up your mobile devices, or CCTV footage storage. Just like the joke, I can say: “there is an app for that!”. Do yourself a favour and open the Google Play store on your Android device and search for QNAP. There are, at the time of writing, more than 20 QNAP ‘apps’ for Android. Almost every use case is covered and the ‘apps’ are updated regularly.
Pros: • QNAP provides lots of Android ‘apps’ for you to interact with your NAS when you need to. • The units are under active development and new firmware is pushed out like clockwork. You can do a firmware upgrade via your mobile via the internet. • The applications are constantly being improved and they too see regular updates. Cons: • If you have power issues, there is no way to do a disk check remotely. • If you have not logged in for a while, you will get locked out until you confirm via email. • The unit has a horrible shrill tone when there is an error (or it reboots), so keeping it in your bedroom or office can cause quite the heart attack when it is quiet.