Final thoughts, awards, where2buy, right2reply

Time to answer the all important question, then: Can you use the N1200 to store all your media, and serve it out all around the house on demand? House-willing, yes you can... but as always, it's not that simple, so let's dig a little deeper.

Aesthetically, Thecus has created a very pleasing product. Its steel construction also makes it very sturdy. It'll fit just about anywhere and shouldn't come to any harm wherever you put it. Installing a hard drive is dead easy and setting it up is a walk in the park, too.

The Mediabolic server has promise, although, right now, we reckon the majority of potential buyers will get more use from good old-fashioned network shares. Nevertheless, inclusion of a DNLA-certified server paves the way for the coming UPnP AV revolution. What's better still is that it takes just a couple of clicks to set up, which is exactly how UPnP should be.

Performance is adequate for the N1200's purpose. It'll dish out media without too much trouble, although we'd have reservations about using it for, say, disk images and other big backups, due to its performance deficit when compared to more expensive NAS boxes. Also going against it is the fact that it's only got one hard drive. Even if you add an eSATA drive, you can't combine the two, so there's no automatic data protection there. If you need RAID, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Our final criticism would be with the 10/100 switch. It'd be nice to get 10/100/1000 in there. The N1200 itself might not use it much of the time, but other devices on the network might benefit from a gigabit of bandwidth, and with said switch embedded into the NAS box, it saves on both power outlets and space.

Thecus has made some very good design decisions with the N1200, resulting in a easy-to-use, perfectly functional media server. However, we can't help but feel that there's a little more to be had. Take the N1200's software and metal chassis, apply it to a dual-disk NAS box like the N2100, add in NFS support, keep the price as low as possible and the result would be a nearly perfect home NAS box. The N1200's good, but having seen the riches that are out there, we're left wanting those extra features. That said, if you're not as fussy about RAID as us, we'd say the N1200's up to the job.

HEXUS Certifications

The Thecus N1200 passed HEXUS.labs testing and so walks away with a HEXUS.labs certification, but we'll hold on to our award badges in hope of the launch of a metal-clad two-disk warrior.

Thecus N1200 NAS

HEXUS Where2Buy

The Thecus N1200 is available to buy for £139, including VAT, here.

HEXUS Right2Reply

At HEXUS.net, we invite the companies whose products we test to comment on our articles. If any of Thecus's representatives choose to do so, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

HEXUS related reading

HEXUS.reviews - Thecus N1200 RouStor NAS first look
HEXUS.reviews - Thecus 1U4500S 1U rackmount NAS
HEXUS.reviews - Thecus N5200 NAS Appliance - 3.5TB tested
HEXUS.reviews - Thecus N2050 DAS appliance
HEXUS.reviews - Thecus YES Box N2100
HEXUS.reviews - Thecus N4100 IP Storage Appliance

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Had a quick read, looks like a device that would interest me, seems to have all the features I would be looking for in a NAS device, not so into the media streaming - but im sure I will be in the future, so its nice to have I guess :)

Couple of additional notes.

Make sure you fit the provided metal plate over the installed hard drive. This fills the gap between the casing and the drive, helping conduct heat away from the drive and into the metallic casing… which is good for heat dissipation.

Secondly, I wrote an NFS module for the thing, and so did somebody else - at the same time. He finished slightly before me, and implemented it in the same way, so use his: http://onbeat.dk/thecus/index.php/N1200_Module_List

I got about 14MB/s reading a 1GB file from it measured using a simple timed copy. That puts it roughly in line with SMB performance. If I have time I might do some proper tests.

Nice review but I am confused.

If I have a wireless router how do I connect the N1200? Do I have to abandon using the router?
The eSATA. Can it be used for faster access and manipulation of the data inside the N1200?

Hi Faiakes.

You will still use your router. You'll probably just plug the N1200's “WAN” interface into your router's in-built switch. Or you could use one of the LAN ports to connect it up, and maybe use the rest of the ports for any other wired machines you have - depends on what networking gear you already have.

The WAN/LAN thing is a bit confusing really - just think of it as the N1200 has two network ports, one of which has a 4-port switch hanging off it and can do a couple of extra servery things. :)

As for eSATA, the N1200 is the host. You attach drives to it. You cannot attach it to a PC via eSATA, so it won't do what you've asked in that respect.

Hope that helps,
Steve.

Thanks Steve
That clears up a few things.

Would I be able to connect the N1200 to the PC via the WAN gigabit port?

I do the occassional video editing, and winrar tends to work overtime when getting stuff off newsgroups, so it is important that I have a fast interface to the PC.

P.S. Will you be reviewing the N299 anytime soon?