Thecus N5550 5-Bay NAS Review

Like the BIOS on a motherboard, its fairly typical to find that the same environment and layout is used across a range of products and here we get the initial logon scree which is virtually identical to what we found on the N4200 Pro.

As I’ve found, the Thecus admin panel may not seem the easiest or most entry level user friendy, but its very thourough and easy to navigate when you know what you’re looking for. Everything is divided into sub categories that are found down the left hand side of the window.

A new feature that we see here is the system monitor that gives real time system activity data including CPU and memory load, LAN activity and operating temperatures for example.

The notification options allows for the option to have the system notify you remotely of any warnings or failures that have occurred. This would be beneficial for any system administrators that are not necessarily going to have physical access to the NAS at all times. Also there is a bleep notification which is on by default and emits a loud bleep when there is a warning or failure.

Typically, the network tab will be left by most users who will allow the system to auto-configure itself into the network environment, bit if required, static IPs and LAG (Ling Aggregation) can be configured here.

As its name suggests, the storage tab focusses on the disks themselves and this is one of the areas where all users will find themselves visiting during setup.  From here the RAID configuration is set and managed along with the facility to add extra folders onto the drives for network access.

For environments where the NAS is going to have access from a large number of users, there is the facility to allocate each user a set amount of storage space or quota as its commonly known. There is a maximum limit to the user quota available of 4096GB.

Depending on the network environment a number of network services are available for example an FTP server.

Aimed more at the home user rather than the SOHO or SMB market, the application server utility, such as iTunes server, makes for easier integration into the network and sharing digital content to connected computers and devices.

Backing up your data is naturally a critical function that everyone wants to ensure is in place. By default, the DOM is set to back itself up automatically to the drive array with the latest system configuration parameters.