Thecus W4000: Windows NAS Storage

The Thecus NAS Series W was the first in the world to be equipped with Microsoft Windows Storage Sever 2012 R2 Essentials. Let’s look at the model W4000, model 4 units for the small company.

They are really numerous NAS solutions on the market, demonstrating how the centralized storage in a network, both domestic and above all corporate, constitutes a viable and practical solution really.

The first advantage is to be able to rely on RAID configurations of the discs that allow to save the data stored even in case of damage to one or more disks (depending on the chosen configurations), but it is certainly not only for this.

A NAS allows the management of personalized access to the unit, creating shared folders or proprietary, data organization according to specific criteria, as well as to automate a backup of folders on the individual client invisibly to the user, so that all the work is put safe from any problems on single location. We are obviously generalizing the potential of these machines, but it is clear that the NAS are micro-computer called upon to perform multiple tasks simultaneously.

This explains the presence of processors, RAM, and operating systems dedicated within these devices, which may vary depending on the price and needs. The model that we are going to describe puts targeted corporate users and is capable of handling up to 50 clients simultaneously: we are talking about Thecus W4000, belonging to the W series that first, globally, has adopted the operating system Windows Storage Sever 2012 R2 Essentials from Microsoft, designed specifically for the management of networked storage.

In several NAS already analyzed, we found often operating systems more or less optimized but arising from common matrix Linux, as well as hardware that sees industry-leading Intel Atom SoCs. In this case, we are faced with a solution of high rank that winks Windows users (who within the company enjoys a level of adoption that is over 90%), while in the outer metal beat just a dual-core Intel Atom core 2.13 GHz, helped by a quantity of memory of 2 GB.

In addition to the aforementioned four slots for 3.5-inch disks (but in drawers can be seen preparing for 2.5-inch drives), to mention are the two-front USB 3.0 ports, the LED panel for monitoring activities main and video outputs HDMI and VGA.

Thecus W4000 unit is well-built and with great space to the metal than plastic; you can see the proprietary connector for power, guaranteed by an external power 120W. Compared to other professional solutions miss the second power connector for redundancy, although not all competitors have one.

Of note, compared to other models, is the need to connect a display and keyboard for the first boot, since it is made of a ” Windows PC ” to himself, as dedicated to storage. Passed this step, open up great possibilities, combined with the ease of use of the interface well known Windows environments.