Thecus N5810PRO: the nose with built-in battery

On several occasions we have got to deal NAS solutions on Ubuntu pages, going from the simplest models to accommodate two hard disks which up until the proposals addressed to use in small and medium offices. The logic behind these products is in good substance common to all: a series of hard drives are installed in a chassis, on which is placed a motherboard with a processor and dedicated memory. Other features include one or more network adapters and USB connectors for external devices.

NAS is the heart of the operating system, typically developed based on a Linux distribution that is customized by the device manufacturer to adapt to the characteristics of the product and the features via software you want to enable. The most recent developments have led the NAS manufacturers to develop real APP store inside its products, thereby making accessible some specific applications with which you can extend the usage patterns than the traditional NAS device for backing up and sharing data.

As the number of hard drives that can be installed on the NAS increases the complexity: on the one hand make it accessible Raid mode more sophisticated, such as RAID 5 and RAID 6 that require at least the presence of 3 or 4 hard disks in order to be configured. The hardware architecture includes the presence of a more or less powerful processor, almost always a model with x86 architecture derived from the traditional world of PCs except for entry level proposals that use the SoC specific views contained the most need for calculation. A powerful CPU is required to secure setup times that are the most content possible, in addition to a rapid overall response to the NAS when accessing multiple systems simultaneously.

Subject of this article is the Thecus N5810PRO, a solution that can accommodate up to 5 hard drives and that is why it is addressed as much to the home user more advanced than the small and medium office. E 'it equipped with Intel Celeron J1900 processor, a quad-core solution that is combined with 4 Gbytes of expandable DDR3 memory up to a maximum of 8 Gbytes. All components are mounted in the front, where there are 5 drawers for hard drives with independent lock key, a USB 3.0 connector for external devices, the operation LED and a display showing the rotating some status information operation of the unit. To the display data can be accessed through a set of buttons located in the lower part, as most of the unit data to be accessible from the web interface.

Once installed hard disks in drawers and connected the unit to the network, you can proceed with the initial configuration: Thecus N5810PRO will start with a pre-configured IP address, allowing access from a PC on the same network configured via the web interface. It will be possible, this is done, change the IP of the NAS to suit your preferences as well as kick off the chain of Raid configuration choice for installed hard drives. The options vary depending on the number of hard disk installed, passing from those Raid 0 and Raid 1, with a minimum of two hard drives, up to that Raid 5 with at least three hard drives and RAID 6 and RAID 10 available with at least 4 hard drives installed. And 'of course possible to create a JBOD (Just a Bunch of Disks) configuration, whereby the ability to unify all of the hard disk installed as if it were a single unit.

The administration interface is indicated by the name of Thecus OS, now in version 3. The approach is very similar to what we saw with the Synology solutions from various icons you can access the NAS configuration menu, passing by the settings operating the configuration of user accounts to that of the shared space. Do not miss the App Center, where you can have access to the download of different applications that implement some advanced services in the NAS on a par with what we saw proposed by other companies engaged in the sector. An approach of this kind is reason to exist right in the NAS nature, become de facto mini server is able to operate for traditional backup and data storage is to manage more complex services such as those of a web server . We tend to assume that the purchase of a NAS to be primarily related to the need for storage and data security more than for other incidental features, but the expandability in terms of the functions that the latest OS for NAS provide a step in definitely welcome back.

In the back of the Thecus N5810PRO we find the cooling fan which expels air from the front and passed between internal components and hard disks; no shortage 4 USB ports, 2 standard 2.0 and 2 type 3.0, next to the network connector Gigabit and 4 additional Gigabit ports can be configured in load balancing mode so as to ensure higher operational redundancy. In the lower part we find a predisposition for an optional unit: it is a by 2.000mAh battery, which comes into operation the moment should fail the mains supply so as to allow to turn off the NAS in the correct sequence and to avoid the accidental data loss. Last but not least an HDMI connector to a screen, so as to directly connect our NAS to a TV and send this multimedia content.

Thecus N5810PRO is available on the market at a price including VAT of about € 650.00, does not have a hard drive. It is a figure in line with that of other models that can accommodate up to a maximum of five hard drives, approach speculate in terms of configurable Raid mode and advanced features provided. Thecus offers a second version of the NAS, indicated with the name of N5810: the technical characteristics are unchanged except for the buffer battery that is absent and for the network cards which are two. For this version, the price is around € 550.00 including VAT and always without a hard disk.