Thecus W5810 5-bay NAS review

Rating: 8.0.

Compared to Linux-based devices, NAS boxes using Windows OS are pretty thin on the ground. One company that has kept the Windows flag flying with a range of devices is Thecus. The Thecus Windows Storage Server range is split into two camps, Large Business and SMB/Home, and it's from the latter one that the 5-bay W5810 is the current flagship model.

Designed for small and medium businesses of up to 50 employees, the W5810 uses Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials as the operating system. A very neat design feature is that this OS is stored on its own separate drive – a 64GB SSD (ADATA SP600) which leaves all five drive bays free for storage purposes.

Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials is a powerful chunk of software offering support for Data duplication, Active Directory, Storage Spaces, automatic client computer backup and restore and a whole lot more besides.

Powered by an Intel Celeron J1900 processor clocked at 2.00GHz (burst up to 2.42GHz) the W5810 comes with 4GB of DDR3L memory as standard. There are two SO-DIMM slots so the memory can be upgraded to a maximum of 8GB if needed.

Specifications

• Intel Celeron J1900 Quad-Core CPU.
• 4GB DDR3L-1600 memory.
• 64GB SSD for OS.
• Dual Gigabit Ethernet
• Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 Essentials.

Become a Patron!