QNAP TS-209 Pro II

Author: Ian Cunningham
Published on: 28-07-2008
Views: 80728


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Advanced Features

Downloading torrents, sharing music and printing

The QNAP download station is one of the most powerful included features, and adds the ability to download via HTTP, FTP and even bit-torrent directly to the NAS. If you often download large files and don’t want to keep your PC on or use up resources on your computer then this is ideal. The download station runs within the NAS and can run on a schedule to time your downloads as required (for example, download only at night if you want to make use of overnight bandwidth):

To add a new Bit Torrent download, simply browse for the .torrent file on your PC and upload it to the NAS via the web-admin interface:

Once it is added, the torrent will appear in the download list and will begin transferring:

HTTP/FTP downloads are added in a similar method, and are added to the same list. Authenticated downloads (with a username and password) are also supported:

The download manager is configurable, and allows you to select the maximum number of simultaneous downloads, maximum upload/download speeds and port settings. The scheduled download settings are enabled by picking times that downloading is enabled. Once the NAS clock detects that it is this time, the download managed is activated and the downloading commences:

iTunes Media Server

The iTunes media server (labelled iTunes Service) is an extremely easy way to share a range of music files across an entire network of users. Enabling this service within the QNAP web administration page creates a “QMultimedia” folder which you can copy all your music files to. Not only will this appear as a network share, but it will also appear within iTunes as a shared network drive (in this example, it is called NAS):

This handy feature means you can share media across several PCs at the same time, without causing problems to the iTunes filestore (which would normally happen if you share songs from the same location, and open multiple versions of iTunes).

Print Server

The QNAP features an effective print server, which allows you to share any USB printer across the network. Drivers are still required as normal on each PC, however you need to mount the network printer to enable use of the device. The TS-209 Pro II has been used continuously for two weeks, in which two printers have been connected and used on a daily basis. Printing works in just the same way as if it were connected directly to your PC, but there is the flexibility of network sharing: