QNAP Introduces TS-364 3-bay RAID 5 2.5GbE NAS with M.2 SSD Caching

[btarunr]

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading computing, networking, and storage solution innovator, today launched the 3-bay RAID 5 2.5 GbE TS-364 NAS with M.2 PCIe Gen3 NVMe SSD slots and 2.5 GbE connectivity, providing optimized performance in home/office environments. Supporting light virtualization/containers and HDMI output, the TS-364 provides a centralized storage, backup, file sharing, and multimedia solution that features rich NAS applications for greater productivity and boundless entertainment.

"The new TS-364 NAS allows building a secure RAID 5 array with three disks for optimized storage capacity, cache performance and protection against one disk failing. With M.2 PCIe Gen3 slots, the TS-364 enables cache acceleration or SSD storage pools for improved performance, or Edge TPU for AI image recognition. Its 2.5 GbE port accelerates network transmission while its USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) ports allow quickly transferring large media files," said Joseph Chiang, Product Manager of QNAP.



The TS-364 is powered by an Intel Celeron N5105/ N5095 quad-core 4-thread processor (burst up to 2.9 GHz) with Intel AES-NI encryption engine and 4 GB DDR4 memory. The TS-364 supports cache acceleration or Qtier for improved performance, or Edge TPU for AI image recognition. The TS-364 has one 2.5 GbE port for next-generation network support, with one USB 3.2 Gen 1 (5 Gbps) and two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10 Gbps) ports that provide faster data transfer to portable devices. The TS-364's storage capacity can be expanded by connecting TL and TR storage expansion enclosures.

The TS-364 comes with the latest QTS 5.0 operating system, and includes rich NAS home/business applications: File Station streamlines NAS file access, sharing, and management through a web browser; Hybrid Backup Sync can easily back up NAS files to the cloud or another NAS to fulfill the 3-2-1 backup strategy; Virtualization Station and Container Station enables light virtualization applications; QVR Elite helps deploy a cutting-edge smart surveillance system; and KoiMeeter provides a complete cross-platform video meeting and wireless presentation solution. Home users will also enjoy the wide range of multimedia applications (including Plex ), streaming capabilities, and a built-in HDMI port, which allows them to enjoy their multimedia on their device of choice.

Key specifications
TS-364: Intel Celeron N5105/N5095 quad-core processor (burst up to 2.9 GHz); 4 GB DDR4 dual-channel memory (supports up to 16 GB); 2x M.2 2280 NVMe Gen 3x2 SSD slots; 1x 2.5 GbE RJ45 port; 1x HDMI 1.4b 4K output; 2x USB 3.2 Gen2 ports, 1x USB 3.2 Gen1 port.

For more information, visit the product page.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Deleted member 215115]

This is really cool!

 

[Chrispy_]

3-bay is useful as it's the smallest size you can use to built parity-based RAID but the cost difference between 3-bay and 4-bay is so minimal that you're usually just better off buying a 4-bay and leaving one bay empty for expansion (ZFS or hybrid-RAID), or using it as a hot-spare to automatically start rebuilding your array the instant one of your live disks fails.

 

[bug]

This is really cool!

It's specced nicely, but why do I need AI features on my NAS? NAS are pretty expensive as it is.

 

[Deleted member 215115]

It's specced nicely, but why do I need AI features on my NAS? NAS are pretty expensive as it is.

Because more AI = more better. Obviously.

 

[TheLostSwede]

Should retail for around US$500 plus tax based on the price in Taiwan.

 

[Chrispy_]

Should retail for around US$500 plus tax based on the price in Taiwan.

So similar to the Synology/QNAP 4-bay models.
At that price, what's the point? You're just losing a bay for no benefit. I'm not super-sure how comparable the specs are but dual NVMe 4-bays like the 420+/920+ and TS-451 are $500/$550 MSRP respectively.

To lose a bay you'd want to lose $100 off the MSRP too.

 

[bug]

Should retail for around US$500 plus tax based on the price in Taiwan.

Good to know, I noticed it's not listed yet.

Imho, the trick with these devices is getting them down to $200(ish). Otherwise they will never move in volumes.

So similar to the Synology/QNAP 4-bay models.
At that price, what's the point? You're just losing a bay for no benefit.

Sometimes space saving is benefit enough.

But yes, as pointed out above, having an extra bay adds some flexibility that may turn out pretty handy.

 

[Chrispy_]

Sometimes space saving is benefit enough.

They haven't made it much smaller though. It's 150mm wide where their 4-bays are 170mm wide. These things need airflow though, so if you are trying to squeeze it into a tiny gap and 10mm per side is the difference between it fitting the gap and not, it's probably still going to overheat and die regardless of whether it fits.

I guess what really matters is street price. I've seen the TS-451 down at $400 on special and it's not hard to find below $500. If this 3-bay NAS can't be bought for under $400 then it's going to sit on shelves unsold whilst every storage reviewer on the web says "just get the 4-bay instead".

 

[TheLostSwede]

So similar to the Synology/QNAP 4-bay models.
At that price, what's the point? You're just losing a bay for no benefit. I'm not super-sure how comparable the specs are but dual NVMe 4-bays like the 420+/920+ and TS-451 are $500/$550 MSRP respectively.

To lose a bay you'd want to lose $100 off the MSRP too.

It seems to be the first NAS with a Celeron N5105/N5095 (which one is it btw?) SoC, so nothing you can compare directly with.
That said, it doesn't seem like a particularly great deal for the money, since it's using QNAP's cheaper "consumer" housing.

Good to know, I noticed it's not listed yet.

Imho, the trick with these devices is getting them down to $200(ish). Otherwise they will never move in volumes.

Not going to happen, since you're not just paying for the hardware, but also for support, several years of software updates etc.
Now if someone was to sell a NAS without any software, that might be a different thing, but no-one does.
Instead, we get these things that have barely evolved in the past 15 years, that still rely on installing the OS on the mechanical drives from a slow USB-DOM.
Personally I would like to see a NAS with say 16GB eMMC for the OS (I have OMV installed on mine and it doesn't even use up 10GB with a fair amount of third party add-ons and Docker containers), for people to install their own OS on.

 

[Chrispy_]

It seems to be the first NAS with a Celeron N5105/N5095 (which one is it btw?) SoC, so nothing you can compare directly with.
That said, it doesn't seem like a particularly great deal for the money, since it's using QNAP's cheaper "consumer" housing.


Not going to happen, since you're not just paying for the hardware, but also for support, several years of software updates etc.
Now if someone was to sell a NAS without any software, that might be a different thing, but no-one does.
Instead, we get these things that have barely evolved in the past 15 years, that still rely on installing the OS on the mechanical drives from a slow USB-DOM.
Personally I would like to see a NAS with say 16GB eMMC for the OS (I have OMV installed on mine and it doesn't even use up 10GB with a fair amount of third party add-ons and Docker containers), for people to install their own OS on.

One of my nasty homebrew rackmount NASes out at our datacenter co-lo is running off a 32GB SD Card from the slot on the front of that Supermicro server I used.

NAS OSes require so little space and IO, they essentially sit in RAM once the NAS is booted and make changes to the OS drive only on update or shutdown.

 

[TheLostSwede]

One of my nasty homebrew rackmount NASes out at our datacenter co-lo is running off a 32GB SD Card from the slot on the front of that Supermicro server I used.

NAS OSes require so little space and IO, they essentially sit in RAM once the NAS is booted and make changes to the OS drive only on update or shutdown.

OMV has a semi native solution for that.

Flash Memory Plugin on SSD - openmediavault

I am upgrading my OMV server to an SSD. As part of the upgrade, should I install the flash memory plugin as well, or is that intended more for SD cards and flash drives? The reason I ask is because some of the information that the flash memory plugin…

forum.openmediavault.org

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

NVMe caching but a network interface that can be bottlenecked by a single seagate ironwolf drive.

I dont understand why these NAS companies are so friggin hesitant to put 10GBe on their $500 hard drive bays, and when they do they hamstring it with weak CPUs (looking at you asustor).

At this point I think it'd be a better idea to simply build a home NAS then buy one.

 

[bug]

NVMe caching but a network interface that can be bottlenecked by a single seagate ironwolf drive.

I dont understand why these NAS companies are so friggin hesitant to put 10GBe on their $500 hard drive bays, and when they do they hamstring it with weak CPUs (looking at you asustor).

At this point I think it'd be a better idea to simply build a home NAS then buy one.

I've considered that before. But it's darn impossible to get a case the same size as a NAS with enough drive bays.

 

[TheLostSwede]

I've considered that before. But it's darn impossible to get a case the same size as a NAS with enough drive bays.

It's not, I have one. Sadly very few options in the market and none are great.

 

[Deleted member 215115]

It's not, I have one. Sadly very few options in the market and none are great.

Which case is that?

 

[TheLostSwede]

Which case is that?

Unfortunately it's an OEM case and it's obviously large enough for a mini-ITX board, so it's a little bit bigger than the ones from QNAP, Synology etc.
Was not an easy build though, as I squeezed in a liquid cooler in it as well...