Thecus N2310 Consumer NAS Review

We look at the latest entry-level appliance from Thecus, the N2310. Read on as Tyler gives us the full details on this new NAS and if you should buy it.

Published
Updated
Manufacturer: Thecus
4 minutes & 59 seconds read time

Introduction

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For those holding out on purchasing a NAS storage system, the time has come where these devices are really getting dirt-cheap. With the launch of the N2310, Thecus looks to push the price even lower with an entry-level two-bay NAS solution.

The Thecus N2310 comes at a time when the NAS market has transitioned from just a few players to the point where we have vendors like WD and Seagate joining in with consumer solutions. The purpose of the N2310 is to offer the end-user the best value in terms of a diskless solution at a very competitive price point.

Internally, we have an 800MHz AMCC APM 86491 SoC based on the PowerPC 465 processing core with 512MB of DDR3. I/O includes dual SATA III for connecting your drives of choice, while the back of the unit houses a single USB 3.0 port and USB 2.0 port as well. For LAN connectivity, Thecus has included a single gigabit port on the rear of the unit.

Pricing, Availability and Specifications

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MSRP for the Thecus N2310 is set at $159.99 with a two-year warranty. Current market pricing can be found below.

PRICING: You can find the Thecus N2310 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thecus N2310 retails for $157.06 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thecus N2310 retails for CDN$282.01 at Amazon Canada.

Thecus N2310

Packaging and a Closer Look

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Packaging for the N2310 carries an image of the NAS front and center, but is overall minimalistic.

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Scope of delivery includes the power adapter, Ethernet cable, reading materials, and the NAS itself.

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The front of the unit houses the two drive trays with a full host of LEDs to the right. At the bottom right, we have the USB copy button and power button.

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The back of the unit has the USB 3.0 port with the USB 2.0 and LAN port beneath. We also have the reset button.

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Here we have the drive trays completing the NAS.

Test System Setup and NAS Management

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Our Consumer NAS test 'system' is setup similar to what you have at home. Here we have the base being a GIGABYTE Z77X UP5 TH, which is housing an Intel Core i5 3570K with 16GB of RAM supporting. Our Operating System of choice is Windows 8 x64 Enterprise, with all available updates and patches installed, on a Corsair Neutron 256GB SSD. On the networking side, we utilize the Intel PRO1000 PT Server Adapter with a direct connection to each NAS appliance. This eliminates the need for a switch, and any bottlenecks that may occur.

NAS Management

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The N2310 runs on Thecus OS 6; as you can see, the dashboard for this is pretty clean. To the top, we have RAID management and shared folder setup. At the top left, there is a tab that will open the screen you see here.

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RAID management allows you to setup your array however you see fit. Options include JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1 along with single disk.

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Here we have the SAMBA menu where you can configure your NAS for easy access on your PC or Mac.

Benchmarks - Single Client Throughput

Workload

HD Video Play - 720p HD stream from Windows Media Player, 256kB reads

2HD Video Play - 2x playback

4HD Video Play - 4x playback

HD Video Record - 720p HD stream, 256kB writes

File Copy From NAS - 4GB file copy, 64kB reads

File Copy To NAS - 64kB writes

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In our testing, we have the N2310 setup in RAID 0. As you can see, the NAS did relatively good with its peak coming in HD Video record at 90.8 MB/s.

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RAID 1 has the N2310 right up there with the N2560 and N4560.

Benchmarks - Random and Sequential Workloads

Our 4k Random read/write workload consists of sixteen threads, all at QD8; results are measured in IOPS (Input Output Operations per Second).

Our Sequential read/write workload is centered on 1MB transfer sizes, again with sixteen threads and a Queue Depth of 8.

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In our first 4k random test with RAID 0, we find the N2310 right with the N2560, also from Thecus. Here we reached 107 IOPS read and 594 IOPS write.

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Moving to RAID 1, we find the N2310 coming in at 100 IOPS read and 576 IOPS write.

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RAID 0 sequential for the N2310 came in at 58 MB/s read and 58 MB/s write.

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RAID 1 performance was close to what we found with RAID 0. Here we have 54 MB/s read and 39 MB/s write.

Benchmarks - Consumer Multi Client

Consumer Multi-Client testing is done using Helios LAN Test with eight virtual machines each having two processing cores and 2GB of RAM.

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In our multi-client read with RAID 0, the Thecus did quite well, scaling slightly better than the EX2 from WD.

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Multi-client write with RAID 0 was markedly better with the N2310 than it was with the EX2.

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Moving over to RAID 1, we see the Thecus fall below the WD, but it jumps back up towards the end of testing.

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RAID 1 write in our multi-client once again had the N2310 doing quite well. Here we have the NAS start off at 24 MB/s and end at 10 MB/s, which is right with the WD.

Final Thoughts

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The Thecus N2310 is really one heck of a NAS appliance, especially when you consider the price of this unit. At $159.99 MSRP, this might just be the most complete diskless solution available on the market. For comparison, the WD MyCloud EXII in its diskless form costs $199.99 and doesn't really offer the full on flexibility that the Thecus does.

Even with the complete plastic design of the N2310, I found the unit to be quite durable. No issues arose during testing with the drive trays or connections, and installation was rather simple.

Performance of the N2310 was rather good; it certainly isn't the quickest appliance we have tested, but then again, it's not slow by any means. The thing that keeps coming up when I think about the N2310 is the price; I mean how can you deny a true NAS system with Thecus OS 6 for 160 bucks? Especially if you have drives lying around that you could throw in this NAS and be up and running. Another feature that I do like with this NAS appliance is that Thecus changed up the finder software, which makes it much easier to setup and use. This adds to the user experience and is a plus in my book.

One thing that is important to understand with the N2310 is it is an entry-level appliance, so the high-end features that are found on a pricier unit won't be found within this unit. Things like IP surveillance, iSCSI, and TFTP support are non-existent, and the sleep mode in Thecus OS 6 hasn't worked since launch.

The MSRP for the N2310 tested here today is set at $159.99 with a two-year warranty.

PRICING: You can find the Thecus N2310 for sale below. The prices listed are valid at the time of writing but can change at any time. Click the link to see the very latest pricing for the best deal.

United States: The Thecus N2310 retails for $157.06 at Amazon.

Canada: The Thecus N2310 retails for CDN$282.01 at Amazon Canada.

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Tyler joined the TweakTown team in 2013 and has since reviewed 100s of new techy items. Growing up in a small farm town, tech wasn't around, unless it was in a tractor. At an early age, Tyler's parents brought home their first PC. Tyler was hooked and learned what it meant to format a HDD, spending many nights reinstalling Windows 95. Tyler's love and enthusiast nature always kept his PC nearby. Eager to get deeper into tech, he started reviewing.

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