Question 1

Can someone explain why these NAS systems are called 'diskless?'  It seems obvious the bays use disk drives. What is 'diskless' about this system?

Accepted Answer

When it says diskless it means that the unit comes with no drives.  You have to buy disk drives separately.

Question 2

What's the maximum HDD capacity for each bay?

Accepted Answer

I believe this unit will handle up to 6TB drives.   I've personally used it with 4TB drives.  There are some drive with compatibility issues (brands/models) so be sure to check QNAPs HCL.

Question 3

How Loud is this device?

Accepted Answer

The unit itself is whisper quiet. I had it in my bedroom and couldn't hear it running. The hard drives that you put in it can vary greatly, and that's the noise you will hear. Most hard drives are quiet when idle, but you may hear some grinding noise while they are in use.

Question 4

Are the HDs hot swappable?

Accepted Answer

according to the hardware manual (20150211-QNAP_Turbo_NAS_Hardware_Manual_ENG.pdf) drives are hot swappable.  but I cannot think of a situation where I would swap the drive with the NAS device powered up, it is just not necessary.  Not to mention that, unless you had a spare bracket lying around, you would have to remove the screws holding the bracket onto the bad hard drive and attach the new drive before you could plug it back in.  With the power on???  not in my lifetime

Question 5

Can this be used like a server where I can add multiple EXHD's and connect up to them to any of the computers at home?

Accepted Answer

Yes, it's a good basic file server. it's processor is to slow to use most of the apps that come with it but it works great as a simple network attached file server.

Question 6

To put it as simply as I can: How does this work?

Accepted Answer

The NAS is great for the price!  It has tons of features, many that I actually don't use.   I love the hot swap, being able to do live raid migration from raid 1 to raid 5 after adding in the 3rd drive (you can start off with a few drives and then fill it up).  I am now at 4 2tb drives.  Its quick enough, i backup up multiple  computers and multiple iphones (the IOS app you have to actually open).

The one downside that I have is the number of applications that can run on this unit being an ARM processor.  I wish I did a little more research and contact QNAP prior to purchasing to know the few apps I wanted won't or do not currently work on this.  If you are planning/hoping to install  bunch of extra apps on it, then do your research.

Hope this helps

Question 7

Is this a good NAS for PLEX ????

Accepted Answer

The Plex support for this unit is provided as a courtesy by the manufacturer, and as a result, is usually not up to date with the current versions of Plex, especially if you are a PlexPass subscriber.  In addition to this, ARM support for Plex is pretty weak in general since the CPU isn't up to snuff for encoding multiple streams or even real time playback.  The TS-451 would be a better choice for dedicated Plex use since the Intel ATOM processor is slightly better at encoding.  In a multi-user environment, a dedicated Plex computer will be best and to use this TS-431 as network attached storage.

Question 8

does this work like a private cloud, accessible by remove devices?

Accepted Answer

yes, this NAS works like your private cloud storage. You can access the NAS from anywhere via web browsers or mobile apps. (search "QNAP" in Google Play or App Store)

Question 9

what are the esata and usb ports for on this nas?

Accepted Answer

External drives to add later or USB camera

Question 10

Can this leverage Active Directory ID's ?

Accepted Answer

This unit can join an Active Directory Domain, and can use Active Directory Users/Groups in its ACLs when accessing the unit via SMB.

Questions & Answers