Home Hi-Tech Hardware and Peripherals ,,,,,The Asustor AS4002T is a small two-bank NAS designed for the consumer range or for the small office, with disks configurable in single mode, Raid 0 or Raid 1. Just a Marvell ARMADA-7020 1.6GHz Dual-Core ARM processor and 2GB of Ram, offers low power consumption and very quiet operation, as well as an interesting 10GbE Ethernet connection (which we talked about here) which places it as one of the cheapest models on the market with this feature.
Asustor AS4002T, the review
A design not to be underestimated
The first impact with the Asustor AS4002T takes place with the box, typical of a beautiful and complete packaging, as well as the included accessories: inside we find the NAS, the power cable (Italian and Anglo-Saxon), the external power supply ( pity, for such a model perhaps a built-in power supply was better), two 1Gbit Ethernet cables and a Category 6a Ethernet cable for the 10GbE connection.
The external design is sober and pleasant: access to the discs is from the front, but Asustor has put a magnetic plastic mask that covers the slides offering a front that is certainly more in line with the living room, an object of pure design that is not necessary. for correct operation, and which we have for example left aside during the various configurations with multiple discs (but which we liked at home next to our TV).
The compact design leaves nothing to chance and in fact in addition to the 10GbE port on the back there are two other 1GBit ports (so you can take advantage of the connection with link aggregation, if the router supports it) and two USB 3.0 type A ports, one on the back and one on the front.
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Preparation
The Asustor AS4002T is a two-disk model: the parent company offers a four-disk variant (Asustor AS4004T) with the same technical characteristics, but with more storage capacity and greater flexibility in RAID (with the 4-disk model for example, you can create an optimal RAID 5 for the 10GbE connection).
For our test we used two Western Digital 6TB RED internal drives, both in RAID 0 mode and as single drives: the drives matched very well with the quietness of the NAS, with a model that looks great in the living room as a side of a Mac, both for the design and for the noise, never excessive even if the operations we performed were relative (for ARM processors we never venture on processes such as virtualization or transcoding on the fly, since Plex ad example is not available here).
The slides offer a screwless coupling system, with a spring that blocks the disk and which is very simple to manage but at the same time does not clearly offer the possibility of mounting an SSD that the operating system allows you to use both as a volume (or part of a volume in RAID) or as a cache disk for a selected volume.
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The method of attaching the slides, without screws 
On the track
Initialization is very simple: the software heart of the Asustor AS4002T is (while we are writing) ADM 3.2, a very interesting operating system that has had a great growth in the last two years and which aims to become, in all probability, the third uncomfortable alongside the most famous names on the market.
We preferred to perform the first installation from Mac, but it is also possible to perform it via App thanks to the mobile Apps that now allow many operations, from initialization to remote control and maintenance.
Great value of ADM is the extreme simplicity of operations: perhaps not sophisticated as we have seen in the competition, but solid and interesting. An example above all is the new EZConnect system, which allows connection to the NAS even from outside the network with automatic router configuration via a simple Asustor ID.
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Ai Masters, for controlling the NAS from iPhone 
Ai Data, for the use of content from mobile 
SoundsGood, practically a version of iTunes via web
The connection via EZConnect is slightly slower (in particular in the first access) than a connection via IP, but it is much easier to implement for the non-expert user (practically it is enough to register for free on the portal, and then activate the function, at the rest takes care of the system).
The number of Apps in the store is interesting, even if Plex, our favorite, is missing due to the ARM processor: the multimedia functions are however guaranteed both by the iTunes Server and by (above all) the Asustor Apps such as LooksGood or SoundsGood (this very nice, practically an iTunes via web, but also manageable from the App).
A tyranny of ears instead goes to Asustor for the File Explorer App, which even working well, continues to ask for the installation of Java, a nuisance present for some time on ADM but still not corrected (the problem apparently occurs only on Safari for Mac, and it doesn't undermine its usability, it's just a bore).
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Performance
We used the NAS correctly for a few weeks as a backup of our iMac, synchronizing all the data daily thanks to the Deja Vu utility, although it is also possible to use a Time Machine server, which however was not comfortable for us.
Thanks to the backup of the NAS via Deja Vu, the archive respected the exact hierarchy of the Mac, without changes, thus being able to take advantage of the Apps (such as SoundsGood) for the provision of services, on contents that were synchronized daily.
The server, while remaining in the living room a stone's throw from the bedroom, was turned on all the time, 24/24 without ever disturbing and indeed, offered several times an interesting solution via Apple TV or iPhone when the Mac was off.
As for the tests carried out via connection to 10GbE we have dedicated a special article, in which we emphasized that the data collected are interesting even if the Mac mini 2018 used for the tests could give more (and probably with the 4-disk AS4004T model we would have had better results) but already in this way the speed peak is interesting for a model of this market range.
The performance of Asustor's NAS with the new Mac mini 2018 via a 10GbE network: the data is interesting, especially if compared to this price range
Considerations
The considerations on this model are very positive: the Asustor AS4002T performed very well for the tasks a NAS of this type is designed for, especially storage and backup.
The sharing with our Macs (all with macOS Mojave) was perfect and the use of the services excellent: aesthetically ADM that the Apps are growing, but technically the hardware / software combination seemed very good and above expectations for a brand young as Asustor.
There are some details to fix here and there but it is nothing so serious, and in any case the technical assistance, when asked, has proved capable, flexible and ready in the answers.
An extra point for sure is to be assigned for the presence of a 10GbE card, which since 2018 has also become interesting for Mac users (although, to date, limited to iMac Pro and Mac mini 2018) for a model that look to the future where this type of connection will be the norm even at home.
A single note, which knows a little personal: having to buy this model we will opt for the AS4004T, identical but with four discs instead of two. It is more expensive (a hundred euros more), equally powerful and with the exact same software, but with two more slots it offers greater configuration flexibility which over time could be interesting, with a not excessive increase in expense.
The AS4004T model, identical to the AS4002T but with two more discs: in our opinion it is a model very interesting because it offers more configuration flexibility
Pro : • Nice design • Very quiet • The 10GbE port is a big plus at this price range
Against: • Some software details to be filed on ADM
Price: • AS4002T 289.99 Euro (2 discs) • AS4004T 399.99 Euro (4 discs) • Western Digital WD Red 87.12 Euro (2TB) • Western Digital WD Red € 98.90 (3TB) • Western Digital WD Red € 199.50 (6TB)
Asustor is distributed in Italy by Neostar and the products are available in various stores in the peninsula, but can also be found online (here for the AS4002T model and here for the AS4004T model). In the test we used 6TB Western Digital WD Red drives.
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