NAS News – QNAP Release New Cost Effective NAS, The TS-131P, TS-231P and TS-431P NAS

Rob Andrews

9 years ago

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	TS-231P	TS-131P
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