Item: Thecus N5200 Pro - NAS with an injection of iSCSI
Author: Steve Kerrison

Review: Thecus N5200 Pro - NAS with an injection of iSCSI

Final thoughts, HEXUS.awards, HEXUS.where2buy, HEXUS.right2reply, further reading

Chances are by now that you're familiar not only with the N5200 Pro but also its non-Pro brother and rackmount cousin the 1U4500. And that's a good thing because, while they're all running the same hardware (more or less), the differences between them are significant enough to meet different needs.

But we've reviewed the N5200 non-Pro and 1U4500 already, so let's lock eyes on the N5200 Pro.

Adding more CPU grunt and increasing the RAM has brought the performance of the N5200 Pro up to a point where we're relatively happy with it. Even the admin panel is more responsive as a result of the juice-boost.

And it's in the admin panel that we see most of the changes. Power management might be handy for some users, so while we welcome it, it's not the selling point for us. Neither is support for multiple RAID entities, although that is potentially quite useful.

So it's iSCSI that everything rests on. Over Gigabit Ethernet the N5200 Pro is never going to deliver the same performance as a local array but, cor blimey, it doesn't half try.

If you've got servers in need of extra storage but don't have any space left in them, iSCSI might well be the answer - and the N5200 Pro the device to turn to.

We did, however, experience a single crash of the N5200 Pro. While we can't definitively pin-point the cause, we believe it may be a disk-compatibility issue. So we need to caution readers to check compatibility before buying disks for this device.

Pricing of the N5200 Pro is, quite surprisingly, rather close to that of the non-Pro, with a difference of about £60 between variants. Add another £40-60 if you want a RouStor version featuring a four-port Gigabit Ethernet switch.

So there you are, we've laid it out for you, plain as day. The N5200 Pro is quick and iSCSI rocks but watch out for disk compatibility. With such a small price difference between Pro and non-Pro, we really can't find a reason not to recommend the N5200 Pro.

Awards

It's the best NAS we've reviewed so far but we'll hold off on an Editor's Choice Award in the hope that something else will top it. Will Thecus rise to the challenge? In the meantime, the N5200 Pro comes recommended by HEXUS.

HEXUS Where2Buy

The N5200 is available in various flavours from SCAN and there's free delivery for regular HEXUS.community members.

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 respond, we'll publish their commentary here verbatim.

HEXUS related reading

HEXUS.net - Mass storage – all news and reviews
HEXUS.net - reviews :: Thecus N5200 NAS Appliance - 3.5 terabytes tested
HEXUS.net - reviews :: Lord of the NAS: QNAP Turbo Station TS-109 Pro
HEXUS.net - reviews :: Thecus N1200 NAS Media Server
HEXUS.net - reviews :: Thecus 1U4500S 1U rack-mount NAS

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from what i have read, there advertising this as a SCSI solution, when in fact its just a SATAII arrangment of drives?

GoNz0
from what i have read, there advertising this as a SCSI solution, when in fact its just a SATAII arrangment of drives?

No ISCSI is a common protocol but has never really been launched in a SoHo NAS solution :)

I have read the review now 3x times :rolleyes:, and for home-users I think iSCSI the best file format.

Anyway I have a question about:

Because we're dealing with file systems that are designed to be accessed from only a single machine, you can't connect more than one client to the same volume.

I'm going to use it to stream audio (squeezeboxes) and video (ps3) maybe at the same time.
I read that I can only connect from one machine does this mean one squeezebox or one ps3?
In other words when I am connected with my desktop PC to the NAS I cannot stream music or video's?

Is there a different between DATA or USB format?

Maybe it's better to install an extra harddrive of 200GB for iSCSI and the rest in RAID5 normal DATA format?

Kind Regards.
Jordi

Hi jordi.c,

You segregate the arrays you create into various uses.

You set a percentage to RAID use, which is network accessible via AFS, CFS, SMB, NFS.
You set a percentage for iSCSI use. Only 1 client at a time can mount an iSCSI partition.
You set a percentage for USB use, to which attached USB devices can have their data copied.

So, yeah, each array has a percentage marked for iSCSI use, and only one client can mount it. That client could then share it as if it was its own, thus creating a storage area network with a NAS front end taking the form of the iSCSI client.

Confused? Yeah, me too.

Anyway, by the sounds of it, you want to store videos and music on the N5200 Pro, presumably put onto it from your PC? Then you want to play them back on your squeezebox/PS3?

You'll want the standard network volumes for that, not iSCSI. Otherwise your PC will always be involved.

Steve
Hi jordi.c,

You segregate the arrays you create into various uses.

You set a percentage to RAID use, which is network accessible via AFS, CFS, SMB, NFS.
You set a percentage for iSCSI use. Only 1 client at a time can mount an iSCSI partition.
You set a percentage for USB use, to which attached USB devices can have their data copied.

So, yeah, each array has a percentage marked for iSCSI use, and only one client can mount it. That client could then share it as if it was its own, thus creating a storage area network with a NAS front end taking the form of the iSCSI client.

Confused? Yeah, me too.

Anyway, by the sounds of it, you want to store videos and music on the N5200 Pro, presumably put onto it from your PC? Then you want to play them back on your squeezebox/PS3?

You'll want the standard network volumes for that, not iSCSI. Otherwise your PC will always be involved.

Thx for you reply mate :embarrassed:

H3h3, Confused :O_o1: not anymore :rolleyes:.

Steve, I was thinking of putting mine 200GB harddisk as iSCSI and the rest of the 4 HD's in RAID5 so I will be able to setup some download programs e.g. NewsLeecher to download directly to the NAS (because it's seen as local drive). The download speed is not more than 8mpbs so that is perfect for the single 200GB drive while It can handle ~30MB/sec.

The other way is; first download it to my pc and copy it to the NAS.

I thought copying from the iSCSI drive to the other RAID array in the NAS is much faster than from PC -> NAS. Although the NIC in the PC is gigabit.

HidiHoo.