Final Thoughts and Rating
...the DX4000 offers up to 16TB of storage in a package that's simple to configure and maintain, from both an admin and client perspective.WD is expected to become a major player in centralised business storage, and one of its first efforts - the Sentinel DX4000 - shows that the company has what's required to succeed in this market.
Well built and suitably easy to use, the DX4000 offers up to 16TB of storage in a package that's simple to configure and maintain, from both an admin and client perspective. Everyday performance stacks up well against the competition, and in USB 3.0 connectivity, power redundancy and tool-free hot-swap drive bays, WD has a couple of hardware incentives that help round off the package.
The Sentinel DX4000 will no doubt attract small businesses that are ingrained in Windows environments, yet it isn't without fault. It's clear that Microsoft's NAS operating system faces an uphill task - Windows Storage Server simply isn't as fully-featured as the Linux-based alternatives - and there's no getting around the inordinately-slow RAID rebuild times.
Core features that provide very little fuss still make this a viable addition to any small office, but a lack of built-in flexibility - including the inability to create multiple RAID volumes or a dedicated FTP server - coupled with limited hard-drive compatibility and a tiresome recovery process prevent the DX4000 from picking up an out-and-out recommendation.
The Good
Large 16TB capacity
Very good build quality
Power and Ethernet redundancy
Creates complete PC backupsThe Bad
Long recovery/rebuild times
Limited drive compatibility
Restricted feature setHEXUS Rating
WD Sentinel DX4000
HEXUS Where2Buy
The 16TB WD Sentinel DX4000 small office server is available to purchase from Scan Computers.
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