Skilled Score: 4/5
Design
Setup and Software program
Efficiency
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
Execs
- 2.5GbE and different ports
- Loads of storage
- Reliable CPU
- Neat design
- Large app library
- Simple to setup
Cons
- M.2 slots not simply accessible
- Some studying curve required for novices
- Search operate inside ADM requires higher indexing
In case you are seeking to improve your digital storage and discover exterior exhausting disks missing, you’ve got higher choices now. To satisfy your ever-increasing storage wants, and to have all of your information linked and simply accessible from a number of gadgets and customers, you’ll be able to go together with both cloud providers or a NAS. The latter would swimsuit you higher if you wish to have higher management over your content material and also you don’t need to pay periodically to third-party on-line storage suppliers. So, that’s the place a NAS (or Community-Connected Storage) comes into play. You may customized construct it however the simpler factor to do can be to purchase one thing ready-made similar to the Asustor NAS we’re about to take a look at.
I had the Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T (which is its full identify) deployed at my residence because the central storage hub for fairly a while now. And right here we will likely be looking at how handy the factor is and if it may very well be the foremost storage resolution you’re in search of.
However first, let’s simply get stuff like worth, specs, and bundle contents out of the way in which.
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Unboxing
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T is available in an enormous field inside which you’d get the next:
- AS6604T Unit x1
- Fast Set up Information
- AC Energy Twine x1 with AC Energy Adapter x1
- RJ-45 LAN Cable(Cat 5e) x2
- Flat Head Screw (for 3.5″ HDD) x16
- Flat Head Screw (for two.5″ HDD) x16
The corporate had additionally bundled 4x Toshiba 2TB MG04ACA200E SATA 6Gb s 3.5″ Enterprise Laborious Drives within the field.
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Contents
- Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Design
- Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Setup and Software program
- Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Efficiency
- Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Evaluation Verdict
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T NAS Indian worth and specs
Dimensions and Weight: 185.5(H) x 170(W) x 230(D) mm; 2.96 kg
Display: LCD Panel
CPU: Quad-Core Intel Celeron J4125
GPU: Mali-G52, 2.0GHz (burst up 2.70 GHz)
RAM: As much as 8GB SO-DIMM DDR4 (ships with 1x 4GB; Helps Blended capability, 1 empty slot)
Flash Storage: 8GB eMMC
HDD Storage: 4 x SATA3 6Gb/s; 3.5″/2.5″ HDD/SSD
M.2 Drive Slots: 2x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 2 (NVMe)
Max. Storage: 72TB in 4 bays, though you’ll be able to increase the bays as much as 16 and storage as much as 288 TB utilizing an exterior unit.
Connectivity: USB 3.2 Gen 1 x3, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet x 2, HDMI 2.0a x1, Infrared Receiver
System Fan: 120mm x 1
Energy Provide: 90W x1; 100V to 240V AC Enter Energy Voltage
OS: ASUSTOR Knowledge Grasp (ADM)
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T India Value: ₹80,963.97
And right here we start the Smartprix assessment of the Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T.
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T assessment : Design
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
The Asustor AS6604T enclosure seems to be like a stealthy cuboid due to its darkish gray coloration. It will possibly slot in effectively due to this and its dimension. The entire field with the drives put in doesn’t weigh rather a lot, though it’s constructed sturdy. So you’ll be able to simply carry it round if and once you need. There are 4 rubber legs buttressing the chassis from the bottom.
The HDD drives must be bought individually. However inserting them is straightforward as simply inserting them within the caddies, push them in and they’re going to lock. Unlocking can also be a cinch as press and eject. That’s all.
Upfront, above the bay space, there’s the shining Asustor brand flanked by a small display screen and 4 buttons. Beneath the brand lies the facility button and LED indicator. In the direction of the underside of it resides a USB-A port. There’s additionally the Lockerstor insignia by the underside proper nook.
By the rear, there’s an HDMI port, two USB-A sockets, a reset gap, two ethernet ports, and a DC-IN energy port. A wholesome choice, I comment. There’s a large exhaust grille too on the again via which you’ll be able to see the inner fan.
Plugging within the adapter, LAN ports and connecting their different sides to their respective supply sockets, and hitting the facility key activates the NAS.
So, hardware-wise it’s a sturdy setup.
Time to arrange the Asustor AS6604T on the software program facet.
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T Evaluation: Setup and Software program
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
The very first thing it’s a must to do is to obtain and set up the Asustor Management Middle (ACC). Open it and if the whole lot’s setup proper up until this level, then it is best to see the AS6604T pre-populated within the record with Prepared standing.
Double tapping it opens the Asustor Knowledge Grasp (ADM) portal in your default browser on the pc. Log in with the preset credentials which have been in my case admin and admin. Yours is probably going the identical. You may change this later and set a 2-factor authentication to raised safe the entire thing.
ADM walks you thru the important thing options and advantages of the Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T.
Right here you’ll be able to primarily setup the person teams, shared folders, native teams, and app privileges inside Entry Management, Raid configuration inside Storage Supervisor, allow varied sorts of servers, activate varied types of backup and restore, and so forth.
Positive there’s a studying curve to it and at first, issues may appear overwhelming and complicated. However in time, you’ll get a grasp of it.
One of many good issues about Asustor is its tutorials at Asustor School. It is extremely exhaustive and when you spare time in studying issues, you’ll. There’s additionally an On-line Assist shortcut throughout the ADM panel.
One minor quibble I’ve with the GUI is how the search operate isn’t very adept at pulling up all the outcomes associated to that key phrase/phrase. That’s one thing I really feel the corporate ought to work upon.
So the default apps are helpful and all. However there’s a huge library of apps to obtain throughout the App Central.
Among the use circumstances I’d counsel are:
- Since Google Pictures free backup choice has ended, somebody like me with an iPhone 11 64GB variant must backup my photographs to a secure drive someplace. We now have a nifty tutorial on the right way to retrieve the present Google Pictures content material utilizing Google Takeout after which you’ll be able to transfer these to the NAS. You may setup AiFoto app for real-time photograph backups out of your cellphone to the NAS.
- You may additionally need to backup your movies, paperwork, music MP3s, and different information to the NAS. Not simply outdated stuff, however even now a few of us cinephiles and lovers of excellent music and movies would need to personal the content material. In that case, what higher means than storing all these assortment at one place.
- In the event you occur to have older CDs and DVDs, you’ll be able to rip them on to the NAS.
- You may handle these media information higher with a Plex account. The free tier of Plex lets you remotely entry your content material from anyplace, management this content material, casting, organizing the content material with metadata, tags, and so forth. I might additionally counsel you Map Community Drive to the Plex folder in your laptop. Asustor has its personal alternate options like AiData and such, which you’ll be able to strive.
- It’s also possible to set up RetroArch in your Asustor NAS and play arcade titles. Take a shot of that Nostalgia!
- Run Digital Machines on NAS for different working techniques. For instance my brother who’s a programmer employs Linux VM because the backend codes run higher on Linux distros than Home windows 11.
- Talking of my brother, he additionally had Docker put in, which is a on-line container for working/testing packages and servers.
- In the event you occur to have unused telephones or USB webcams, you’ll be able to repurpose them as safety and monitoring cameras with Asustor’s Surveillance Middle.
- You may set up all of your downloads, even those from torrent purchasers like Bittorrent at Obtain Middle.
Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T Evaluation: Efficiency
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
Exercise Monitor app inside ADM reveals the efficiency stats of CPU, Reminiscence, Community, and Drive.
Asustor AS6604T is powered by a 64-bit quad-core Intel Celeron J4125 clocked at 2GHz however it will probably turbo as much as 2.7GHz. It helps as much as 8GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM. That’s loads ample and the entire thing feels snappy.
The 4 HDD bays (with as much as 18TB every) ought to satiate your storage calls for however in order for you you may as well enhance the capability externally as much as a mind-blowing 288TB (ie 16 drives x 18TB).
As aforementioned, I had slotted in 4 Toshiba 2TB 7200RPM HDDs. The three.5mm inch drive has obtained a 7-pin connector. It really works over SATA controller with 6Gb/s speeds. The interior information price is 175Mbps, buffer dimension is 128MB cache, and search time is 8.5ms. All these numbers apart, it served the aim, that’s all that issues.
You may implement completely different RAID configurations. I went with RAID 5 for my setup because it facilitates more room, backup, in addition to checksum safety.
To enhance the storage efficiency, you’ll be able to add as much as 2x M.2 SSDs. This may be utilized for caching in order for you. The one niggle is that you could open the screws to entry these slots.
The boot and switch speeds have been effective. In the course of the course of my utilization, I did get a firmware replace that may restart the system by itself.
You get to do the aforementioned storage enlargement utilizing the 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 sockets. There’s an HDMI 2.0a port for connecting a much bigger TV show to this factor together with 4K transcoding help. If it have been HDMI 2.1, the bandwidth would have been extra together with different advantages.
A spotlight characteristic of this Asustor NAS is its twin 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports. In the event you occur to have appropriate cabling and swap, the web speeds can be very quick as is required in a NAS setup.
Now whereas the Lockerstor 4 runs, I didn’t hear any bothering ranges of noise or warmth, which was nice. The 120mm fan rotates at 635 RPM. In case you are questioning, it’s rated to sound at 17.6 decibels while the HDD stays idle. The working temperature is acknowledged to go as much as 40 levels celsius.
Evaluation Verdict: Do you have to purchase Asustor Lockerstor 4 AS6604T?
Editor’s ranking
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Score: 4 out of 5.
Asustor AS6604T is supplied with a reasonably succesful processor, ample storage choices with the selection of enlargement too, 2.5GbE web speeds, and different connectivity ports, all in a well-built and quiet moveable enclosure. It’s simple to arrange too and there may be an abundance of apps to strive throughout the built-in retailer. Even the system apps are useful in caring for varied elements of a NAS person expertise. Though there isn’t a lot to complain about right here, the truth that M.2 slots aren’t simply accessible, the search characteristic requires higher indexing, and that the UI wants some studying curve could be thought of my quibbles. They will’t be tagged main ache factors as you see. So, in case you are able to put money into your subsequent network-attached storage, this quad-bay Lockerstor 4 may very well be value your consideration.
Causes to purchase
- 2.5GbE and different ports
- Loads of storage
- Reliable CPU
- Neat design
- Large app library
- Simple to setup
Causes to not purchase
- M.2 slots not simply accessible
- Some studying curve required for novices
- Search operate inside ADM requires higher indexing