QNAP TS-253A Network Attached Storage Review
Conclusion
I have to admit. I like what’s is happening with NAS manufacturers. More and more devices I see that provide not only basic storage capabilities but also have advanced features that could be very beneficial. The QNAP TS-253A offers a bunch of advanced options to the user. Right out of the box you can have a media center with advanced features like DLNA, Web Server, SQL Server and even phpMyAdmin. Some features are not installed out of the box however, QNAP encourages its customers to use App Center to download and use over 100(and growing) approved packages for TS-253A.
What I found handy is the HybridDesk Station and Surveillance Station. Hybrid DeskStation (when installed) offers a light weight desktop environment similar to Windows. Some applications which are provided to a user are Chrome, Firefox and Skype. You can freely watch your favorite you tube videos and browse Facebook however don’t expect to do any gaming. Surveillance Station offers CCTV services for IP based camera networks. Surveillance Stations (when installed) can be set up to use with up to four IP cameras. If you have more than four cameras, you are required purchase an extended license from directly from QNAP.
While reviewing the TS-253A I’ve loaded it up Media Center with family movies, images and some of the mp3 I had on hand for testing. Overall performance of this device has been nothing more than pleasurable. Home made movies were played back without any issues what so ever. What I did found handy is the remote that comes with TS-253A. Controlling speed of the slide shows and skipping audio tracks was never an issue. Temperatures of the system staid in low 40’s C while streaming some movies. Fan which is controlled by the motherboard revved up a few times to keep up with the increasing temperatures however it never got higher than 1400 rpm.
File transfer in this unit utilizes full bandwidth its allowed. While copying and writing files to and from the NAS I saw maximum utilization of bandwidth reaching up to 98 %. When streaming media the utilization was about 25% of the whole bandwidth (1gbps). TS-253A has two Network Adapters which could be used to balance the load however you would need managed switch to do that. Load balancing is not tested in my review as most consumers do not have manages switches in their houses.
Reliability is important and this is something I do not take lightly. TS-253A offers RAID redundancy so in the event of a drive failure, your data is still unaffected. This particular unit offers RAID 0 and 1 levels. I do have to remind you that RAID 0 does not provide any protection against hardware failure. Other QNAP devices such as TS-453A and TS-653A offer other levels of RAID protections such as RAID 5 and RAID 10.
What sets QNAP TS-253A apart from other manufacturers is that you get all of the benefits of an enterprise level NAS in a smaller, more affordable device. Depending on how much space you are looking to protect, you may look for extended bay devices by QNAP such as TS-453A and TS-653A.
Is it worth it? Currently TS-253A retails for about 499$ USD without drives. My sample was sent out with 4GB of ram however 8GB modules are also available for purchase for about 19$ per stick (two sticks). The price vs performance vs features in this device is very well balanced. You do get what you pay for and I feel that the price of this unit is very well justified with features.
