Network Attached Storage: Thecus N299

Network attached storage device needs no introduction and is pretty common these days. These devices are popular both in corporates as the primary storage solution, and in small offices/home offices for storing ever increasing digital content. NAS devices start from basic single bay storage with limited storage capacity to multiple bay devices capable of storing huge amounts of data. The N299 is a low cost entry level two bay NAS from Thecus with a neat looking compact lightweight chassis capable of supporting two 3.5” hard drives. These two drives can be configured as RAID 0, RAID 1, or JBOD. This means more options for the user. While RAID 1 is good for situations where data redundancy is needed, it would cost you capacity as data is mirrored. On the other hand, RAID 0 and JBOD can be used for situations where high performance is needed.

External features of N299 include 3 USB 2.0 ports for attaching external storage and 2 Ethernet ports for LAN and WAN connectivity. Internally, N299 has media server, iTunes server, photo web server, and simple surveillance server that can store footage from IP based security camera. Setting up N299 is simple. Just fill up the bays with HDDs and connect the LAN port to the network. After this, run setup CD that is included in package from any computer on the same network. This would help in discovering the device, and once discovered, you can directly access and configure it using its IP address. Though a practical and cost effective option, you would find its interface a bit old fashioned as compared to QNAP TS-219P II that we reviewed in April 2012 with similar features.

Bottomline: Low cost feature rich NAS box for SOHO users, but you have to live with a clumsy interface.