Introduction

We would like to thank Thecus for supplying the review sample.



Thecus has changed its strategy within the last couple years by not only focusing on the high-end NAS market but also paying some attention to the mainstream and mid-level categories, offering good products at affordable prices. Today, we will review the N4310, a mid-level NAS that can take up to four HDDs and, hence, supports the most popular RAID levels (0, 1, 5, 6, and 10). The same NAS exploits an AMCC SoC clocked at 1 GHz. It, in turn, is supported by 1 GB of DDR3 RAM. Many might feel as though 1 GB isn't enough given even smartphones come with 2 GB or even 3 GB of RAM; however, a NAS for home users or a small office doesn't need more in most cases. The CPU is what matters the most when it comes to transfer speeds and how snappy the interface is.

The N4310's features include private cloud support, a built-in FTP server, AES data encryption (Thecus does not specify whether the encryption takes place through a hardware engine or software), and a Hybrid Storage Model for block and file-level storage. The N4310 is also compatible with the Plex Media Server, and you can install a BitTorrent client should you want to download your torrent files directly onto the NAS. Like with every NAS device its main advantages are its compact dimensions and very low energy consumption. Thecus says the N4310 to only consume 29.5 W while operating and 10 W while in sleep mode. We will figure out whether the numbers mentioned above are true in our power consumption measurements. The unit also has a CPU Offload Hardware Engine, which, according to Thecus, allows for high performance and fast network speeds with RAID. Thecus claims up to 100 MB/s read and up to 75 MB/s write speeds. The NAS even supports the T-OnTheGo mobile application with functions for file management and direct playback of multimedia content.