Good news for those looking for cost effective budget NAS this 2016/17
Often over looked in the NAS community, the low end and budget friendly NAS devices are always held with a certain degree of contempt by many hard-care IT and network professionals. More geared with things like Plex Media Servers, Virtual Machines and NAS surveillance, they will look at the likes of the Synology DS216J and the QNAP TS-212p with derision in their eyes and a mocking tone in their voice. However like any tool for any job, sometimes you don’t need to bring a lorry to do a job that can be done by bike! The cost effective network attached storage (or cheap NAS to some) users out there are not looking for a NAS server to blow their socks off… not just because of the price, but because for all their fancy functions and hardware, they will never use more than 5% of it.
A new QNAP 1-Bay, 2-Bay and 4-Bay for 2016 and 2017
Which brings us to the latest and (arguably) best cost effective NAS release from the professional and top tier NAS brand, QNAP. The units are a single bay NAS, in the form of the QNAP TS-131P for those less concerned with RAID and Redundancy. The QNAP TS-213P 2-Bay for those looking for the security of a RAID level like RAID 1, but want a basic file and DLNA server. Finally, a 4-Bay NAS for those looking for more storage enabling RAID levels like RAID 5, as well as better storage and drive options, found in the QNAP TS-431P. Once again, a large portion of the NAS community will not be blown away by the hardware on these devices, but they are not the target audience. These new NAS are for those who was features like the following:
- Simple File Level Access on a user-friendly UI
- Apple Time Machine Backup support
- DLNA support to distribute your media to where you need it
- Setting up an iTunes server to house your music in one place
- Low end Network Surveillance over multiple IP cameras
- A onestop Download server to keep all your HTTP, FTP, BT and more downloads
- Low power consumption for a 24/7 server
- One touch Portable USB drive back up
- Migration and backup between popular cloud services (Dropbox, iCloud, GoogleDrive)
- All the other low key features of the QNAP QTS software
If what you want to do with NAS is listed above, then maybe you don;t need to spend a small fortune on your NAS to get the job done. Better still, if you have money to spend, put it into the Hard Drives! With Seagate releasing their Ironwolf 10TB and WD Red drives for NAS becoming a popular choice, it may be a solid decision in the long term for those looking for a NAS solution with long term, future proofing in mind.
How do the TS-131P, TS-231P and TS-431P NAS compare?
TS-431P
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TS-231P
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TS-131P
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| Assignment System | Embedded Linux | Embedded Linux | Embedded Linux |
| processor | Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-212 2-core 1.7 GHz | Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-212 2-core 1.7 GHz | Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-212 2-core 1.7 GHz |
| Memory (RAM) | 1GB DDR3 | 1GB DDR3 | 1GB DDR3 |
| Flash Memory | 512MB | 512MB | 512MB |
| RAM slots | – | – | – |
| HDD / SSD limit the number of | 4x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s | 2x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s | 1x 2.5″ or 3.5″ SATA 6Gb/s, 3Gb/s |
| Hot-swappable hard drive cage | V | V | V |
| Rear |  |
 |
 |
| Gigabit Ethernet port and | 2 | 2 | 1 |
| USB 3.0 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| LED lights | Power, Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-4 | Power, Status, LAN, USB, HDD1-2 | Power, Status, LAN, USB, HDD1 |
| Push button | Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy | Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy | Power, Reset, USB Auto Copy |
| Model | Tower | Tower | Tower |
| Dimensions (D x W x H) mm | 177 x 180 x 235 mm 6.97 x 7.09 x 9.25 inch |
168.5 x 102 x 225 mm 6.63 x 4.02 x 8.86 inch |
168.5 x 73 x 225 mm 6.63 x 2.87 x 8.86 inch |
| Weight (Net / Gross) | 3 kg (6.61 lbs) / 4.3 kg (9.48 lbs) | 1.28 kg (2.82 lbs) / 2.32 kg (5.11 lbs) | 1.04kg(2.29 lbs) / 1.80kg(3.97 lbs) |
| temperature | 0 – 40 °C | 0 – 40 °C | 0 – 40 °C |
| humidity | 5 – 95% RH | 5 – 95% RH | 5 – 95% RH |
| Power Supply Specifications | External Power Adapter,90W, 100-240V | External Power Adapter, 65W, 100-240V | External Power Adapter, 36W, 100-240V |
| Power consumption: Drive Sleep Mode (W) | 11.65 | 8.46 | 7.29 |
| Power consumption: operation mode, the typical value (W) | 26.7 | 15.6 | 11.62 |
| Noise level (A) | 19.5 | 19.2 | 15.8 |
| Windows Upload (MB / s) | 162 | 176 | 112 |
| Windows Download (MB / s) | 225 | 224 | 112 |
| AES 256-bit encryption Windows upload (MB / s) | 178 | 150 | 99 |
| AES 256-bit encryption for Windows download (MB / s) | 181 | 179 | 112 |
| File System: inscribed Hard Drive | EXT4 | EXT4 | EXT4 |
| File System: External Hard Drive | EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+ | EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+ | EXT3, EXT4, NTFS, FAT32, HFS+ |
| Limit the number of camera | Default: 2, Max.: 25 (optional license purchase) | Default: 2, Max.: 25 (optional license purchase) | Default: 2, Max.: 25 (optional license purchase) |
| Mobile security monitoring app (for iOS and Android) | Vmobile | Vmobile | Vmobile |
| USB cap webcam for instant viewing or when the number of snapshots available (QUSBCam App) | – | – | – |
| Virtualization Station | – | – | – |
| Syslog servers and clients | V | V | V |
| Virus Protection | V | V | V |
| Mail server | Xmail (QPKG) | Xmail (QPKG) | Xmail (QPKG) |
| VPN 伺服器 (PPTP + OpenVPN) | V (Max clients: 15 + 15) | V (Max clients: 15 + 15) | V (Max clients: 15 + 15) |
| myQNAPcloud remote access and file sharing | V | V | V |
| Third-party cloud storage | Amazon S3/Glacier, ElephantDrive, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure | Amazon S3/Glacier, ElephantDrive, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure | Amazon S3/Glacier, ElephantDrive, Google Drive, Microsoft Azure |
| Mobile app (for iOS and Android) | Qfile, Qmanager, Qphoto, Qmusic, Qnotes, VMobile, Vcam | Qfile, Qmanager, Qphoto, Qmusic, Qnotes, VMobile, Vcam | Qfile, Qmanager, Qphoto, Qmusic, Qnotes, VMobile, Vcam |
| VMware Ready® | – | – | – |
| Citrix Ready | – | – | – |
| Microsoft Hyper-V compatibility | – | – | – |
| Limit the number of users | 4096 | 4096 | 4096 |
| Limit the number of user groups | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| The maximum number of shared folders | 512 | 512 | 512 |
| Limit the number of concurrent connections | 400 | 400 | 400 |
| Language | English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Portuguese/Brazil, Greek | English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Portuguese/Brazil, Greek | English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Czech, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Turkish, Hungarian, Romanian, Thai, Portuguese/Brazil, Greek |
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