COMPUTEX 2008 : Is Synology's NAS box Nick-proof?

[HEXUS]

Synology's Mike Chen puts a brave face on it when Nick tries (accidentally) to break their kit...

Watch the show.

[Funkstar]

Why can't Synology and Thecus take a leaf out of Drobo's design and bin the use of drive trays?


image courtesy of OutBack Photo Backup 06 @Digital Outback Photo

I really do hate them on my N5200s. They are a complete pain in the ass.

Oh, and while i'm on it. Why do the rack versions always have one less drive? (4 vs 5) Surely if you are going to be putting something like this in a rack, you are more likely to need more capacity, not less. Two rows of drives would be good, giving 8 rather than 4.

[DR]

But once the drives are in why would you want to use them?

If you look at the new Thecus line up they have 8 drives in the rack and 7 in the pedestal..

[Funkstar]

Heard about the new Thecus boxes, but not seen them yet

Hot swaping a drive is a pain with the drive trays, it's not as they they just clip in either, you have to do the four screws on the bottom. I've also already managed to snap one of the grey lock tabs because the seagate drives are a little tight to push in for some reason (the Hitachi's in the other N5200 slide in efortlessly).

[DR]

Check the HEXUS site we have covered them...

How often do you hot swap drives?

[Funkstar]

When I was builing my second N5200, replacing a failed drive, re-building, adding the fourth then fifth drives, and replacing another failed drive it seemed I was having to shuffle them in and out far too often

The drive cadies aren't a big deal, they just get on my nerves, know aht I mean? I also think the Drobo solution is far more elegant, you can see in an instant whether the bay is populated.

I saw the first article on the N7700 and N8800 before Computex started, but haven't seen anything since. Granted I had a good few days without internet access and still haven't fully caught up with what I missed last weekend. I'll go hunt for them just now.