Exterior

The design is plain and kind of boring; however, the enclosure is out of metal, making it very sturdy, and the finish is quite good. At the front are a bunch of LED indicators, a USB 3.0 port, the on/off switch, and an LCD screen, which boosts general usability since the LCD screen and the four buttons at the bottom can be used to conduct a few basic administrative tasks. The LCD screen will be in Display Mode while the NAS is operating normally, with messages regarding several NAS functions rotating every two seconds or so. Management Mode during the setup and configuration phase will allow you to perform various administrative tasks. You can also enter Management Mode at any time by simply pressing the Enter button and dialing in your password. The default password is "0000". Enter Management Mode to change the NAS server's network settings, select a Link Aggregation protocol, change your admin password, and reset the system to its factory defaults.


The trays feature locks, a must-have for business environments where physical data protection is very important.


There are ventilation holes on both sides and one comes with a small sticker that asks first-time owners to read through the NAS sever's notes before putting it to use.


Four plastic feet will securely hold the NAS in place on just about any surface.


Nearly all the I/O ports are at the back, including the five Ethernet ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports. There is also an HDMI and an audio-out port. The PSU inside the NAS unfortunately doesn't have an on/off switch, a useful feature for a PSU.


As per usual, we removed the trays to provide you with a few internal shots of the unit before completely taking it apart.


The trays are of very high quality, and we like the fact that Thecus lined these with materials to absorb vibrations that could otherwise be the cause of annoyingly high-pitched noise.


Along with the NAS, Thecus was kind enough to send us some Seagate HDDs (model: ST4000VN000) that are suitable for NAS usage. These HDDs are equipped with 64 MB of cache, are SATA III compatible, and are backed by a three year warranty.