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ASUSTOR AS3102T Mainstream 2-Bay NAS Review

Final Thoughts

Pricing

At the time of writing, the ASUSTOR AS3102T can be yours for $247.00 at NewEgg (Currently with $17 further discount through promo code), for £234.95 at Overclockers UK, or starting from €259,00 through Geizhals.

Overview

The ASUSTOR AS3102T is a solid mainstream NAS for a fair price. You get a great base with an Intel Celeron dual-core CPU and 2GB dual-channel memory which will be plenty for to operate what most people will use their NAS for. The CPU comes with both hardware encryption engine and floating point unit that further help the performance while the dual-channel memory helps with intensive tasks such as transcoding and 4K resolutions. There are plenty of USB 3.0 ports for peripherals and external storage, a gigabit ethernet LAN port, and an HDMI 1.4b port for direct usage. Everything you’ll want, more or less. You can even control it with an IR remote thanks to the built-in IR receiver.

We saw a solid performance in our benchmarks and a strong encryption performance. The latter is simply due to the CPU used that does a really great job here. The AS3102T isn’t just performing well, it also looks good with the simple exterior and diamond pattern on the front. It doesn’t feature external drive bays, which you might consider good or bad depending on what you want, but it does it give it a sleeker appearance. The setup and installation are still a breeze thanks to the finger screws for both the chassis and drive installation.

The whole thing is powered by ADM which is a powerful operating system. It is built more like a mobile operating system than a classic NAS system in the design and where you find things. This makes it very easy to find things for novice users that aren’t that familiar with NAS system. Those who are will also find what they’re looking for quickly thanks to the logic design and grouping of features that belong together. One window has everything in regards to drives, another to access rights, and another again for backup and so forth, you get the drift. And speaking of apps, there are plenty to choose from. Whether you want to collect, stream, or manage video files, photos, or audio files, you’ll find what you need with the Photo Gallery, LooksGood, and SoundsGood.

With the HDMI port, the NAS can be used directly with any HDMI monitor. Just attach a keyboard and mouse or use a remote control. The ASUSTOR portal then allows you to use the NAS as a PC replacement in many ways. You can use LibreOffice to work, play games, or use KODI to browse all your media files – and much more.

I would rate this NAS as a home user NAS, but it still features plenty of functions that businesses are looking for. From iSCSI support over surveillance systems to mail server and cloud integration, the AS3102T does it. It even comes with the VirtualBox app which lets you run VMs on the AS3102T.

Pros: