Introduction
In past months we've brought you reviews of a number of Network Attached Storage (NAS) solutions, ranging from small yet faithful Small Or Home Office boxen, up to kits geared more towards Small/Medium Businesses.
Thecus have provided a couple of the NAS solutions we've tested. The first was the N4100, a 4-drive, RAID-5, sexy lookin' thing with active directory support. While robust, it was a little slow, due to, the general consensus seems, the processor used. Furthermore, she's no cheap piece of kit; probably not something somebody would buy for their home.
Then came the N2100 YES Box. With 2-drive RAID-1/0, it was like the N4100's little brother, better suited to media enthusiasts. Alas, it suffered the same performance issues as the N4100 which did detract from its appeal somewhat. Nevertheless, it's half the price.
We're halving the product price again, now, with a look at a new storage device from Thecus, the N2050. It's a ~£100 2-drive enclosure, much like the N2100 (very similar in fact). However, it's not a NAS solution. Instead, it's DAS, which stands for Direct Attached Storage. That means it interfaces directly with a computer, rather than existing as its own network entity. There is still RAID support, however, and that's transparent to the host machine. Better still, it has an external SATA (eSATA) interface, which promises hours of fun (we hope).
Taste buds titillated, we'll dive into the review and see if Thecus have delivered some good DAS lovin'.
