Reviewed by Barry Little - August 20, 2008

Manufacturer: QNAP Systems, Inc.

Model: TS-209 Pro II

Price: $399 at Mwave.com

While Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices for small businesses and home offices have come down in price, not everyone has the budget—or even the need—for a RAID 5-ready NAS. If you’re seeking to leverage the dual-drive form factor of a conventional hard disk enclosure with the power and flexibility of a NAS, the QNAP TS-209 Pro II might just be what you’re looking for.

One of the least expensive and most effective ways of adding additional storage to a PC, is with a drive enclosure. Typically capable of holding two hard drives, the enclosure connects directly to a PC’s USB 2.0 or eSATA port, and can be formatted and accessed as an external drive. Besides low cost, file transfer rates between the PC and external drive enclosure are usually faster than going over a network, due to the direct connection, particularly when that connection is via the eSATA port, which is faster than USB 2.0. If needed, the folders and files on an external drive enclosure can be shared over a network. This approach is not without its drawbacks, though.

The PC sharing the external drive will have to remain up and running so long as the other PCs on the network need to access it. Probably not good if you’re trying to keep your electric bill down. The data not only has to contend with the limitations of its throughput capabilities via the SATA or USB port, but now has the additional “layer” of the TCP/IP network, be it hard-wired or wireless, to deal with. With multiple large file transfers and streaming data like music or video going on simultaneously, the other PCs on the network could experience slower data transfer performance as a result. If the PC that is sharing the external drive isn’t powerful enough, it could experience slow-downs while performing its routine tasks as all the other PCs saturate its network sharing services. Especially if those tasks are resource-intensive. Unless the PC has a small form-factor chassis, its bulk may prove problematic if your goal is integrate it into a living room entertainment center. Finally, some drive enclosures simply house a collection of disks without any redundancy for data protection. There are somewhat more costly exceptions of course.

A NAS solves all of those problems. Equipped with its own processor, memory and embedded operating system, a NAS can be quickly and easily configured for file sharing and other resource-intensive services, eliminating the need for a PC to act as a server and remain on most or all of the time. A NAS consumes much less power than most desktop PC systems, which gives your electric bill a break. Its smaller size makes it much easier to integrate into a living room home entertainment system for sharing music, photos and videos. Though its file throughput over a wired or wireless network may not be as fast as an external drive directly connected to a PC’s USB or eSATA port, it is much better equipped to handle multiple and resource-intensive data request—and a lot cheaper than connecting external drive enclosures to multiple PCs. As a network device, it can easily be placed well out of earshot if you’re one of those computer users who is really sensitive about noise. No such luck with an external enclosure tethered to the back of a PC with a cable. Finally, a NAS can provide multiple RAID options for protecting your data. If size and budget are a priority, the-two disk NAS is ideal. Though it can support no higher RAID level than RAID 1 mirroring, that’s certainly better than none at all.

That’s where the QNAP TS-209 Pro II comes in.

About QNAP

QNAP Systems, INC. (QNAP) is a devoted and dominant provider of Internet Appliance products. With solid and integrated expertise on the Linux embedded platform, QNAP has delivered more than 30 models of network storage and surveillance products in the past 5 years. These products provide consumers with storage, backup, surveillance and many other professional applications that constitute the core competency of QNAP. Today, QNAP continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning servers. For example, TS-101 was honored “the best choice of Computex” and QBack-25 honored the 1st place by Chip Magazine. To keep the proud and success, QNAP is dedicated to providing top quality products and best support for customers.

What Makes QNAP NAS Different?

Product Features

Powerful 12-in-1 NAS Server

 

File Server

The principle purpose of file server is for data storage and sharing. Data security and access management are the major concerns of most users. The Turbo NAS allows server manager to create user ID and password, and define the authority and quota for each user. Thus, personal data stored on the Turbo NAS is well protected.

 

FTP Server

Having troubles with sending large files by e-mail due to the limited capacity? You can establish your own FTP server by using the Turbo NAS. You can manage the access authority of the FTP server and share your files with your friends or customers easily in a few steps.

 

Backup Server

QNAP's Turbo NAS brings you the enterprise-class technology to make backup extremely simple and efficient! The intelligent automatic backup software, NetBak Replicator, is provided for users to perform real-time synchronization or schedule backup from multiple PCs to the Turbo NAS.

 

Encrypted Remote Replication

Encrypted remote replication provides high level of data protection. Files can be backed up from the Turbo NAS to other QNAP NAS products in remote locations. Advanced options including data compression, block-level incremental backup, and data synchronization are supported to optimize the bandwidth and time for data backup.

 

Web Server with Built-in phpMyAdmin, Joomla!

With the built-in phpMyAdmin, Joomla!, MySQL and SQLite, SOHO and home users can easily set up their own web server. With the editable php.ini support, there is no need of going through all the hassles of setting up a web server. You can either develop programs by yourself or download a variety of open-sourced applications, such as online shops, forums, blogs, etc.

 

MySQL Server

The Turbo NAS is the most affordable choice as a standalone database server for system integrators. It can be flexibly applied in various deployments such as a database server of another web server in remote site or as an additional backup database server to achieve system redundancy.

 

Printer Server

You can share your printer device over the network by simply connecting a USB printer (max. 3 sets) to the Turbo NAS's USB port and enabling the printer sharing function.

 

UPnP Media Server (with built-in TwonkyMedia Server)

The Turbo NAS is a perfect media storage center and works well with UPnP/ DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant DMA. You can use the Turbo NAS and the DMP to play the digital image or video on TV or listen to music or Internet radio without using any PC. The upgrade in DLNA TwonkyMedia version 4.4.5 on QNAP NAS supports the most popular DivX video streaming to and playing by Sony PS3. The music, image, and video sharing function of PS3 on the network is further exerted. The high compatibility, energy-saving and reliable features have made QNAP NAS the first choice for setting up the digital home multimedia centre.

 

Photo Sharing

Now you can share photos with your family and friends by the Turbo NAS. By uploading your photos to the Turbo NAS, the server automatically generates a web-based photo album with thumbnails and details, such as date, resolution, focal length, and aperture. You can browse and share the digital photos in a convenient way!

 

Download Station

The Turbo NAS serves as a continuous download machine without turning on your PC. The Turbo NAS supports download through BitTorrent, FTP, and HTTP. For BitTorrent download, brand-new BT Engine is embedded with the Turbo NAS. Users will enjoy the super high speed through TCP/ UDP, and encrypted BT download function. Meanwhile, DHT (Distributed Hash Tables) is also supported.

 

iTunes Server

Music fans and Apple enthusiasts will be certainly rocked by the coolest music-sharing feature of the Turbo NAS! All your MP3 music can be collectively stored and streamed to Mac or Windows PC. It supports the playlist which users can just turn on the iTunes program and enjoy all the music around your home network!

 

Surveillance Station

The Surveillance Station enables users to configure and connect two IP cameras simultaneously and remotely manage the functions, including real time monitoring, recording, and playback by IE browser over the Internet. Users can flexibly define the recording settings: continuous recording, motion-detection recording, and schedule recording according to their security plan. All the files are stored in AVI format with time stamp, users can easily search and play the files by Windows Media Player.

 

The most comprehensive support for numerous brands of IP cameras

The Surveillance Station of QNAP NAS supports all the leading network camera brands such as AXIS, D-Link, IPUX, LevelOne, Linksys, Panasonic and Vivotek etc. By using particular models, users can use two-way video and audio monitoring and recording, and smart PTZ control to control the monitoring direction via the web interface. Each of the supported cameras has been put through stringent tests with the NAS series in QNAP's laboratory to guarantee 100% compatibility and reliability with all these camera brands.

 

Software expansion via QPKG Center

The QPKG software package platform enables the users to maximize the usage of Turbo NAS by installing additional software packages developed from the users and community worldwide. This can be done by simple "download & install" clicking without going through any complicated process.

Package and Contents

The heavy-duty cardboard box with its glossy black coating lacks any fancy designs or contrasting color trim. Just a well-organized layout of photos, diagrams and information on all that the TS-209 Pro II has to offer—which for a dual-drive RAID 1 NAS at its price, is quite a lot. As much in fact, as QNAP’s higher-end TS-409 series NAS boxes (minus the higher drive capacity, RAID levels and price tag, of course). The TS-209 Pro II is an “upgraded” version of the TS-209 which only had 128MB of RAM—the Pro II has 256MB. Since the box is as small and light as it is, it doesn’t have a carrying handle.

The QNAP TS-209 Pro II ships without any of the required SATA hard drives installed. I highly recommended that you check QNAP’s official list of compatible drives for the TS-209 Pro II, before using any existing drives or purchasing new ones. If the drives you want to use aren’t on the list, check with QNAP Tech Support, as they evaluate new and existing drives on a regular basis. Stick with the drives on the list, and you can save yourself and your data a lot of grief.

The TS-209 Pro II is suspended between thick “dura-foam” protectors and is sealed in a plastic bag, with the accessories box suspended just above it. The box contains a Support CD with all the necessary software for setting up the NAS, as well as complete documentation in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format. Or at least, it should. The CD was not included in the box I received from QNAP. I did, however get the TS-209 Pro II’s Faceplate and thumbscrews, a full-color, fold-out Quick Start Guide, AC Adaptor, Power Cord, CAT5e Gigabit Ethernet Cable, and the screws for mounting the hard drives to the drive trays.

With the exception of the missing software CD, which I’m sure given QNAP’s quality-minded track record was one of those “nobody’s perfect” mistakes, I found the packaging to be satisfactory in conveying the TS-209 Pro II’s impressive features and protecting the contents of the box.

The QNAP TS-209 Pro II

Since QNAP has spread many of their award-winning features across their product line, you’ll probably recognize most of what I’ll be saying here from my reviews of the TS-409 Pro back in March, and more recently, the TS-409U. Features notwithstanding the TS-209 Pro II is hardly a carbon copy of the 409’s—at least not in the physical sense.

At 214 x 175 x 115mm (8.4 x 6.9 x 4.5”) weighing 2.4Kg (5 lbs. 4.65 oz.) without hard drives, the TS-209 Pro II isn’t much larger or heavier than your average two-drive external enclosure. The NAS is shipped without its front panel installed to protect it from potential damage while in transit, which will allow you to take a good look inside at the two steel drive trays secured (and I do mean secured as you’ll need a screwdriver to loosen them at first) by spring-loaded thumbscrews—the same ones you’ll find in the TS-409 Pro. The front control panel has QNAP’s One-Touch Copy Backup button, followed by a USB 2.0 port, LED indicators and the Power button. The steel chassis is painted with the same gunmetal baked enamel as the other 409 NAS units, with ventilation holes on each side towards the front. Underneath, you’ll find four unremarkable rubber feet that do the job of keeping the TS-209 Pro II stable and slide-proof on almost any surface desk or table, nonetheless. Around back you’ll find the familiar Kensington lock slot and socket for the brick-style AC Adaptor and its separate power cord, followed by the Reset Switch. Pushing this button with a paper clip will reset the TS-209 Pro II’s defaults as follows:

- System admin password: admin

- Network Settings/ TCP/IP Configuration: Obtain IP address settings automatically via DHCP

- Network Settings/ TCP/IP Configuration: Disable Jumbo Frame

- Network Setting/ System Port Management: 8080 (system service port)

- System Tools/ IP Filter: Allow all connections

Finally, we have a single 1000BASE-T RJ-45 Gigabit Ethernet LAN port, and two more USB 2.0 ports. The compact, cube-shaped NAS is powered by the same 500MHz Marvel 5281 Processor as QNAP’s TS-409 boxes.

Setting Up

The printed Quick Installation Guide will provide you with the basics for getting your QNAP TS-209 Pro II up and running. You must install at least one drive in the unit before you can configure it, and it’s recommended to leave the empty tray secured inside the NAS until you actually need it. The SATA drives are affixed to the trays underneath using the supplied screws. I installed a pair of my favorite Seagate Model ST3500630AS SATA Hard Drives in the TS-209 Pro II which are, naturally on QNAP’s Compatibility List. Rated at 7,200 RPM with a 16MB cache with Revision 3.AAK firmware, I left both drive at their factory jumpered 1.5GB/sec data transfer rate. Unless it is explicitly stated by the manufacturer of the device you’re connecting the drive to that it’s OK to jumper it to its native 3.0GB/sec transfer rate, for the sake of your data, you’re better off leaving the drive jumpered for the slower transfer rate setting.

One minor drawback to the design of the TS-209 NAS, is that depending on the size of your fingers, you might find it a tad awkward tightening the drive tray thumbscrews by hand. If so, it’s OK to use a Phillips head screwdriver. Just don’t use one with a head that’s too large or over-tighten the thumbscrews. You could make them hard to loosen and remove later on.

Once you’ve installed the hard drives in the TS-209 Pro II, affix the front cover with the four thumbscrews. Plug in your network cable and power cord, and fire it up. The TS-209 Pro II will beep once, and the LEDs will flash and blink as the NAS goes through its POST (Power-on Self Test). Shortly after, the TS-209 Pro II will beep one final time as it completes its POST. The LAN LED will flash and blink once network communications have been fully initiated. While the LEDs representing the installed hard drives should be solid green, the Status LED will intermittently flash red and green, but don’t worry—that’s only because you haven’t initialized the hard drives you just installed in the TS-209 Pro II.

Drop in the Support CD at the PC where you’ll be managing the QNAP TS-209 Pro II from, and select TS-209 Series from the menu list that appears. Then select Install QNAP Finder. If Autorun is disabled on your CD or DVD-ROM drive or simply doesn’t work for some reason, you can launch SETUP.EXE from the Finder folder on the disc to run the QNAP Finder installation. If you are prompted whether or not you want to allow the QNAP Finder through a firewall, let it through.