QNAP’s HS-453DX two-bay NAS field weighs in at a hefty $699 MSRP with out drives, however it’s a multimedia beast that won’t solely stream recordsdata, however play them immediately onto your show or TV through HDMI. Throw in a tiered SSD/HDD construction and 10-gigabit ethernet, and the value begins to make sense, even when it stays formidable to the common person. Also difficult might be the configuration. But if the value and setup don’t section you, you’ll like this field.
Design and specs
The HS-453DX, like its HS-251 predecessors, seems extra like a cable field than your conventional NAS gadget. Largely as a result of its two 3.5-inch drive bays are laid out horizontally, somewhat than within the typical vertical association. The unit can also be fan-less which makes it very, very quiet. It can even make it highly regarded, relying on utilization and what you employ for storage: SSDs or arduous drives. As the brushed-metal prime of the unit serves as a warmth sink, with at the least some air circulation within the space, thermal issues mustn’t happen.
The HS-453DX is definitely a four-drive unit should you rely the 2 M.2 slots supporting SATA 6Gbps SSDs. The SSDs can be utilized for caching, or as regular volumes. The slots are accessed by eradicating the to prime/cowl, which is secured by seven quick screws accessed from the underside of the unit.
Tip: You don’t must take away the screws fully. If you’re light, you may stand the unit upright and add a drive with out ever having the screws fall out, after which lay it again down and re-tighten them.
The port array on the again of the HS-453DX seems extra like what you’d discover on a wise TV than a NAS field’s.
Two ethernet ports are on the again of the unit, the second of which helps 10-gigabit ethernet (that drops to 2.5Gbps should you’re utilizing lower than CAT7 cable). There are additionally two USB 2.0 ports, two Type-A USB 3.0 ports, and a single Type-C USB 3.0 port. Multimedia I/O is supported by two 3.5mm analog audio inputs and a 3.5mm audio output, plus two HDMI 2.0 ports that assist video decision as much as (3840 x 2160 pixels at a 60Hz refresh reate).
The HS-453DX is wider than the HS-251 that I’m used to—practically 16 inches versus slightly below 12 inches. Both the HS-251 and HS-453DX are about 9 inches deep and rather less than 2 inches tall.
Unlike the largely black HS-251, the HS-453DX is completed up in white and the aforementioned brushed metallic. Personally, I favored the much less apparent look of the older items, in addition to the on/off button placement on the again. You should take away the magnetically connected entrance cowl from the HS-453DX to entry its on/off swap. Normally, this isn’t a problem, however I used to be by no means in a position to get the field to energy up on a schedule. The HS-251 often suffers this concern as properly.
The HS-453DX is powered by an Intel Celeron J4105 quad-core processor 1.5GHz (with burst speeds as much as 2.5GHz), which is in flip fed by both 4GB or 8GB of DDR4 reminiscence relying on the configuration you order. The SODIMM slots, just like the M.2 slots are additionally accessible with the highest cowl off.
QNAPIf this seems like the within of a PC to you, it’s. NAS packing containers are mainly PCs with out peripherals operating a server OS. Attach a show, keyboard and mouse, and there you go.
Performance
I examined the HS-453DX in three totally different configurations: with two 16TB Seagate IronWolf arduous drives mirrored in RAID 1; that setup with a Samsung 850 EVO SSD within the first M.2 slot set to cache every thing; after which with two 1TB 2.5-inch SATA SSDs operating in RAID 0 to see simply how briskly the field might go.
I related from the HS-453DX’s Aquantia AQC107 NBase-T/IEEE 802.3bz port on to an Intel 540-T1 single-port 10GbE adapter card on our testbed and ran CrystalDiskMark 6. I additionally ran CDM6 on my workplace gigabit community, however solely with the plain mirrored arduous drive setup because it nonetheless sooner than a single gigabit connection can deal with.
IDG10GbE undoubtedly will increase sustained throughput, however we didn’t see the huge enchancment with SSDs that we have been anticipating.
It was no shock that 10GbE greater than doubled the sustained throughput of 1GbE, however I used to be shocked that the striped SSDs (RAID 0) weren’t sooner. I’ve seen 900MBps transfers with SATA SSDs in RAID 0 (through USB 3.x Gen 2) and was anticipating, if not that, actually greater than the 380MBps I noticed.
380MBps will nonetheless ship much more high-definition video than the 118MBps sustained switch fee {that a} single gigabit connection maxes out at, however nonetheless. Of course, you want 10GbE tools, which stays fairly costly per port, and isn’t available in client grade community gear. A good 10BASE-T (RJ45) swap prices round $500.
QNAP mentioned that their expertise with two SATA SSDs striped in RAID 0 is write velocity commensurate with the learn numbers I garnered. That was my expectation, however no quantity of CrystalDiskMark runs or copy exams altered the outcomes that I’ve revealed. A attainable clarification was using two totally different manufacturers of SSD for the check.
A mountain of apps
The HS-453DX can fill a bunch of roles past storage and multimedia playback (QNAP recommends utilizing it as a Roon server, amongst different issues). I exploit the QNAP in my rack as a central repository for my music, so I can report (with native caching) and edit from a number of totally different PCs. It additionally serves as a TimeMachine vacation spot for a number of Macs, in addition to the WordPress server for my private web site. I’ve additionally used it as an e mail server at occasions. There are greater than two dozen backup apps, together with shoppers for a lot of on-line storage companies.
Another main position a QNAP NAS can fill is community video recorder for surveillance. There’s a recording app, Surveillance Station (every thing’s a “station” in QNAP-land), that permits you to report as much as 4 video streams free of charge (the variety of free streams varies with the mannequin), with extra licenses accessible. There’s additionally a model of Libre Office, YouTube, and many different good things. You can discover the chances on the firm’s online app center.
Direct video output
I’ve at all times discovered direct HDMI video output from a NAS field extra helpful for administering the field in a check setup than for delivering multimedia to a TV. Most good TVs can stream and play again films, music, and pictures over the community from any NAS field with a DLNA server, which is what I practically at all times wind up doing.
QNAPExploded view of the HS-453DX with the magnetically safe entrance panel off and the drive trays prolonged.
As the HS-453DX helps USB TV tuners, nevertheless, you may mainly roll your individual good TV utilizing it and any dumb show. This may very well be very useful should you’re actually pressed for area and want to make use of your laptop show as your TV.
Not as simple because it ought to, or may very well be
The windowed working system in a browser that QNAP makes use of to manage their NAS packing containers is good. If Windows (or macOS, or Linux…) you should use it. Beyond that and issues get tough in a rush. Part of that’s the nature of the beast (it’s a server!), however QNAP doesn’t make issues any simpler. There are a bunch of obscure app names similar to HybridDesk Station (the HDMI output configuration utility). Then you could have device suggestions that do nothing however mimic the merchandise title, plus assist that always reads extra like promoting than assist. Even when the assistance is offered, it’s not significantly granular, assuming far an excessive amount of data for non-IT varieties.
Normally I give QNAP a go, as a result of the audience is usually tech savvy. The HS-453DX, nevertheless, has some enchantment as a consumer-electronics gadget, so I assumed a warning acceptable—it’s nowhere close to simple.
As talked about, I additionally had a problem with the HD-453DX waking on schedule, however I’ve had persevering with points with FTP/CIFS/SMB sync operations failing on all my QNAP packing containers over time, for causes which might be lower than apparent. These gained’t have an effect on most customers, however they’ve bitten me greater than as soon as, and it’s one of the crucial necessary roles for a NAS field.
Conclusion
The HS-453DX is quick, can maintain loads of information, and may fill a mess of roles together with its somewhat distinctive multimedia mission. It’s a terrific NAS field should you can afford it. Please notice, nevertheless, you could get a lot the identical expertise, together with HDMI output and 10GbE through PCIe playing cards, from cheaper QNAP packing containers.
For that matter, nearly any NAS field with a DLNA server will go well with the common person who’s merely trying to stream multimedia, and people might be had from distributors similar to WD and others for a lot much less.
That mentioned, you probably have the cash and the experience, I believe you’ll like this field.