Question 1

I just got my product. How to I plug in the second hard drive? There is only one power and one sata cable. Plus I don't see a second set of plugs...

Accepted Answer

This fooled me too at first. One set of plugs is built into the bottom of the unit. When you slide the first drive in on the bottom, make sure you get it low enough to enter the bottom, fixed receiving plug. The two cables are just for the top drive. (QNAP really needs to include a clearer explanation of how to install the drives; the paper guide in the product tells you nothing, and the pictures on the website are too small and too low resolution.)

Question 2

Would western digital red 2tb be right for the ts-212p?

Accepted Answer

In the manufacturer's website for the product (TS-212P), I would suggest you look for the tab 'Compatibility' for the suggested list of hard-drives.

I have added two 2TB (each) Toshiba drives to my QNAP TS-212P.

Hope it helps.

Question 3

Is the HDD interfce SATA2 or SATA3? The specs page only states SATA interface.

Accepted Answer

It is SATA3, however the device has very stringent requirements about supported disks. NewEgg won't allow linking to external sites, but search for 'qnap disk compatibility'.

If you use a supported disk, it's great, but many popular disks are unsupported and (as I discovered the hard way) really do not work.

Question 4

What is the largest HD capacity it support?  Does it supper  4TB in each bay (Total 8TB)

Accepted Answer

The largest HD Capacity the TS-212P supports is 4TB in each bay. See this list from QNAP:

www qnap com/i/en/product_x_grade/product_intro.php?g_cat=1&II=117&hf=old

Question 5

Is it normal for the LAN light to always be blinking orange?

Accepted Answer

Yes.  The QNAP Turbo NAS User Manual states the following for the LAN light:

Orange - (solid) The disk data is being accessed from the network and a read/write error occurs during the process.
Flashes orange - The NAS is connected to the network.

Mine flashes orange and is working great.
Hope this helps.

Question 6

Is the maximum storage 1TB per bay?

Accepted Answer

Maximum on their data sheet for the TS-212 (most comparable model) is 8TB.  I would think that it is no more than that for this unit.

Question 7

Would you suggest this product for SSD drives?  Is there software installed for making this to be a backup drive?  If not, is there software that would be recommended for backup?

Accepted Answer

QNAP does not list any 2.5" drives on the compatibility list for this device, and if you did use SSDs you would need 2.5" to 3.5" conversion kits for each.  Also, the CPU in this version is not fast enough to generate the throughput that would make a SSD worth it on price/performance.  You could get the same performance from a much less expensive spinning disk.  So, SSDs are not recommended for this model.

QNAP does have a backup software application that works on Windows/Mac OSX to make it easy to keep a workstation backed up.

Question 8

Does this unit support 2.5" & 3.5" drives?

Accepted Answer

Please see list of compatible hard drives, as suggested by the manufacturer (QNAP) for the said product (TS-212P).

Question 9

Does it have storage for one or two hard drives?

Accepted Answer

two

Question 10

I currently have two 2TB drives in my computer, in RAID 1.  I want to move them out to a NAS (specifically, this one).  I'm curious if I can move them directly into here without losing data from rebuilding/formatting?  Thank you!

Accepted Answer

According to QNAP's website, the unit only supports the ext3 or ext4 filesystem on internal drives.  If your current data drives are not formatted as ext3 or ext4, they will not be transferable.  If they are formatted as ext3 or ext4, the best solution is probably to put one of the two drives in the unit along with a new, blank drive and then to rebuild the array.  By so doing, you safeguard the your data on the second data drive should anything go awry.

Questions & Answers