Introduction
We all had a little chuckle when Thecus announced its revamped range of "XXX" network-attached storage solutions, but get past the cliched marketing slogan - which, in case you were wondering, stands for "Xtreme Power, Xtreme Function and Xtreme Value" - and you'll find a range of products that might just live up to their billing.
Take for example the two-bay N2200XXX. Introduced as the company's smallest triple-X solution, it offers two drive bays, a dual-core processor, quick DDR3 memory and a very healthy feature set for just under £350.
That's a substantial chunk of cash, but Thecus's all-singing two-bay unit is competitively priced when compared to its immediate Taiwanese rivals - Synology's DiskStation DS710+, for example, fetches roughly £380, while QNAP's ultimate two-bay offering - the TS-259 Pro+ - carries a £480 price tag.
So what are you getting for your money? On the hardware front, Thecus has opted for a 1.8GHz hyper-threaded, dual-core Intel Atom D525 processor, coupled with 1GB of DDR3 memory. That's one of the most potent two-bay NAS specifications currently on offer, and Thecus reckons it's enough to deliver "extreme speed" for home or small office users.
Storage is served primarily through two pull-out, lockable drive bays that accommodate your choice of 2.5in or 3.5in disks. Both bays, hidden neatly behind a push-to-open door, are hot-swappable and offer support for RAID modes 0 and 1 with 256-bit AES encryption.
Completing a tidy front face - which features backlit indicators for power, disk and network activity - is a power switch, USB 2.0 port, an SD/SDHC/MMC card reader and a one-touch copy button. Useful for your getting your content onto the server with ease, and there's a good range of connectivity options around the back, too.
Alongside the system fan - which, regrettably, is a tad noisier than we'd like - are a further two USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, a connector for the bundled 60W power adaptor and dual Gigabit Ethernet jacks. The latter pair support jumbo frames and link aggregation, with a choice of failover or load balancing modes.
Thecus's hardware selection is good, and the compact box is well put together, but the true value of an all-in-one NAS server is largely determined by the accompanying software.
