Exterior

Like all other Asustor servers, the AS-204TE features a metallic chassis with a dark gray finish. This model doesn't come with an LCD screen like units of the 6 Series because Asustor tried to keep the price as low as possible.


The AS-204TE's manual, provided as a PDF filetype, also contains an interesting description of the LED indicators at the front.


Only one of its two sides features ventilation holes. We came across exactly the same design in QNAP cases.


The rear features the large 120 mm cooling fan and all I/O ports. The latter includes two USB ports (one is USB 3.0), an Ethernet and HDMI port, the Kensington security slot, a line-out, and the AC receptacle. The AS-204TE doesn't include any eSATA ports, which is a great shame.


The bottom of the NAS has four plastic stands and two labels with the model number, the MAC address of the Ethernet port, and its power input specifications.


We removed all trays to provide you with several photos of the HDD compartment. You will get to look at much more detailed internal photos once we start analyzing the unit's insides.


The trays are of high quality and can accommodate both 3.5" and 2.5" disks should you want to use SSDs. However, you won't notice a significant speed difference with SSDs since this NAS doesn't support the faster SATA III protocol, and using SSDs would also significantly reduce the NAS server's storage capacity, although they are far more reliable and heat resistant than mechanical disks. Asustor unfortunately, once more, didn't number the caddies, but we expected there to be no locks on the trays since this NAS is for home use only, where physical data security isn't as important as in a business environment.