Chinese manufacturer LincPlus started life producing budget-priced and aesthetically pleasing laptops and tablets, and moved its focus onto the NAS market a couple of years ago. Its first product in 2024 was the LincStation N1, which boldly claimed to be the world's first six-bay all SSD appliance, followed by the N2 the following year, which employed the same compact chassis and delivered a big performance boost.

In this review, we look at the LincStation E1 – a table-top NAS which teams up two LFF/SFF SATA hot-plug drive bays with a pair of M.2 NVMe SSD slots. Recently launched on the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, its biggest claim to fame is its very low price, with the first 200 units going at a super-early-bird price of €129, followed by an early-bird price of €149 and then a regular price of €219, which pans out to around £190.

Perhaps the biggest change is in software; unlike the N1 and N2, which both employ Lime Technology's Unraid software, the E1 introduces LincPlus' very own LincOS operating system. Unraid is undoubtedly a powerful OS with plenty of features, but it isn't the easiest to configure, and LincOS aims to deliver a more user-friendly experience.

LincPlus LincStation E1 review: Design and hardware features

The E1 employs a solidly constructed plastic chassis with the two telescopic tool-free hot-swap drive carriers accessed by removing the magnetic upper cover. In the base, you'll find a non-magnetic cover with the two M.2 NVMe slots behind it and a single fan sitting directly on top of them.

It's all change in the CPU department as LincPlus moves away from Intel, with the E1 receiving a quad-core 2GHz Rockchip RK3568 SoC sporting an ARM Mali G52 GPU and a 1TOPs NPU (neural processing unit). Memory is the DDR4 variety with the 4GB soldered on the motherboard and not upgradeable.

There was some confusion when the appliance was first launched, as its KickStarter project page showed the network port as Gigabit, and LincPlus initially confirmed that the 2.5GbE port in our early pre-launch model had been dropped down to Gigabit on production models. We were subsequently advised that this was incorrect and that production appliances will have a 2.5GbE port.

There are plenty more hardware features, along with integrated dual-band Wi-Fi support, you have a USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 USB port at the front and two more USB-A 2.0 ports at the rear. The HDMI 2.1 port alongside receives 4K 60Hz video from the SoC's GPU.

LincPlus LincStation E1 review: Swift deployment

For testing, we fitted two 4TB Seagate IronWolf NAS HDDs, added a couple of Kingston M.2 NVMe SSDs, and made sure the NVMe bay cover had been pushed forward until it was locked in place. The appliance was then hooked up to the lab's Zyxel XMG1930-30HP multi-Gig PoE++ switch, which confirmed a 2.5GbE connection speed.

Multiple deployment options are available, as you can attach an HD monitor, keyboard, and mouse to the appliance and use the desktop user interface. The easiest method is to install the LincStation Windows, iOS, or Android client apps, which run a wizard for registering the appliance and setting up an admin account.

To create storage spaces, you select the Profile/My Device/Storage Management option from the client and choose your drives with RAID0, 1, 10, 5, and 6 arrays supported. We created separate RAID1 mirrored storage spaces for the HDDs and NVMe SSDs. The appliance doesn't support SSD caching in the traditional sense, but you can use NVMe SSDs as a fast repository for file sharing and downloads.

LincPlus LincStation E1 review: LincOS features

LincOS is easy to use, and we found all features can be accessed directly from the client apps, which open with quick access links to personal storage spaces and a collection of apps for file sharing, multimedia services, remote downloads, and more. The client Profile menu offers a desktop mode, which presents the same graphical interface as a locally attached monitor.

The admin user can load a basic web UI from the client with access to personal spaces for viewing, creating, and sharing folders, monitoring upload tasks, loading a recycle bin, creating encrypted spaces, and managing share spaces. New users are created from the client, and they can log in from their choice of client and use the web UI for accessing their personal space, task monitoring, and a recycle bin.

The Backup Disk tool secures PC and mobile data to the appliance, where you choose local folders, an appliance storage space, the file types to be backed up, and whether to use WiFi only or any network. The Sync Disk tool keeps selected folders on the local device and NAS in step, and in both cases, the processes are automated with an option to run jobs on demand as well.

The Secure Space feature allows users to create hardware-encrypted, password-protected areas in storage spaces for private data. Folders in this space cannot be shared, and the client provides an option for admins to back up encryption passwords for all user accounts for disaster recovery purposes.

Multimedia services are extensive as LincOS has music and video centre apps, a smart album for photos, and Photo Frame for creating slideshows. The smart album's local AI-powered photo image and facial recognition work well, while the smart library AI document centre provides full text search facilities for all file content.

LincPlus LincStation E1 review: Gigabit performance

With a share on the appliance's HDD RAID1 storage space mapped to a Dell PowerEdge Windows Server 2025 host on our 10GbE LAN, Iometer recorded uninspiring sequential read and write rates of 216MB/sec and 131MB/sec with the Windows client app showing CPU utilisation of up to 80%.

Real world numbers also failed to impress with 25GB file copies between the NAS and server delivering average read and write rates 170MB/sec and 112MB/sec while our 22.4GB backup test folder with 10,500 small files was secured using drag and drop at 66MB/sec.

Moving to a share on the RAID1 NVMe SSD mirror saw minor performance improvements with Iometer recording sequential read and write rates of 225MB/sec and 139MB/sec. Read and write speeds for our large file copies stepped up slightly to 174MB/sec and 117MB/sec while our backup test mustered 71MB/sec.

LincPlus LincStation E1 review: Is it worth it?

The KickStarter campaign ends at the start of June, and with a projected regular price of around £190, the LincStation E1 is probably the lowest-cost 4-bay NAS on the market. Performance over 2.5GbE is below expectations, but it should satisfy the target market of home and small business users.

A standout feature is the new LincOS software, as even though it's still in development, it already offers a good range of storage features with the smart LincStation clients making light work of configuration and management. LincPlus advised us that the next LincOS update will add an improved web GUI, a new task manager, drag and drop support for the cloud drive module, a redesigned music module, and the LincClaw AI assistant.

LincPlus LincStation E1 specifications

Ugreen is rapidly gaining a strong reputation in the NAS market with its ever-expanding range of desktop appliances. And the latest DXP4800 Pro focuses on demanding home and small office users who want plenty of power and performance for their money. Stepping up as Ugreen's flagship 4-bay appliance, it takes everything we liked about the two-year-old DXP4800 Plus and gives it a performance boost.

The Gen12 5-core Intel Pentium Gold 8505 CPU in the Plus model gets replaced with a more modern Gen13 6-core Core i3-1315U offering four efficient plus two multi-thread performance cores and a top Turbo frequency of 4.5GHz. Memory stays the same at DDR5, but those with deep pockets can upgrade the base 8GB to 96GB – the maximum supported by this CPU.

Along with four front drive bays, you have a pair of M.2 NVMe SSD slots lurking in the base, and it's worth noting these are the faster PCIe Gen4 variety. Network port choices remain the same, although these are superior to a lot of the competition as the appliance sports 2.5GbE and 10GbE multi-Gigabit ports.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Build quality and hardware features

No cheap plastic chassis here as the DXP4800 Pro is clothed in a sleek and sturdy aluminium alloy shell. SATA hard disks slip easily into the clever telescopic tool-free carriers, which also have mounting holes for SFF SATA SSDs.

The two M.2 slots are easy to access as the cover is spring-loaded, and you'll find two SO-DIMM slots next to them with the base 8GB of memory provided on one stick. General cooling is handled efficiently by a big rear 14 cm diameter fan behind a magnetic dust cover, and we found the appliance to be pleasingly quiet.

The appliance offers plenty of other interfaces with 10Gbps USB-C 3.2 and USB-A 3.2 at the front next to an SD Card reader slot. A peek around the back reveals one 5Gbps USB-A 3.2 and two USB-A 2.0 ports, while 4K 60Hz video from the CPU's embedded Intel UHD Graphics GPU is piped through to an HDMI 2.0 port.

We don't often comment on packaging, but Ugreen gets praise for all the extra bits and prices it includes in the box. The external PSU comes with a UK plug lead, and the accessory box contains two Ethernet cables, a screwdriver, and a full set of screws for SFF drives, two carrier locking keys, two adhesive silicon heat pads for M.2 devices, and even a Ugreen-branded HDMI cable.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Deployment and UGOS apps

For testing, we fitted four 4TB Seagate IronWolf NAS HDDs, which were accepted without any problems, as unlike Synology, Ugreen doesn't have any drive restriction policies. Installation is a breeze as Ugreen's discovery web portal found the appliance on our network, initialised it, and downloaded the latest UGOS software.

The UGOS web console is nicely designed and aids storage pool creation by offering sage advice on the various RAID options. We chose the recommended RAID5 volume and were prompted to create personal and shared folders and configure remote access, which creates a unique Ugreenlink ID and secure web link.

During volume creation, you can choose from the Ext4 and Btrfs file systems, with the latter the preferred choice if you want snapshots, storage space quotas, and higher levels of data integrity protection. We also noted that the Samba file sharing service is disabled by default, which we think is a good security measure.

UGOS is light on apps as it only offers 29 for the DXP4800 Pro – well short of the huge range offered by Qnap and Synology. Data protection features start with the Snapshot app, which supports manual and scheduled snapshots on user and shared network folders stored in Btrfs volumes, but Ugreen has yet to update this to support iSCSI LUNs.

The Sync & Backup app secures local data to a remote Ugreen NAS and vice versa, and also supports Rsync-compliant servers. The app has a download link for Ugreen's NAS Windows and macOS desktop tool for creating sync tasks that secure selected data to a shared folder and update it in real time, while the Cloud Drives app provides file syncing for seven cloud storage services, including OneDrive and Google Drive.

The Security Manager app provides real-time and scheduled anti-malware protection with quarantining. Virtualization is on the menu with the Docker app running lightweight containers and the Virtual Machine app providing full hypervisor services.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: 10GbE performance

For performance testing, we hooked the NAS up to the lab's 10GbE network and mapped a share to a Dell PowerEdge Windows Server 2025 host. UGOS now supports 9000-byte Jumbo frames, and with these enabled, we saw good NAS speeds with Iometer reporting sequential read and write rates of 9.2Gbits/sec and 8.1Gbits/sec

For our real-world tests, copies of a large 25GB test file between the appliance and server delivered sustained read and write rates of 3.2Gbit/sec and 2.7Gbits/sec while backing up a 22.4GB folder with 10,500 small files averaged a reasonable 1.5Gbits/sec. Ugreen added the SAN Manager app a while ago, and moving to IP SANs saw a 500GB iSCSI target deliver Iometer read and write rates of 9.2Gbits/sec and 7.5Gbits/sec.

For cache testing, we fitted two 480GB Kingston M.2 NVMe SSDs and assigned them to our data volume as a mirrored read/write cache. This made noticeable improvements to random write operations with our NAS share and iSCSI LUN, seeing respective speed increases of 123% and 120%.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Pro review: Is it worth it?

With Ugreen currently offering the NASync DXP4800 Pro for £620 including VAT, it compares very well on value with the competition. Synology's DS925+, for example, costs a shade under £600 but only supports DDR4 memory, has dual 2.5GbE ports, is powered by a pensionable AMD Ryzen 1500B CPU, and doesn't offer a 10GbE upgrade option.

Ugreen's build quality is also vastly superior, but there's a lot of work to be done with the UGOS software before it can match the incredible range of apps, services, security, and data protection features offered by Synology's DSM and Qnap's QuTS Hero. The DXP4800 does deliver an impressive hardware package for the price, though, and if you can cope with the basic range of apps, is a great choice for home and office users seeking a powerful NAS appliance with great 10GbE performance.

Ugreen NASync DXP4800 Pro specifications

A critical vulnerability discovered in Barracuda Networks devices may have been actively exploited for seven months, the company has revealed. 

The security firm said the flaw, which was first discovered in May, affected its Email Security Gateway (ESG) appliance and was patched after an initial investigation. 

This week, however,  analysis of the vulnerability revealed it had been actively exploited for several months before the patch was issued. 

Barracuda Networks said the “earliest identified evidence of exploitation of CVE-2023-2868 is currently October 2022”.

In its advisory, the firm said the vulnerability stemmed from “incomplete input validation” of user-supplied .tar files. 

The flaw meant that a remote attacker could format file names in a deliberate manner to remotely execute a system command through Perl’s gx operator. 

The investigation also revealed that a third party exploited this to gain unauthorized access to a subset of ESG appliances. 

“Barracuda's investigation to date has determined that a third party utilized the technique described above to gain unauthorized access to a subset of ESG appliances,” the firm said in its advisory. 

Malware was identified on this subset of appliances, Barracuda revealed, which would allow for persistent backdoor access. In addition, the company said it uncovered evidence of data exfiltration on impacted appliances.  

Two specific malware strains were highlighted by Barracuda during a post-mortem analysis of the incident. This included SALTWATER, a trojanized module for the Barracuda SMTP daemon that contains backdoor functionality.

SALTWATER enables threat actors to upload or download arbitrary files and execute commands, as well as proxy and tunneling capabilities, Barracuda said. 

Another type of malware, known as SEASPY, was also identified during the probe led by Barracuda and Mandiant. SEASPY contains backdoor functionality that is activated by a ‘magic pocket’, according to researchers.

“SEASPY is an x64 ELF persistence backdoor that poses as a legitimate Barracuda Networks service and establishes itself as a PCAP filter, specifically monitoring traffic on port 25 (SMTP),” the firm said. 

Barracuda engaging with affected customers

Barracuda insisted that no other products were affected by the vulnerability, including its SaaS email security services. 

The company added that customers potentially impacted by the incident have been notified via the ESG user interface, and the company has reached out to specific customers directly. 

Barracuda has around 200,000 customers globally. However, the exact number of those affected by the vulnerability has yet to be determined. 

ITPro approached Barracuda for comment on the matter, but hadn’t received a response at the time of publication. 

Network-attached storage (NAS) appliances are the ideal solution for growing businesses facing a storage crisis. They offer a cost-effective, high-capacity storage solution that provides your teams with fast local access to data and can easily grow with you as demand increases.

Cloud storage is a natural contender for these duties, but once you take into account their regular monthly fees, these services can become very expensive over the long term – especially if you’re using them to store increasingly large amounts of data. It’s true that NAS appliances represent a much higher initial spend, but on-going costs will be comparatively insignificant.

They are also more versatile than cloud storage as they provide a ready-made repository for on-site server and workstation backup and won’t be impacted by internet and service outages. You don’t have to worry about a cloud provider’s ‘shared responsibility model’ either, as moving storage in-house means you have total control over all aspects of security and data governance.

There is a huge range of NAS appliances on today’s market with capacities to match every demand and prices to suit all budgets. We’ve lab-tested and reviewed plenty of them over the past 12 months, and in this guide, we reveal our favorite models.

Best NAS drives 2026

Best known for its classy PC accessories and power chargers, Ugreen is also making a name for itself in the NAS market with a family of six desktop appliances. The 6-bay NASync DXP6800 Pro is incredibly well built, but what lies beneath its sleek aluminium shell is even more interesting as it’s powered by a 10-core Intel Core i5-1235U mobile CPU and comes with 8GB of DDR5 memory upgradeable to 64GB. 

Port choices are equally impressive as it sports pairs of 10GbE multi-Gigabit, 40GbE Thunderbolt 4 (TB4), USB-A 3.2, and USB-A 2, an integral SC4 card reader, and an HDMI 2 port to pipe video from the CPU’s integrated Iris Xe Graphics chip. There are no restrictions on storage, so you can use any hard disk or SSD you want, and it also has dual M.2 NVMe SSD slots underneath for use as a storage pool or cache.

NAS performance over 10GbE is quite respectable, with a share mapped to a Dell Windows server returning sequential read and write rates of 8.9Gbits/sec and 6.8Gbits/sec. Ugreen’s UGOS software has also benefitted from a steady development program as it now offers 31 apps, including a hypervisor, IP SANs, and a snapshot manager.

The NASync DXP6800 Pro is a powerful business NAS solution, and although the UGOS software can’t match the likes of Synology and Qnap for app choices, Ugreen is steadily catching up. Businesses that want a superbly built NAS with dual 10GbE and TB4 ports simply won’t find a more affordable solution elsewhere.

Price: Diskless, £742 excluding VAT

Read our full Ugreen NASync DXP6800 Pro review for more information.

NAS appliances are perfect candidates as backup vaults, and none do it better than Synology’s ActiveProtect DP7400. Targeting mid-sized businesses and enterprises, this PBBA (purpose-built backup appliance) delivers unified data protection and recovery services with support for Windows and Mac endpoints, Windows and Linux servers, databases, file servers, VMware and Hyper-V hosts, and all Microsoft 365 (MS365) services.

Deployment takes just 15 minutes, and you use its smart web console to create protection plans. Ransomware protection is excellent as all plan creation tasks offer the choice of standard or immutable local storage, where the latter stops any backup versions from being deleted until the retention period you’ve set has expired. 

Backups can be replicated to cloud storage such as Synology C2 and Amazon S3 accounts, and it will only accept immutable buckets with Object Lock enabled. Data restoration features are abundant as you choose a workload, load the recovery portal, view its files, folders, volumes, or MS365 items, pick a recovery point, and decide where to send them.

Synology’s desktop ActiveProtect DP320 and DP340 appliances provide backup services for remote locations and are managed from the DP7400, although they are comparatively expensive. Not so with the DP7400, as the one-off purchase price includes around 122TB of usable backup storage along with unlimited client support, and Synology’s smart APM (ActiveProtect Manager) OS makes it a breeze to create a fully-managed 3-2-1-1-0 backup strategy.

Price: Approx. £35,000 excluding VAT

Read our full Synology ActiveProtect DP7400 review for more information.

Qsan’s XCubeNXT XN8126D takes data availability to the next level. This hybrid storage array employs dual controllers running in active/active mode and teams up fault-tolerant FC and IP SANs with NAS share clustering services for all-around redundancy.

The chassis crams 26 SAS3 SFF hot-swap drive bays in 2U of rack height, and the controller’s SAS3 ports support all of Qsan’s XCubeDAS expansion shelves and a total of 546 drives, allowing capacity to be pushed to an incredible 16.7PB. There’s no vendor lock-in, so you can choose any storage device you want, and the XN8126D also supports Western Digital’s supermassive UltraStar Data60 and Data120 JBODs.

Storage is easily configured from the QSM 4 web console, as we used the wizard to choose drives, create storage pools, and decide on thick or thin provisioning, pool encryption, and auto tiering. When creating volumes, you choose the block option for FC and IP SAN presentation or file volumes for NAS shares, and snapshot protection can be applied to each volume and scheduled for as often as every five minutes.

NAS cluster creation is a simple process, and we found that failover worked well. The web console showed Controller 1 was providing the primary link, so we rebooted it while running a continuous Ping on the cluster IP address. We saw Ping timeouts while Controller 2 took over, and in only 18 seconds, our NAS share was back in action.

Starting at around £11K for a diskless unit, the XCubeNXT XN8126D is very competitively priced. It offers a truly enormous expansion potential, and its active/active architecture delivers five 9s reliability, making it a great choice for mixed workloads.

Price: £11,000 excluding VAT (MSRP, diskless)

Read our full Qsan XCubeNXT XN8126D review for more information.

Qnap’s TS-h1277AFX will appeal to teams running demanding workloads such as real-time 4K/8K video editing. This sleekly designed all-Flash desktop NAS appliance supports up to twelve SATA SSDs, is powered by an 8-core 3.8GHz AMD Ryzen 7 9700X CPU, and its base 32GB of fast DDR5 memory can be upgraded to a massive 192GB. 

Network features look good as it sports dual 2.5GbE and 10GbE ports, while the three PCIe Gen4 slots can be used to add Qnap’s dual-port 10GbE, 25GbE, or 100GbE cards. The appliance is also compatible with a wide range of GPGPU cards, with two power cables already provided for them.

For testing, we installed eight 1TB Western Digital Red SA500 SATA SSDs and created a single RAID5 array. Performance over 10GbE is outstanding as a NAS share mapped to a Dell PowerEdge R760xs Windows Server 2022 host returned Iometer sequential read and write rates of 9.2Gbits/sec and 9.3Gbits/sec, and the same results for random operations.

IP SAN speeds over 10GbE were equally impressive, with a 1TB iSCSI target returning Iometer sequential read and write speeds of 9.2Gbits/sec and 9.3Gbits/sec, and also the same rates for random operations. Moving up to a dual 10GbE MPIO link to the iSCSI target delivered sequential read and writes of 18Gbits/sec and 18.3Gbits/sec, while random operations recorded 18Gbits/sec and 17.8Gbits/sec

The TS-h1277AFX is a solid choice for content creators and video editors who need fast access to data. Support for low-cost SATA SSDs makes it more affordable than appliances that require expensive PCIe NVMe SSDs, and Qnap’s QuTS hero software delivers a wealth of business features, including great data protection services.

Price: Diskless, £3,083 excluding VAT

Read our full Qnap TS-h1277AFX review for more information.

Targeting enthusiast home and small business users alike, Asustor's Nimbustor 4 Gen2 AS5404T is a four-bay NAS enclosure equipped with a potent quad-core 2GHz Intel Celeron N5105 CPU and 4GB of DDR4 upgradeable to 16GB. An unusual, and possibly unique feature, is that the AS5404T teams up its four main SATA drive bays with four M.2 NVMe SSD slots – twice as many as most competitors – opening up more possibilities, such as using two SSDs as a read/write cache and two more to provide a high-performance mirrored storage pool.

The ADM (Asustor Data Master) operating system isn’t quite as slick as Synology’s DSM, but it's still a relatively straightforward OS, in which you'll easily find the bulk of features you might want for a small office. ADM excels when it comes to apps, with 339 currently available in App Central – more than twice as many as either Synology’s Package Center or Qnap's App Center offers on similarly priced devices. 

The appliance is equipped with dual 2.5GbE multi-Gigabit ports and returned excellent performance numbers in our lab tests. With four 1TB Western Digital hard disks configured in a RAID5 array, we watched the ATTO Disk Benchmark app report fast read and write operations of 281MB/sec and 256MB/sec.

For the money, this is simply an excellent NAS. It doesn't have the greatest operating system, but it offers the perfect balance of power and features, while its flexible drive support and upgradeability allow it to grow with your business. 

Price: Diskless, £413 excluding VAT

Read our full Asustor NimbusStor 4 Gen2 review for more information.

It's been a couple of years since Synology revamped its entry-level four-bay NAS, but straight out of the factory we have the DS418j. Designed for users that want a lot of storage at a more reasonable price, this is a NAS for busy SMBs with big media libraries.

From the outside, the DS418j looks like its predecessor, the DS416j. A rather plain-looking cube, the DS418j isn't going to win any design awards, but as you're likely to tuck the NAS away under a desk or in a cupboard, looks don't matter so much.

As with other Synology products, the DS418j is a barebones NAS, which means that you need to add your disks to it. By default, the NAS takes 3.5in hard disks, but you can buy adaptors if you'd rather fit 2.5in hard disks or SSDs. Given the value of 3.5in hard disks, we recommend sticking with mechanical storage.

Access to the drive bays is via removing the two thumbscrews at the back, opening the rear panel and then pulling the main case off. Drives are simply screwed into the disk caddies and slipped into the case.

The DS418j can take up to 48TB of storage, by way of up four 12TB hard disks. You only get the maximum capacity of your four hard disks if you don't have any data protection. We don't recommend doing this, as a single disk failing will wipe out all of your data.

Instead, we recommend using Synology Hybrid RAID, which gives you built-in data protection. You get the option of losing one disk's worth of storage, with the ability to weather a single disk failure, or losing two disks' worth, with the ability to withstand up to two disk failures. With 10TB hard disks, the first option would give you 30TB of storage space; the second would give you 20TB.

Using the single-disk option is the best combination for most people, but if you're storing critical documents, go for the two-disk protection.

The NAS also has dual USB3 ports for sharing hard disks or printers.

Once the disks are installed, and the DS418j is powered up, it needs to be configured. The simplest way to do this is to fire up a web browser and go to find.synology.com or diskstation:5000; if you can't find your NAS, the free Synology Assistant will scan your network looking for devices to connect to.

Once you're connected to the NAS via your web browser, you're taken through installing the latest operating system. Smartly, if you insert hard disks that were previously installed in a different DiskStation, you're asked if you want to convert the drives to work with the new hardware, preserving your files and settings. That's great news for anyone either transferring from an older four-bay NAS or perhaps upgrading from a two-bay NAS.

Conversion of the hard disks is quite a lengthy experience, as we found out when the DS418j recognised disks from our old two-bay model. However, once the job was completed, our NAS was running with all of the settings that we'd previously configured. Our only real job was to up the size of the storage volume by adding in the two additional disks.

Synology's real power lies in its desktop-style interface, which is beautifully simple to use for creating and managing storage, users and shared folders. Beyond simple NAS controls, the excellent Synology operating system has Package Center, your home for expanding what your NAS can do.

There are some powerful options in there, including Cloud Sync, which lets you save your cloud storage directly to your NAS; DLNA and Plex media servers; a web server; and an email server. Being able to expand your NAS to do more than just serve files makes Synology stand out from its competition.

Synology has fitted the DS418j with 1GB of RAM (up from 512MB on the DS416j), and there's a 1.4GHz dual-core 64bit Realtek TRD1293 processor, too. The combination is potent, and the web interface runs really smoothly.

More importantly, file transfers are very quick. To test actual throughputs, we fitted the NAS with four Seagate Constellation ES.3 2TB hard disks, configured in Synology Hybrid RAID set for one-disk fault tolerance. Starting with our benchmarks, we saw huge file read speeds of 110.43MB/s and write speeds of 108.06MB/s; large files came in at a similar 108.54MB/s read and 106.2MB/s write. Given that Gigabit Ethernet has a maximum throughput of 125MB/s, these speeds aren't far off maxing out the network connection.

Our small files test really pushes devices, with plenty of file operations often slowing things down. Impressively, the DS418j managed write speeds of 73.82MB/s and read speeds of 77.05MB/s. That's 31% and 12% faster, respectively, than the two-bay DS216j.

Switching to the CrystalDiskMark benchmark, we saw the sequential test complete with excellent read speeds of 117.8MB/s and 116.6MB/s. The random 4K file read/write test managed 7.10MB/s read speeds and impressive 20.41MB/s write speeds. That's good going and the read speed was 40% faster than on the DS216j.

For a great combination of features and performance, the DS418j is well priced for what you get. For those after plenty of storage, this is a great choice.

Although cloud storage has really taken off, you can't beat a NAS if you want fast local storage for sharing files. With a barebones NAS, such as the Netgear ReadyNAS 212, you've also got a handy way of reusing any old mechanical hard disks that you've got lying around.

A small shoebox-sized device, the ReadyNAS 212 is relatively easy to set up. Open the front door, and you've got two 3.5in hard disk bays that pop out, so that you can fit your hard disks. There's support for up to 20TB of storage via two 10TB disks.

Netgear uses a screwless design for its NAS, with plastic retaining clips designed to hold your hard disks in place. These are very fiddly to use, and it took us a while to secure our two 2TB hard disks in place.

There are also three USB3 and a single eSATA port for adding external storage and printers.

Once installed, you just hook your NAS up to your network and power it on. Netgear provides two Gigabit Ethernet ports. If you've got a router or switch that supports link aggregation, you can combine the two ports into one big 2Gbit/s pipe.

That won't improve performance to a single device (you'll still be running 1Gbit/s from your clients), but it provides more bandwidth for multiple devices. For example, two devices could access the NAS at the full 1Gbit/s each. Link aggregation is configured post-setup.

Once the ReadyNAS 212 is connected to your network, you just need to follow the quick setup guide. Our computer couldn't detect the NAS on our network using the suggested web portal. Instead, we downloaded the Netgear RAIDar software, which soon found our unconfigured NAS. A quick jaunt through the setup wizard soon had our NAS up and running.

By default, the ReadyNAS chose to configure our disks in a RAID 1 configuration. This cuts the total storage space in half (we got 2TB of usable space from 4TB of disks), but data is written to both hard disks. Should one disk fail, your data remains safe. This is the configuration that we recommend, although you can choose to override the setting and reformat the disks as RAID 0. This gives you the full capacity of both drives, but you'll lose all of your data if either disk fails.

Netgear's management portal is very basic, using static web pages. Compared to the graphical interface that Synology uses, the ReadyNAS 212 looks positively out of date.

The basic functions of creating a share and adding users are simple enough, and it's trivial to create the shared folders that you need. Digging into the interface, it becomes clear that the ReadyNAS 212 is more powerful than looks would have you believe. First, there are the basic services that you can toggle on and off, such as an FTP server and a DLNA media server (ReadyDLNA).

If you want more, then there's an apps section. Similar in principle to Synology Packages, apps let you expand the capabilities of the NAS. It might be worth adding the Nero MediaHome server to replace the built-in ReadyDLNA option, as you get easier control and more configuration options.

Netgear doesn't quite have the breadth of services that Synology does, but the basics are covered, from web servers to a network camera recorder.

Netgear has a Cloud section for the NAS's cloud connectivity. You can synchronise your Dropbox or Google Drive account to your NAS, which is a handy way of adding cloud backup to the ReadyNAS 212.

There's also the ReadyCloud feature, which lets you access your NAS from over the internet, anywhere in the world. Using this is far easier than setting up an FTP server manually, as Netgear takes care of all the configuration options.

Netgear has installed 2GB of RAM and a quad-core 1.4GHz Cortex A15 processors. That's a fairly high spec for a two-bay NAS.

The results of this power showed in our tests. Running our usual benchmarks, we found that the NAS could read huge files at 111.15MB/s and write them at 100.05MB/s. Large files were read at 111.15MB/s and written at 104.91MB/s. Small files, which require lots of little operations, managed a fast read speed of 87.59MB/s and a write speed of 76.68MB/s.

We saw similar performance from the CrystalDiskMark benchmark. Sequential file speeds came in at 118.4MB/s read and 114.1MB/s write. And, the 4K random file tests managed a healthy 14.56MB/s read and 11.58MB/s write.

These speeds typically put the ReadyNAS 212 at between 10 and 20% faster than the excellent Synology DS216J.

If you want a super-fast two-bay NAS, there's no arguing with the ReadyNAS 212's performance. But, the cost of that performance is high, and this is one of the most expensive two-bay NAS devices in its category.

The Synology DS216J is almost 90 cheaper, not that much slower overall, and has a neater and easier to use web interface. On balance, it's the better NAS for most people.

Verdict

If you want a super-fast two-bay NAS, there's no arguing with the ReadyNAS 212's performance. But, the cost of that performance is high, and this is one of the most expensive two-bay NAS devices in its category.

Western Digital has urged customers to update the firmware on their NAS appliances, after a security researcher discovered a number of security issues including a hard-coded backdoor that allows anyone to gain access to the devices.

GulfTech researcher James Bercegay discovered the vulnerability, which allows attackers to log into an affected NAS device using a pre-set username and password that cannot be changed or modified.

The affected models are: MyCloud, MyCloudMirror, My Cloud Gen 2, My Cloud PR2100, My Cloud PR4100, My Cloud EX2 Ultra, My Cloud EX2, My Cloud EX4, My Cloud EX2100, My Cloud EX4100, My Cloud DL2100 and My Cloud DL4100.

Bercegay also discovered several other vulnerabilities, including command injection, cross-site request forgery and unrestricted file upload flaws. Interestingly, he noted that the backdoor and file upload issued perfectly matched flaws found in the D-Link DNS-320L ShareCenter, a rival NAS device, making it possible that Western Digital licensed the (flawed) code from D-Link in order to build its NAS appliance.

Western Digital told IT Pro that Bercegay had already notified it of the flaws, and that the issue was addressed in the v2.30.172 firmware update. A spokesperson urged customers to update to the latest version of the firmware in order to avoid being affected.

"As a reminder, we urge customers to ensure the firmware on their products is always up to date; enabling automatic updates is recommended. We also urge you to implement sound data protection practices such as regular data backups and password protection, including to secure your router when you use a personal cloud or network-attached storage device," they said.

"Western Digital works continuously to improve the capability and security of our products, including with the security research community to address issues they may uncover. We encourage responsible disclosure by customers and researchers to ensure our customers are protected while we address valid vulnerabilities."

2017 has been an excellent year for technology and hardware. Consumers have been wowed by the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8 and a list of redesigned Apple products, while businesses have been able to take advantage of unparalleled processing power thanks to servers from companies like HPE and Dell.

With such a wealth to choose from, it's hard to pick which products have been most impressive, but with some careful thought, we've sifted through the year's launches to bring you IT Pro's top products of the year.

Best laptop

Winner - Apple MacBook Pro

Apple's top-end MacBook models are widely regarded as the gold standard in business-class notebooks, and with good reason. Combining a sleek and stylish design with nigh-unbeatable performance thanks to 2017's upgraded Kaby Lake model, the MacBook Pro is an absolute powerhouse for everyone from developers to designers.

It's not entirely without problems - we wish Apple had included a couple of ports besides Thunderbolt 3, for example, and the Touch Bar version has some battery life problems - but features like the ultra-shallow keyboard and mammoth trackpad set it apart from its competition.

Highly commended - Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon

Another heavyweight in the enterprise hardware space, Lenovo's venerable ThinkPad range has a sterling pedigree. The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is sturdy, reliable and well-suited to tasks of all stripes, with a truly excellent keyboard and finely-tuned features for businesses.

Best tablet

Winner - Apple iPad Pro

Apple has thoroughly dominated the tablet computing category this year - and not just because it's been one of the only companies to release a premium tablet. The company's devices have been sophisticated, powerful and portable, and the iPad Pro is the perfect combination of all three.

The Apple Pencil support made it an excellent choice for designers and artists, but now that Apple has introduced a file manager and a suite of proper multi-tasking capabilities, the iPad Pro can genuinely be considered as a laptop replacement. Showcasing the very best of Apple's design abilities, both the 10.5in and 12.9in iPad Pro models are the pinnacle of tablet design.

Highly commended - Apple iPad

If you can't quite bear to part with the 620 starting price of the iPad Pro, Apple's entry-level iPad makes a handy compromise. While it doesn't have the full range of productivity features seen on the Pro range, the basic iPad is still sleek and speedy enough for day-to-day use.

Best 2-in-1

Winner - Microsoft Surface Pro

One look at how many companies have aped the design of Microsoft's flagship convertible should give you a good indication of how popular the Surface Pro is. The kickstand design is elegant and intuitive, and the keyboard is one of the most satisfying typing experiences we've had, whilst also being amazingly thin and light.

There's no compromise on components, either; the 12.3in screen is pin-sharp and absolutely gorgeous to boot, and one of Intel's seventh-generation processors provides a serious amount of oomph. Forget compromise; this 2-in-1 does everything a laptop can, and then some.

Highly commended - HP Elite X2 Folio

While it's definitely borrowing some design inspiration from the Surface Pro, the HP Elite X2 Folio brings a few things to the table that Microsoft's device doesn't. It's user-upgradeable, for example, which could end up saving corporate IT departments a whole heap of time and money in the long term.

Best Chromebook

Winner - Google Pixelbook

Chromebooks aren't just cheap and cheerful laptops for schools, and Google's out to prove it with the Pixelbook. A razor-thin body and eye-catching design is backed up by surprisingly powerful internal hardware and all the AI-powered software features you'd expect from a flagship Google product.

What's more, improvements to Chrome OS and the ability to run Android apps mean that the Pixelbook is (very nearly) as versatile and capable as a standard Windows laptop. It's expensive, but it's liable to inspire serious notebook envy wherever you go.

Highly commended - HP Chromebook 13

At around 600, the HP Chromebook 13 is much more affordable than the pricey Pixelbook, without making too much of a compromise on design or performance. Like most Chromebooks, it'll struggle with seriously heavy-duty workloads, but for general tasks, this lightweight machine should perform very well indeed.

Best smartphone

Winner - Samsung Galaxy S8

2017 has been a truly excellent year for smartphones, and the Samsung Galaxy S8 has been firmly leading the charge. The first major smartphone out of the gate with an edge-to-edge OLED display, the S8 set an example followed by companies like OnePlus, Honor and even Apple.

Combine this with one of the best smartphone cameras we've ever seen, super-quick internals and a very capable battery life, and it all adds up to a device that's very attractive indeed. Move over, iPhone; there's a new king in town.

Highly commended - Google Pixel 2

The follow up to last year's surprise hit, the Google Pixel 2 is a deeply impressive piece of technology powered by intelligent AI features and smart UI design. Its real selling-point is an absolutely world-class camera, which has yet to be beaten by any other smartphone. Were it not for a slightly underwhelming screen, the Pixel 2 would be topping our list this year.

Best 1U server

Winner - Dell EMC PowerEdge R640

The Dell EMC PowerEdge R640 is part of the company's recently-launched 14th generation of servers, and Dell has pulled out all the stops to cram this space-efficient 1U rack server full of storage and power. Not only does it have full support for Intel's Xeon Scalable processors, it's also got some mightily impressive storage options.

On top of that, Dell's iDRAC9 management console is a smash hit, offering a comprehensive overview of operational information, security-centric features and outstanding remote management and administration capabilities. It's every bit the equal of HPE's superb iLO5 controller.

Highly commended - Lenovo ThinkSystem SR630

Expansion potential is the name of the game here, with Lenovo's ThinkSystem SR630 offering plenty of internal space for further upgrades, despite a compact 1U form factor, and Xeon Scalable processor support for improved performance. More importantly, the XClarity Controller will make remote management a breeze.

Best 2U server

Winner - Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd

The first server in Dell EMC's 14th-generation PowerEdge line, the PowerEdge R740xd is an excellent example of what customers can expect from the company now that the merger between Dell and EMC has been completed. Remote management capabilities have been improved, and EMC's expertise has been put to use with a superb array of storage features.

It's also a powerful showcase of Intel's relatively new enterprise-grade Skylake-SP Xeon processors. The R740xd supports the whole family, all the way up to Intel's 28-core Platinum Xeon monster, and its sheer processing power is tough to beat. Blue-chip vendors, take note: this is how it's done.

Highly commended - HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10

Like the PowerEdge, HPE's tenth-generation flagship 2U server features Xeon Scalable processor support and extensive storage options. It's an improvement over the previous iteration in just about every way, and it's got the huge room for expansion too, making it a great option for growing businesses.

Best tower server

Winner - HPE ProLiant ML110 Gen10

Smaller businesses on a tighter budget may think that cutting-edge Xeon Scalable servers are out of their reach, but not anymore. The 10th-generation update to HPE's ProLiant ML110 tower server brings SMBs excellent performance coupled with generous expansion options.

It also comes with HPE's outstanding iLO5 management controller, providing plenty of remote management, monitoring, and security features. For smaller organisations that want a heavyweight server without the top-end price tag, this is an excellent choice.

Highly commended - Fujitsu Server Primergy TX1320 M3

If you're tight on space, Fujitsu's smallest-ever tower server will be right up your street. Not only that, but it's also great value. Combine that with beefy Xeon processors and heaps of clever design features to make the most of the limited internal space, and you've got a very capable package.

Best security appliance

Winner - WatchGuard Firebox T70

The biggest thing that the WatchGuard Firebox T70 has going for it is its virtually unbeatable price. Not only is it extremely competitive, it's also one of the highest-performing desktop appliances we've ever seen, with 4GBits/sec firewall throughput.

It's bundled with a year's subscription to WatchGuard's enterprise-class software suite too, including anti-spam, anti-virus and web-content filtering, as well as a Gold-level support subscription. Lastly, it has top-notch monitoring features for ultimate peace of mind.

Highly commended - Kerio Control NG300W

The Kerio Control NG300W is one sturdy UTM appliance, with four Gigabit Ethernet ports, a 2.4GHz Intel Atom CPU, and an inbuilt heatsink. It doesn't fall down on security features either, offering a comprehensive and well-rounded package. The only absence is anti-spam features, but otherwise, it's an excellent security appliance.

Best storage array

Winner - HPE MSA 2052 Storage

HPE has raised the bar with its 5th-gen MSA 2052 storage appliance, doubling the performance of an already-excellent array whilst keeping it at the same wallet-friendly price as its predecessor.

Performance is accordingly excellent, and it's twinned with a load of powerful features to make virtualisation, deployment, and recovery as easy as possible. Considering that it includes HPE's full suite of data tiering capabilities as well, it's a steal.

Highly commended - Broadberry CyberStore 224S-WSS rack

Despite going up against titans like HPE, Dell EMC, and Fujitsu, Broadberry was first out of the gate with a Windows Storage Server 2016 appliance - and for a very attractive price, too. On top of that, the Broadberry CyberServe 224S-WSS comes with 26 hot-swap SFF drive bays, heaps of network connection options, twin Intel Xeon E5-2620 v4 processors and 64GB of RAM.

Best NAS drive

Winner - Qnap TS-1685 desktop

For those that want high-volume desktop storage capabilities, it's hard to beat Qnap's TS-1685. Not only does it feature 16 hot-swap drive bays, it's also got blazing network performance thanks to its four 10GbE Ethernet ports, and support for expansion via additional PCIe cards.

You'll be hard-pressed to match its performance in terms of disk read and write speeds as well. Add in a whole heap of backup and storage features, and the TS-1685 is a superb addition to any small office setup.

Highly commended - Netgear ReadyNAS RN426

Data protection is top of the priority list for this SMB-friendly NAS drive. Backup performance is excellent, with cloud sharing, disaster recovery and snapshot features aplenty. It's also nice and hardy, thanks to its rock-solid steel construction.

Best printer

Winner - Xerox VersaLink C400DN

The first thing that's likely to attract SMBs Xerox's VersaLink C400DN is the low price, but one of the most useful features is the large variety of onboard apps available for it, including heaps of cloud and network printing tools. It's also one of the rare printers that supports wired and wireless networking simultaneously.

Print quality is absolutely superb, delivering razor-sharp and detail-packed pictures and documents at exceptional speeds. As if that wasn't enough Xerox offers a lifetime on-site warranty - all you have to do is buy a toner pack in the last 60 days of your warranty period, and the company will renew it for another year. Can't say fairer than that.

Highly commended - Brother MFC-L8900CDW MFP

Although its initial purchase price isn't as attractive as some of its rivals, this A4 laser printer makes up for it with a battery of excellent cloud and security features, combined with speedy, high-quality prints. Running costs are reasonable, too, so TCO shouldn't be a problem later down the line.

It's been nearly 10 years since Drobo launched its first NAS appliance and even now, its BeyondRAID technology is still unique. Aimed at users that don't want the hassle of configuring and managing RAID arrays, BeyondRAID is designed to automate everything.

On review is Drobo's B810n, an 8-bay desktop pure NAS appliance. Drobo still hasn't amalgamated IP SAN support into the product family and this is only offered in its dedicated B810i and B1200i appliances.

Drobo's mantra has always been to simplify RAID so you just slip SATA hard disks of any size or make into the appliance and stand back. BeyondRAID automatically adds them to a single virtual storage pool with redundancy configured at the block level.

Single and dual parity arrays are supported and you can swap between them on the fly. The array defaults to single parity but you can change to dual parity whenever you want and if you decide you can't take the hit on storage capacity, you can revert back to single parity.

Build quality and deployment

Considering the price, we expected to see a more appealing hardware specification as the B810n is powered by a simple 1.2GHz quad-core Marvell XP MV78460 CPU. This is teamed up with a modest 2GB of DDR3 memory, which can't be upgraded.

Physically, the B810n is an imposing matt-black metal box, which looks and feels very well built. It uses carrier-less bays so we just removed the front panel and pushed our hard disks in until the lever at the front locked them in place.

We installed two 10TB Seagate IronWolf NAS drives plus two 8TB Seagate NAS HDDs and partnered them with 4TB, 3TB and 2TB WD Red Pro drives. Deployment is really easy, as the web-based guide helped with physical installation and loading the Drobo Dashboard utility for remote management.

After an automatic firmware upgrade, the Dashboard presented a virtual storage pool with single drive redundancy all ready for action in 30 minutes. Our raw capacity was converted to 31.5TB of usable storage with 9.5TB used for protection.

Configuration

All configuration is carried out from the Dashboard and we had no problems creating shares, adding users and dishing out access privileges. Shares can be mapped using the appliance's IP address but loading the Dashboard on connected systems allows this to be achieved with two mouse clicks.

The Dashboard provides plenty of information about drive status, plus used and available capacity. Each drive carrier has a multi-colour status LED, and a light bar up the right-hand side shows used capacity.

Remote replication to another B810n is achieved using the built-in DroboDR feature. This replicates everything including user accounts and privileges to the remote unit, and recovery is achieved by taking the remote unit out of target mode.

The B810n can also run a range of extra apps including remote access, mobile photo backup and WordPress web site hosting. Private cloud storage and file syncing services are also available as the B810n can host the open-source ownCloud app.

Performance

Mapping a share to an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen9 Windows rack server saw good speeds over a single Gigabit connection, with Iometer reporting fast sequential read and write rates of 113MB/sec and 112MB/sec. These translated to equally good real world speeds, with our 25GB drag and drop file copy returning read and write averages of 112.7MB/sec and 111.3MB/sec.

The B810n makes a great backup target as securing a 22.4GB test folder with 10,500 small files averaged a tidy 80MB/sec. The dual Gigabit ports can be used separately or bonded together but we found performance could not be improved much beyond our initial single port tests.

With two servers each mapped to their own shares over dedicated Gigabit ports, we saw cumulative Iometer read and write speeds of only 116MB/sec and 114MB/sec. With the ports bonded together, we ran the same test on both servers and saw no improvement in throughput.

Recovery

To test BeyondRAID's recovery processes, we pulled the 2TB drive from the appliance while it was being used. The Dashboard advised us not to remove any more drives and then recovered the array by rearranging data on the remaining drives.

Redundancy was restored in only 11 minutes and during this time we had Iometer testing sequential read performance. Prior to removing the drive it reported 113MB/sec and during array recovery, this only dropped to 108MB/sec.

We then swapped from single-drive to dual-drive redundancy, which took just over an hour to complete and reduced usable capacity from 31.5TB down to 21.9TB. Our Iometer test was never interrupted during this process and reported similar speeds as seen during the earlier array recovery test.

Verdict

Our biggest issue with the B810n is its price, as similar 8-bay desktop appliances from Qnap and Synology are a lot cheaper and beat it for features and performance. They're also a better choice if you want combined NAS and IP SAN services, 10-Gigabit upgrade options and a more versatile range of on-board apps.

The B810n scores higher though, for its remarkable ease of use and simplified drive and data protection features. Non-technical users will find Drobo's BeyondRAID the perfect panacea to their RAID-related worries and for that, the B810n can't be faulted.

Verdict

Drobo’s user-friendly B810n makes light work of RAID configuration and provides extremely fast recovery procedures but development has been slow and it’s still a costly NAS option

Chassis: Desktop chassis

CPU: 1.2GHz quad-core Marvell XP MV78460

Memory: 2GB DDR3

Storage: 8 x LFF SATA drive bays

RAID: Drobo BeyondRAID

Network: 2 x Gigabit

Management: Drobo Dashboard

Warranty: 2yrs RTB

Options: DroboCare, £399 per year

Synology's recent focus on its higher-end business NAS appliances has meant some of its SMB boxes have had to wait in line for a refresh. Its highly popular DS1815+ is overdue for an update as it's now well over two years old and the latest DS1817+ aims to remedy this.

Along with options for 10-Gigabit (10GbE) upgrades, the 8-bay DS1817+ is one of Synology's first appliances to support M.2 SSDs. A big disappointment is the lack of CPU upgrade as it still uses the same aging Atom C2538 SoC as its predecessor.

This CPU is over four years old and along with support for slower DDR3 memory, the entire Atom C2000 family is currently suffering the ignominy of being accused of bricking devices that use them. This is due to a clock signal component that degrades after prolonged heavy usage and stops the device from booting.

Synology has stated that it is aware of this, hasn't seen any abnormal error rates in its appliances that use these CPUs and has extended the warranty on older appliances (including the DS1815+) by an extra year. This shouldn't be an issue with the DS1817+ as two different sources from Synology confirmed to IT Pro that it has applied the suggested improvements to address this issue'.

Synology's hybrid RAID feature now supports single-drive and dual-drive redundancy

Design changes

The DS1817+ uses the same sleek black chassis as the DS1815+ but with a number of modifications at the rear. The quad Gigabit, triple USB 3 and dual eSATA ports have been relocated to the base of the panel leaving room at the side for a single PCI-Express expansion slot.

This supports industry-standard 10GbE adapters from Intel and Emulex. The DS1817+ doesn't have embedded M.2 SSD slots so you'll need to forego 10GbE upgrades and install Synology's M2D17 expansion card which costs around 140 and supports two 2280/2260/2242 M.2 modules.

The two SO-DIMM memory slots have been moved under the motherboard and are easily accessible behind a removable panel. The DS1817+ is offered with 2GB or 8GB of memory but if you want to upgrade to the maximum 16GB you'll need to write these off.

Another change that won't go down well with existing users is the DS1817+ only supports the new DX517 expansion units and is not listed as compatible with the older DX513 models. These new 5-bay units allow the drive count to be pushed to 18 and capacity using 10TB drives to a very usable 180TB.

We had no problems adding a dual-port 10GbE adapter to the DS1817+

10GbE performance

For testing, we fitted four 10TB Seagate IronWolf NAS drives and used Synology's discovery web portal to load the latest DSM software and create a big 27.3TB SHR array. Synology's hybrid arrays simplify RAID choices as they can be easily expanded with new drives and DSM 6.1 offers an SHR-2 dual redundancy option as well.

NAS performance is impressive as with the appliance hooked up over 10GbE to a Lenovo x3550 M5 Windows rack server, we watched Iometer record raw read and write rates of 9.2Gbits/sec and 4Gbits/sec for a mapped share. Real world speeds are also good with a 25GB drag and drop file copy returning read and write averages of 4.4Gbits/sec and 3.2Gbits/sec.

Backup speeds are on the low side as our 22.4GB folder with 10,500 files was secured at 1.5Gbps. The Atom's encryption performance was fair as copies of our 25GB test file using an encrypted share returned read and write speeds of 1.4Gbits/sec and 1.1Gbits/sec.

IP SAN speeds aren't so good with Iometer recording read and write rates of only 3.5Gbits/sec and 1.6Gbits/sec for a 500GB target. A dual-10GbE MPIO link didn't improve the picture much with speeds only increasing to 4.7Gbits/sec and 2Gbits/sec.

The optional M.2 SSD card can be used to add read or read/write caches for improved performance

Feature-rich DSM

Synology's DSM 6.1 software is positively brimming with data protection features. BTRFS volumes support on-demand and scheduled snapshots which can also be replicated to BTRFS volumes on remote Synology appliances.

The Hyper Backup app manages all your local, remote, Rysnc and cloud backups and has wizards for nineteen different types of backups. The Cloud Sync app works with 21 public providers and private clouds are yours for the taking with Synology's Cloud Station Server app on the case.

We tested the M2D17 expansion card with a pair of 256GB M.2 SSDs and after swapping out our 10GbE card, we used the Storage Manager app to create a mirrored read/write cache. It's easy to keep an eye on cache usage and the handy Advisor monitors volume usage and advises whether caching will be beneficial.

DSM also supports Seagate's IHM (IronWolf Health Management) feature and correctly detected our 10TB drives. This allowed us to run on-demand and scheduled health tests on our drives and check the results from Storage Manager.

Synology's DSM software offers a super range of free data protection and cloud backup apps

Conclusion

This eagerly anticipated refresh to the DS1815+ is a damp squib mainly due to the lack of CPU update. Had Synology gone for a more up-to-date Intel CPU, it would have easily steered clear of all the concerns about the Atom C2000 products.

The additional expansion slot does make the DS1817+ more versatile although you'll have to choose between 10GbE and the costly M.2 SSD adapter card. That said, it delivers good overall NAS performance and Synology's DSM 6.1 software is a standard setter for features.

Verdict

Synology’s DS1817+ is good value for an 8-bay appliance and adds more versatility with 10GbE and M.2 SSD support but its reliance on an elderly Atom C2538 CPU is disappointing

Chassis: Desktop

CPU: 2.4GHz Intel Atom C2538

Memory: 8GB DDR3 (max 16GB)

Storage: 8 x hot-swap SATA drive bays

Array support: RAID0, 1, 10, 5, 6, hot-spare, JBOD, SHR-1, SHR-2

Network: 4 x Gigabit

Other ports: 4 x USB 3; 2 x eSATA

Expansion: 1 x PCI-Express Gen2 slot

Power: 240W internal PSU

Management: Web browser

Warranty: 3-year limited

Is there a place for NAS anymore? Until recently, I wasn't sure. Five years ago, the idea of centralised backup and file storage for my home and small business was incredibly appealing. Now I use OneDrive and Dropbox as my go-to save locations, while Google Drive and iCloud Drive play a role in supporting my iOS and Android hardware.

Similarly, I once had big plans to centralise all the music, movies and recorded TV in the home and make it accessible through our Android tablets and Roku media streamers. Now, with the likes of Netflix, Now TV, Amazon Prime and Spotify, that idea seems redundant.

Unexpectedly, however, I'm beginning to change my mind. For one thing, NAS drives are becoming easier to set up and work with, so that I can get the kind of convenient, heavily automated sync and sharing I expect from Dropbox through my own personal cloud. With some of the more advanced units in particular, many of the hoops you used to have to jump through have disappeared. I can access my content through my phone or my browser, and even have my phone's photos upload automatically over Wi-Fi.

Read our article on the Best NAS Drives for more information about what NAS could suit you.

Performance is another big strength. Sure, my personal video library can't rival that of Netflix, but there's no buffering or dropped connections to spoil my entertainment. I can work on a document right from the NAS folder, and I wouldn't even know that it's not on my local drive. If I need to back up edited photos, it happens in seconds.

What's more, there's no need to worry about capacity, with 2TB or more of space. Sure, I don't think it's an option to run a library of Steam games directly from a NAS, but there's nothing to stop me syncing libraries across my two PCs. Try doing that with a cloud storage service.

Most of all, though, I'm impressed with the power and versatility of these devices. In a way, NAS has become too limiting a term; you can use them for simple backup, sync and storage, but some are now all-in-one media centres, IP camera security centres or even simple, low-cost email, web and VPN servers.

I can use one to stream Ultra HD video to my TV, but I could also use it for a small business virtualisation strategy or to service a school's intranet. It's hard to think of any other hardware that's so affordable and flexible. NAS devices mimic the advantages of cloud storage without many of the disadvantages, giving you the same "anytime, anywhere" access, but at a lower ongoing cost with more capacity and control.

In short, the NAS comeback is on.

When was the last time you really worried about storage? It’s one of the truisms of computing that price per megabyte of whichever media you choose will only ever head one way – down.

And yet, the value of what we store goes in precisely the opposite direction. Increased regulation means we need to be ever more careful of how we preserve our business records, and fines can – and will – be levied on those who don’t take sufficient care to preserve their accounts and comply with data-protection requirements. It’s not inconceivable that these fines will exceed the cost and inconvenience of taking the matter in hand earlier and setting up a robust and secure storage system, which you review at regular intervals.

The fact remains, though, that the task of shifting your data from one media to another is an onerous one, and keeping track of multiple libraries split across diverse repositories isn’t for the fainthearted. In this hands-on walkthrough, we’ll show you how to set up a system that will adapt and grow as your needs change. It should also help cut lag, which on a heavily used system should pay dividends of its own over time.

We’ll be using iSCSI, as we believe it to be the most compatible and most extensible option for anyone with a storage problem – but it isn’t quite plug and play.

The breadth of hardware over which iSCSI appears to work is almost part of its problem: it’s so wide. We’ll be using kit that’s one level up from the simplest possible configuration, which would be one PC, one iSCSI-capable NAS device and a single Gigabit Ethernet switch. Our sole addition to this list is a managed switch that can be set to support both jumbo frames and flow control. These are the two most important enablers of a smooth iSCSI experience and, without them, you’ll miss out on the speed benefits: you’ll just about break even with USB 2 performance on a good day.

To prove the concept first, start with a switch, a PC running Windows and your NAS box. Verify that everything can ping the other devices’ IP addresses and that their network cards – as well as the switch – both support and have selected flow control and jumbo frames. These attributes can be missed out either by the Microsoft driver, or by the machine vendor themselves. We were fortunate: the HP Z220 we used has a built-in card, configured as we needed it.

If the ping experiment was a success, you’re ready to get started. However, if you’re doing this experiment on a network that has live users, please take note: they may be temporarily disconnected. And remember, you can always prove the concept with the settings.

What’s a LUN?

You’ll see in step 2 of the walkthrough, “Make a Target”, that we mention LUNs. And you may well wonder what they are. In short, they’re a throwback. Logical unit numbers were IDs for volumes, drives or partitions in the SCSI era, and the name alone has rolled forward to the modern world of storage. Here, we’re connecting part of a disk to a set of flags and access controls and, in this scenario, each chunk of the disk is called a LUN.

Hands on: Setting up an iSCSI system

1. Assuming you’ve connected everything up, and that the machines can ping each other, you have two configurations to do. On the NAS box, you need to reserve some of the disk and present that as an iSCSI target. On the PC, you must tell the iSCSI service where to look for the target. We’re using a Netgear ReadyNAS 104 here.
2. Work out how much disk space you want the target to present, and whether you would prefer to format the whole volume now or when it’s needed. The latter is known as “thin provisioning”. Notice the naming of the parts: this is vital and can quickly get out of hand without a naming structure. Later, with 20 targets and 60 LUNs, you’ll regret a poor name.
3. Now we must apply flags and access controls to a portion of the disk. In large storage deployments, you might need to secure certain volumes from nosey system admins, or prevent curious users from connecting directly, but in small-business storage setups, all of these features are best left turned off. CHAP is handled under the same heading – passwords can be entered at either end of the setup, meaning you know who’s connected to your disks. However, on the first try, they just add a further layer of uncertainty.
4. Take care when setting up a storage group. You’re presented with this dialog, which appears to be asking you to supply a name and target details yourself. These long names are part of the iSNS service, and despite their intimidating length, it’s best not to dip a toe in those waters at this stage: both the entry-level NAS device we’re using, and Windows itself, will handle these names for you.
5. The next step is as simple as you could ever hope for, as you can see from this grab. It’s what you’ll see when you type “iscsi” into the Start menu on Windows 7 or later. This is about as benign as additional setup of services will ever get. To proceed to the next stage, simply click Yes – a potentially complicated set of procedures have been preprogrammed to make your life easier.
6. Get used to this dialog, as it’s where all the action happens in Windows iSCSI when it comes to connecting to the targets you’ve created. If all you want to do is prove the concept, and performance isn’t especially important to achieving this aim, then just crack straight on and enter the IP address of the NAS box on which you set your targets, then click Quick Connect. This should be a painless process, but in our tests we received an additional pop-up, which we’ll discuss in the next step.
7. This appeared because there was more than one target group defined at the address we gave. We don’t want to connect to the original target (another PC has rights to that, and we don’t want to share storage at the iSCSI level), so we want only our second target to be involved on this machine. We’ll get back to those other behaviours later, but for the moment, we have a volume linked to this machine via the iSCSI initiator service, and all the other settings have been filled in by the Quick Connect button.
8. This is the standard Windows 7 Disk Management console, where we can see our as-yet-unformatted new volume, listed below the existing disks on our machine. Right-clicking our new volume shows that it’s online (the “offline” on this menu will take it offline, rather than denoting that it already is). This means all of our settings have been stored and the machine will attempt to remount this storage every time it starts up, visible as a drive letter to both the desktop and background services.
9. If Windows loses the connection, you will not only need to work through the initiator dialog to reconnect, but you’ll also have to come back to this dialog because rediscovered iSCSI connections are always left marked as “offline” until verified. The “online” menu is in the Management console and nowhere else.
10. This is where you go, by clicking on the Discovery tab, if your LAN has somehow interfered with the Quick Connect option. This is a far from unusual occurrence. Some NAS service configurations don’t supply enough information to complete the connection, or you may want to use this tab to run multiple LAN cards, splitting up storage traffic from other data that commonly passes in and out of a PC’s LAN port.
11. You can nominate an IP address or communications stack to handle the iSCSI interchange for you. Should you have a hardware-layer iSCSI Ethernet card, then this is where it comes into play. Notice (but then go on to ignore) all the stuff in the Advanced dialog box to handle authentication: you can’t have those secure features and also make use of the Quick Connect button that’s the heart of this demo, and sometimes at the heart of a lot of disappointment with performance and usability.
12. Your volume is visible in the Disk Management console, but it’s unformatted. This isn’t just a matter of a few clicks in the usual Format dialog box, though: the default options need careful consideration, especially if you have made yourself a large contiguous store out of several SATA disks. Remember also that the combination of thin provisioning and Quick Format can leave all the parts of the system working surprisingly hard when you start filling up your disk. Even though our all-time record was three days for an iSCSI slow format, always consider taking as much pain upfront as you can when it comes to formatting.

Buffalo Technology has appointed its senior director of European sales, Klaas de Vos, to the new role of chief operating officer (COO) after a management restructure.

In the new position de Vos will be responsible for leading the storage vendor’s strategy, business growth and development – which includes plans to bolster its sales force for an increased focus on the channel.

“My core focus now is to work closely with Buffalo’s reseller partners, to help build a stronger channel relationship and drive greater sales of business products,” comments Klaas de Vos (pictured).

Previously Buffalo had just an MD followed by its senior directors, but the restructure saw it add the roles of COO and CFO.

Buffalo says its channel strategy has expanded to offer fully integrated business solutions to companies of all sizes, including IP camera surveillance and dedicated Windows environments.

“We are now in a position to be the number one provider to anyone that requires a NAS solution – be that consumers, small to medium sized businesses or enterprises. The channel is absolutely crucial to this process, so we’ve made strategic new hires to add to our sales force across the entire European region,” he adds.

Before joining Buffalo, de Vos held various senior global positions within Western Digital, culminating in being VP and general manager EMEA, covering 30 percent of the company’s worldwide revenue.

Buffalo Technology has signed a distribution deal with storage specialist CMS Distribution in a bid to bolster its presence in the Network Attached Storage (NAS) market.

“The NAS market is continuing to expand, and Buffalo has been proactive in designing market leading, cost-effective NAS devices to meet the bespoke needs of all companies,” comments Paul Hudson, sales director for Northern Europe at Buffalo Technology.

“As the market continues to grow it will present further opportunities for Buffalo, so working with CMS Distribution will help more businesses benefit from our expanding product portfolio.

“The new partnership will enhance our reputation as a provider of reliable storage solutions within the increasingly competitive NAS market, whilst also helping us boost our sales goals,” he adds.

In the last 12 months Buffalo has added eight new products ranging from the SMB-focused TeraStation 5000 – offering 4TB to 16TB capacity, with anti-virus capabilities, as well as rackmount and disk-free enclosure options – to the Enterprise-level TeraStation 7120r.

CMS maintains a reseller network of more than 2,000 storage partners. Says Nick Preston, commercial director: “Adding Buffalo’s wide range of NAS solutions to our data storage portfolio will create a number of exciting opportunities for our B2B and B2C resellers and strengthen CMS’ position as a leading NAS solutions distributor in UK and Ireland.”

Buffalo also has distirbution agreements with Ingram Micro, Computer 2000 and Micro-P.

Iomega, the SMB arm of EMC (NYSE:EMC) has partnered with specialist distributor Anixter (NYSE: AXE) to deliver the vendor’s StorCenter network storage range to the video surveillance market.

“We are excited to include the Iomega server class network attached storage devices to our security portfolio,” comments Steven Anson, Anixter’s VP of marketing – enterprise cabling & security solutions for EMEA, who says the addition of Iomega’s products will provide an additional layer to the disti’s IP video surveillance portfolio.

Adds Jan Jensen, VP of sales, EMEA, Iomega: “Anixter has strong relationships with security integrators, which will allow us to accelerate our delivery of dependable and economical hosted local and cloud video surveillance with Iomega network storage products.”

Products include the Iomega double-drive desktop StorCenter ix2-200 Cloud Edition NAS unit, which ships with up to 6TB of networked storage capacity, the four-drive desktop StorCenter ix4-200d Cloud Edition, with up to 12TB of storage capacity, and the new four- and six-drive desktop StorCenter px4-300d and px6-300d models, with up to 18TB of storage. There are also rackmount StorCenter models that offer up to 38TB of storage capacity.

All of Iomega’s StorCenter NAS devices use EMC LifeLine software, a Linux operating environment compatible with video surveillance management solutions such as the Axis Video Hosting Service (AVHS), jointly developed by Iomega with Axis Communications.

Iomega’s other UK distributors are CMS Peripherals, Computer 2000, Ingram Micro and Avnet. Its products are also available via EMC disties Arrow and Magirus.

In March Iomega launched a new channel partner programme.

Storage vendor Overland (NASDAQ:OVRL) has launched SnapServer DX, a new unified NAS and iSCSI SAN device featuring DynamicRAID technology to simplify storage provisioning. The platform includes what it describes as enterprise-class features such as snapshots, replication and remote management. The new device scales up to 288TB and the firm claims it is around a tenth of cost of feature comparable solutions from rivals such as EMC, HP and Dell.

The firm is pitching the hardware at the business applications market with focus on virtualsed server, Microsoft Exchange, Sharepoint, SQL environments and backup. According to Andy Walsky, VP EMEA sales & marketing (pictured), “SnapServer DX demonstrates our commitment to strengthening our portfolio to provide enterprise class features at a competitive price point.”

With a 36TB configuration hovering around the £5000 RRP mark, Walsky points out that channel partners are still able to hit margins of up to 30 percent. The channel boss also confirmed that the company had grown its active channel by around 15 percent in the UK and that its pipeline for business was strong.

The optimism from the firm is reflected in its financial position. Overland’s net loss for the fourth quarter was $3.7m down from a net loss of $4.2m in the same period of the previous year. However, the firms’ exit from its legacy OEM tape library business did lead annual revenues to slump by $7.5m to £70.2m. Walsky also points out that the MaxiScale technology it acquired in 2010 will be part of a new clustered scalable NAS and a private cloud offering that is due in early 2012.

In parallel, Overland is also engaged in a potentially lucrative lawsuit against BDT, IBM and Dell which should rule at the end of November. The combination of strong sales, a 30 percent gross margin and innovation driven road map has helped the firm’s share price triple over the last year. Walsky would not be drawn on when the company would hit profitability but added that, “We are on track.”

Channel Pro comment:

If you looked back at Overland in 2008, you would probably have seen a company not long for this world – poor financials, its major OEM relationship ending and top tier management heading for the door. Its survival has been based on a successful transition to disk, good intellectual property and ultimately the patience of the channel. Today the firm has around 1500 partners and a clear market proposition that resellers can go out and sell. Overland is by no means bulletproof but looking at the cost versus features list of the DX platform, on paper at least, it is an equal of any of its peers in a market that is still growing. Now if it can just get a big settlement or healthy ongoing IP revenue from its court case with IBM and Dell...