Final Thoughts: Pricing and Conclusion
Pricing
Depending on your location, it can still be a bit difficult to find this exact NAS model, but that will change very shortly as more stock rolls out to the suppliers. At the time of writing, I could find the Thecus N4810 at Amazon for $484.91 and Insight for £453.59, for example.
Overview
The Thecus N4810 is a NAS that features a classic tower design. The four lockable bays are mounted horizontally, which I quite like. The built-in 92mm fan is temperature controlled, allowing you to have a properly cooled yet silent system. Overall, the hardware is a solid foundation with 4GB memory and an Intel quad-core x86 processor.
ThecusOS has come a long way, and this NAS runs with version 7.0. It is a lovely system that comes with built-in features for all the basics. Additional features and apps can are easily installed through the App Center from where you can install them with a single click. Whether you want to store, back up, share, or everything – the N4810 does it.
Nothing stands in the way of a perfect multimedia experience with the N4810 at the centre. That is thanks to both an HDMI and a DisplayPort as well as an SPDIF port at your disposal. Watch all the stored media directly on a connected stream, game on the NAS, or run other Linux apps directly in the launcher. It’s all possible. Business users will also find a long array of business oriented features from server systems over VPN to full system failover in case of a worst case scenario.
Pros:
- Intel Quad-core x86 CPU and upgradable memory
- Quick and Easy setup
- Plex, Emby, Twonky, KODI, VLC, and more media server and players available
- 4K DisplayPort, HDMI output, and Digital audio output
- Built-in information display
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet
- BTRFS, EXT3, EXT4, and ZFS file system options
Cons:
- none
“The performance speaks for itself with this NAS and the performance and features make it a Leatherman of NAS’.”
Thank you Thecus for providing us with this review sample.
Was there any testing or investigating into what the 2.5 hard drive connector in the top of the unit can be used for?
I bought one of this for half price on the chance the 5th drive connector was usable: and it is! You can use it as a boot drive or a cache drive or for a parity check drive. You can also flash the in-built MMC drive with a different OS. If you buy one I strongly suggest doing so, as the OS from Thecus is an ancient bug-ridden under-developed barely-supported mess. No, really, the version in the box is Fedora 12, and there’s an upgrade to effectively Fedora 16. I recommend using OpenMediaVault instead.
Thanks for the confirmation that the 5th SATA part indeed is fully working.
Is it possible to use the display and the buttons with an alternative linux distibution like debian? Is it possible too, to control the fan (with fancontrol package)?
Thx
John,
I’m on my 3rd thecus NAS. The first was a W5810(windows storage server) which I could not get to work correctly; got an RMA then resold. the second was/is the N4810; same as before, it did not work correctly, got an RMA, but was not able to secure a reasonable (?) resale price. So, I’m keeping it.
Regarding the 5th drive, I was not able to access a connected drive installed in my initial N4810. Tech USA told me that that drive was not powered by the backplane since the 2 on-board SATA chips only supported two HDs each (only 4 of the 5 slots on the backplane -the ones directly accessable from the front bays). their info was that the 5th could be used only if powered by a separate Sata controller that connects to the DOM (MMC drive?).
So, my question(s) to you:
– how are you powering that drive (I guess as your new boot)
– where is the DOM (under the HD cage?) and is that the alternative power source for the 5th drive, and
– if you flash the DOM for another OS, is there any other way to power the 5th drive or force it to be read by the system?
Sorry to be so long, but still looking to see how best to use this machine. I agree with you in respect to it being under-developed.
Is it possible to use the display and the buttons with an alternative linux distibution like debian? Is it possible too, to control the fan (with fancontrol package)?
Thx
Hello,
I have the same questions to John like Thomas.
I am very interested in this NAS and would like to use the 5th SATA connector for a system SSD to boot a debian or ubuntu server linux.