REVIEWS / NAS / QNAP INC

Editors' ChoiceQNAP TS-269L Review

29 Jan, 2013, 4:13 pm IST | by Francis D'sa | NAS

NAS

QNAP 269L

QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L
QNAP 269L

PRICE IN INDIA

38,300

TECH2 RATING

7.5

AVERAGE USER RATING

9.5

How we test

CONTACT

Qnap Inc

 sanjay@qnap.com

 +91 9953 036 535

 www.qnap.com

With data such as documents, ebooks, music or videos spilling into multiple storage drives and locations around your home or office, a centralised storage becomes an absolute necessity. Opting for a higher capacity drive upgrade might be the answer to some of the problems, but spending for a NAS or a Network Attached Storage is the best alternative. Spending for a NAS at home might be considered foolish by many, but QNAP has just the reason why you might just want to change your statement and opt for one of these just below your high-definition television set. Yes, you guessed right, the NAS now has a built-in HD media player and we have the TS-269L for a review in our labs. Read ahead to find out more about it.

QNAP TS-269L 2-bay NAS with built-in Full HD media player

QNAP TS-269L 2-bay NAS with built-in full HD media player

 

 

Design and build quality

Unlike other manufacturers, QNAP is the only one around to offer a similar look for all individual series—be it a 2-bay or a 6-bay, they all look alike and the design definitely sports good looks. The TS-269L is a two bay NAS and looks like a small toaster. Measuring just 150 mm in height and 1.75 kg in weight, it is one of the smallest two-bay NAS available out there. The entire shell is built of a metal chassis similar to PC cases that have a rugged metal frame and a covering with a plastic bezel in the front. The two-bay NAS makes do with just status LEDs in the front while the higher-end ones are available with an LCD display. The front panel has four status LEDs, one each for HDD1, HDD2, LAN and eSATA, and two backlit buttons, one each for power and one-touch copy and a USB 2.0 port.. Apart from the completely basic control panel, there are two hard drive bays that can be pulled out for easy hard drive installation. The drive bays are perforated for effective cooling of the internal hard drives. the rear panel sports all the physical connections needed—the USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports (two each) an eSATA port, two Gigabit Ethernet ports, an HDMI interface and a power jack. Also available is a Kensington lock provision and a 7 cm exhaust fan. The entire case has a metallic brush-finished exterior with a matte-finished bezel. The chassis is built tough and meant for easy cleaning and easy heat dissipation. 

Strong PC case-like chassis, all interfaces on the rear

Strong PC case-like chassis, all interfaces on the rear

 

 

Features

The QNAP TS-269L is a 2-bay storage system, which is an all-in-one NAS server. It meets the storage requirements of most small to medium business environments and features a secure cross-platform file sharing for Windows, Mac and Linux/UNIX users. It also features iSCSI and IP-SAN storage combo solution for versatile business applications. The QNAP TS-269L is very feature-rich compared to any other NAS available out there. Since the 269L is a two-bay NAS, it can support single drive, RAID 0, RAID 1 and JBOD combinations while the higher ones can support all RAID possibilities accordingly. Implementing a NAS on a regular Windows-based or Linux-based PC with multiple hard drives might sound like a cheaper alternative, but deploying a NAS is definitely cheaper and easier compared to the PC alternatives. Read on to find out the entire feature-set of the 269L.

Tower form-factor, but as small as a mini toaster

Tower form-factor, but as small as a mini toaster

 

 

The QNAP TS-269L is powered by an Intel 1.8GHz dual-core processor along with 1GB of RAM, which is expandable up to 3 GB. The operating system is run through a 512MB DOM and the storage bays are available for a maximum of two 2.5-inch or 3.5-inch SATA SSD or HDD drives. Each bay can support up to 4TB hard drives, which makes this NAS capable of a storage capacity of up to 8TB in RAID 0 or JBOD options. The two hard drive bays have hot-swappable trays, which means you can add or replace hard drives even when the NAS is powered on and operating in full operation mode. The NAS uses just 1 Watt of power when in power-off mode while using only 16 Watts and 25 Watts of energy in sleep and full power modes respectively with two 1TB hard drives installed. Now try to match this with a regular PC serving as a NAS on your network. 

PC Utility disk provided with the product

PC Utility disk provided with the product

 

Page 1:

Design - Build - Features


Tags:

QNAP TS-269L Review , QNAP , NAS , Network attached storage , turboNAS , SAMBA server , FTP server , HD station , NAS with media player , 2-bay NAS , Home NAS , surveillance station , IP camera , cloud backup , synchronise , data backup , USB 3.0 backup , eSATA backup , RAID , safety , secure , encryption , DHCP server , Radius server , internet , dual Ethernet ports , port trunking

Would you buy it?




 


How We Test

The Tech2 Labs receives many products every single week and each of them is tested with the utmost care and highest level of objectivity. There’s a constant effort to reduce and totally eliminate subjectivity. Each product is tested according to set test processes so the same test scenario is used.

Verdict
The ratings awarded to a product are derived from a number of tests and calculations, keeping certain important factors in mind. These factors consist of features, performance, quality and value for money. In case of software and some other categories, build quality might be replaced with ease of use or ease of installation. Products are compared with other products in a similar price range or product category.


Features
The features component of the score is rated based on the kind of features present on a particular product. Features are a big part of what people look for when they’re buying a new product such as a phone or a camera.

Performance
The performance score is derived from the benchmarks and tests run on the product. In case of the subjective scores, an average of the scores given by the group of reviewers is considered.

Build Quality
The build quality of a product is important so that it doesn’t fall apart after some use. The build quality scores from the way the product is designed and the kind of materials used in the product.

Value
Value for money comes from the fact that a cheap product is able to provide most of the performance of a higher priced product. Once again, value for money is judged by comparing pricing and performance of products in a particular price range or category. 

There are many other aspects of the product that are looked at such as the bundled software and accessories. All of these scores are aggregated together to form the final score.

What do the ratings mean?

Ratings are simple - higher the score, the better the product. A brief listing of the features and what they mean are given below.

1 - 3

The product is bad in almost every aspect. We strongly advise against purchasing this product.

4 - 6

An average product that isn't the best you can buy, but isn't the worst either.

7 - 8

Product with this rating is highly recommended because it's priced sensibly, has a good set of features and performs well.

9 - 10

Exceptionally excellent product with features and performance unlike any we've seen in the past. A must-have for everyone!

What is the Average User Rating?

We at Tech2 take product reviewing very seriously and every product is tested with the utmost care and level of objectivity. The end user who buys a particular product and uses it over an extended period of time has his own take on a product and there might be nuances that he or she can shed light on. The Average User Rating is present to help readers get the complete picture of how good or bad a product is. The Average User Rating is calculated by averaging the ratings by the thousands of readers visiting Tech2.com every single day. To record your own rating of a product, simply click on the user rating bar. If you disagree with our ratings or our community's product rating, please don't hesitate from voicing your opinion in the comments section below the review.

Leaked Images, Availability, Pricing,
Specs, Pre-order

Asus Transformer AiO Review

Asus Transformer AiO Review

18 Jun, 2013, 02:20 AM

Alcatel OneTouch Idol Ultra

Alcatel OneTouch Idol Ultra

18 Jun, 2013, 02:14 AM

LG X Boom CM9730 Video Review

LG X Boom CM9730 Video Review

21 May, 2013, 05:42 AM

3.2

MORE VIDEOS