What's new
  • Please do not post any links until you have 3 posts as they will automatically be rejected to prevent SPAM. Many words are also blocked due to being used in SPAM Messages. Thanks!

QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS Review

Status
Not open for further replies.

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
qnaplogo.gif



QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS Review




Manufacturer Product Page: QNAP Systems, Inc. (TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS)- NAS storage and Surveillance products provider
Product Number: TS-409 Pro
Availability: Now
Price: Compare Prices for QNAP TS-409 Pro
Warranty Length: 1 year



While Network Attached Storage has been around since the early 1980’s it was designed to work in server based environments and help reduce the load on “big iron” servers. It wasn’t until the advent of home networks and fast, large and cheap storage that NAS’s caught on in the Small Office / Home Office and even now small / Medium Business environments where access to an IT budget large enough to afford a server is years and many day dreams removed from reality. Not everyone or even every company needs a full fledged (i.e. expensive) server, yet they do have a need for file & print services; albeit at a significantly reduced level and significantly reduced price. It is here that modern NAS’s have found a useful and highly profitable niche for themselves. In many ways it is easier to consider modern NAS’s as “mini-servers” but the more correct appellation would be “Network Appliance” in that they fulfill many of the roles a server would but at heart they are just a modified PC.

In this market niche, dedicated IT staff may few and far between so the setup and maintenance of these units has to be as user friendly and bullet-proof as possible. As long as it is “fast enough” this market niche’s clientele are more than willing to overlook the fact that they are buying for all intents and purposes a heavily customized Unix OS on a slow and non-upgradeable PC. This is because the majority of NAS customers are willing to give up raw performance for ease of use and perceived stability / disaster proofing.

In recent years QNAP has been making quiet the reputation for themselves; in fact in their first foray into the NAS arena the TS-101 was honored as “the best choice of Computex” the year it was released. QNAP prides themselves on being not only an industry leader but a industry innovator. The secret to their success is that they have taken their solid and integrated expertise on the Linux embedded platform and wrapped this power in an extremely user friendly interface. Or to put it bluntly they have listened to what their core customers want and then they set themselves the task of delivering it.

Today we will be looking at QNAP's largest and most powerful NAS to date. QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo is a 4-bay, hot-swappable, Linux embedded All-In-One NAS server appliance. It has been specifically designed for business users who need high performance mass storage along with useful server features usually found on much more expensive devices. This NAS not only supports RAID 0, 1 and 5 but also RAID 6. If this wasn’t enough it also supports hot swapping and online spare hard drive, RAID migration, RAID expansion and a whole cornucopia of other goodies. Basically, with this product QNAP is looking to offer you everything but the kitchen sink and then for the heck of it they threw in the kitchen sink too.

Before we get started, we would just like to make one thing clear. Usually when the word “Pro” and “Turbo” are used a certain increase in performances level is usually expected; however, when it comes to NAS’s the manufacturers mean that the memory and /or processing power has been increased and this rarely translates into faster download speeds per say. In real world situations the Pro or Turbo models can handle multiple requests better than their “normal” counterparts. Will this be the case with the QNAP 409 Pro Turbo, or will it buck the status quo and be a “lean mean transferin’ machine”? More importantly have all the great features that QNAP gave the 409 Pro Turbo been implemented with their usual style and panache, or will it turn out to be a case of unfulfilled potential? Continue reading and we’ll do our best to give answer these and many more questions!


front.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Specifications

Hardware & Software Specifications

softwarespec1.jpg

softwarespec2.jpg

softwarespec3.jpg

softwarespec4a.jpg

softwarespec4b.jpg

softwarespec4c.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Packaging and Accessories

Packaging and Accessories

boxfront.jpg
boxback.jpg

The very fist thing you notice about the QNAP 409’s box is not the information or box art on its sides, its not even the colour scheme. The very first thing you notice is how honk’in BIG the box is. When the UPS/Purolator/Fed-Ex/etc guy shows up to deliver it you can forget about trying to sneak this sucker past your significant other. Same goes with fobbing it off like “That old thing honey? We’ve had that for ages! Heck I was just going through out junk pile and happened to find it. I’m thinking about restoring it…you know and save us some money for that uber expensive pair of shoes you’ve been looking at….I know honey, no need to thank me….I’m just that sensitive.”

Yeah….let me just kill that idea for you while its still just an ill formed gleam in your eye. There is no hiding this box from anyone in your household, in fact I have seen HTPC’s come in smaller boxes. If your monthly/bi-monthly/semi-anual “toy allowance” is already gone your only hope is to brazen it out and act like you just invented fire (e.g. “Behold mere mortals…I am the reincarnation of Ozymandias ….I bring us Network Attached Storage…Gaze upon its Herculean proportions and despair for YES I have spent the next 3 months entertainment budget and it was a Good Investment(™)”. All joking aside, this box is wonderful protection for the NAS and baring a sudden demonic attack from “+5 Ice Pick Wielding Dwarves” or a delivery guy going postal it will surely protect its contents even under the harshest of shipping conditions.

The next thing one notices is the fact that the box itself is done in a subtle and very refined color scheme consisting mainly of shades of black & white. This neutral colour scheme is very well done, yet it also somehow seems make the box exude an air of barely constrained excitement and confidence. When you see it your really want to rip that sucker open and get to the high quality goodies that you know must surely reside inside it. In fact, when you take the time to really look at this box and read the information provided on its sides you get the feeling that if a Bentley or even a Rolls Royce’s came in a box they would surely come in a box just like this one.

protection.jpg

When you do open the box you are greeted to packaging scheme usually reserved for PC’s and computer cases. No seemingly ubiquitous plastic or cardboard containers here. Instead the QNAP 409 is wrapped in static protection bag and all this is ensconced in two large pieces of Styrofoam that literally allow the NAS box to gently “float” in the center of the box. This means that an accidental deep cut from a box cutter when opening the package will not damage the NAS. I know that this scenario is unlikely but like a good friend of mine always says “you never can be too good looking, have too much ammo nor have too much protection”.

Overall it is very apparent that the QNAP engineers definitely went for the “get a bigger hammer” method of protection as there is no corner cutting or finessing involved with this box. In a nut shell this box is a functional packaging scheme that is more than acceptable for long distance shipping and it this holds true if you have to ship it across the city, across country, across the continent or even across an ocean.

acces.jpg

While the list of accessories it complete, it’s not “complete” in the sense that the box contains everything you need to get it up and running. This is a Bring Your Own Disk(s) (aka BYOD) NAS appliance and hard drives are not included. Bundled with this NAS, you get an external power adapter (aka a power brick), a power cord, a quick installation full colour pamphlet, a short Ethernet cable, a bag of screws and a CD containing the nearly 200 page manual in .pdf format and all the bundled software.

The included manual has very detailed instructions (with pictures) of how to set up and use all the features the 409 Pro Turbo has. To put in perspective just how detailed the manual is (and how myriad the options) QNAP’s manual is language specific with no “padding” of the manual’s size by including multiple languages. Yes, that’s right you get nearly 200 pages of English instructions on nothing but how to setup and use this NAS. If you need it in a language other than English you can probably find it on the CD as numerous languages are included, and if some reason it is not there you can also download various language translations of the manual from QNAP’s website.

powerbrick.jpg

While I am not a fond lover of external power adapters, seeing that this one was made FSP (aka Fortron, aka Sparkle) did make me smile. I would have no worries about this big guy dying a premature death as long as it’s fed a nice healthy diet of APC UPS-smoothed power. The only down side to this power brick is that it as big and as heavy as a real brick so hiding it or making it unobtrusive will be difficult. All in all that is a negative that I can live with if it means long term durability.

Overall, the accessories are well executed but for the amount that the 409 Pro Turbo costs, would a printed and bound manual added that much to its cost? Printing off nearly 200 pages is a real pain in the butt and more importantly you just can’t beat the visceral feeling that thumbing through a thick manual gives you. This oversight is perfectly fine on a two hundred dollar unit, it is even tolerable on four hundred dollar unit but on six hundred dollar unit it does cast a negative shadow over what is otherwise a great first impression.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Exterior Impressions

First Impressions (Exterior)

front.jpg
front2.jpg

With its metallic grey body and its imposing black plastic swing door the 409 looks like it belongs in a server room….or a tax audit. Gone is the fun-loving shiny plastic front cover found on previous 2 bay models which made those particular NAS boxes more appropriate for the home office use rather than the utilitarian small / medium business end of the market. More importantly the somber all business vibe the 409 Pro Turbo gives off would certainly give any server admin a lasting good first impression. Honestly, this NAS looks a lot more like a small server than a home appliance; maybe it is the new door, maybe it is just its increased size, either way this unit looks like it would be more at home in a server farm than a country farm.

frontdoor.jpg
frontdoor2.jpg

The 409 Pro Turbo’s plastic door is held in place with 6 plastic clips that are very similar to the ones found on many computer cases. As with many computer cases this front door easily pops off with some gentle persuasion; QNAP did miss an opportunity by not including a cloth dust filter for this door as the mesh will let a lot of dust in at it is now. While this makes cleaning out the unit easy, just cleaning a dust filter would have been easier. However, its main goal is to give you fast, easy access to the hard drives and in this it does excel. The door itself is held in position with friction and only requires minor force to swing it open. This is a much better design that the previous model with its 4 retaining screws.

info_leds.jpg

Not everything on the front has been redesigned; QNAP’s engineers did not throw the baby out with the bath water when they sat down to design the 409. This model -just as with its two bay predecessor the 209 Pro- has numerous information LED’s prominently displayed along the bottom front edge of the NAS. From right to left you have the a Blue LED for USB activity, then there is a general “error led” that only goes on if there is an error with the unit or during one of its operations (say trying to copy 320GB of data via the USB function when only 310GB is free on the NAS). The next four LEDs represent the hard drives and show hard drive activity and then you have a network led that show not only network connectivity but network access as well. The final led is actually built into the power button and glows when the unit is on.

Unlike previous QNAP models these informative LEDs do not make it very easy to see what the status of the NAS is with just a quick glance. The 409’s information LEDS are approximately half the size of previous models and they are very difficult to see even when sitting next to the unit, let alone from across a well lighted room. Of course, these LEDS are really only a secondary means of discovering what is happening with the NAS since this model expects you to use the administration page to obtain the necessary information. As a nice touch if something major does occur (like a hard drive failing) not only will the small unobtrusive information LED change from solid green to a blinking red, this NAS will alert you with an audible buzzer-like noise and can even send you an email alert to two different email addresses. This certainly will get your attention a lot quicker than just a simple red fail light.

The front of the unit is not only for information but it is also where the power switch, a USB port and another mysterious button is located. The power switch is pretty much self evident and is backed up by a loud beeping noise when the unit is powering up and down.

The USB Copy Button

What is not self evident is the purpose of the other button, located at the left end of the information bar. This button is the USB copy button and it’s a very impressive feature; one simply has to plug in any USB storage device into the front of the NAS and with a press of that button the complete contents will be copied to the NAS. It does not matter if the USB deice is a 2GB thumb drive or a 320GB external USB enclosure. As long as there is enough room available on the NAS it will faithfully copy it all.

If QNAP had left it at that, this feature would have been impressive but being the innovators that they take pride in being, they took it to the next level. If your camera (or any USB device for that matter) supports the USB mass storage device specification this NAS will copy the information on it. This adds a whole extra dimension to its “media server” and “iTunes server” features and makes this USB copy option not only impressive but damn impressive.

feet.jpg

Also on a positive note the 409 has four large rubber feet on the bottom of it which gives it a sure footedness that is always welcome in such an expensive appliance. It also has the added benefit of reinforcing the idea that this unit can only be mounted in an upright orientation. Any other mounting orientation will lead to air flow degradation and/or make the units “hot swap ability” even that much more difficult.

back.jpg

Just as the front is for information display, the back is where the LAN port, two more USB ports, power connector, reset button and even a 92mm exhaust fan is located. This is a very well executed layout with everything clearly labeled and does not feel cramped or cluttered. If for whatever reason you to forget the admin password or inoccrectly setup a network setting, by simply pressing in the recessed “reset” button the NAS will go back to its default factory setting. This is a great idea and it does work extremely well; however not everything is as well thought out as this reset option.

Where this unit is designed and marketed towards the Small/Medium Business end of the marketplace it would have been nice if QNAP had not only provided a 2nd 10/100/1000 LAN port but also the ability to do Network Teaming for enhanced fault tolerance and load balancing. After all, if you are designing a NAS for this market you have to design it to efficiently handle multiple simultaneous data requests that could easily overload a single 125MB/s “gigabit” connection. As an added benefit this would have added some much-needed fault tolerance since as it stands right now the most disastrous point of failure (next to a chipset or PCB failure) is that single network connector. Even if QNAP is unable to engineer in true network teaming (maybe it is a limitation of custom Linux kernel they are using) they could have easily added in a 2nd LAN port whose only job is to become active if the first port fails. This would certainly keep the NAS up and running and if done properly would be completely transparent to it users. While this oversight is disappointing, this is QNAP’s first true foray into the S/MB end of the business marketplace and I would not be surprised to find this is corrected on future models.

On the positive side, the case itself is made entirely of thick preformed aluminum (with the only exception being the front black plastic door) that is more than durable enough to take even the harshest of abuse. While the fit and finish has also been vastly improved over previous model it still is not up to the standards of a custom built NAS, but for a mass-produced item is a very good job. QNAP’s QA group must certainly have high standards indeed.

Yes, this is an expensive unit and to see anything less than near perfection in its design execution would be disappointing but a unit’s cost is not always the best way to judge its value (just look at the price of some Apple computers for example) and with the 409 the old adage “you get what you pay for” is spot on. With the obviously high quality engineering that went into this unit one would could certainly be forgiven for comparing it favorably to much more expensive, yet similarly equipped, NAS’s.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Interior Impressions

First Impressions (Interior)

warrantyvoid.jpg

The first thing one notices when trying to open the enclosure is the “warranty void” sticker strategically placed on the back. Not only does this sticker make opening the NAS a risky proposition but the sticker actually hides a 5th screw that needs to be removed in order to remove the one piece external case. This makes it blatantly obvious that QNAP does not want you to open this NAS enclosure up under any circumstances so even though we did, please do not do so yourself.

airflow2.jpg

When you do open the case to look at the innards of the 409 Pro, you are greeted to a very impressive sight. The internal of this NAS is not only laid out very nicely with no major air flow blockages but you get to see one the better examples of cable management from a manufacturer. Not only is everything neat and tidy but the QNAP builders took the time to zip-tie all the wires into place in order to improve airflow through the enclosure.

sata_clip.jpg
sata_connectors.jpg

Equally nice to see was the use of locking SATA cables. These cables ensure that transportation of the NAS does not knock an important data connection loose.

Equally as impressive was the vdesign of the hard drive cage which has been fabricated to perfection. While the hard drive cage is not removable and is riveted in place the two sides of the cage are indented so that even if QNAP had been sloppy with its cable management it would not have impeded air flow. This combination was great to see and really does show how much QNAP cares about its products.

The exhaust fan that creates this air flow is a 28.8 CFM variable speed Y.S. Tech FD129225LB-N 92mm fan that has a standard 3 pin connector. This 3rd wire is what allows QNAP to state its fan is a “smart fan”. Just as a PC’s motherboard can control fan speed based on internal temperature readings, so too can this NAS control the RPMs of its fan. This allows for a fan that is as quiet as possible across as wide a heat spectrum as possible. The noise that it creates is of such a nature that (except for when the fan is spinning at full speed) it blends easily into the background noise of just about any environment.

As an added bonus, the increased noise when the fan is spinning at max RPM’s is an easy way for you to tell when your 409 Pro Turbo is working extremely hard. If this happens often, you may wish to considered relocating the NAS to a cooler environment or at least making sure it has adequate ventilation (i.e. don’t put it in a small enclosed cabinet). If the unit is already in a cool environment with lots of air flow you may want to consider stepping up to the “big leagues” and purchasing a dedicated server + external storage array since you are more than likely are overloading the NAS’s not so insignificant capabilities. If upgrading is just not in your budget, as long as this unit is working you can manually set the fan speed and remove all “smart fan” features. This of course is done at your own risk since you can fry parts if they overheat.

airflow1.jpg

If for some reason you need to change the included fan for another model, its removal consists of unplugging the fan from the printed circuit board (PCB), cutting few cable ties, removing the 4 mounting screws and sliding it out of its metal cradle.

drivecaddy.jpg

As previously mentioned, the drive cage is an integral part of the NAS and is not removable. This adds a lot of rigidity to the unit and helps keep any flexing to a minimum. Instead of removing the drive cage to install a hard drive one simply has to unscrew one of the four metal hard drive caddies, mount the hard drive via 4 screws that mount up from the bottom of the unit and slid the unit back into place. While this does sound easy, achieving a good lock up between the power & data connectors between the back of the hard drive and the connectors on the back of the drive cage does take a little bit of force. As it stands it is fairly easy to not have the hard drive not completely connected. However, QNAP obviously though of this and the inclusion of two thumb screws on the front of each metal hard drive caddy ensures that not only are all hard drive mounted properly but that they also securely mounted. This does slow down the hot swapping of hard drives but the added security more than makes up for it.

caddy_screws.jpg

As a nice little attention to detail the two screws that are so vital to securely mounting the hard drive caddies can not be lost. While they are spring loaded, they are designed in such away that they can not fall off and thus be lost. As is becoming a reoccurring theme, it is not only the big things but the little ones as well that make this unit such a joy to work with.

backplane.jpg

One interesting design feature of the 409 Pro Turbo is the fact that this unit does not have a backplane in the traditional sense of the word. Yes there are 4 power connectors and 4 SATA data connectors on the back of the drive cage but they are nothing more than individual power and SATA cables that connect separately to the main board of the NAS. This makes it very easy to replace a bad power connector or data connector considering they are standard off the shelf”hardware. It is only the small converter hardware that connects the hard drive to its power and data cables that would be hard to source out.

slider_board.jpg
beveled_board.jpg

In a new design twist, and unlike previous models, QNAP designed the main printed circuit board to be slid into and out of place. It is held in position just like other units with the use of screws and lock washers but the PCB cannot just be lifted out of the unit like it can on the 109 and 209 models. Since you can not remove the drive cage from this unit QNAP needed a different method of insertion and removal of the PCB and installing the PCB with all its delicate electronics before mounting the drive cage sounds like a recipe for disaster.

Their answer was to take a page from the high end pc case industry and have the “motherboard” (sans tray) removable. It may not be a unique way of doing things but it does work well. Best of all you do not have to worry about damaging the PCB when sliding it in and out since instead of just using formed metal, QNAP installed a plastic low friction “runner” on each side of the case that not only provides protection from damage but also some extent offers insulation against static charge from the metal case. This is definitely a quirky yet very well designed and executed piece of engineering and their attention to detail even goes so far as to slightly bevel the front of the board so that it will fit easier.

board.jpg

The Printed Circuit Board of this NAS performs many of same roles that a motherboard in a normal computer would. This PCB is clean and well laid out with all chips placed on only one side of the board. Nothing is clustered too close together and everything is spaced far enough apart that even the modest airflow from its lone 92mm fan produces adequate cooling. No one likes having a NAS overheat and die on them and this tidy layout will certainly minimize this risk. This layout just reinforces how much time, effort and money went into designing this board since it would have certainly been cheaper and easier to have used both sides of the PCB, even if it would have increased overheating risks.

88F5281.jpg

As with previous models QNAP uses a Marvell System-On-Chip (SoC) ARM9 processor. For this model it is the 88F5281 running at a 500MHz. While some would think that based on Marvel numbering scheme that this processor is simply an upgrade or improved version of the “Orion” 5182 used in the TS-209, it is in fact the second generation processor from Marvel’s Ferecon .15um technology. While this processor does run at the same speed as the older 1st gen 5182, this newer processor has a hardware floating point unit built into it, making it much more efficient clock for clock than the older processor. As these chips are extremely low power yet very efficient processors no heatsink is necessary for cooling. This makes them perfect for Network Attached Storage appliances where space, performance and cooling are at a premium.

Some of you may have went “oh it’s a cell phone chip!” when I said “ARM9” and in most cases you would be correct; ARM9s are found mainly in slow yet cool running appliances such as the ubiquitous cell phone or PDA. However, while the Feroceon line does technically follow the ARM926EJ technical specifications Marvel has “improved” upon these to the point where they are relatively powerful units. Unlike normal ARM9’s which employ an in-order, fixed-stage pipeline the Feroceon’s have a variable-stage pipeline, making them much more efficient (and thus much more powerful). For example the Linux “home brew” community has brought out patches for “mplayer” so that these ARM processors can seamlessly play RealAudio live Internet streams, turning your NAS into one big and expensive Ipod.

hynix.jpg
hynix2.jpg

Once again QNAP went with Hynix memory for their TS series NAS appliance. In this case it is HY5PS12821C FP - Y5 DDR2 Ram on this model. Unlike previous models that only had 2 RAM chips this model has 4 of them; brining the total up from 128MB to 256MB of onboard, non upgradeable ram. According to Hynix documentation this 64MB DDR2 533mhz Ram chip is rated to run 3-5-5-5 @1.8volts (1.9 being max & 1.7 being min).

SX7042.jpg

The Marvell 88SX7042-BDU1 is a PCI-E to Serial ATA Controller and is actually the same controller chip found on many consumer “software” RAID daughter boards (such as HighPoint’s RocketRaid 2314MS). For all intents and purposes the 7042 is a PCI-E version of the 6042 series SATA controller in that they have the same features and specifications except for the supported interface. This is a very interesting choice on QNAP’s behalf and does point to an enhanced PCI interface being used on this unit. After all why use a more expensive controller chip when its cheaper “sibling” has the exact same capabilities as it just without the PCI-E part?

Gen-Logic-GL852-USb-controller.jpg

This small chip is Genesys Logic’s GL852 USB controller chip. It is the same chip QNAP used on both the TS-109 and the TS-209 series. This lil’ guy is an 8 bit RISC processor that has a performance rating of 6 MIPS @ 12MHz. It is capable of controlling 4USB ports, it fully supports the USB 2.0 specification, and is fully backwards compatible with older USB 1.x hardware. The above pictures does not do a good job of showing how small this powerhouse really is, even getting a macro shot of it was difficult and at times it felt like a microscope would have been a better option.

Marvell-88E1118-NIC.jpg

As you can see, the QNAP 409’s network controller chip is none other than the Marvell 88E1118 “Alaska” gigabit Ethernet controller. This 10/100/1000 gigabit Ethernet controller is the exact same controller that graces the ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe, the M2N32 WS Professional and even the ASUS Crosshair. With such a prestigious pedigree it leaves little doubt about how well it will perform in “real world” situations.

caps2.jpg
caps.jpg

While we were not expecting to see Panasonic or Rubycon capacitors, it was a nice and equally impressive surprise to see that QNAP opted for Sanyo capacitors. These Sanyo capacitors are rated for 105c and there are a dozen of these tall capacitors running the length of one side of the PCB. Seeing those lovely high quality capacitors removed any fears or doubts about this unit's long term durability; at least when it comes to its power distribution.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Hardware / Software Installation

Hardware Installation

As with all "Bring Your Own Drive" NAS’s the installation process is a two stage affair. The first stage is the physical installation of the hard drives. This is straightforward, fairly easy but time consuming process.

open_door.jpg

The first thing you have to do is to open the front door so you can access the hard drives. Since this unit differs from past QNAP NAS offerings in that the front door is hinged and not held in place with screws, this step is very user friendly and quickly accomplished.

unscrew_caddy.jpg
slide_caddy_out.jpg

The next step is to unscrew the two retaining screws holding a drive caddy in place and then to remove from the drive cage by sliding it all the way out. Unlike previous models where you really needed to use a screw driver to do this (or risk finger blood-letting) this model's drive caddies are easily accessible with your fingers and there are no sharp objects to cut yourself on. It is obvious that QNAP listened to their customer's complaints on previous models and took steps to correct them. This is always nice to see and definitly reflects well on QNAP's customer service.

lineup_hdd.jpg
screw_hdd_in.jpg

Once you have removed a drive caddy the next thing one has to do is place a hard drive in the caddy, flip it all over, line up the four screw holes on the bottom of the caddy and screw the caddy to the hard drive. All necessary screws are included with this unit but there are no spares, so be very careful not to lose one of them or you may end up spending a good portion of your afternoon looking for it. A good way to avoid this is by placing the whole works in a small rubber maid container so that if a screw does slip and fall it will not have much space to hide in.

slide_caddy_in.jpg
hdds_installed.jpg

When all the above steps are accomplished one simply slides the caddy back into its perspective slot. A sturdy push is needed to fully seat the caddies in their slot, when they are seated properly you simply have to screw down the two spring-loaded retention screws located on each side of the caddy. This ensures a good lock and secures the hard drives in place. When all the hard drive caddies are locked into place one simply has to plug in the Network cable and then turn on the unit.


Software Installation

qnap409_autoplay.jpg
qnap409_autoplay2.jpg

Once the hardware installation stage is accomplished all you have to do is simply insert the included CD Rom and install the one necessary piece of software. If you are like us and you have “autoplay” disabled you may have to manually start the process but otherwise as soon as your computer recognizes the CD a window will pop up asking what you would like to do. While your options are limited it is nice to see that QNAP took the time to think about users who may have already done the basic setup and now want to install more advanced software. For first time users you must choose “install QNAP Finder”. This program is then installed onto your system and you can then ignore the CD if you wish.

This basic program’s main job is to search your home network and (hopefully) locate your NAS. This is why plugging in and turning on your NAS is one of the first things you do before any software is installed. The finder program worked as advertised on numerous different systems and is basically fool proof as long as your computer is on the same subnet as the NAS.

Qnapfinder.jpg

If for some reason it cannot find your NAS, make sure the cable is connected properly to it and make sure that it is on the same network as your computer. If necessary, log into your DHCP server (or your home router) and check to see that the 409 found it. If you do not normally use DHCP and prefer to set your IP’s manually I recommend turning it on until the QNAP wizard is finished (one step in the wizard allows you to hard set an IP for the QNAP) and then you can turn it off and go back to your old way. Overall this finder software is extremely user friendly if a little bit on the limited side. Though in all honesty if you are not using DHCP, then your network admin skills are more than likely up to the task of doing a kludge / work around for this software’s shortcomings.

Once the finder utility locates your 409 NAS you are then ready to initialize it. The initialization process is a multi step wizard that automatically begins as soon as the finder finishes scanning for network attached storage devices. This wizard is very intuitive and does a very good job of guiding you through your new NAS’s bevy of features. For the time being lets just say that if you wish you can do a very good job of customizing your NAS using the wizard, and its options are not just limited to time, date, RAID level, basic network settings and system password(s). You can (within reason) make this installation as simple or as complex as you want since many of the features have default options already filled out that you can leave as is if you do not know what they do. Overall the wizard is very well done and is slick enough to be reassuring without dumbing it down to the point that it feels you are using an Apple program installer.

qnap409_autoplay3.jpg
qnap409_autoplay4.jpg

When this wizard is completed it will ask you if you would like to set up a network share. If you say yes you then are guided through another simple wizard that adds an extra network drive to “My Computer”. Even if you have never set up a NAS before this process is as painless as it gets. When this wizard is finished so is the basic installation. If all you plan on using the NAS for Network Attached Storage, you are ready to start enjoying the unit. Of course if you picked a RAID level other than JBOD, full performance will not be achieved until the array is finished building. This can take several hours but is completely seamless to the end user and you don't have to wait for it to finish since you can start using the NAS as soon as the wizard is finished.

front_page.jpg

At this point by simply using the administration page you can then setup any of the myriad advanced features this unit has to offer. Getting to the admin page is simple as typing in the NAS’s IP address in IE and making sure it connects on port 8080 (e.g. http://192.168.xxx.xxx:8080). Or one can use the QFinder tool, highlight the NAS and hit the "connect" button which will automatically open you default browser and enter the proper address for you. One interesting thing worth mentioning is that unlike previous models many of the advanced features such as “download station” and “multimedia station” are not displayed on the main page by default. You can easily add them to the main page by simply check marking “display service link” option on their page under Network Settings but by default the main page is very spartan. Most likely this is because of the different market niche this NAS is marketed towards.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Administration

Administration

409_admin.jpg

The administration of this NAS is one area where I was not only impressed but extremely impressed with the 409 Pro Turbo. Once the NAS is up and running any computer with network access can control this NAS. No additional software is needed, only a web browser. For added security, SSL can be enabled with just the click of the mouse (though IE7 will complain about invalid certificates). This main page is the main “jump off” page that allows you to administer not only the NAS itself but any of the myriad features that come standard with this unit. It really is the ease of use and not just the amount of features available that help distinguish this NAS from its competitors.

409_quickconfig.jpg
409_serverSettings.jpg

As you can see the administration page is grouped into main subsections. As the name suggests the “Quick Configuration” is just that. It will let you rerun the wizard that you used to initially set up the NAS. The same goes for the system setup section. All of this allows you to customize the 409 Pro Turbo’s basic settings to your heart's content.


Network Settings

409_networksettings.jpg

This is where the majority of the “12-in-one server” features are listed. Everything from setting up the NAS to act as a Web server, SQL server, or even be accessabilty for Unix and Apple operating systems is found here. The only problem with this subsection is the shear mind boggling options it has and this is almost a case of information overload. Luckily, you do not need to touch any of these settings unless you are interested in using one of the advanced features.


TCP/IP Configuration

tcpip.jpg

The first subsection is the “TCP/IP Configuration” page, where you can tell the NAS where to go to find obtain the IP address, hard set the IP address or as an added bonus even setup the NAS itself to act as a DHCP server. This is especially nice since while 10/100/1000 switches are cheap, gigabit routers are not. If your network infrastructure can handle Jumbo frames, this NAS not only supports them but you can even select the size of the Jumbo frames to enhance compatibility. This is nice as Jumbo frames are not a ratified standard and thus different companies use different sizes.


Microsoft Networking

MSN.jpg

The next subsection deals with Microsoft Networking. This is where you can tell the NAS how to interact with Microsoft-based operating systems. You can even set this NAS up as a member of a domain, stand alone server, domain master, WINS server or even point it to a WINS server you already have set up. The only potential negative to having access to all these powerful configurations is the ease in which you can make a mistake. For example if you set this NAS to be a Domain Master, you better make sure that there are no other Domain Masters as they do NOT (at the very least) play nice with one another by default. Once again the old adage “if you don’t know what something does…DON’T TOUCH IT” is in full effect with this section.


Apple Networking

apple.jpg

If you are an Apple user, the next small section is certainly of interest to you. This “section” only has one option but it is a powerful one. The power to enable Apple Talk file service and point it to a specific zone gives (in theory) this NAS the ability to interact as seamlessly with Apple computer as it does with Microsoft based ones. Of course, as this is such a small segment of the computer world, people who are serious enough about their MAC’s to buy non-Apple products (like this NAS) know that some tinkering may be required and this is par for the course.


NFS Service

NFS.jpg

This next section is for the Linux crowd, since the 409 is a custom embed Linux appliance its ability to interact with Linux systems should be a given. However, a quick perusal of QNAP’s help forum shows that past models did have some quirks when using NFS. Luckily it appears QNAP has worked out the “kinks” on this model. And I am glad to report that when using a popular newer version of Linux I was able to easily mount this NAS as a network drive, with no more than usual amount of hassle that Linux requires.


Web File Manager

wfm_.jpg

The next small section is “Web File Manager” and as the name suggests it allows you complete access to all the folders and files located on the NAS. Just as you can rename, move, delete, create, view, edit and do everything else in Microsoft's file manger, you can do it here via the webpage. If you are so inclined you can even seamlessly change over from a http-based file manger to FTP by pressing the FTP button. It a very slick, easy to use feature and an extremely fast way to quickly copy a few files from the NAS to a computer without setting up a network share.


FTP Service

ftp.jpg

The FTP setup page is complete and loaded with features not network junky can do without. Not only does the 409 Pro Turbo allow you to setup FTP quota and speed limits you can even hard set it for a SSL/TLS security. The only downside to enabling this extra level of security is that speeds did significantly fall in testing. Instead of being limited to the speed of you internet connection (or the NAS’s max speed if using FTP for intranet transfers over gigabit Ethernet) you are limited to speed of the 409’s “Pro Turbo” processor. In testing speeds dropped from 30+mb/s to less than 3mb/sec.


Multimedia Station

multi.jpg

multi2.jpg

The Multimedia section is a great idea but it lacks a certain amount of polish. It is not a bad program it is just that the interface is a little less refined as the other programs available. For all intents and purposes it is a photo viewer that is a few years out of date.

twonky.jpg

On the positive side the UPnP station uses Twonkymedia so while the multimedia station may have its rough unpolished quirks QNAP certainly got more right that wrong with multimedia interactions.


iTunes Service

itunes.jpg

Just as the multimedia station is for pictures and the media server is for A/V, the iTunes server is for music. When enabled it seamless work in iTunes allowing all people and computers on the same subnet the ability to stream music to their computer. This is so simple and easy to use that it makes sharing your music over the network an intuitive procedure that anyone should be able to implement. The only down side is that you have to use Apple’s iTunes. This is not a bad thing if you own an iPod, but if you bought a different mp3 player installing iTunes just so you can use your new NAS as a music server may rub you the wrong way.


Download Station

download1.jpg

The Download station is probably the one area that QNAP fails to fully follow through with an idea. Just as with the TS-109 Pro that we reviewed awhile back, the idea behind it is ingenious it’s just the execution that leaves a lot to be desired. For all intents and purposes you can set up your NAS to download multiple torrents and/or multiple http/ftp files without the intervention with or guidance by a computer. You can quiet literally set them up on the NAS, make sure they are running and then turn off your computer and go to bed. When you wake up in the morning hopefully they will be completed.

download2.jpg

What makes a good feature and not a great feature is two sticking points. The first is that you cannot really configure or “tweak” the bit torrent client settings, so speeds do suffer to some extent. This is a minor annoyance and unless you really need to baby a certain download to get it ASAP it works very well. The big annoyance that was so conspicuous by its absence is lack of a scheduler. A download is either “on” or “off” there are no “wait 3 hours and then download” options available.

To a certain extent the inclusion of QGet (a software based version of the download station that can be run locally off any computer) does minimize the download station quirks. With QGet you can manually add files one at a time for the NAS to download. This of course only minimizes the download station's limitations and does not fully alleviate them. At best you can consider QGet either a great time saver or at worst a nice little bonus that makes the 409 Pro Turbo an even more user friendly appliance.


Web server

webserv.jpg

Unlike previous versions, this NAS had built-in php administration (via PHP myAdmin) that makes this web server into a fully-featured server. One simply has to tell the NAS what port to listen to for web page requests on (default is 80). Yet, for Intranet webpages you can use a custom port, allowing network attached people to access this “web site” while still being able to access the world wide web. While this is an interesting little feature I would be hesitant about using this NAS as a web server and a network file server. My concerns are not about its ability to multitask, which it does very well; rather, it has to do with a person's or company's internet plan. Unless you have guaranteed 99% uptime, using you normal business level internet connection is not advisable. Nothing says “unprofessional” like an unreachable web site. Overall, for testing a website before it goes “live” on a real web server or just for hosting a simple intraweb-based corporate site this NAS’s web server feature should be good enough for the majority of its intended customers.


DDnS

ddns.jpg

As the help file associated with DDNS states “The DDNS (Dynamic DNS) service allows users from the Internet to connect to the servers on your local network using a domain name rather than an IP address. To use this service, you must first apply an account from a free DDNS server”. Basicaly all you have to do is sign up for a free account online, tell the NAS what name DDNS “knows” it by and then you can remotely login to the NAS and access your files. Basically this option makes the 409 Pro Turbo into a poor man's WAFS or a Wide Area File System via the internet. Being “on the road” and still have access to one's files is always a handy feature.


SQL server

mysql.jpg

As with previous models, the 409 Pro Turbo can easily become a MySQL server. Unlike previous models which had no way of setting up administration of the database, this model not only allows you to administer it via “phpMyAdmin database management system” but also shows you how to download and install SQLiteManager on the NAS. QNAP has obviously listened to its customers regarding this glaring omission on TS 109 Pro and took steps to correct it.


System Port Management & View Network Settings

SPM.jpg

VNS.jpg

These two sections allow you to change the default port for logging into administer the NAS and allows you to see exactly what your NAS network settings are set too.

In many ways the most important part is the second tab in the View Network Settings page. This tab gives you a complete overview on what services are setup and what “server” features are enabled. It’s a quick yet very detailed way of knowing exactly how your NAS is configured.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Administration part II

Device Configuration

409_deviceconfig.jpg

Unlike the previous group of tools the device configuration is concerned not with software setup but how the hardware in the NAS is configured. This includes the hard drives themselves, the RAID array and even USB printers that are attached to the NAS.


RAID Expansion

As the name suggests, the 409 Pro Turbo has the ability under certain circumstances to expand the capacity of its RAID array. What this means, is that by replacing smaller hard drives with larger ones you can make your already built array larger without loss of data.

QNAP has made this procedure relatively straightforward and painless. To set things in motion, you go into the administration page, select “device configuration” and then click on the “raid management tool”. Here you will see your RAID array(s) and when you select an array, a grayed out button will become clickable. This button is labeled “expand capacity”. When you select it you are brought to a new screen and are able to “replace” one the drives in the array. When you select one to be replaced you simply have to wait until in the description field it states “Please remove this drive”, when you do remove the right hard drive (this is where having the properly named hard drive caddy in the right slot comes in handy!) the NAS will beep at you twice and the description field will change to “Please insert the new drive”. Insert the new larger hard drive and when the NAS recognizes it the NAs will be beep and automatically start the recovery process.

When it is finished you simply redo all the above steps to replace all the small hard drives in the array with their larger replacement. When this is done you have to hit the “expand capacity button” on this page and it will give you a pop up asking you to confirm expansion of the array. Once you go through all the steps, it starts the process which can take up to TENS OF HOURS to complete. In our test of going from two 320GB hard drives to two 500gb hard drives, the total process took over 9 and a half hours to complete.

However, its pros out weigh its cons in that it is much safer than destroying your array and hoping your backup is not corrupt. Even though it is not mentioned in the QNAP help files it is strongly recommended that you have a known good backup of your data just in case a hard drive fails during this process. It would have been nice if 409 Pro Turbo was “smart” enough not to need your permission to expand the array if it discovers larger hard drives are now present, but in general this implementation is well thought out and is very user friendly.


RAID MIGRATION

QNAP’s engineers must have certainly realized that not everyone who purchases this unit will populate all 4 hard drive bays right away. To this end the 409 Pro Turbo will let you convert 1 JBOD hard drive into any RAID level, let you turn a RAID 1 array into RAID 5 or 6 and let a RAID 5 change into RAID 6. This versatility is exactly what people want and its execution is flawless. One simply has to insert the new hard drive(s), run the “raid management tool” and click the now un-grayed out “migrate” button and select what you would like to migrate the array to. It even tells you how much time is remaining before the new raid array is ready for use. During this time the NAS is still useable since you can read information from it but you will not be able to write or delete or in anyway modify any data on the NAS. Migrating from a RAID 1 500GB array to a RAID 5 three 500 GB hard drive array took a little over 7 hours, 15 minutes to complete.


Online spare hard drive

While this feature is puzzlingly only available for RAID 5 and not for RAID 1, it is a very handy feature none the less and was certainly welcome. For whatever reason, if you decide to only have 3 hard drives in a RAID 5 you can later add a fourth whose sole job is to automatically start the rebuilding process in case of a hard drive failure in one of the 3 hard drives. I have personally seen online hot spares save RAID 5 arrays from complete failure when one hard drive has failed.

When you have a failed hard drive in a RAID array the faster you replace that dead drive and allow the array to rebuild the better your chances of not losing all your data are. In a 4 bay unit this feature is more luxury and less of necessity than if you have 7 or 8 hard drives in the array, however, it’s a luxury most server administrators like to have. To some people RAID 6 + 4 bay hard drive NAS makes more sense than 3 drives + online spare. However, not everyone likes RAID 6 and its limitations since it is slower on writes than raid 5 (double parity vs. single parity) and having lots of choices is always a good thing in my opinion.


Print Server

The 409 Pro Turbo is able to handle network printing for 3 printers at one time. One simply has to plug in a USB capable printer to one of the 3 USB ports and the NAS will automatically set it up as a network printer. While the USB standard allows for daisy chaining of USB devices this “printer server” can only handle a maximum of three printers since this is a direct limitation of the USB controller chip that can handle only 4 data streams.

This is actually where a small pet peeve popped up. While this unit can handle 3 USB printers you need to either use a port replicator on one of them and plug two printers into that one port (and the third into the 2nd port on the back) or plug all three printers into all three ports and lose the USB copy abilities. QNAP should definitely have either given this unit a third USB port on the back or a second one on the front. I admit it is a small pet peeve but one should not have to pick or chose what features that they want to loose if they are to use the NAS to its fullest potential.

On the positive side, the network printing option works perfectly. Once we had set up a network printer on a computer we were able to send print jobs to the printer via the network. It is also great to see that the NAS acts as a print spooler for the printers thus enabling the full job to be quickly transmitted to the NAS and then allow the NAS to send it to the printer in non buffer overflowing chunks. Even though you can clear the printer spooler if a job does fail, we did not have to use this feature even once during testing.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Administration part III

User Management

409_usermgt.jpg

The user management section is broken into three main sections and each section is clearly and intuitively labeled. The “User” section is where you can setup individual users, their passwords and even a personalized disk quota. Overall, this section is quite straightforward. I wouldn’t want to have to set up a hundred or even dozens of users this way but for a few users it is more than good enough.

The second section is “User groups” and you can bulk a bunch of users together and give the group their own personal folder or private section of the NAS. Once again, as long as you are not setting up a lot of user groups its more than good enough. The last section only has one feature but it is a good one. Under “Quota” you can hard set every user's quota to the same predefine amount. Of course, the maximum size is limited to 2TB but for the next few years that should be more than enough for anyone.


Network Share Management

409_networkshare.jpg

As a nice little bonus the names, location and what features each network shares has is completely customizable. This means you can rename any of the standard 6 shares and even create new ones. This gives you a level of customization not usually found on a NAS in this price range. Of course the downside to all this customization is that it adds an extra layer of complexity and obfuscation if the NAS administrator is not careful.


System Tools

409_systemtools.jpg

The amount of tools that QNAP gives you is amazing. Not only can you check on the condition of each of the hardrives SMART values but you can tell the NAS to automatically run diagnostics test on each one at a certain time at internvals from once a day to once a week. While SMART errors do not always happen before a catastrophic hardware failure it does reduce the chances of you been caught unaware of the problem.

Two system tools worth mentioning is the Remote login and UPS support. You can easily set this NAS up for remote login via telnet or SSH remote communications. If the administrator of this NAS is at home and receives an email alert from it that something has happened he doesn't have to travel back to the office to log in; he can simple open up his laptop and log in via his office’s internet connection. This unit not only allows for secure remote login but also has limited support for UPS shutdown notifications. If this NAS is connected to a APC unit that is capable of sending SNMP messages you can set that here as well. What makes this feature really interesting is that not every business uses APC and QNAP understood this so if the NAS senses abnormal power (e.g. when power from the AC mains is interrupted and when the UPS kicks in) it can shut itself down. Too many IT administrators know that these two features alone make the cost of this unit a bargain.


System Logs

systemLog.jpg

The System Logs section is broken down into four sections. System Event Logs where not only problems are logged but it is where anything that the NAS does is logged. Start a USB copy option and the exact time to the second when it starts and then when it finishes is logged. Such detailed logs are good but error events can be a hassle to find in amongst the lesser importnant events. Luckily, QNAP allows you to sort by “information”, “warning” or “error” making it much easier to troubleshoot any issues that arise.

The next section is simple a list of when the system connects to the network and when connection is dropped. This is great tool for troubleshooting network connection issues as they will stand out pretty quickly (e.g. 3 connects and disconnects in as many minute probably means its time to look at using a different cable/network port and or switch.).

The third section consists of user connections and how long they were connected for. This is a great tool for seeing who is using the NAS in any give timeframe (and to see if “slacker Joe” really was working late last week like he claimed on his time sheet).

The last section is in many ways the most interesting one and simply called “System Information”. Don’t let this seemingly innocuous name fool you. This section tells you exactly what is happening with NAS at that precise moment. It even includes vital information like hard drive temperatures, ram and processor loads and even what temperature the processor is running at. The only annoyance I had with this section is system uptime is in reality the amount of time it has been since its last sleep mode. As soon as in enters and then exits sleep mode, this counter is reset to zero.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

AkG

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
5,270
Performance Benchmarks

Performance Benchmarks

Testing Methodology

Testing an external storage array is not as simple as putting together a bunch of files, dragging them onto the array's drive folder in Windows and using a stopwatch to time how long the transfer takes. Rather, there are factors such as read / write speed and data burst speed to take into account. To this end Testing will be split into two groups “real world testing” and “synthetic testing”. Real world testing will consist of read and write tests to not only the time it takes to move files to and fro the NAS but also to calculate approximately “real world” performance in MB/S. The synthetic benchmark will be IOzone. All tests were run 4 times and only best results are represented. Jumbo Packets (9000 MTU) was used for both the computer and the NAS during the testing.

For information purposes here is the theoretical maximum each network connection is capable of:

100mbit/s = 12,500 KB/s
1000mbit/s = 125,000 KB/s

Processor: Q6600 @ 3.2GHZ
Motherboard: Gigabyte p35 DS4
Memory: 4GB G.Skill PC2-6400
Graphics card: XFX 7200gt 128mb
Hard Drives: 1x Western Digital Se16 500GB
Power Supply: Seasonic S12 600W
Case: CM 690
Router: 5 port 10/100 D-Link 604 (used solely in these tests for DHCP)
Switch: 5 port Freedom9 freeConnect 500 10/100/1000 switch
Cable: Cat 5e shielded with max distance of 5ft runs
NAS Hard drives: 4 x Western Digital Se16 500GB


USB COPY Quick Test

In our real world testing using an OCZ ATV 2GB thumb drive capable of 25MB/secong read speeds it took the NAS 615 seconds to successfully read 1,974,000 KB of data from it to the NAS. This works out to a mediocre 3,210 KB/second.


IOzone Testing

The IOzone test is a much more thorough and exhaustive test of the network bandwidth and hard drive performance of a given NAS being tested. The true power of IOzone is that it can be configured a near endless variety of ways with the use of command line switches. These switches quite literally tell IOzone what it should use for its testing methodology. We have included a detailed break down of exactly what switches we used but to sum up the command that we have put together, IOzone will be reading and writing files varied from 64KB in small 4KB chunks up to 1GB in 16MB chunks and every combination in-between. This provides us with an extremely complete picture of how the device handles a variety of traffic over the network. The following two commands were used for the testing:

Full Area Graph:

IOzone -Rab 409RaidXXX.wks -i 0 -i 1 -g 1G -+u -f y:\IOzone\001.tmp

Simplified 2-D 64K Graphs

IOzone -Rab 409RaidXXX2D.wks -i 0 -i 1 -+u -q 64K -g 1G -f z:\test\001.tmp


-Rab
is 3 settings in one
R generate excel report
a auto mode 1(the “short” or quick tests mode)
b filename of excel spreadsheet to use
-g 1G sets max size to 1GB for auto mode
-+U Enable CPU utilization output (used to make sure OS caching is not happening)
-i options are tests to run
-i 0 = write/rewrite
-i 1 = read/re-read
-q 64= sets maximum record size (in Kbytes) for auto mode

When first presented with the output area graph of IOzone, people's first reaction is that of information overload (e.g. “pretty looking graph you have there….just one question…..what does it mean!?”). To make it easier to understand the results, and remove and CPU buffering and / or caching that usually occurs at the “peaks”, not only will the full area graph be included but that of a 2D streamlined version consisting of the 64K record size results at all recorded file sizes. 64k record size is has not been selected at random; rather under normal output this is the only record size that is complete across all file sizes and for many online NAS forums it is the defacto standard to use when comparing different NAS results.


READ

iozone_read.jpg


The read bandwidth is quite good and nicely shows how fast this unit can be for pushing data to a system. The majority of its read bandwidth is in the 40,000 -50,000 KB/s range with peaks hitting nearly 51,000 KB/s. These are very good performance numbers for any unit that costs less than $1,000 let alone a mere $600.


WRITE

iozone_write.jpg


As you can see from the above area graph the majority of the 409’s bandwidth is in the 20,000 to 25,000 KB/s range with peaks of nearly 27,600 KB/s. While these numbers are a little on the low side they do highlight how hard the Marvel processor has to work to write not only to multiple hard drives, but also to calculate parity for the array as well. Please do not get the wrong idea since these numbers are certainly respectable but for a RAID 5, 4 HDD array with Jumbo packets (9000 mtu) they are lower than one would like to see.


Simplified Read

iozone_64k_read.jpg


For small to medium size files it appears that the different RAID levels do not significantly effect performance, as their transfer speeds are so similar as to be within normal tolerance / error range. This graph also does a great job of highlighting not only how good the TS 109 is, but how mediocre this unit’s performance is. When it comes to large files it apparently also does not matter what RAID level you chose since all perform below expectations.


Simplified Write

iozone_64k_write.jpg


It is quite self-evident that RAID 5 is faster for small to medium size files. However, once the size of the files start to get big the Marvel processor just can not keep up causing RAID 5 speeds to plummet. Even RAID 1 suffers from this, just to a lesser extent. It is too bad that QNAP did not use either a more powerful single processor (or two low of these low power, low heat processors) as this unit has all the other ingredients of very good, high performance NAS. As it stands the 409 Pro Turbo is only a mediocre performer at best.


Real World Data Transfers

No matter how good a synthetic benchmark like IOzone is it can not really tell you how your NAS will perform in “real world” situations. All of us here at Hardware Canucks strive to give you the best, most complete picture of a review item’s true capabilities. To this end we will be running timed data transfers over a typical network to give you a general idea of how its performance relates to real life use. In general a NAS will be used on a day to day basis for either transferring large multi Gigabyte files (for example .ISO’s) or a random mix of small to medium files (for example .mp3 and album art). To help replicate these conditions we will be we will transfer a 4.32GB contiguous RAR file and a folder containing that includes 40 subfolders and over 4000 files varying in length from 8mb to 6kb (6.50 GB total). Testing will include transfer too and transferring from the devices, timing each process individually to provide an approximate Read and Write performance.

transfer_speed.jpg


As you can see, even though the 409 has four times more hard drives and a new faster processor the older single bay TS-109 Pro handily beat it in all tests. While a few seconds one way or the other would not have been a concern, these numbers are significantly different and should give one a good idea of what to expect performance wise from this NAS.


Extended Runtime Testing

Where these units are marketed towards the S/MB environment, it is reasonable to expect them to be able to handle extended usage, with random multiple requests for data. To test how robust this unit is, and how well its cooling would work under a heavy workload, the QNAP 409 Pro Turbo was subjected to a 96 hour nonstop session. During this time the NAS was directed to not only create then fill and empty its RAID arrays but was also expected to handle not only multiple (and sometimes simultaneous) read and write requests from different computers on the network but also print multiple 100 page documents and download multiple CD size torrents (the latest Linux distros). At no time was the load less than 4 simultaneous process (1 bit torrent, 1 usb copy, 1 print job, 1 data request) and peaked at 9 (1 torrent, 2 print jobs, 3 requests for data, 2 requests to save data on the RAID arrays, 1 USB copy). For this test the RAID array was set up as two RAID 1 drives with four WD SE16 500 AAKS hard drives being used. For the print server portion of the testing one Canon i850 ink jet printer and one Lexmark 5450 inkjet printer was used.

After 96hrs of nonstop use the hard drives were running at 35*c, the Marvel processor was running at 47*C @ 100% usage and there was less than .5mb free of ram. Overall, it was very impressive to see the NAS not hang even once during those stressful hours. While yes, things to did slow down and the rate that they slowed down did vary from little (the printer's buffers seemed to help smooth things out and there appeared little to no performance loss there) to a significant slow downs (the torrent files did almost stop and were very slow during high demand periods). However, no matter what the demands put on this NAS it never once failed at any task. This NAS certainly deserves the moniker “Pro” and with its decent speeds even when placed under severe multitasking it also deserves its self appointed title of “Turbo”.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Latest posts

Top