Thecus N7700 NAS

How much data storage is enough to satisfy your enterprise needs? Thecus would like to assure you their N7700 SATA-drive NAS server has you covered. With seven hot-swappable drive bays assembled into a rugged stackable chassis, the N7700 aims to safely house large collections of data in basic-disk JBOD, RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 arrays using either the EXT3, XFS or ZFS drive format. Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports can be configured for network load balancing, failover, or 802.3ad aggregation modes; and also adds up to 9000K MTU jumbo frame support to each. A single Intel Celeron M 440 processor powers the N7700 on a 533MHz FSB, using 1GB of single-channel DDR2 memory to process requests. In this article, Benchmark Reviews tests the bandwidth speed of the Thecus N7700 against several of the best Gigabit NAS servers available.

When corporate funds are tight, companies find new ways to reduce operating costs wherever they can. As a network administrator for several small and medium businesses, I'm used to seeing pedestal servers with expensive Windows Server edition Operating Systems running for the sole purpose of serving files out to the workgroup or domain. These environments have made it necessary to look for money-saving opportunities elsewhere in the office environment. A few years back Network Attached Storage server hit the scene with a price tag comparable to the alternative, but the NAS products offered in today's market are far superior and cost much less than before.

Business needs to continue as usual, even in times of financial distress. But the solutions to common problems are forced to move with the changing economic climate and the cost of providing a product or service is adjusted with the times. For many unknowing companies, a Network Attached Storage (NAS) server is the cost-effective answer to dodging the expense of pricy server configurations. All of the same functions are present, whether it's file storage and transfer, web serving, or media streaming. For the cost-conscious IT professional, C.Y.A. and get a NAS for primary and backup server needs.

Times are changing, and the way IT professionals have solved problems in the past will not make economic sense into the future. The corporate server landscape has become much more simplistic over the past few years. After visiting the SuperComputing Conference SC07 event not long ago, I was surprised by how dull some of the server designs were. Server tasks are about the same, but the large cluster arrangement and daunting maintenance routines have created a demand for something much easier on the administrator - and budget.

About Thecus Technology Corporation

Thecus Technology Corp. specializes in IP Storage Server solutions, including Network Attached Storage (NAS) , DAS, External Storage, and Wireless Media NAS (Bank ) products. The company was established in 2004 with the mission to make technology as transparent and easy-to-use as possible, and to make products that are not only the best on the market, but are accessible to experts and novices alike. With a best-in-class R&D team highly experienced in storage hardware and Linux software and with a keen customer focus, Thecus stays close to the market to develop high-quality products to fulfill the storage Server needs of today's world. For more information, please visit https://www.thecus.com/

Closer Look: N7700

There's an irony present in these NAS reviews: while a Network Attached Storage server is the clear and present answer to so many problems, very few people actually know they exist. The Benchmark Reviews Featured Reviews: Network section is filled with many different NAS products, and this article will add the largest network attached storage server yet: the Thecus N7700 7-bay SATA-driven NAS. Boasting one of the few NAS products capable of offering the capacity of seven drive bays, which equals 14TB with the availability of 2TB hard drives as of Q1 2009, the N7700 could be the last server your organization may ever need.

The Thecus N7700 chassis measures 12.6" tall x 8.3" wide x 10.6" long, and weighs just over 14 LBS. Since the standard rack unit ('U') measures 1.75" tall by 19.0" wide per unit, the Thecus N7700 is just slightly taller than a 7U height rack case with the feet attached, and could accommodate two units inside the 7U workspace once removed. With roughly three inches of spare space between two units, other network appliances could be fit inside of the footprint. A stylish NAS server with brushed silver and anodized black aluminum construction, the N7700 offers a collection of LED lights to indicate real-time status of server components and a LCD display screen at the front of the unit offers immediate feedback for IT administrators and allows a direct interface for configuration.

Two USB 2.0 ports can be utilized for connecting flash drives, printers, and external hard drives; and are joined by two more ports in the backside of the chassis. A brushed aluminum power button is positioned below these USB ports, and four menu buttons are located beneath the LCD display screen. The vented chassis door opens with a swing from left to right, and cannot be exchanged for a different orientation.

Behind the door there are seven hot-swappable drive bays, and while the door itself cannot be locked each one of the trays can be secured into the chassis. LED signals along the left side of each tray report activity and alerts, while the tray eject button beside them unlatch the unit from the chassis. While I often times look for installation shortcuts, the Thecus N7700 refused my attempt to install hard disk drives into the NAS without securing them (by screw) to each tray because of a small gap between the front of the tray and the NAS backplane.

Around the back side of the Thecus N7700 you'll find what first appears to be a small form factor (SFF) computer, and by most accounts this would be an accurate description. At the top is a single expansion bay slot, which doesn't have any immediate function but still hides a potentially useful PCI-E 1x slot behind it. Next is a pair of 92m cooling fans, which are user serviceable by removing four thumb-screws and pulling the panel rearward. Next are two Gigabit Ethernet ports, which utilize the Intel WG82574L PCI-E controllers for high-speed throughput. Although one port is name WAN and the other LAN, the labels are misleading because these can be configured to act as a teamed set.

Thecus includes a rather antiquated DB-9 serial port for UPS communication, which allows compatible Uninterruptible Power Supply products to shut down the NAS in the event of low remaining battery life. While this might seem like a wasted attempt and earning functionality points, primarily because most USP products now communicate via USB connections, there are two additional (four total) High-Speed USB 2.0 ports beside a single e-SATA port. A Kensington Security Slot does not appear to be present on the N7700.

Unlike most of the NAS products we've tested here at Benchmark Reviews which use an external A/C power adapter 'brick', the Thecus N7700 NAS Server uses a replaceable integrated power supply unit. To measure isolated NAS power consumption, Benchmark Reviews uses the Kill-A-Watt EZ (model P4460) power meter made by P3 International. I was able to determine exactly how much electrical power the Thecus N7700 consumes in empty, idle, and active modes. With no drives installed the N7700 consumed a mere 54W, and once loaded with seven 1.5 Terabyte Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA desktop hard drives (ST31500341AS) the idle (not standby) power draw was steady at 64W. Once the drives were configured into a RAID-5 array and file transfers began, the power demand increased to only 80W. It's evident that going green isn't difficult with these NAS products; something administrators should keep in mind.

In our detailed features section on the next page, the N7700 will be disassembled and inspected for design flaws before we test for performance. Please continue on to learn more about this powerful NAS product.

N7700 Detailed Features

The N7700 aims to safely house large collections of data in basic-disk JBOD, RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, and 10 arrays using either the EXT3, XFS or ZFS drive format. CIFS/SMB, AFP and NFS network file systems are supported, and data may also be accessed by the available FTP module. Additionally, HTTPS web access is supported for administrators, and a convenient iSCSI initiator can be utilized to connect up to five target nodes. Media software features include iTunes and UPnP AV/DLNA servers along with an integrated download service for HTTP, FTP and BitTorrent files.

Thecus has included everything you will need to get the seven-disk SATA drives loaded and ready for duty-use inside the N7700 NAS. Although there might be future plans, at this time Thecus does not include Hard Disk Drives with their NAS products. I expect that pre-loaded and pre-configured NAS servers with HDDs included will soon be a part of their product lineup, just as other manufacturers have started to offer. In this N7700 NAS kit there is enough hardware to mount all of the drives into their respective trays, along with a power cord and CAT-5e cable. My only gripe is with the enclosed network patch cable, which wasn't very impressive when you consider that most environments now use CAT-6 as a standard.

Gigabit Ethernet will still perform well over CAT-5e, especially at short patch-cord lengths, but most IT professionals agree that this is yesteryear's standard and has since been replaced by CAT-6. The manufacturers cost is a difference of about two to three pennies per cord at 100-unit prices, so I really can't find a valid reason as to why every network product Benchmark Reviews has seen still comes with the old cables. I have personally seen all new network construction and retrofits utilize CAT-6 infrastructure and patch cords since 2006, so let's hope the manufactures catch on sooner than later.

One area that certainly looks familiar is the motherboard which appears to utilize passive cooling heatsinks for the Northbridge, Southbridge, and processor components. You don't have to be an IT professional to appreciate the effort placed on maintaining years of stable use out of the Thecus N7700. For corporate buyers, this translates into fewer maintenance and repair cycles and a lower total cost of ownership. Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports can be configured for network load balancing, failover, or 802.3ad aggregation modes; and also adds up to 9000K MTU jumbo frame support to each. A small 128MB flash DOM is connected directly to the motherboard by a single IDE connector. Intel supplies a single-core 65nm Celeron M 440 processor powers the N7700 on a 533MHz FSB, using 1GB of single-channel DDR2 memory to process requests.

Only one of the two DIMM sockets was populated with RAM, which allows the performance-obsessed Network Administrator to upgrade the capacity if desired. Unfortunately, nothing from our Cooling Section will fit the Celeron M 440 CPU - and it cannot be overclocked. The motherboard is proprietary design for Thecus, which uses two Marvell 88SE6340 PCI-Express 3.0 GBps SAS/SATA 4-port storage controllers to drive a connected seven-port PCI-E backplane module (pictured below).

Thecus really made a smart decision to include ZFS support in the N7700 NAS. ZFS is a Sun Microsystems technology designed for their Solaris O/S. Integrated into the Thecus N7700 firmware, the feature set of ZFS includes support for abnormally-high storage capacities, volume snapshots with copy-on-write clones, continuous data integrity checking with automatic file structure repair, along with RAID-Z and native NFSv4 ACLs support. If there was just one single selling point Thecus should be stressing on the N7700, it should be ZFS support.

On a loosely related note, the pull-out trays make it possible for an administrator to hand-feed smaller drives into the backplane connection interface. This is what will be necessary to utilize 2.5" drives, which is a standard size for Solid State Drives. It might not be considered standard yet, but SSD's have proven themselves an extremely important asset for servers because of their instantaneous response time and high bandwidth performance. We've test plenty of SSD products so far, and they're every bit worth the expense when speed and performance are necessary. The Thecus N7700 allows the administrator to schedule disk standby between 30-300 minutes of inactivity, in 30 minute increments.

At the underside of the N7700 are four round foam-embedded feet with a single screw fastening it to the chassis. If needed, these feet can be removed to reduce the overall height to fit inside a 7U-height enclosure.

When it's all said and done, Thecus has done a good job of producing another quality product with long-lasting internal components. In our next section, the detailed features and specifications are revealed. Normally this is something most readers would scan over on their way to the next page, but I sincerely think you will see that there is a lot more to the N7700 than just 7-bays worth of hot-swappable SATA hard drive storage.

Thecus N7700 Features

Beginning with the venerable N4100 to the legendary N5200, Thecus NAS devices have established the company as a worldwide leader in digital storage. Today, Thecus is proud to release details about its latest NAS breakthrough - the N7700. Bringing together the cutting-edge technology and years of NAS experience, the N7700 is an enterprise class NAS server that makes no compromises.
The N7700 brings the latest technologies to the table. Headlining is its whopping seven SATA hard disk bays that accommodate up to a massive 7TB of storage. If that isn't enough, the N7700 also comes equipped with an eSATA port where users can install yet another SATA hard disk. To manipulate all of this data quickly, the N7700 packs an Intel Celeron^TM M 1.86GHz processor and a full gigabyte of DDRII memory, which allows for more concurrent connections and quicker system response.

To address the needs of business, the N7700 comes with a few more outstanding features. The N7700 supports iSCSI initiators, making it easy for users can centrally manage and deploy storage for their entire network. In addition, the N7700 is also stackable, enabling users to connect their unit with up to five additional N7700s and manage them via a master system. To manage all of that storage, users can look forward to multiple RAID modes on the N7700, including RAID 0, 1, 5,6,10, and JBOD. What's more, the N7700 also features RAID expansion and RAID level migration, which means that users can add larger hard disks to available slots and join an existing RAID without having to power down the system, cutting productivity-killing downtime to zero.

The N7700 is also extremely flexible, offering support for ext3 and ZFS file systems. Users can select the system that they require and create the needed capacity for different applications. For ultimate data security and peace of mind, users can take advantage of the N7700's version control and remote replication. The N7700 is also equipped with Nsync, Thecus' remote data backup application. With Nsync, users can have the N7700 automatically upload files to an external storage device at a designated time. The N7700 is also capable version control via a snapshot function with the ZFS file system, allowing users to efficiently create and restore remote backups.

Stackable Storage and iSCSI Ready

The N7700 supports iSCSI initiators, which allows servers to access it as a direct-attached-storage device over LAN or Internet with excellent transfer speeds. With this capability, users can centrally manage and deploy storage for their entire network. In addition, the N7700 is also stackable, enabling users to connect their unit with up to five additional N7700s and manage them via a master system. With iSCSI and stackability, expanding the capacity of application servers is both quick and easy.

Speed Without Compromise

Equipped with a PCI-e interface, the N7700 provides even faster response and more concurrent connections. Also, with built-in compatibility with external modules, the N7700 can execute and run multiple applications at the same time, allowing it to handle a whole lot more than mere file storage.

RAID Expansion and RAID Level Migration

The N7700 features RAID capacity expansion and RAID level migration, which means that users can add larger hard disks to available slots and join an existing RAID volume. The N7700 will automatically rebuild your RAID array and increase your storage capacity.

Multiple File System Support

To meet upcoming standards and ensure maximum compatibility and flexibility, the N7700 offers support for ext3 and ZFS file systems. Users can select the system that they require and create the needed capacity for different applications. Never has there been a NAS unit this powerful and flexible.

Version Control and Remote Replication

The N7700 is also equipped with Nsync, Thecus' remote data backup application. With Nsync, users can have the N7700 automatically upload files to an external storage device at a designated time. The N7700 is also capable version control via a snapshot function with the ZFS file system, allowing users to efficiently create and restore remote backups. For users, the result is total data security and peace of mind.

N7700 Specifications

N7700 Software Functions

Network Terminology

Benchmark Reviews has decided to abandon our effort to educate readers on the difference between a Gigabyte, and a Gibibyte. This article will use the common metric terminology for data measurement, instead of the binary units we've used in past articles. Sadly, too many people are more interested in comfortable reading, even if it means being technically inaccurate. But for anyone who might still be interested in learning real technical terms relevant to the industry, I've added a small explanation below:

The basic unit data measurement is called a bit (one single binary digit). Computers use these bits, which are composed of ones and zeros, to communicate their contents. All files are stored as binary files, and translated into working files by the Operating System. This two number system is called a "binary number system". In comparison, the decimal number system has ten unique digits consisting of zero through nine. Essentially it boils down to differences between binary and metric measurements, because testing is deeply impacted without carefully separating the two. For example, the difference between the transfer time of a one-Gigabyte (1000 Megabytes) file is going to be significantly better than a true binary Gigabyte (referred to as a Gibibyte) that contains 1024 Megabytes. The larger the file used for data transfer, the bigger the difference will be.

Have you ever wondered why your 500 GB hard drive only has about 488 GB once it has been formatted? Most Operating Systems utilize the binary number system to express file data size, however the prefixes for the multiples are based on the metric system. So even though a metric "Kilo" equals 1,000, a binary "Kilo" equals 1,024. Are you confused yet? Don't be surprised, because even the most tech savvy people often mistake the two. Plainly put, the Kilobyte is expressed as 1000 bytes, but it is really comprised of 1,024 bytes.

Most network engineers (myself included) are not fully aware that the IEC changed the way we calculate and name data chunks when they published the new International Standards back in December 1998. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) removed the old metric prefixes for multiples in binary code with new prefixes for binary multiples made up of only the first two letters of the metric prefixes and adding the first two letters of the word "binary". For example, instead of Megabyte (MB) or Gigabyte (GB), the new terms would be Mebibyte (MiB) or Gibibyte (GiB). While this is the new official IEC International Standard, it has not been widely adopted yet because it is either still unknown by institutions or not commonly used.

Personally, I think the IEC took a confusing situation and simply made it more of a mess. As I mentioned earlier, the Kilobyte was previously expressed as 1000 bytes, even though it was really comprised of 1,024 bytes. Now, the Kilobyte really is expressed correctly as 1000 bytes, and the Kibibyte is the item comprised of 1,024 bytes. In essence, the IEC just created a new name for the binary item and left the existing name for the metric item. Hopefully that clears things up, and you can thank Benchmark Reviews for training the next generation of Network Engineers.

NAS Testing Methodology

Although each of the devices we tested can accommodate several different disk configurations, it was decided that basic (single) disk and RAID-5 configurations were the best way to measure data throughput for our NAS servers.

Connected directly to the Realtek RTL8168 Gigabit Ethernet NIC by a three-foot CAT6 patch cable, the NAS products received one test transfer followed by three timed transfers. Each test file was sent to the Seagate 1.5 TB 7200.11 SATA-II HDD installed in the NAS for a timed write test, and that same file was sent back to an identical Seagate 1.5 TB 7200.11 HDD drive (ST31500341AS) in the test system to record the read test. Each test was repeated, and the first three identical results were recorded and charted.

The two transfer tests: read and write, were conducted on each NAS appliance using the 100 MiB file and then the 1 GiB file. Additionally, a second set of tests were conducted with Jumbo Frame enabled. While the Synology Disk Station DS408, Cube Station CS407, and QNAP TS-409 Pro/TS209 Pro each offered 9000K MTU Jumbo Frame settings available, the D-Link DNS-323 and QNAP TS-509 Pro do not. In the Jumbo Frame tests the Realtek RTL8168 Gigabit NIC was set to use the 4K MTU value with Jumbo Frame enabled. For the sake of benchmark results, the TS-509 Pro was also tested in the RAID-5 configuration (four disks), and included 10 GiB file transfers.

NAS Comparison Products

• Thecus N7700 Gigabit 7-Bay SATA NAS server
• QNAP TS-509 Pro Gigabit 5-Bay SATA NAS server
• Synology Disk Station DS408 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
• Synology Cube Station CS407 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
• QNAP TS-409 Pro Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS Server
• D-Link DNS-323 Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server
• QNAP TS-209 Pro Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server

Support Equipment

• (7) Seagate 1.5 TB 7200.11 SATA-II 7200 RPM Hard Disk Drives
• 3-Foot Category-6 Solid Copper Shielded Twisted Pair Patch Cable
• Realtek RTL8168 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Driver Version 5.674.807.2007)
• 1 metric Gigabyte Test File (1 GB / Gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes)
• 10 metric Gigabyte Test File (10 GB / Gigabyte = 1,000,000,000 bytes)

Test System

• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EX58-EXTREME (Intel X58/ICH10R Chipset) with F7c BIOS
• Processor: Intel Core i7-920 Nehalem 2.66 GHz (BX80601920)
• System Memory: OCZ 6GB 1600MHz CL7 DDR3 OCZ3P1600LV6GK
• Disk Drive: OCZ Vertex 120GB SATA SSD OCZSSD2-1VTX120G
• Monitor: SOYO 26-Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor DYLM26E6 (1920x1200)
• PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower W0133RU 1200W Modular PSU
• Operating System: Windows XP Professional SP-3 (optimized to 16 processes at idle)

NAS Testing Results

With so many features available to offer a broad range of functionality, NAS server products can be daunting when you try to nail down performance. In this article, Benchmark Reviews will refer to performance as the bandwidth speed results of a file transfer test. The first tests we perform utilizes a single 1GB (1000 megabytes / 1,000,000,000 bytes) file in a transfer to and from the NAS. This test used to take as long as a minute back in 2007, but in the past few years there have been major gains in NAS transfer performance. Now our 1GB Read test ends in as little as seventeen seconds (with the QNAP TS-509 Pro). Using an FTP tool so that exact transfer time could be captured, each NAS was tested for transfer bandwidth.

As you can see for yourself in the chart below, QNAP has certainly set itself apart as the dominate force in file transfer speed. The TS-509 Pro doesn't offer Jumbo Frame support so all of our tests use the same result twice; but even without the extra packet size we see that QNAP has designed for optimal transfer performance. At 58.8 MB/s read bandwidth the QNAP TS-509 Pro is our highest 1GB performer, with the QNAP TS-119 and Synology DS408 coming in close behind with a best of 55.6 MB/s each with Jumbo Frame. The Thecus N7700 comes in right behind the top three leaders, with a best of 50.0 MB/s, matching the Synology DS209.

Moving on to the 1 GB write bandwidth test, our results suggest that sometimes it will be faster to read files from a NAS server then it is to write files onto it, and sometimes the opposite is true. The Network Attached Storage servers each have their own strengths, with some being more robust in write-to performance when others conformed to the traditionally impressive read-from performance.

QNAP's TS-509 Pro maintained 62.5 MB/s without the comfort of Jumbo Frame support, followed by the Thecus N7700 which produced a best of 62.5 MB/s. The Synology Disk Station DS209 narrowly beat the larger DS408, and scored a swift 43.5 MB/s write performance with Jumbo Frame enabled. A single-drive QNAP TS-119 held a steady 33.3 MB/s speed, scoring the same with and without Jumbo Frame enabled, and was tailed by the Thecus N3300 at 32.3 MB/s.

The lower-end spectrum consists of all the remaining NAS products, with the next closest competitor being the QNAP TS-409 Pro which reached only 20.3 MB/s write performance using Jumbo Frame, and 16.5 MB/s without it. The older Synology CD407 performed at roughly half the speed of its newer predecessor, and the remainder of the bunch trailed distantly behind. Let's move on to the larger file chunk testing, because next up is our 10 GB (1000 metric megabytes / 10,000,000,000 bytes) tests. Using only a single hard drive for testing in each NAS, network throughput would be put to the test.

Fresh out of the gates, QNAP's TS-509 continued to impress us with the high-bandwidth read performance of 55.6 MB/s that lead the pack. QNAP's single-drive TS-119 offered the same performance once Jumbo Frame was enabled, but reduced to 47.6 MB/s at 1500 MTU. The Synology DS209 and DS408 maintained a close relationship with peak performance around 47 MB/s in normal mode, and improved to 49.3 and 48.3 MB/s read performance with Jumbo Frame enabled at both ends (respectively). The Thecus N7700 was able to sustain 44.5 MB/s using Jumbo Frame, and 41.5 MB/s without it, which was very similar to the N3200 Pro.

In our 10GB write performance tests, the charts were shuffled a bit. The Thecus N7700 makes up for above-average read performance by offering excellent large-file write performance and sustained 56.2/58.8 MB/s in normal and Jumbo Frame modes. Next was the TS-509 Pro, which has held the top position for most tests, and scored 47.0 MB/s. The Synology DS209 and DS408 have performed in the middle of the pack for our 10GB file transfer tests, and performed at 42.9/40.0 and 36.8/36.3 MB/s in normal and Jumbo Frame modes.

The single-drive QNAP TS-119 and three-drive Thecus N3300PRO both score around 32 MB/s in our large file JBOD tests, and trail behind the leaders by almost 20 MB/s. Taking the entire test section as a whole, one thing becomes abundantly clear: QNAP keeps the bar high for NAS performance with their Turbo Station TS-509 Pro, even when compared against newer products. So with single-disk/JBOD tests out of the way, our next section will focus on the benefits of RAID-5 over Basic Disk configurations in terms of bandwidth throughput performance.

NAS Comparison Products

Thecus N7700 Gigabit 7-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-509 Pro Gigabit 5-Bay SATA NAS server
Synology Disk Station DS408 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
Synology Cube Station CS407 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-409 Pro Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS Server
D-Link DNS-323 Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-209 Pro Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server

RAID-5 Test Results

Unless you're someone with so many files that they require the raw storage space of three individual drives, most NAS owners will likely take advantage of the available RAID-5 configuration instead. In a Basic Disk configuration, each drive is partitioned similar to the drives on most desktop computers. However, when three or more drives are combined into a RAID-5 array, the size of two disks is combined while the third (or forth) disk holds bit parity information. In RAID-5 each disk rotates responsibility, so one disk holds the parity bit for each cycle while data is written to the others. This improves performance in most circumstances, but there are drawbacks under the right conditions.

Beginning with a single 1GB file transfer to each NAS built into a three-drive RAID-5 array, our results look very similar to those we recorded with basic disk/JBOD configuration. Setting a trend, the QNAP TS-509 Pro Gigabit 5-Bay SATA NAS server tops our read performance chart with 62.5 MB/s without the aide of Jumbo Frame support. Synology's Disk Station DS408 4-drive SATA RAID NAS server performed at 58.8 MB/s with Jumbo Frame and 55.6 without it. Each the Thecus NAS servers performed similarly in our RAID-5 tests. The N7700 pushed files to our workstation at 50.0 MB/s max, while the Thecus N3200 offered 47.6 MB/s in both versions of the test. Reading a single 1 Gigabyte file from either NAS showed that the performance was close, but RAID-5 proved to be the better option.

In the chart below, we see that positions change in our write-to testing. Writing a single 1 Gigabyte file from these NAS products isn't much work for a RAID-5 array, and the results show it. While the QNAP TS-509 Pro showed a personal best of 66.7 MB/s, the Thecus N7700 offered 50.0 MB/s with Jumbo Frame enabled. The Synology DS408 indicates reversal of benefits for RAID-5 over Basic Disk for this test. The RAID-5 disk array offered only 30.1 MB/s under normal transfers for the DS408, compared to the more impressive 38.5 MB/s for the Basic Disk configuration. At the tail end of our chart is the Thecus N3200PRO, which offered relatively poor results. With three drives behind a RAID-5 array, the N3200PRO could perform no better than 23.3 MB/s. Next stop, 10GB file transfers...

Testing with 10GB files is a lot to ask from any server, let alone a compact NAS product. There aren't too many occasions that call for file transfers of this size, but these occasions are on the rise as HD video sizes grow larger. For this test series, Benchmark Reviews has uploaded the large 10GB test file with and without Jumbo Frame to see how well the NAS performed with a three-disk RAID-5 array.

In our 10GB read-from benchmark test, the results were extremely close just like we discovered in the 1GB tests. Despite the lack of Jumbo Frame, QNAP's TS-509 Pro (once again) offered the fastest performance by pushing 58.8 MB/s through the Broadcom BCM5787 NetLink Gigabit Ethernet NIC. The RAID-5 array performed better for the TS-509 Pro than single disk, as was expected with the divided disk workload. Synology wasn't so far behind though, because with Jumbo Frame enabled the DS408 sill read at an impressive 52.6 MB/s, which was even with the Thecus N7700 when you compare the average. Even the Thecus N3200PRO did extremely well, performing at 46.5 MB/s at 1500 MTU, and 52.6 MB/s with Jumbo Frame.

Things change noticeably in the 10GB write-to tests, which keep the TS-509 Pro on top with the Thecus N7700, and then the Synology DS408 and Thecus N3200PRO attached to the bottom. Beginning with the TS-509 Pro, the top performance is recorded at 52.6 MB/s while operating in a RAID-5 array. The Thecus N7700 offers similar performance at 51.3/52.6 MB/s, essentially matching speed. At the other end of the spectrum is the Synology DS408 which takes a huge performance hit without Jumbo Frame to record only 27.8 MB/s, and then a more modest 43.5 with 9000 MTU enabled. Of all the products we tested in RAID-5 the N3200PRO was the worst performer of the bunch, and scored a Jumbo Frame best of 22.7 MB/s.

From our perspective, and after testing two of the newest NAS products available, it appears that technology is still catching up to its own potential. Please continue on to my final thoughts and conclusion.

NAS Comparison Products

Thecus N7700 Gigabit 7-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-509 Pro Gigabit 5-Bay SATA NAS server
Synology Disk Station DS408 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
Synology Cube Station CS407 Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-409 Pro Gigabit 4-Bay SATA NAS Server
D-Link DNS-323 Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server
QNAP TS-209 Pro Gigabit 2-Bay SATA NAS server

NAS Server Final Thoughts

It's not going to make a lot of sense for resellers and IT professionals to outfit a client with a Windows-based server if it's only going to be used for serving out files, sharing printers, and controlling Active Directory objects; one fairly inexpensive NAS does all this in its most basic form at less than half the cost. It's not until you consider that some manufacturers outfit their NAS series with full LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL and PHP) package for web servers, along with FTP and media tools, that the list of items a NAS product could potentially replace grows very large.

So what can you expect from most NAS products? More than you can with some pedestal or rack servers. This is supposed to be my final thoughts, and quite frankly I just barely touched the surface of features NAS products can offer. Most of my NAS reviews focus on performance, and sparingly supply feature lists. So let's recap some feature highlights that most modern NAS products offer:

• Hot-swappable SATA-II drive storage bays, usually with 5.25-to-2.5" adapters available.
• RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, 5 + Spare, 10, Single, and JBOD disk configurations.
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet ports for failover redundancy or network teaming.
• Windows Active Directory Services and NT4 support with login via Samba/AFP/FTP for domain users.
• Linux based O/S with Apache-based web serving, usually partnered to PHP and MySQL allowing you to run dynamic web sites directly from the NAS.
• eSATA and High-Speed USB 2.0 ports capable of connecting external hard disk drives, flash storage, and compatible printers.

Obviously the list could go on and on, especially if you noticed the multi-page layout of features and functionality. Taking into consideration that NAS products seem to all offer a feature-set that reads like a chefs shopping list, it's no wonder why these NAS products are quickly replacing Windows Server products. After all, for the price of one RAID-5 capable NAS and three 2.0 TB SATA-II HDDs you'll get four Terabytes of total storage space and still spend well below the cost of one single Windows Server Operating System and the required client access licenses.

While it's true that these NAS products will do almost everything a Windows Server platform can, they still fall very short of one important task: Windows software. Many of my clients have servers which require some form of server-side software to manage a database. Some of the most common applications that require almost no processing power but still require installation on a Windows O/S are QuickBooks and AutoCAD licensing server. Imagine the possibilities you could offer clients with a full server-in-the-box solution. I believe that this will be the next evolution in NAS products, as consumer demand more versatility out of their investment.

But there are still a few more things you can't do on a NAS, such as utilize the onboard O/S to install applications. Most NAS products utilize a Linux variant ('Nix) with little or no command interface, so even if you knew how to install from YUM or a similar repository the functionality doesn't exist. Even once that obstacle is navigated, I have a feeling that users will then demand a Windows emulator so they can install and utilize Windows-specific software on their NAS (such as license servers and anti-virus command points). It seems that these problems all revolve around side-stepping Microsoft products and licensing, which is not surprising.

Thecus N7700 Conclusion

Benchmark Reviews believes that manufacturers should be educating consumers with their product packaging, so they can make the most informed decision possible before they make the purchase. This is why we rate the retail package presentation. in terms of the N7700 NAS this rating is average because Thecus has done an excellent job of informing buyers with basic on-the-box specifications and feature information. It doesn't hurt that they've got plenty of room, as the retail package is very large in comparison to most products. The concept of truth in advertising is getting further and further away every year, but for once I can see that not every company is out to cover their product with catch phrases and slogans and instead educate the consumer.

There is a very small niche of consumers who might demand seven drive bays of storage, but that market is sure to exist. The ventilation grill built into the front bezel door provides discreet function while the brushed aluminum yields an emphasis on fashion. A blue-backlit LCD display offers a nice inviting menu interface for administrators, and colorful LED lights keep things in motion without creating a distraction. The overall size is the most imposing characteristic of the N7700, because at 12.6" tall there isn't another NAS as big as this beast from Thecus.

Thecus engineers really penned out a well-designed product in the N7700, and the end result is a very strong NAS destined to command the enterprise workplace. The black painted steel chassis is more than strong enough to protect against impact damage, and a tough metal grill protects drive bays from unintentional interruptions. The integrated power supply shouldn't be a problem to replace if it was ever required, and memory or processor upgrades are possible thanks to motherboard access. In short, the hardware is incredibly well constructed, which is what matters most for many NAS administrators. There is one caveat though, and that's the HTML interface; Thecus could gain tremendously by borrowing ergonomics from their competition.

Ever since Gigabit Ethernet found its way into the mainstream, bandwidth throughput has gradually grown for all products involved. The Thecus N7700 enjoys these benefits, and performed as well as the best competition we compared it to for our benchmark tests. Single-drive (JBOD) read bandwidth was good, but nowhere near as impressive as the write-to performance. RAID-5 should have improved performance, but instead we discovered a small performance hit that was likely the result of strained system memory or processor power. The list of functionality and features is nearly endless, as is the case with most NAS products available these days, and might be considered too much for one device since it's close to overwhelming for even the seasoned IT professional. But as the saying goes: "It's better to have and not need then to need and not have". All that's missing is the ability to install software to emulate a Windows environment.

Corporate Enterprise environments have never seen so much value in a high-performance high-capacity NAS. As of May 2009, the Thecus N7700 sells for $1099 without drives at NewEgg but was also found for at a discount using our price comparison tool. Fill all seven drive bays with 2.0 TB SATA HDDs and you'll have an enterprise-level mass storage server for around $3000. Dell and HP offer basic servers that supply only a fraction of the storage space for more than that price, so IT professionals will really need to analyze their needs before potentially wasting money on a less-powerful solution.

The Thecus N7700 7-Drive hot-swappable RAID NAS server is going to be an excellent alternative to the large domain level file servers or data clusters that most resellers use for medium and enterprise-level business networks. The additional functionality should not go overlooked, because it could save your company money in other departments or cut the cost of experimenting on a sandbox server. Seven bays worth of storage will allow possibilities most other all-in-one products cannot offer, and satisfy the storage-space intensive Enterprise market. Based on unmatched total capacity, above-average performance, and a full feature-set of functions, I give my recommendation to the Thecus N7700 for storage-centric operational needs at a reasonable price. There are few solutions available that can offer Enterprise-level redundancy with seven-disk capacity within the same price range.

Pros:

+ High-capacity seven-bay NAS server product
+ 50.0/62.5 MB/s single-disk read/write performance
+ RAID-0, 1, 5, 6, 10, Single, and JBOD disk configurations
+ Dual Gigabit Ethernet NICs with teaming and failover safety
+ Fashionable metal chassis provides durability with elegance
+ ZFS file system support with continuous integrity checking auto-repair
+ No wires needed; SATA ports and power all exist on backplane
+ Four total High-Speed USB 2.0 ports available
+ Hot-swappable drive capability with certain RAID configurations
+ Frequent firmware development and free software support
+ Pre-installed PHP+MySQL and Apache web server
+ Supports iSCSI for Microsoft/Mac/Linux Initiators
+ Excellent hardware cooling and component ventilation
+ LCD Panel can control basic functions without web interface
+ Offers eSATA connectivity for 1.5 GBps external storage

Cons:

- Chassis drive bay door cannot be locked
- Occasionally loud cooling fans cannot be controlled
- Lacks O/S accessibility or command line interface
- Unimpressive HTML administration software
- Package includes single CAT-5e Ethernet patch cable

Ratings:

• Presentation: 9.50
• Appearance: 9.75
• Construction: 9.50
• Functionality: 9.25
• Value: 7.00

Final Score: 9.0 out of 10.

Excellence Achievement: Benchmark Reviews Golden Tachometer Award.

Questions? Comments? Benchmark Reviews really wants your feedback. We invite you to leave your remarks in our Discussion Forum.

Related Articles:

• QNAP TS-459 Pro NAS Network Storage Server
• Synology Disk Station DS209 Dual-Bay SATA NAS
• ASUSTOR AS-604T NAS Network Storage Server
• QNAP TS-879U-RP 10GbE NAS Server
• Thecus N5550 NAS Network Storage Server
• QNAP TS-419P II NAS Network Storage Server
• QNAP TS-870U-RP NAS Network Storage Server
• Synology Disk Station DS-207+ SATA Gigabit NAS
• QNAP TS-509 Pro Gigabit 5-Bay SATA NAS Server
• QNAP TS-109 Pro SATA Gigabit NAS