QNAP TS-239 Pro Turbo

Many of the standard file hosting and PHP/MySQL features are identical in functionality to that of the TS-209 Pro II, so it is worth reading pages 2 and 3 from this review (http://www.pcreview.co.uk/reviews/Storage/QNAP_TS-209_Pro_II/2/) to read about the core elements of the NAS. Instead, this section will focus on the advanced features, improvements and changes since the previous NAS was reviewed.

QNAP have recently adopted a new web management interface (v3) which has been rolled out across all the new product lines, and reassuringly is backwards compatible with older NAS models. This new software visually improves the already impressive interface, and makes the most of AJAX features without going overboard.

One of the new compelling features of the TS-239 Pro Turbo is the ability to serve as an iSCSI target server, allowing you to create virtual drives on other remote computers (essentially allowing the exchange of SCSI commands over IP networks). This type of feature moves the unit towards small enterprise/SOHO environment, rather than a home user.

The NAS is also equipped with dual LAN ports, partly to increase reliability via failover should one network port/cable stop working. The other advantage to this is it enables improved performance via load balancing, by connecting the NAS to two separate routers/LAN areas. There is also an option within the web admin for the NAS to be deployed with two IP settings to serve different subnets.

There are also more subtle additions to the QNAP feature set, such as advanced power management. One of the few disappointments with the TS-209 II Pro was the lack of a power schedule, meaning that it had to be turned on/off manually overnight (assuming it isn’t in use). The TS-239 Pro Turbo has the ability to set a power schedule, for example you can turn the NAS on every morning at 7AM and off again at 8PM if that is only when it would be in use. There are also options on how the NAS should recover after a power failure, and more importantly there is proper UPS integration.

The rear VGA port may be a surprising addition for a NAS unit, but don’t forget this is essentially a fully functional PC with a 1.6Ghz Atom CPU and 1GB RAM. The QNAP backend is just a customised version of Linux, so you aren’t too far from a fully functional PC when connecting a USB keyboard and mouse. No doubt this will provide the modding community with some great hardware to put to other uses:

The USB and eSATA ports work as expected, allowing you access to FAT, EXT3 and NTFS drives and USB printers. It should be noted that if you have an all-in-one printer/scanner unit than the scanner will not work via sharing, and will need to be used standalone. The front USB port can be used as a quick copy port (for example a USB drive loaded with photos), so pressing the quick copy button copies or synchronises the data to a folder on the NAS.