Thecus W5000 NAS Review

Now that we have a lot of the marketing stuff out of the way, let’s start to look at what this NAS is all about.  Outside of the specs this NAS first features a black and very bland exterior similar to the N5550.  I still feel the same about it as I did back when I reviewed that NAS, and it sill looks like a diner jukebox to me.  On the face of the NAS, the most predominant feature is the push to open panel.  Just below the panel you have an LCD screen, up and down buttons, an enter button, and an escape button.

The LCD screen is the same one found on the N5550 and displays the same sort of information.  Things like the IP address, the Hostname, %Free on disks, and some marketing information about the OS.  The funny part is, none of the buttons actually do anything.  Instead, they are just plastic placeholders for this NAS Linux siblings.  Fake buttons?

Just behind the front panel is where you will find the five removable drive trays.  Each of the trays is well constructed and sports a lock to keep prying fingers from removing your HDDS.  Two sets of keys are included… thankfully, because I lost one already.  Next to the drive trays you will find activity LEDs for System, Ethernet (2 of them), and… well to be honest with you, I don’t know.  There isn’t a manual included with the NAS.  If I were lazy, I wouldn’t have gone back to my N5550 review to look… ah… USB activity.  The last one is for error.

Just below those are the Power button and the reset button.

Around back is the audio connectors, 4 x USB 2.0, and eSATA port, HDMI, VGA, and dual Ethernet ports.  The shell is held in place by three simple thumb screws that invite you to upgrade RAM.  The system is cooled by an 80MM ADDA cooling fan and the PSU is easily removable should it ever decide to fail.