Question Cheapest 4-bay (And up) SOHO NAS unit, with at least 2.5gbe connectivity (and preferably an Intel CPU)?

[VirtualLarry]

Curious if anyone is aware of any cheaper options.

 

[SamirD]

Asus seems to have done good job of revamping their nas lineup with all 2.5Gb ports and a basic but funcational firmware that can transcode. I was impressed.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I think that the Asus 5304 model is probably basically what I'm looking for, or a LockerStor 4.

 

[SamirD]

The ssd caching will definitely be a solid boost with the 2.5Gb as just drives won't be able to continuously saturate that.

 

[Fallen Kell]

I'm pretty happy with my server. It is a Penguin Computing Icebreaker 4824 or 4924 (a supermicro SC846) that I found off lease on ebay for $650. Not bad considering it had 2xIntel 12core/24 thread Xeon CPUs and 192GB RAM. Added a 40gbps network card for another $30 and tossed in 6x14TB hard drives and a pair of 512GB SSDs and I was all set. Still have room for another 18 SAS3 hot swap hard drives. Sure it draws more power and is 4 rack units, but it costs 1/2 the price of a Storlocker 10 and gives me almost 2.5x more drive bays, 4x the network speed, 12x the CPU cores for multithreading to different client devices at the same time, and 24x the RAM which is used for read/write caching... Sometimes thinking a little different can make a big difference (I did spend $120 replacing the CPU heatsinks with noctuas and replaced the fanwall with 3x120mm noctuas as well, but the end result is that the hard drives are louder than the rest of the system, which is just a low whoosh sound of the airflow).

 

[VirtualLarry]

In answer to my question in the OP, Asus did release a pair of 2-bay and 4-bay nas units that are distinctively low-cost, and have 2.5GbE-T support (a single network jack of 2.5GbE), They unfortunately don't have an Intel Atom CPU in them, though, they have a quad-core 1.4Ghz ARM CPU / SoC made by RealTek. Could be worse, I suppose.

Question - New Asustor 'Drivestor 2/4' models, 2.5GbE-T port, RealTek ARM-based quad-core 1.4Ghz CPU, 1GB DDR4 (non-upgradable), $169/$269 @ Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/Asustor-Drivestor-AS1102T-Attached-Personal/dp/B094NLN4ZJ?th=1 Looks like a new winner in the low-cost NAS category, with these new RealTek SoC-based NAS units, with 2.5GbE-T ports. Will try to get one to try out. $169 is really tempting for a 2-bay 2.5GbE-T NAS, for a...

forums.anandtech.com

 

[VirtualLarry]

Are you a human?

www.newegg.com

Picked up some of these units. They are the 'Driverstor Pro' lineup, 2/4-bay, similar to the Driverstor lineup, but they have double (2GB) the RAM, and hot-swap trays rather than thumbscrews. Oh, and a single 2.5GbE too.

 

[cellarnoise]

Waiting for a review now!

These seem decent, for a mostly prebuilt set and forget system.

I am playing around with an Odroid N2+ for my new home NAS and other. CPU power is great, but not for SSD or NVME or other storage... Runs various Linux desktops and other USB storage fast! And can transcode most so far without hiccups.

 

[bbhaag]

Not exactly in the same vein as the one you got but my current NAS is also an Asustor but it's just the entry level AS1002T v2 unit.

I've only had it for a little over a year but so far it has been really reliable and support for apps and firmware updates has been great. Anecdotal I know but so far my experience with Asustor has been rock solid.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Not exactly in the same vein as the one you got but my current NAS is also an Asustor but it's just the entry level AS1002T v2 unit.

I've only had it for a little over a year but so far it has been really reliable and support for apps and firmware updates has been great. Anecdotal I know but so far my experience with Asustor has been rock solid.

I have one of those, too, with a pair of Toshiba 6TB NAS drives in it. I just keep that on standby, don't actually use the space for anything yet, really.

Ordered an AS1102T new entry-level 2-bay NAS with 2.5GbE, for my pair of 4TB Toshiba drives.

Would I be "living dangerous" if I configured the drives for 2x4TB RAID-0, to go along withe the 2.5GbE, as long as that NAS only held my backup archive? (And thus only secondary copies of things?)

 

[Ajay]

Would I be "living dangerous" if I configured the drives for 2x4TB RAID-0, to go along withe the 2.5GbE, as long as that NAS only held my backup archive? (And thus only secondary copies of things?)

Yes! But, YOLO 😉