Introduction

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



Thecus entered the low- and mid-level market segments with such NAS units as the N2310 and N5550 we reviewed in the past, but the company is also closely involved in the high-end and business-oriented markets, releasing high-end products like the one we will evaluate in this review.

Thecus's new N7710-G NAS server mostly targets SMB (small- and medium-sized business) environments because it packs strong components for a NAS, including an Intel Dual Core CPU (G850), 4 GB of DDR3 ECC RAM, and a 10GbE Ethernet card, which provides for up to ten times the speeds of a common Gigabit Ethernet port. All the above comes in a large high-quality case that is rather heavy, and the unit is supported by a custom-tailored operating system (ThecusOS), which allows even inexperienced users to fully exploit the hardware's capabilities.

The N7710-G clearly isn't for use at home, not only because of its price and size, but because it doesn’t operate quietly, which is usually a highly desirable feature in a home environment. Its noise output will most likely, on the other hand, pass by completely unnoticed in a large office where multiple systems and servers are constantly operating. It is also highly unlikeable for a common user to buy an expensive 10GbE switch to exploit this NAS’s 10GbE Ethernet port, so the N7710-G will probably be used by professional users that are looking for a high price/performance product with strong hardware to support demanding applications and multi-user environments. While this is our first NAS that supports RAID 50, which, in a snap, operates by striping data across RAID 5 sets for high performance and increased reliability, the N7710-G is also the first unit on our test bench to feature a 10GbE Ethernet port. Our test sessions will include a full set of tests with RAID 50 configured, which will allow us to compare those results to more common RAID levels.