Qnap TS-435XeU – compact and quiet NAS for 1U rack

Analysis

Network storage is primarily used in enterprises and server farms, but it can also be used in a home. After all, who among us doesn’t have hundreds of photos and videos on our smartphones or cameras. Also not to forget regular backups and external HDDs, which are not really practical in this regard. But what to do if you’re looking for an affordable and quiet NAS, but with premium connectivity and six slots?

Package and analysis

At the outset, it should be mentioned that you will come across the TS-435XeU in a series of articles on 10 Gb networking in the home, and its server rack format lends itself to this. Most household NAS units have a tower format, or a tiny tower where the HDD/SSD are placed vertically. However, the tested piece is a typical 1U tall and 19″ wide piece designed for the vast majority of racks. But the interesting thing is the short depth, which is only 29 cm, so you can fit the whole device into a smaller rack, which is definitely appreciated in a home environment. So much for the introduction, let’s take a closer look at the NAS and the contents of its packaging.

You will receive the NAS in a cardboard box with foam padding inside to protect it from possible damage (typically in transit). The outer packaging does not have any interesting graphics, it is just a raw monochrome cardboard. Inside the package, besides the NAS, you will find a power cable and a tiny box with accessories.

Specifically, there are screws for mounting a 3.5″ HDD (16 pcs), and a 2.5″ SSD (12 pcs), a pair of rack mount ears with screws, and rounded brackets to allow for easier removal, a Cat-6A Ethernet cable for 10-gigabit connectivity, and finally, the aforementioned power cable.

The layout of the ports and drawers is simple, with four 3.5″ HDD and SSD bays in the front and the rest of the connectivity in the back. Specifically in the middle is a pair of 10 Gb SFP+ connectors and a quartet of USB ports, with two being 5 Gb standard 3.2 Gen 1 and the remaining two being the classic USB 2.0.

   

Then there’s a pair of 2.5 Gb RJ-45 Ethernet ports on one side and a power connector on the other. Not forgetting the trio of 40mm fans that are evenly spaced along the back.

   

A few close-ups on the equipment and LED indicators that show activity and disk usage or system status.

Four 3.5″ drive bays allow for easy removal without tools, but installing the storage already requires screws and a screwdriver. Unfortunately, the drawers cannot be locked, which can be a problem in an enterprise environment. But before we get into installing HDDs and SSDs, let’s take a look at the insides of our NAS.

To remove the top cover, just remove a few screws and gently slide it towards the rear. We then have the opportunity to take a look inside the TS-435XeU. This is half made up of just the 3.5″ HDD bays in the front, then at the back we can see a green PCB with a few components. On the bottom right is the power supply, in the middle are two positions for M.2 SSDs.

Čo NAS poháňa? First of all, it’s the four-core processor ARMv8 Marvell OCTEON TX2 CN9131 with Cortex-A72 cores. This is a similar, or almost identical processor to the one we saw in the Qnap Qhora-322 router. In addition to it, there is also 4 GB of RAM, just like in the router mentioned above. Here, however, it is freely available and, thanks to the SODIMM format for laptops, it is also interchangeable for a maximum 32 GB module. The 4 GB of memory is intended for the operating system with Dual Boot OS protection.

In addition to the aforementioned components, there is also a trio of 40 mm fans that you can also replace in case of failure. Unlike larger or more expensive models, however, there is no option for expansion with PCIe cards and the built-in connectivity is the most you get from this NAS.

Let’s move on to the installation of storage drives. Since I have the NAS open, the first one will be the WD Red SN700 M.2 SSD. Installation is tool-less, the motherboard has a sort of plastic tooth to hold the SSD in place. However, it should be noted that both M.2 connectors are PCIe 3.0 only and limited to one lane only. Thus, there is no point in installing fast PCIe 4.0 SSDs, which would be unnecessarily constrained. So you’d better prefer higher capacity over high speed.

This is followed by the installation of inch HDDs and SSDs, which we also have from WD. Specifically, the WD Red SA500 for the 2.5″ SSD and the WD Red Plus for the 3.5″ HDD.

Installing the HDD and SSD only takes a few minutes, but it could be faster. You have to screw the inch storage formats to the drawers, so there’s no tool-less mechanism like I’ve encountered with other models. We’ll of course test the speeds offered by solid state storage in various interfaces, and we’ll also take a look at the configuration and partitioning options and software features offered by our NAS.

Before we get into the testing and software side of things, there’s one more interesting hardware detail. The NAS is surprisingly quiet and low-power due to its compact size and power-saving processor. According to the manufacturer, it draws just shy of 30W in normal operation and only 17W when the drives are asleep. The manufacturer also states that the noise level at a distance of one meter is only 20 dB(A). This is one of the reasons why I was intrigued by this particular device. No one wants a noisy NAS in their home, but this is often the case with server-based network storage. However, the TS-435XeU is the exception that proves the rule.


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