{"id":5700,"date":"2020-07-28T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-07-28T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/blog\/qnap-ts-253d-nas-review-2-5gbe-pcie-expansion-and-hdmi-output-make-for-a-kickin-home-server\/"},"modified":"2020-07-28T10:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-07-28T10:00:00","slug":"qnap-ts-253d-nas-review-2-5gbe-pcie-expansion-and-hdmi-output-make-for-a-kickin-home-server","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aviancetechnologies.com\/blog\/qnap-ts-253d-nas-review-2-5gbe-pcie-expansion-and-hdmi-output-make-for-a-kickin-home-server\/","title":{"rendered":"QNAP TS-253D NAS review: 2.5GbE, PCIe expansion, and HDMI output make for a kickin’ home server"},"content":{"rendered":"

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QNAP TS-253D NAS review: 2.5GbE, PCIe expansion, and HDMI output make for a kickin’ home server<\/h2>\n

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QNAP\u2019s $469 TS-253D is the second NAS box sporting dual 2.5GbE ports we\u2019ve tested, butting heads with Asustor\u2019s fast, easy, and surprisingly powerful $300 AS5202T. Having 2.5GbE makes a huge difference in performance, dramatically increasing the number of devices you can simultaneously stream to or back up.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll immediately notice that the TS-253D is considerably pricier than its rival, but QNAP\u2019s box features a PCIe slot for adding features such as 10GbE and NVMe SSDs, and it makes far better use of an external display attached to its HDMI port.<\/p>\n

How so? the QNAP can play movies, run slideshows, let you browse the internet\u2014heck, it can even function as a lightweight workstation. The Asustor simply shows an administrative command line.<\/p>\n

This review is part of TechHive\u2019s coverage of the best NAS boxes for media streaming and client backup, <\/span>where you\u2019ll find<\/span> reviews of competing products, plus a buyer\u2019s guide to the features you should consider when shopping.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Design and specs<\/h2>\n

The QNAP TS-253D-4G that I tested is approximately 6.6 inches deep, 4.1 inches wide, and 8.9 inches tall. It\u2019s a two-bay, tower-orientation NAS box boasting a very attractive industrial design. There\u2019s a latching, slide-away cover over the drive bays which feature quick-change, pressure-fit trays. The trays have tool-less snap-in rails for mounting hard drives, but you\u2019re back to screws for installing SSDs like the ones I used for benchmarking.<\/p>\n

There are power and quick-copy buttons on the front of the box, along with a USB port and status lights for power as well as LAN and drive activity. Dual 2.5GbE ports ports are around back, along with four more USB ports and HDMI for direct output to up to a 4K display (that\u2019s true<\/em> 4K, by the way: 4096 x 2160 pixels). You\u2019ll also find a recessed reset button and a Kensington lock port here.<\/p>\n

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The QNAP TS-253D is outfitted with three USB 2.0 ports and two USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports.It will support USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gbps) with an optional expansion card.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s a quad-core Intel J4125 Celeron processor inside the TS-253D-4G, along with with 4GB (the 4G in the name) of DDR4 memory in one of its two SODIMM slots. There\u2019s also the aforementioned x4 PCIe slot for expansion cards that allow you to add 10GbE, or M.2 SSDs (SATA or NVMe). QNAP sells a number of add-in cards for this slot, which you can peruse at QNAP\u2019s Amazon storefront<\/a>. Fair warning: None of these components are what most people would call inexpensive.<\/p>\n

OS and apps<\/h2>\n

QNAP\u2019s hardware is generally top-notch, and the company pairs it with its excellent QTS operating system\u2014one of the first with what is now a de rigueur windowed-OS-in-a browser HTML interface. It\u2019s impressive, if not as well-organized as some. You can experience it at this link<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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QNAP\u2019s QTS configuration interface, accessed from a browser, is elegant and generally easy to use. It\u2019s not the best organized we\u2019ve seen, but it\u2019s fun to use.<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The app selection is voluminous. For starters, there\u2019s a very competent DLNA server for streaming content off of the box.\u00a0Plex, with its broader and fancier media streaming support, is also available. Even TVs with poor or no in-house media players feature Plex. Roon server is available for those that who CD-quality music streamed from the box. QNAP also offers a number of its own proprietary multimedia apps for not only its NAS boxes, but also for macOS and Windows computers as well as iOS and Android mobile devices.<\/p>\n

QNAP\u2019s Hybrid Backup Sync is powerful and versatile, if not the most intuitive backup program in the consumer NAS world. It handles backups to the box from other sources, backups from <\/em>the box to other destinations, and it will sync with various online storage services. It will do this via SMB, FTP, Rsync, and other protocols, which means you can back up your client computers without installing additional software\u00a0on them. Hybrid Mount is a new addition to this feature set that lets you mount online sources as local drives. Acronis True image and several other utilities are available as well.<\/p>\n

QNAP has app solutions for video surveillance, mail hosting, and content management, too. I used to recommend using the company\u2019s WordPress app, but it\u2019s now so far behind the upgrade and security curve that my last attempt serving my own website from a QNAP box ended in a ransomware attack.<\/p>\n

You can also use Virtualization Station on the QNAP TS-253D to host virtual machines, and there are versions of Libre Office, Spotify, the aforementioned Roon Server, and lots of other good stuff available.\u00a0You can delve into the entire ecosystem at the company\u2019s online app center<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Direct video output<\/h2>\n

As I said up top, the TS253D makes far better use of its HDMI port than the recently reviewed Asustor AS5202T, which could be extremely handy if you\u2019re pressed for space, as in a dorm room or micro apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n