A Look Inside

It's time now to strip the NAS down to figure out which components it hides inside.


Disassembling the NAS was easy enough, although we had to remove a lot of screws. As you can see in the photos above, the chassis is out of metal, and the board at the front also hosts a single USB 3.0 port.


The mainboard is small, and the CPU doesn't need active cooling because of its low TDP (10 W), which results in less noise and increases reliability since a cooling fan's lifetime is based on its bearing type.


Toward the rear of the mainboard are two RAM slots. One of these comes with a pre-installed a 2 GB DDR3 module, which leaves you with the ability upgrade the server's memory total to 8 GB if you remove the 2 GB module and install two 4 GB modules.


The NAS uses an Intel J1900 2.0 GHz quad-core Celeron processor that boosts up to 2.42 GHz. This CPU is compatible with Intel's Virtualization Technology, but doesn't support the new AES instructions set. The CPU is powered by a 2-phase buck regulator and the filtering caps are provided by CapXon. The PWM controller responsible for the CPU's power circuit is a Richtek RT8172A.


The monitoring IC is an ITE IT8728F.


The audio codec is a Realtek ALC887; it supports up to 7.1 audio channels.


An ASM1061 controller is responsible for the SATA ports this NAS features. On the mainboard are two ASMedia ASM1466 Serial ATA repeaters that can provide a bandwidth of up to 6 Gbps.


The USB 3.0 hub controller is by ASMedia, and its model number is ASM1074L.


The Gigabit Ethernet ports are controlled by two Broadcom BCM57781 ICs.


Here are two more ICs we found on the mainboard.


The mainboard's battery is installed vertically.


Here is the PCIe expansion card that accommodates the SATA connectors. On it are a few CapXon polymer caps and a Texas Instruments PS54426 buck converter.


The NAS server's flash memory is by ADATA.


The fan is by YS Tech, and its model number is FD127025HB (70 mm, 12V, 5000 RPM, 40.5 CFM, 41 dBA). Its manufacturer says this fan to use double ball-bearings for a lifetime of up to 75,000 hours.