Final thoughts and rating
The Thecus N5500 is a new take on a product that goes back a few years. The five-bay NAS/DAS/IP SAN appliance, currently etailing at £575, ships with a new interface that, whilst better than what Thecus has provided before, merely serves to keep it up-to-date with the competition.Perhaps the most notable feature is Disk on Module, used as a failsafe should the system not boot correctly from the primary device. It does make sense but the usefulness could, and perhaps should, be extended to providing firmware backup, too.
Decent ports connectivity and esoteric multi-RAID, multi-file-format flexibility is given at this price point, but we lament the lack of truly business-class backup options - a must for the enterprise market.
Speedy via single Gigabit connection but a little slower than expected when teaming the N5500's two RJ45 connectors up, performance ranges from sub-par to good.
Our overall impressions are that the Thecus N5500 is a capable, feature-rich enterprise-class NAS box that's not truly outstanding in any area. It has most of the bases covered and the dual-DOM idea has legs.
Bottom line: the Thecus N5500 NAS is a solid effort underpinned by a new interface and dual-DOM feature. A little more speed in a dual-Gigabit setup and better backup options would make it stand out in this homogenous market.
HEXUS Rating
HEXUS.net scores products out of 100%, taking into account technology, implementation, stability, performance, value, customer care and desirability. A score for an average-rated product is a meaningful ‘50%’, and not ‘90%’, which is common practice for a great many other publications.
We consider any product score above '50%' as a safe buy. The higher the score, the higher the recommendation from HEXUS to buy. Simple, straightforward buying advice.
Thecus N5500 NAS
HEXUS Where2Buy
The Thecus N5500 can be purchased from Scan.co.uk* at a cost of £574.99.
*As always, UK-based HEXUS.community discussion forum members will benefit from the SCAN2HEXUS Free Shipping initiative, which will save you a further few pounds plus also top-notch, priority customer service and technical support backed up by the SCANcare@HEXUS forum.
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