Reviews

Unless you have been living under a small stone in a field behind Bilbo Baggins' home, you may have heard the term NAS (Network Attached Storage). NAS are becoming more prevalent in the home, the small office, and the Enterprise. These flexible, inexpensive, devices can nearly do it all, which is what makes them so attractive. Well, it seems like everyone and their cousin is producing a NAS of some sort, but only a few have really got their act together. Among that small few, those that have more in R&D than they do in sales, is a company by the name of ASUSTOR. Today, ASUSTOR is no longer just a startup company. Instead, they have been producing some of the best, low-cost, NAS that money can buy. We had the chance to review their AS-302T, as well as the AS-608T and absolutely loved it. Let's see if their AS-204T can live up to our lofty expectations.

We love speed... and after reviewing the Samsung 840 Pro, we were chomping at the bit to get the 840 EVO in the lab. Not only does the newer EVO model use newer 19nm 3-bit Triple-Level Cell vs that of 2-bit MLC found in the 840 Pro, but it also features a much more attractive price-point and an increased IOPS... on paper.

If you are hunting around for your next NAS, you have plenty to pick from. With countless options, NAS makers are hard at work trying to ramp up their products and are jockeying for the number 1 spot on your short list. It seems like only yesterday that QNAP had introduced their X69(L) lineup and already we are being greeted by a more powerful X70 lineup. For the last few months, we have been putting QNAP's TS-470 to work in our office... the real question is, is it worth your dollar?

If you have read our guide to building your own NAS or our more recent Lian Li PC-Q28 Review, you may be ready to get your own personal NAS project started. The cases featured in both of those articles were great enclosures for a NAS Solution, but didn't really make accessing your drives easy. iStarUSA thinks they have the perfect case for the job, the S-915. This compact mini-ITX tower style chassis may not be an enthusiasts first choice in brand name or feature a sleek all aluminum exterior, but it does have a company with 20 years of experience in industrial computers behind it. Is that enough to seat it atop your list for cases in your project?

Having used Manilla's service for quite some time now, I have become accustomed to the alerts and statement notifications provided by the service. In a previous article, Simplify Your Financial Life With Mint.com & Manilla.com, we outlined the service and recommended it as one tool for simplifying your finances. For a while now, Manilla has been slowly preparing us for something... their closure.

If there is one thing that gets my cooling fans spinning, it is a nice case. Computer cases range from garbage to extraordinary. The wide selection of manufacturers, styles, colors, and features can make picking one a daunting task. Sometimes, an inexpensive good-looking case leaves you wanting features you found in a more expensive, less appealing (downright ugly) case. Well, there are only a few "go to" manufacturers for me, and believe me, Fractal Design is moving up the ladder quickly. After Fractal Designs released the Define R4, I didn't look back. Let's see if they can keep up the good work with the ARC Mini R2.

Thecus is no slouch when it comes to producing affordable NAS solutions. They have been producing some of the best performing NAS at an unbeatable price point for as long as I can remember. With the introduction of their Vision Series, Thecus has put the pressure on. Their N7510 NAS brings some interesting things to the table, 7 bays of storage loving goodness, great looks, and a fantastic price point. Let's see if it delivers more than just an odd number of drive bays.

Having more than one hard drive in your PC not that uncommon for one reason or another. Sometimes, having access to those drives is just as important as having them. The days of locking your drives behind your case's side panel are gone, and products like SATA cages / backplane make accessing your drives easy. For me, having a number of 2.5" SSDs with varying operating systems fulfills my needs for testing, working, and playing. Instead of selecting which drive I want to run through the BIOS, I simply pop that drive in my SATA backplane and I am off and running. Recently our Vantec EZ Swap F4 MRK-425ST-BK 4 Bay HDD rack has decided that its 40mm fan would sound like a bicycle with a baseball card running through the spokes. Can iStarUSA's BPU-124DE-SS unseat our current hardware? Let's find out.

NAS manufacturers are hitting the home theater enthusiast scene pretty hard. Asustor has joined the charge and thinks they have a NAS that can steal the spotlight. They are packing as much as they can into these powerful little boxes and people are eating it up. Asustor impressed us with their AS-608T; can they keep up the good work with the AS-302T?

When we thought that we had the perfect case for our NAS build, Lian Li came knocking on our door and promised to change our minds. Our current build features the Fractal Node 304 and it has been a great small server / NAS mini-itx chassis that has plenty of storage space. Unseating it will be quite the challenge. Lian Li confidently accepts the challenge.