ASUSTOR recently launched a 4Bay NAS model AS4004T for consumer-grade NAS network storage devices in general households. The main features of ASUSTOR AS4004T not only provide two sets of Gigabit LAN ports that can support Link Aggregation network aggregation function, but also directly built a set of RJ-45 network ports that can support up to 10Gb bandwidth, so that no additional installation is required. A 10Gb network card can easily break through the 1Gb bandwidth limit.

●ASUSTOR AS4004T unpacking and specification introduction

With the increasing capacity of multimedia audio and video files, the transmission bandwidth of Gigabit has gradually been unable to meet the needs of NAS users. However, due to the limitation of their own network port specifications, most NAS products can only reach 1Gb transmission bandwidth. On the left and right level, only some high-end products will add 2~4 sets of LAN port specifications with Link Aggregation network aggregation function to break the limit of 1Gb transmission bandwidth, or install 10Gb network card to obtain larger transmission bandwidth. However, most of these high-end models are mainly for commercial needs, and the price of the body is much higher than that of ordinary models, so it is relatively low for users who only need storage, multimedia and large-bandwidth applications. Not so desirable. However, as the price of 10Gb network devices and peripheral devices gradually become available, ASUSTOR has specially launched two NAS models, the AS4004T and AS4002T, which are directly equipped with 10Gb network ports, to provide users with large bandwidth storage needs with lighter weight The most economical 10Gb NAS model choice. And this time, I also borrowed the ASUSTOR AS4004T 4Bay NAS model to actually test it, so that netizens who need 10Gb bandwidth can make a reference.

Some key specifications of the AS4004T NAS are marked on the side of the outer box. The core hardware is a Marvell Armada dual-core processor with a clock frequency of 1.6GHz and a 2GB DDR4 memory, and the I/O specifications on the fuselage are in addition to the main ones. In addition to a 10Gb RJ-45 network port, there are also two Gigabit RJ-45 network ports and two USB3.0 ports, and two of the RJ-45 network ports can also support Link Aggregation network The aggregation function provides users with more flexible network connection applications.

On the other side of the box is a brief introduction to the ADM operating system provided by ASUSTOR and some APP software for Android and iOS mobile devices, so that users can have a better experience whether using a computer or a mobile device. Use experience.

Open the top cover of the outer box and you can use the AS4004T NAS body in the anti-collision packaging material and a carton with the accessories included.

In the accessory carton, there are mainly paper manuals, software CDs, a Cat6a network cable connected to the 10Gb network port, and two Cat5e models connected to the Gigabit network port.">Cat5e model">Cat5e model">Cat5e model ">Cat5e model">Cat5e model">Cat5e network cable, 2.5-inch hard drive fixing screws, power adapter and a power cord.

The power supply transformer that comes with this AS4004T NAS is DPS-90AB-3 model manufactured by Delta Electronics">DPS-90AB-3 model">DPS-90AB-3 model">DPS-90AB-3 model">DPS-90AB -3 model ">DPS-90AB-3 model ">DPS-90AB-3, the output power specification is 12V/7.5A.

The appearance of the ASUSTOR AS4004T NAS is the same as the general NAS. It also adopts a black square chassis design. However, some cutting lines have been added to the front panel and the side panels on both sides, and the front panel is also designed with a mirror finish, which is considered low-key. The shape with a little change in the middle.

There is a USB3.0 transmission port on the left side of the front panel, and there is also a quick backup button on the top. After the user completes the settings in the system, he only needs to connect the external device and press the button to quickly synchronize the data. No need to enter the system through other devices.

The front panel of the fuselage adopts a magnetic quick-release design. When you pull it out, you can see the built-in 4 sets of hard disk quick-release racks, and a hexagonal frame structure is added inside the panel to increase the strength.

Pull up the outer cover of the hard disk cage to pull out the hard disk cage, and the four sets of hard disk cages included are designed for 3.5-inch hard disks using a tool-free installation design with quick-release edge strips on both sides, and each installation hole There are also rubber pads on the top to reduce the vibration of the hard drive. In addition, the included four sets of hard drive bays also have fixing screw holes for 2.5-inch hard drives, so you can install 2.5-inch HDD or SSD solid-state drives without installing an additional adapter.

On the back of the fuselage, you can see that there is a 12 cm fan inside to accelerate the waste heat generated by the hard disk to discharge the fuselage, so that the fuselage has a better heat dissipation effect. As for the I/O part, they are all set on the right side of the back of the fuselage, mainly providing a set of 10Gb RJ-45 network ports, two sets of Gigabit RJ-45 network ports, a set of USB3.0 transmission ports and power sockets . The two RJ-45 network ports also support the Link Aggregation function, which allows the bandwidth of the two network ports to be combined for use, which is relatively convenient for users who need a larger network bandwidth.

Let’s take a look at the internal structure of the fuselage! Basically, you only need to remove the four fixing screws on the back of the fuselage to remove the casing, and you can see that the processor on the circuit board and the 10Gb network chip are also added with aluminum. Squeeze the heat sink to enhance the heat dissipation effect.

The processor of ASUSTOR AS4004T NAS adopts Marvell ARMADA-7020 dual-core processor, the official model is 88F7020. This processor is a dual-processing core architecture design, the operating clock can reach 1.6GHz, and the AD5532HSABC chip also integrates a shared 1MB L3 cache memory, DDR4 memory controller, PCIe3.0 transmission channel, USB3.0 Transport ports and two 2.5Gb and one 10Gb wired network ports are supported. In addition, two DDR4-2400 memories from Samsung are directly embedded on the side of the processor. The detailed model is K4A8 model > K4A8 model > K4A8 model > K4A8 model > K4A8 model > K4A8G165WB-BCRC , the single capacity is 1GB.

Below is the processor architecture diagram provided by Marvell for your reference.

The 10Gb network port in ASUSTOR AS4004T NAS adopts the Alaska X 88X3310 network controller chip launched by Marvell, which is also backward compatible with 2500 BASE-X and 5000 BASER network specifications.

The other two sets of Gigabit RJ-45 network ports on the fuselage also use the 88E1512-NNP2 network control chip introduced by Marvell.

The two sets of USB3.0 transmission ports on the fuselage are expanded by the RTS5412 HUB chip launched by Realtek.

A IUM01-512MFHL flash memory module from ADATA is also installed on the motherboard with a capacity specification of 512MB. The main purpose is to store the firmware on the NAS.

The 4 sets of SATA ports on the ASUSTOR AS4004T NAS is a circuit board that converts the PCIe2.0x1 interface into 4 sets of SATA ports through a built-in two Marvell 88SE9170 controller chips.

●ASUSTOR ADM installation and setting operation

◆ASUSTOR Control Center (ACC) system tool

Then install the hard disk to actually test some functions and performance of this NAS! When installing for the first time, it is recommended to install the ASUSTOR Control Center (ACC) system tool provided by ASUSTOR to find the NAS in the local area network. model, and then directly click the list or enter the IP address on the browser to enter the installation steps of the ASUSTOR NAS.

In addition to directly searching the IP location and connection status of the NAS on the ASUSTOR ACC system tool, you can also directly open some commonly used multimedia applications or network disk drive folders on the NAS through ACC, and can also transparently access the NAS. Use ACC to update the system version on the NAS or wake the NAS on LAN.

◆ADM operating system installation

From ASUSTOR's official website, you can first download the system installation image file required by each model. After downloading, upload the image file to the NAS by browsing the file.

After the image file is uploaded, the NAS will start to install and create a file system. The current file system is still EXT4. The next version of the ADM operating system will also start to support the Btrf file system and support the file snapshot function.

When the system is installed, the installation steps will continue to take the user to set some settings such as administrator account password, time zone and network connection.

For the storage space setting, ASUSTOR AS4004T can support Single, JBOD and RAID 0/1/5/6/10 and other hard disk configurations, because this time is mainly to test the transmission performance limit of this NAS, so RAID is used 0 mode for testing, it is recommended that users use the RAID mode with backup mechanism to be more appropriate.

After the hard disk is set up, the installation steps will also allow users to choose whether to install some officially recommended applications first, and there will be different application recommendations for home/personal and enterprise applications.

If you choose the Home/Personal option, you will install applications such as LooksGood, SoundGood, iTune server, DLNA, photo album and UPnP multimedia server directly in the system.

As for the enterprise application part, it will first install some applications for Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive cloud space synchronization, VPN and Syslog server.

●Introduction to the basic functions of ASUSTOR ADM operating system

◆Login screen

The operating system version provided by ASUSTOR for its own NAS has been updated to version 3.2. In addition to the account password input window, the system login screen also provides avatar and time display.

After logging in for the first time, the main screen will pop up some teaching content. If you don't want to display it later, you can check the options below. The main screen of ASUSTOR ADM3.2 operating system is designed with some function options with large icons, and several commonly used or pre-installed applications will be directly displayed on the main screen.

There is also a toolbar display option on the right side of the main screen. You can set information such as storage administrators, resource monitoring, online users, and important logs, so that users can quickly check the usage status of the NAS without opening an application.

◆Resource monitoring APP

If you need to view more detailed system information, you can also directly open the resource monitoring APP application, which provides function pages such as performance, programs, storage space, and preferences. In the performance page, you can directly view the usage of processor, storage, network, hard disk and iSCSI.

In the Programs page, you can view the status of each application, as well as processor and memory usage.

In the storage space, the hard disk space usage is displayed in the form of a pie chart, or if there are other hard disk groups, you can view the content through the drop-down menu above.

As for preferences, you can enable system operation history, and can also notify administrators when processor or memory usage is too high.

◆Access control APP

If you want to add a NAS user account, you can add a new user list on the access control function page, and you can also set up a user group for convenience to save some permission setting steps.

If you want to add shared folders and APP application permissions, you can also set them in this function page.

◆Storage Manager APP

The parts about hard disk storage space, disk array and iSCSI settings are set through the storage administrator application. On the main screen, there are functional options such as overview, hard disk volume, hard disk, iSCSI and iSCSI LUN. If it has already been set, you can directly see the information content such as the capacity usage and health of the hard disk on the overview screen.

If there are multiple hard disks to manage, you can also create different storage spaces and RAID arrays through hard disk groups, or you can remove some old spaces and reset the hard disk configuration.

On the hard disk function page, you can see the usage status and model of each hard disk, and also provide hard disk doctor and SMART information display. ASUSTOR has also cooperated with Seagate recently. If the user's hard drive is IronWolf or IronWolf Pro series NAS hard drive launched by Seagate, the IronWolf Health Management (IHM) health management function can be activated.

In addition to the fact that the Seagate IHM health management function is special, in addition to the hard disk information icon that directly displays the IronWolf series patterns, the remaining warranty period of the hard disk can also be directly seen in the hard disk doctor option, and it can also support bad sectors and SMART scanning functions. And also provides scheduling function, so that users can regularly understand the use of the hard disk.

ASUSTOR AS4004T also supports iSCSI function, which allows players to add a virtual network hard disk to the device. In actual setting, basically follow the steps to complete the iSCSI setting on the NAS.

Then, after enabling the iSCSI function on the console of the computer, the user can see the new hard disk menu in the disk management, and then format it like a general physical hard disk to start using.

◆File Manager APP

After the hard disk space is set, the user can open the file manager in the NAS system to manage the data. The usage is similar to the Windows file manager.

If there is a file or folder that needs to be shared with others, you can also directly right-click on the file or folder to be shared to bring up the menu and start Share Link to share the link, and then just provide the link to those who need it and then download it directly. , no need to open a new account password or log in to the system.

Share Link Sharing links can also be limited to users in local area networks or other domains, and you can also add settings such as link expiration and passwords to increase security.

The Share Link administrator function is also provided in the file manager, allowing users to directly view the shared links and time, and if they have been shared, they can delete the link directly from here.

◆Preferences APP

The preference setting application provided in the system mainly allows the user to operate the operating system port, login style, network connection, local area network, hardware, event notification function, ADM firewall, certificate, system update, resource recovery bucket space, Function settings such as power saving function, easy connection and factory reset. One of the general functions is to allow users to configure the NAS connection port, connection timeout logout and login screen settings.

On the network function page, you can configure the hardware settings of each network port, or use functions such as a proxy server.

The hardware page mainly provides settings such as body LED brightness, buzzer activation, energy-saving management, power management, and body fan speed.

The ASUSTOR NAS also provides a firewall function, and you can add a blacklist to block malicious connections.

If a new version of the system firmware is released, a notification will appear on the ADM update page, or users can also schedule the frequency of checking for updates.

●ASUSTOR APP software

◆APP Central Download Center

In addition to some basic functional applications, there are also APP applications that provide many functional applications in APP Central that can be downloaded and used. If necessary, users can add more different applications through this APP download center. application.

Because there are too many APPs to download in the APP center, I will not introduce them one by one here, just look at a few APPs of ASUSTOR for multimedia applications and cloud synchronization applications.

◆Dropbox&Google Drive cloud space synchronization APP

For users of Dropbox and Google Drive cloud space, ASUSTOR also provides data synchronization applications for these two cloud spaces in the ADM operating system. After the user downloads and installs the application in the APP download center, he only needs to log in the account and password of the cloud space that needs to synchronize the data in the software to start synchronizing the data, and the user can also choose the folder to be synchronized to save space.

In addition to folders, you can also select file types to synchronize data content.

When synchronizing the cloud space, you can also limit the upload and download bandwidth used when synchronizing data, so as to avoid affecting other network operations of the NAS, and you can also choose to synchronize data in two-way or one-way mode.

After the setting is complete, you can see the usage of the cloud space and the location of the synced folder on the APP page.

After that, you can directly see the synchronized folders in the file manager. If you need to add or remove the synchronized data, you can operate it directly in the file manager.

◆LooksGood video playback APP

For multimedia video playback and video management, ASUSTOR provides an application called LooksGood. After users directly set the linked folder in the APP, they will see a list of video files on the main page of the software, and Just click to play the video content on the browser.

The LooksGood software also provides a multimedia conversion function, which can directly convert some large or unplayable formats into the commonly used MP4 format, allowing users to stream multimedia audio and video files remotely and play more smoothly and save transmission. flow.

When performing multimedia conversion, you can also choose the desired resolution.

◆SoundsGood music player APP

As for the music playback application, ASUSTOR provides an application called SoundsGood. After the user saves the music file into the default Music folder, the main screen of the software can see the music list and playback function bar. And the music list can also be displayed and arranged by album, artist, genre or folder, etc., making it easier for users to find the music files they want to play. Or there is also a Random 100 function on the left, which can randomly select 100 tracks in the music database to play.

This software also supports the sharing function, which can directly share and upload the played music to the user's own social networking site or email to other friends.

●ASUSTOR mobile version APP software

◆AiMasterAPP

In addition to the ADM operating system that users can connect to the NAS through a computer browser, some APPs are also provided for Android and iOS mobile devices to make it easier for users to use a mobile phone or tablet to connect to the NAS to view the operation status or perform various functional operations. The AiMaster APP provides system information, resource monitoring, event records, user management, USB backup, file backup and restoration, services, APP download center, access control and some installed APP software in the ADM operating system shortcut.

◆AiData APP

For the part of file browsing and access, ASUSTOR also provides a software called AiData on the mobile device. After connecting, you can directly view the file folder in the NAS, and click the function list in the upper right corner. It supports operations such as file uploading, downloading, copying, moving or renaming, and also provides the function of sharing links quickly with ShareLink, so that users can share files with other friends more conveniently.

◆AiVideos APP

ASUSTOR also launched a special AiVideos APP for mobile devices. The main purpose is to allow users to browse the video database that LooksGood has established, and to play video content directly on the APP.

◆AiMusic APP

As for the music playback part, Huayun provides an AiMusic APP, you can directly open the APP and you will see the music files stored in the Music folder, or you can also classify music by album, genre or artist information. And also supports custom playlist and Ramdon100 shuffle function.

In the menu of AiMusic APP, it also supports music file download function, and through the setting page, you can also turn on the function of shaking the phone to play the next song or password locking.

●ASUSTOR AS4004T transmission performance test

After reading the hardware and software introduction of ASUSTOR AS4004T, let's test the actual transmission performance! Because this NAS mainly uses 10Gb network specifications, this time I also specially borrowed a XG-C100C from ASUS. 10Gb network card to match and test. The main method of this test is to use a Cat6a network cable to directly connect the 10Gb network port of the NAS and the XG-C100C 10Gb network card on the computer side, and because the transmission bandwidth of 10Gb is to be tested, this test will not only match four 12TB ports In addition to the Seagate IronWolf Pro RAID0 disk array, there are also WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 1TB two SSD solid state drives with the same root to form RAID0 disk array, so that netizens can more Learn about the performance limits of ASUSTOR AS4004T.

When actually testing the performance, turn on the iSCSI network disk drive function of the NAS and set a hard disk space of 500GB, and then use some commonly used hard disk testing software to see the actual performance. Below is the computer hardware components used in this test for your reference.

◎Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K

◎Host Saka: ASUS ROG MAXIMUS XI EXTREME

◎ Hard drive: WD BLACK NVMe 1TB solid state drive

◎Memory: G.Skill SNIPER-X DDR4-3200 8GBx2

◎Power supply: Antec 850W

◎Operating system: Windows 10 1809 64 bit

●WD Blue 1TB 3D NAND SSD and SanDisk Ultra 3D SSD 1TB RAID0 performance test

◆AS SSD Benchmak software test

When actually using AS SSD Benchmak software test group RAID0 two 1TB SSD solid state drives, the sequential read and write performance can reach about 667.5MB/s and 269.94MB/s, and the 4K random read and write performance can reach 5.58MB/s and 5.47MB/s , the final result is 381 points.

In the 4K-64Thrd test project, the read and write performance can reach 25174iops and 28097iops.

◆ATTO Benchmak test

When actually using the two 1TB SSDs of the ATTO software test group RAID0, the read and write performance can reach about 450/300MB/s.

◆CrystalDiskMark test

When the CrystalDiskMark software is set to the random data option, the read and write performance of the two 1TB SSD solid-state drives in group RAID0 can reach approximately 759.1MB/s and 304.5MB/s in sequential read and write projects, while the read and write performance in 4K projects The performance can reach about 6.121MB/s and 6.095MB/s. When the data option is set to 0Fill mode, the read and write performance of the two 1TB SSD solid state drives in group RAID0 can reach approximately 759.4MB/s and 294.4MB/s in sequential read and write projects, and the read and write performance in 4K projects. About 5.935MB/s and 6.087MB/s.

◆TxBENCH software test

When actually using the two 1TB SSD solid state drives of the TxBENCH software test group RAID0, the read and write performance in the sequential QD32 project can reach approximately 671.011MB/s and 324.843MB/s, and the read and write performance in the random 4K QD1 project can reach approximately 5.744 MB/s vs 5.769MB/s.

◆FastCopy software test

When actually transferring a 2.6GB compressed file from the computer to the NAS, the speed of writing to the NAS can reach about 313.1MB/s, and the actual transfer time is about 8.3 seconds. Then, when the same file is transferred from the NAS to the computer, the read performance from the NAS can reach about 488.6MB/s, and the transfer time is about 5.3 seconds.

●Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB X4 RAID0 performance test

◆AS SSD Benchmak test

When actually using the AS SSD Benchmak software to test the performance of four Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives in RAID0, the sequential read and write performance can reach about 683.49MB/s and 274.18MB/s, and the 4K random read and write performance can reach 5.36MB/s and 5.7 MB/s, the final result has a total score of 267 points.

In the 4K-64Thrd test project, the read and write performance can reach 7928iops and 24323iops.

◆ATTO Benchmak test

When actually using the ATTO software to test the performance of four Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives in RAID0, the read and write performance can reach about 500/300MB/s.

◆CrystalDiskMark test

When the CrystalDiskMark software is set to the random data option, the read and write performance of four Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives in RAID0 can reach approximately 748.9MB/s and 308.1MB/s in sequential read and write projects, while the read and write performance in 4K projects The write performance can reach about 6.058MB/s and 5.981MB/s. When the data option is set to 0Fill mode, the read and write performance of four Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives in RAID0 can reach approximately 725.5MB/s and 305.5MB/s in sequential read and write projects, while the read and write performance in 4K projects The performance is about 6.071MB/s and 5.979MB/s.

◆TxBENCH software test

When using the TxBENCH software to test the performance of four Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB hard drives in RAID0, the read and write performance in the sequential QD32 project can reach approximately 745.978MB/s and 327.713MB/s, and the read and write performance in the random 4K QD1 project is approximately Achieving 5.904MB/s and 5.929MB/s.

◆FastCopy software test

When actually transferring a 2.6GB compressed file from the computer to the NAS, the speed of writing to the NAS can reach about 321MB/s, and the actual transfer time is about 8.1 seconds. Then, when the same file is transferred from the NAS to the computer, the read performance from the NAS can reach about 782.2MB/s, and the transfer time is about 3.3 seconds.

●Trial summary

In terms of performance, the read and write transfer performance of ASUSTOR AS4004T 4Bay NAS after the actual test can reach about 750/300MB/s. Perhaps because of the processor specification, the write performance is not satisfactory. However, compared with the general Gigibit model, the transmission performance is about 3 times, and it is believed that it is quite a specification that meets the needs of users who have a large number of file transmission needs. As for the software, the ADM3.2 operating system provided by ASUSTOR AS4004T basically has all the functions that it should have, and also provides an APP download center to expand more functional applications, and the ADM3.3 version will be updated in the future. Adding btrfs file system and snapshot support should provide users with a more complete backup solution.