QNAP TS439 II Pro TurboNAS, Part I
About a week ago I finally got my home NAS device, a “QNAP TS 439 II Pro“.
I have been postponing this purchase for years now since I had my own home brew Linux server acting as a NAS station. I only decided to phase out the Linux server in favour for the small NAS box because after 10 years always-on usage, my Linux server began to have some stability issues.
For me the new NAS device had to be able to support all features I was using on my Linux server. More features were nice, but not required.
- Replicate personal data on regular intervals, like digital photos and scanned documents.
- Replicate backups from my website and database (along with the website of a couple of friends) to the NAS box.
- Serve multimedia content using uPnP/DLNA to the media players in my house. Transcoding not required.
- Download podcasts on regular intervals.
- Download other content like TV shows and or movies.
- Serve as a surveillance station for a webcam or maybe even two eventually.
- Have fairly good performance.
Like Synology, QNAP has several models that support all of these features. Maybe not all of them out-of-the-box, but they can all be implemented in some way. Besides what I wanted it to support, the QNAP has a bunch more features you can use. I went for the QNAP based on various posts I read on the web and features the do offer. In the end I do not think it would have made much difference. Pricing is however somewhat higher for the Synology boxes with 4 or more drives (as far as I have been able to investigate).
Unboxing:
The QNAP came in a nice cardboard box with sufficient soft protection to make sure your box can sit in your cabinet or on your desk without dents or scratches. Like most other products, there is nothing wrong with the packaging. When you order your gear at a webshop, make sure you check a couple of reviews on that shop to make sure they send their orders in decent and discrete packaging.
I tend to order at the same webshop most of the time, because I know them and am very satisfied with their services. I know it sometimes can be somewhat cheaper, but that is not my most important criteria.
Within the box, there is also a smaller box with the power and network cables. Yes more than one network cable, as this QNAP model has a dual 1GbE interface. Also you will find a small plastic wrapping with the necessary screws to secure your hard drives in the brackets. For those who care to use it, there is also a CDrom with all the user documentation you need. In my case, these mostly end up in the bin.
External appearance:
From the outside the box has a decent and firm look. The surrounding cover is made up out of brushed aluminium and seems to have a clear coating over the metal. I guess it helps keeping the box clear of smudges. At the front is a small but very bright blue LCD panel indicating the IP address and status. After running a few minutes this display dims and only a couple of subtle LED’s are lit to indicate activity and system status.
The front cover is clearly a plastic cover and it also feels that way. This to me kind of seems disappointing in comparison to the side and top covers. The drive brackets are also made of plastic but have a metal cage to place either a 2.5″ HDD or 3.5″ HDD in.
The option of a 2.5″ or 3.5″ contributes to user flexibility but also has the SMB market in mind. I myself will be quite satisfied with the slower but larger capacity drives, but some businesses or high end users might have more need for faster or “greener” 2.5″ drives. It’s up to you, QNAP offers the possibility to go either way.
Be on the lookout for some follow up posts.
