Not only because smart working has now taken hold in the domestic economy, but also because the things we do every day with the internet are many and here is that Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro, of which we have notified the launch, becomes a very interesting object to have. always within reach in the living room (and virtually everywhere).
With a completely new software inside, a novelty that we at Cyberlayman are the first to tell.
Elegance above all
Opening the box, as is the tradition of Asustor, well cared for and lavish with all the technical details even on the outside, you find yourself in front of the “small” NAS (so to speak, it is in fact a 4 Bay) and all the accessories included .
The NAS has very small dimensions, considering that it houses 4 disks: 170x174x230 mm external for a weight of 2.2 kg (without disks).
The front features the power button, a USB 3.2 Gen 1 connector and some LEDs that show the operation of the internal drives plus a glossy magnetic panel, with the embossed logo, which hides the four sleds.
The front panel is very nice and is designed to stand in plain sight, next to your new 50 or 60 inch TV or, of course, anywhere in the house as long as you have a network cable available. However, the solution of the panel to cover the slides is not new and is inherited from other models, including the Nimbustor 2 and the Asustor AS4002T.
In the back there are two other USB 3.2 Gen 1 connectors, the connector for the power supply (with external power supply) and a 2.5 Gbit Ethernet network port, a format that is becoming more and more popular, especially from a consumer perspective. instead of the classic Gigabit. The package also contains a network cable and screws for SSD drives as we are about to see.
The App Control Center that allows the initial configuration phase of the NAS
Disks, preferably solid
The four bays (slides) available can accommodate 3.5 “mechanical disks but also 2.5” SATA SSD drives: for the mechanical disks, with which we did the first tests and tried the new operating system, no screws are needed but the slides have side hooks that fit the discs in a simple but safe way. The series of internal screws, on the other hand, is necessary for locking 2.5 ″ drives, such as SSDs.
In our tests we used 12 TB and 6 TB Seagate IronWolf mechanical NAS drives, which proved to be excellent drives for home use as well, particularly for the 12 TB model and which is according to the writer even quieter than the one from 6.
For the first configuration we opted for a RAID 5, and then did some tests even with only Angelbird Technologies SSD wrk drives, which proved to be much faster and more manageable.
Being able to give an advice, considering the market range of this Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro, we recommend the use of SSD drives as much as possible which, in the face of a higher cost (often much higher), still offer a more promising use environment, both because of the silence and the timing of access to documents, which in the use of files from mobile phones are more suited to SSDs. The slides do not show safety keys, a typical option for office models.
The definition of volumes for the RAID. One of the great advantages of Asustor is that it has always offered a very simple and linear system even for complex operations such as the choice of RAID, here also available to non-expert hands
Features
We obviously used the NAS in 24/7 mode in the living room, to offer coverage to photos from smartphones, with the appropriate Apps for iOS and Android, using the Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro as a private cloud, but also as a backup for computers. at home (with the new ADM 4 backup via Time Machine has improved, but we preferred Get Backup Pro 3 due to a duplication that becomes more profitable with NAS services) and above all as a Plex Server.
In particular with the latter, and with an Apple TV associated with the TV, the living room basically becomes a screaming cinema with music, videos and photos all at your fingertips.
Among the notable features of this model we mention the 2.5 Gbit connection, which offers a much more convenient network port if the NAS is used by multiple family members (but to have real benefits the whole network must be 2 , 5 Gbit or higher, starting with computers, remember that Mac minis for example offer the 10 Gbit option as early as 2018).
The (new) ADM4 Login screen
The core of the processor is a Realtek RTD1296 Quad-Core CPU at 1.4Ghz with 2 GB of DDR4 RAM from what we understand not expandable (a shame, 2 GB is a good compromise but having double it would have been better). The ARM technology adopted by this model offers palpable benefits, such as a lower operating temperature (resulting in less noise) but at the same time an active power suitable for use.
In fact, the NAS allows real-time transcoding for streaming a 4K movie in H.265, an excellent result if you think that only a couple of years ago an Intel processor was required for this operation.
Furthermore, with 4 Bay the possibility of managing the disks, in RAID (if we can, we recommend the use of a RAID 5 with 4 disks) or without, is very wide and allows excellent expandability so that users can evaluate the investment in disks in a progressive way, since this item is often much more expensive than the cost of the NAS.
The positive note of the 3-year product warranty closes it all, an important factor that, especially from a consumer perspective, will be very welcome (but be careful because the warranty covers the hardware, not the data, so do not skimp on the backup).
All perfect? Almost: on closer inspection it lacks a USB-C port that would have been very convenient for initial data transfer and a second Ethernet port for redundancy, but this second feature is more of a small office than a home network.
Inevitable Plex for watching some private video or one of the great classics
new ADM 4
With the occasion of this NAS we also wanted to try the new ADM 4 (Asustor Data Master), the new software supplied. In the meantime, the officially available version is 3.5.6.RHA2, which is what we saw for example in the NAS Asustor AS6604T while version 4 is available as a public beta pending a release that should be close enough.
The new Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro arrived to us with version 4 already installed and we were therefore able to try it right away.
The novelties are quite interesting, starting with a decidedly modernized interface, with a dark theme that is very trendy lately, as well as many other subtleties (the login-in screen and many of the App icons have been pleasantly revised).
Internal navigation seems smoother and (finally) the research part that was one of the weaknesses of ADM since version 2 has been revised: among other features we point out a revision of Samba, which offers greater speed for file transfer on the net and a new module for hosting a web server.
The mobile App, from the management point of view
The still excellent Photo Gallery 3 does not seem to have been changed too much, which may be an important response to the changes implemented by Google regarding the free unlimited storage that was offered until June 1, 2021, which has only increased to 15 GB. With a NAS like this you can have up to 72 TB of personal storage space for all types of documents, in a safe, fast and very convenient way.
A novelty that has not arrived, but which hopefully is planned is an improvement of the mobile part, efficient and complete but with a slightly dated interface and which perhaps needs a revision of the logical point of view and more power (some documents too large did not want to be viewed). Let's let Asustor concentrate on the ADM part for the moment, and then go back to soliciting the cabinet.
While we were writing this review, however, something has moved: a small mobile update now allows the use of videos on mobile via https, an annoying limit in previous versions that has now been solved.
Last little news, which however does not go unnoticed for those who chew a bit of technology, is that with the new ADM 4 the license for the use of ExFAT external drives becomes free (before 3.99 Dollars): Asustor is the first great manufacturer that finally breaks this wall and allows the use of ExFAT disks directly (many commercial external disks come out native in ExFAT).
A second mobile App, for browsing content
Considerations
The experience with the Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro NAS was fast but intense. We tried two different configurations, one with mechanical drives suitable for hosting various backups, and using Plex for all our personal photo and video archive directly on the TV in the living room, the other with SSD drives only for Plex and a few other services, but without backup.
The user can choose the best configuration, but remember that thanks to the 3 USB ports it is also possible to connect external units that can operate in a useful way (for example, by connecting an external unit for a weekly or monthly backup and then disconnecting it, so that do not make any noise for the rest of the time).
The Realtek processor offers a fair balance between profuse power, often much more than enough for real needs, and operating temperature (remember that in NAS the temperature is often directly linked to noise).
In the living room use we used no more than three active connections, observing that the NAS has still carried out all the calculations with absolute fluency, but with a propensity to use SSD drives, which even if more expensive offer incredible advantages.
A model that goes well in the living room, even for very demanding users who want a backup unit always available, to streamline some smart working routines but also to opt for a private cloud (or hybrid), which often offers more advantages than a pure cloud.
Pros:
• Elegant and functional in the living room • Silent • The new ADM offers undeniable advantages
Cons:
• RAM is not expandable • Not suitable for office use
Price:
• € 269.00 (2 Bay model) • € 379.00 (4 Bay model) • approximately € 265.00 for Angelbird SSD • approximately € 185.00 for Seagate IronWolf 6 TB • approximately € 435.00 for Seagate IronWolf 12 TB
Asustor Drivestor 4 Pro is available in stores suggested by the Italian website of the parent company, but you can already book at Amazon.it for both the 4 bay and the 2 bay models. The models are coming to Italy, so waiting times are a maximum of a few days.
