At the beginning of this year, our test lab was visited by a four-disk NAS ASUSTOR AS4004T, which, like its two-disk counterpart ASUSTOR AS4002T, was equipped with a 10 Gb / s network interface. At the same time, these devices are not intended for business, but for the widest range of home users. Despite their capabilities, these models are offered to the user at a price at which other manufacturers sell entry-level drives. This happened with the new NAS from - four-disk model AS5304T and two-disk AS5202T, which received the NIMBUSTOR prefix. The latter speaks of the belonging of new products to a new line of devices intended for technical enthusiasts. We got a two-disk model for testing.
Contents of delivery
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The device comes in a white cardboard box with a plastic handle for transportation. Inside, in addition to the drive itself, the following accessories were found:
- power adapter with detachable power cable;
- two Ethernet cables;
- a set of screws for mounting 2,5-inch drives;
- a short printed guide to getting started.
The manufacturer has finally abandoned CDs bundled with network drives. In any case, the current version of the software is automatically downloaded via the Internet when installing and configuring the NAS. The rest of the package does not differ from other models.
Technical specifications
| Characterization/Model | SCARER AS5202T | |
| HDD | 2 Γ 3,5β/2,5β SATA3 6Gb/s, HDD or SSD | |
| File system | internal hard drives: EXT4, Btrfs external media: FAT32, NTFS, EXT3, EXT4, HFS+, exFAT, Btrfs |
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| RAID level | Single disk, JBOD, RAID 0, 1 | |
| Processor | Intel Celeron J4005 2,0 GHz | |
| Operational memory | 2 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 (expandable up to 8 GB) | |
| Network interfaces | 2 Γ 2,5 Gigabit Ethernet RJ-45 | |
| Additional interfaces | 3 x USB-A 3.2 1 x HDMI 2.0a |
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| Protocols | CIFS / SMB, SMB 2.0 / 3.0, AFP, NFS, FTP, TFTP, WebDAV, Rsync, SSH, SFTP, iSCSI/IP-SAN, HTTP, HTTPS, Proxy, SNMP, Syslog | |
| Client | Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10, Server 2003, Server 2008, Server 2012 Mac OS X 10.6 and later UNIX, Linux iOS, Android |
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| Cooling system | one fan 70Γ70 mm | |
| Power consumption, W | work: 17 sleep mode: 10,5 sleep: 1,3 |
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| Dimensions, mm | 170 Γ Γ 114 230 | |
| Weight, kg | 1,6 (without HDD) | |
| Estimated price*, rub. | 22 345 | |
* Average price for "Yandex.Market" at the time of writing
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Compared to the ASUSTOR AS4002T and ASUSTOR AS4004T models, the new NAS with a fast network interface has received an updated hardware base. The novelty is running a dual-core processor Intel Celeron J4005. The base clock frequency is 2,0 GHz and can be increased up to 2,7 GHz. The calculated thermal power is relatively small - 10 W, so the processor did not need active cooling. The manufacturer managed with a fairly large aluminum heatsink that covers the processor.
The processor works with DDR4 / LPDDR4 RAM with a maximum capacity of up to 8 GB. It is noteworthy that this NAS uses SO-DIMM modules, and there are not one, but two slots. The NAS ships with only one 2GB RAM module out of the box, although the processor works with dual-channel memory. Thus, the user has the opportunity, if necessary, to increase the amount of RAM from 2 GB to 4 or 8 GB. In the second case, you will have to purchase two new 4 GB modules at once. This is a huge plus for anyone who wants to deploy a full-fledged server based on ASUSTOR AS5202T.
For 2,5-gigabit ports, the manufacturer chose fairly new Realtek RTL8125 Ethernet controllers, which today can already be found on some motherboards of the upper price range.
Three USB 3.2 ports are implemented using built-in SoC tools. It also provides an HDMI 2.0 video output, with which the NAS can be turned into a full-fledged multimedia player.
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To store the firmware, the motherboard is equipped with a Kingston EMMC04G module. It is also easy to notice a rather large ITE IT8625E I/O controller on the board. In general, the presence of a more powerful processor and expandable RAM allows us to conclude that ASUSTOR did a good job of fixing the bugs. In this configuration, the presence of a pair of modern 2,5-gigabit network interfaces looks very organic. Well, the presence of an HDMI 2.0a video output is a great addition that expands the capabilities of a classic NAS.
Appearance
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Appearance is one of the features of the novelty. The color scheme of the plastic case, which combines matte black with bright red design elements, clearly hints that this is not the easiest NAS in front of us. The multi-faceted surfaces give the drive a slightly rugged look, while the lacquered front panel completes the look.
For a two-drive model, this NAS is not the lightest. It's all about the rather thick plastic casing and the presence of a metal chassis inside. The plastic parts of the case are divided into two halves. From below, four large rubber feet are glued to them for installing the device on any flat surface. This NAS will not take up much space on a table or shelf.
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The removable front panel has a magnetic mount. It performs an exclusively decorative function. Behind the panel is a disk bay with a vertical sled. To the left of the disk compartment there is a panel of LED indicators that inform the user about the activity of disks, network interfaces and USB ports, and power status. There is also one of two USB 3.2 ports and a round power button.
The back panel is made of metal and also painted black. At the back is traditionally a grill with a 70mm fan attached to it, and next to it are a couple more USB 3.2 ports, an HDMI 2.0a video output, two bright red 2,5-gigabit RJ-45 ports, and a power adapter jack. In the lower left corner you can find a slot for a Kensington security lock.
The ventilation and cooling scheme of ASUSTOR AS5202T is traditional. A fan located on the back of the case draws in air through the ventilation grills in the front of the bottom surface and pulls it through the entire motherboard and hard drives. But, despite the classic performance of the novelty in literally everything, the designers from ASUSTOR managed to make it attractive, bright and unique.
Mounting hard drives and internal structure
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With the plastic sled used in the construction of ASUSTOR AS5202T, we are already familiar with other ASUSTOR NAS models. Their main feature is that a screwdriver is not required for mounting and dismounting hard drives. To install the disk, it is enough to remove the plastic strips with pins that replace the screws from one or both sides at once, and after installing the disk, return them to their place. The plastic design of the skid, coupled with rubber bushings, reduces vibration from the discs during operation. The plates are easy to remove and install, and the entire process of mounting hard drives takes just a couple of minutes.
In the disk compartment, the sled is fixed with the help of locks that open when you turn the plastic handle on the front panel. There is no additional lock with a key. The sled has a frame structure with many holes, which allows cooling of all external surfaces of the disks.
The user may need to open the ASUSTOR AS5202T case only to increase the amount of RAM. It's easy to do. As mentioned above, the plastic parts of the case are divided into two halves. To open it, you will need to unscrew the two screws on the back surface and move one half relative to the other. The user's gaze will open a solid metal chassis, on which the motherboard is attached from the bottom, and the sled with hard drives is placed on top. To replace memory modules, you wonβt need to unscrew anything else - access to it is specially open.
Work Ρ device
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Installation and configuration of ASUSTOR AS5202T is possible both using the proprietary ASUSTOR Control Center PC application, and from any mobile device running Android or iOS, for which the AiMaster application is provided. This service provides not only the initial launch of the NAS, but also subsequent work with it, although it is still better to use a full-fledged web interface to gain access to all functions.
The novelty is running OS ADM (ASUSTOR Data Master). Last time we , at the time of testing, ADM version 5202 was available for ASUSTOR AS3.4T. There are no fundamental differences in it, but for the new NIMBUS NAS models, a special game theme for the multi-window interface, made in black and red, was specially developed. The features of ADM OS are described in detail by us at the link above and in earlier materials about NAS ASUSTOR, so we will not describe them in detail again. But for those who first get acquainted with the network drives of this manufacturer, we will mention the main features.
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Starting with the third version, ADM OS differs little in its content and capabilities from similar software products from other NAS market leaders. A multi-window customizable desktop with widgets, a convenient file manager, an application store and, of course, quick access to stored data both from a local network and via the Internet - ADM 3.4 has all this in full.
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For remote connection to the disk space of the drive, the EZ-Connect Internet service is provided. No settings other than authorization are required. The device owner will then be able to access the web interface of the NAS via the Internet by entering their ASUSTOR Cloud ID, username and password. You can organize guest access to any folder using a link or a QR code, additionally limiting it to a time interval. The drives of the NAS itself can be connected to a local PC via iSCSI.
Well, a huge number of network protocols that ASUSTOR AS5202T works with allows you to be sure that it will be possible to connect it to a PC or mobile device on any software platform. By the way, the manufacturer offers to use the AiData application to exchange data with smartphones, to work with video, photo and music content there are mobile programs AiVideos, AiFoto and AiMusic.
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A lot of attention in ADM is paid to data backup functions. By default, backups can be done in both directions with internal and attached external drives, remote storages and rsync file servers. But of the cloud services, only Amazon S3 is represented.
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But in the application store built into ADM, you can download and install additional data backup services for free, including Google Disk, Dropbox, Onedrive and others.
Another interesting feature related to data backup is MyArchive. Its essence is that one or more disks of the device are used as separate storages of certain data. MyArchive drives can be formatted with exFAT, EXT4, NTFS and HFS+ file systems. They are not combined into RAID and can simply be removed from the NAS or expansion unit and put away for storage, and subsequently connected not only to the ASUSTOR NAS, but also to any Windows PC or Mac. There can be any number of such disks. Like any other folders, data on MyArchive drives can be encrypted using the AES algorithm with a 256-bit key.
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Disks in ASUSTOR AS5202T can be formatted both in the EXT4 file system and in Btrfs, which has advanced options for creating backup copies of data. Based on the data of this file system, the Snapshot Center allows you to create data fingerprints, from which, in case of damage to files, you can restore them. These fingerprints can be created every five minutes. It is allowed to store up to 256 pictures at the same time, while they will occupy almost no space on the disk.
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The data stored on the device is protected by a built-in firewall and Avast Antivirus. Additional security apps can be downloaded from the app center. The latter are divided into easy-to-search categories and delight primarily with their diversity. A separate place among them is occupied by applications for working with multimedia data.
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ASUSTOR AS5202T has an HDMI 2.0 port that allows you to directly connect a video panel to it. Together with input devices connected to USB ports, this NAS turns into a full-fledged media player. The software shell for this is ASUSTOR Portal, which is installed from the application center. To play movies, you can use the Plex player or any other. Well, the function of hardware decoding 4K video allows you not to load the processor heavily during operation, using its resources for other parallel running tasks.
StreamsGood streaming service is available for ASUSTOR Portal integration among other applications. It works with YouTube Gaming, Facebook Gaming, Twich, Douyu, and King Kong to stream to the internet. All gameplay can also be stored on NAS storage space at resolutions up to 4K.
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In the latter case, a 2,5-gigabit interface would be a very useful addition, as would the port aggregation feature. The latter has a number of settings and the ability to select the type of aggregation, depending on what you need to get: high reliability of data transfer or speed. In general, ADM 3.4 OS allows you to organize and maintain a full-fledged home server based on ASUSTOR NAS with extensive storage and data access capabilities. For a relatively inexpensive NAS, this is a very big plus in the treasury of advantages.
The test is
Testing was done with two Seagate Constellation CS ST3,5NC3000 002-inch hard drives, 3 TB each, with 64 MB cache, running at 7200 rpm. The performance test bench had the following configuration:
- processor Intel Core i5-2320 3,0 GHz;
- motherboard GIGABYTE GA-P67A-D3-B3 Rev. 2.0;
- RAM 16 GB DDR3-1333;
- video adapter ASUS GeForce 6600 GT 128 MB;
- 520 GB Intel SSD 240 SSD;
- ten gigabit network adapter Intel 10-Gigabit Ethernet;
- OS Windows 7 Ultimate.
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The native read and write speeds of the test drive were about 200 MB/s. For a network drive connected via a 2,5-gigabit network interface, the performance of the test bench can become a weak point. During testing, the device disks were assembled into RAID arrays of levels 0 and 1. The Btrfs system was used as the file system at all stages of testing. A shared folder was created on the disk, which was connected to the OS of the test bench as a network drive. Performance evaluation was obtained using highly specialized tests ATTO Disk Benchmark and Intel NAS Performance Toolkit, as well as using direct copying of files in Windows Explorer.
When connected via a gigabit network interface at any level of the RAID array, it is the network interface that becomes the data transfer speed limit. The read and write speed is limited to about 118 MB / s. To get higher values, you need to either connect the NAS with a 2,5 Gb / s interface, or use the port aggregation function. Unfortunately, we did not have a suitable client device with a 2,5 Gb/s Ethernet interface, and the Intel X10-T540 1 Gb network card refused to connect the NAS at speeds above 1 Gb/s. So we used the second option to work using the Link Aggregation function.
To do this, a second client PC was connected to the network (a test bench with a similar configuration) and a ZYXEL GS1900-9 switch operating with the IEEE 802.3ad LACP protocol. At the same time, the switch and NAS were combined over two gigabit channels in the Link Aggregation mode. The corresponding network settings were also made in the ADM OS. Testing consisted of parallel data exchange between the NAS and two clients at the same time. Three video files from 2,5 to 3,5 GB were used as test data for transmission.
Regardless of the type of RAID array chosen, the performance in this test was again limited by the network bandwidth: 225-228 MB / s both for reading and writing. The data obtained suggests that the presence of a 2,5-gigabit network interface in this NAS is not a marketing ploy at all. Processor performance is sufficient for multi-user work, and expandable RAM will allow you to use tools such as virtualization, for which the corresponding services are provided in the application center.
As for noise, according to this indicator, the new NAS can really be safely called home. It works almost silently and only during periods of peak load the fan becomes audible from afar. The temperature of the disks during testing was kept at the level of 45-55 Β°C.
Conclusions
Having tested the market on the ASUSTOR AS4004T model with a ten-gigabit network interface, in which the processor, for the sake of the low cost of the device, still left much to be desired, the company made an absolutely right decision: to βtighten upβ the hardware base a bit and give the user a more home-like experience instead of the redundant 10 Gb / s 2,5 Gb / s interface, which today has already begun to equip both desktop PC motherboards and routers. In order to have a backlog for true technologists, two such interfaces were installed. The software component was practically not changed - it was already almost perfect in every respect. But they improved the appearance and at the same time practically did not change the cost (if we compare the previous and today's models in the same number of disk slots). The result is devastating for NAS in this price range from other manufacturers who offer similar configurations for completely different money.
In short, the advantages of the ASUSTOR AS5202T model include:
- bright spectacular appearance;
- simple and easy-to-use design;
- very high performance level for a home user;
- the presence of two 2,5-gigabit network interfaces with the possibility of port aggregation;
- the possibility of expanding the amount of RAM;
- low noise and heating;
- almost limitless possibilities of the ADM control software package.
At the same time, the novelty did not reveal any serious shortcomings. At a price of just over twenty thousand rubles, the ASUSTOR AS5202T model can be safely recommended for purchase as one of the most profitable solutions in its class.
Source: 3dnews.ru