QNAP TS-431P-US 4-Bay Personal Cloud NAS, ARM Cortex A15 1.7GHzDual Core, 1GB RAM

Great device with multiple features for small office and home users. I purchased this device as a media server and Apple TimeMachine device, comparing the QNAP, Drobo, Apple TimeCapsule and other NAS devices. I was replacing a dilapidated G5 outfitted with RAID interface cards and multiple hard drives. The solution was not optimal, so I was forced to look for a solid but inexpensive NAS solution. I purchased the QNAP TS-413P based on a high value/low price comparison with other NAS units. I opted on the 4 bay solution, although I would like to upgrade to a 5 bay device for greater functionality in the future. I liked the intel processor over the ARM processor option for maximum flexibility in choosing the tasks for this unit. I also decided against the NAS types that use proprietary systems, formats and hardware like Drobo.I was confused by the multiple methods for registering this QNAP device for remote access, but each seemed to work as well as the other. I was able to setup the device and create an account with the QNAPcloud system within an hour. I was able to format four new IronWolf 2TB NAS-rated as a RAID5 system within about two hours, including setting up a AFP (Apple File System) volume for synchronizing with my iMac and MacBook Pro running OS X 10.7.4 Yosemite. I found that to use the QNAP TS-413P as a TimeMachine backup, I will be forced to upgrade to Sierra. Apple users should be aware of this requirement before purchasing the QNAP as a backup using only the Apple TimeMachine client. I am using the QSync application that is free from the QNAP store, which is Ok, but will not provide a TimeMachine history without using another app to preserve file system snapshots as the targeted files and folders change on the client system. Restoration of of the system for my multiple Macs will not be as easy task without further testing of the procedure.WARNING: Always employ multiple backup strategies to prevent complete loss of data!!As for the QNAP system install, Apple users also should be aware that the QNAP system available through the Apple App Store service is NOT the most updated software, if the Apple system software is not completely up to date. The App Store only shows the QNAP system current to the release date of the Apple system currently installed! After installing the QNAP OS from the App Store, I was redirected to the QNAP website to download the updated system. I was able to reinstall the updated QNAP system, update the QSync client on my Macs, restart the QNAP device AND restart the server in less than an hour. Not a big problem, but waiting for everything to recognize each other, grab a DNS address and remount my AFP volume was a learning experience.Overall, I am extremely happy with value and performance of my QNAP TS-413P. As a professional interface designer not often required to admin or manage a server environment, I was really impressed by the QNAP system architecture. The QNAPCloud and built in App Store interface are nice collection of the best features of the Apple OS experience, the LINUX tools and lessons from Windows 8 and 9 systems I have had the pleasure to have worked with in the past. I hope to upgrade to more sophisticated pro devices from QNAP in the future. Great work QNAP!

As my media collection grows, I am finding the need for a centralized file storage solution. I run a couple Plex Media Servers, Emby, and a few other things, then the clients are mostly plex, kodi and web browsers.Keep in mind that this is an “entry level” NAS, so it’s not going to have a ton of processing overhead or RAM. That said, it’s the most powerful that I can find in this price range and you can actually run a few applications on it if need be (plex server [no transcoding though], itunes server, DLNA, etc).I find it better to let each network device be its own thing (file servers for files, application servers for applications, workstations for work, tablets and STB’s for entertainment).So rather than spending double or triple for a more powerful NAS to run Plex and do transcodes, I opted to save a few hundred bucks and put the savings towards a dedicated computer to run my applications. I found a $140 used small form factor Lenovo workstation (off-lease, Intel core i7 3770 bought on Ebay), slapped an old SSD in it and that’s WAY more powerful than any NAS (probably) under 2 grand. It runs Linux Mint, and the combo is proving to be a quite respectable Plex server for not a lot of money.I am glad it did it this way. This little qnap is an awesome little file server for the money and it saturates a gigabit network without breaking a sweat - but my intel box blows it out of the water running applications. Added bonus: everything is nice and stable, and all the equipment is doing what it’s best at. Also, I don’t have all my eggs in one basket, so to speak. Oh yeah, and NO MICROSOFT, APPLE, OR GOOGLE software snooping around everything and phoning home every time anyone clicks on anything, which is nice if only for a change.I find the web interface a little sluggish and clumsy, but logical. I pretty much learned it on the fly. Nothing odd to report. The app store is sort of limited, and I’m not using any of them – just straight file serving. I opted to configure RAID 5 which, in conjunction with USB hard drive backups and cloud backups makes for a pretty good redundant storage solution for not a ton of money or effort. I bought four Western Digital “Red” drives @ 4tb each which yields 12 TB in RAID 5 (or 8TB in RAID 10). It’ll do RAID 6, hot spares (if applicable), multiple storage pools – it’s highly configurable and it’ll walk you through pretty well if you’re a beginner. You can even upgrade drive capacity one drive at a time without even taking down the system! There’s three USB 3.0 ports for plugging in additional storage which the qnap will recognize and help you set up as backup devices if desired. You can give up one of the bays for SSD cache if desired…but that would only make sense if you had a lot of clients connected and lots of smaller, frequently accessed files. For large media files, I don’t see the point.So yeah, there you have it. For under a grand, I have a rather powerful plex server, and redundant 12TB storage solution that beats the pants off a $7000 setup that I built just six years back and it has 3 times the capacity and runs on 1/10th the electricity, plus no greedy/slimy/sneaky corporate spyware. Not too shabby.

So far this QNAP has been perfect. I wish I could put more RAM in it because I know the processor can handle it, but this is working as a simple backup device. If I needed to actually run applications on this device I would have bought the Intel CPU version.