Asustor AS5202T Nimbustor 2 2-bay NAS Review

1. Introduction2. Asustor AS5202T / Packaging & Bundle3. Asustor AS5202T Design4. Asustor ADM 5. Usability6. Testing Methodology7. ATTO Disk Benchmark8. Intel NASPT9. Backup & Restore10. Workload Scenarios11. Real Life File Testing12. Power Consumption13. Closing Thoughts14. View All Pages

We've already looked at an Asustor NAS that brought 10GbE to the consumer space, with the 4-bay AS4004T (review here), but Asustor have now brought out two new NAS devices for the mainstream market, the 4-bay AS5304T and the 2-bay AS5202T, that are the world's first to feature 2.5GbE networking support. In fact, the new NAS only has 2.5GbE ports – there are no 1GbE ports, though the 2.5GbE ports are backwards compatible all the way down to 1GbE anyway.

Asustor have created new branding for the launch of the two new devices aimed at creators, gamers and enthusiasts – Nimbustor. The AS5202T is the Nimbustor 2 and the AS5304T is the Nimbustor 4.  The new models use the same diamond-cut aesthetics introduced with the AS40**T family but with red detailing to denote the new product line, so the Asustor name, top and bottom flashes of the power button panel and labels for the LEDs are finished in red.

ADM (Asustor Data Master) is one of the best NAS OS currently available. Easy and quick to install, it is straight forward enough to navigate around. Easy to use for first time users, the OS also offers plenty of features for the more advanced user to be able to fine tune the NAS to their own requirements. It is constantly kept updated with more advanced main features and even more additions to an already impressive list of apps in App Central. From the 3.3 version of ADM, Asustor has introduced support for the Btrfs file system which in turn brings Snapshot support and better data protection.

The AS5202T comes with a HDMI 2.0a port which supports 4K media at 60fps, a real performance boost over HDMI 1.4b (30fps) which is the more commonly used in NAS devices. The new NAS also sees the introduction of a new HEVC/ VP9 10bit Profile2 encoding engine which performs the neat trick of providing smoother video streaming and playback while reducing CPU usage. Plex Pass is supported as well as third-party media players.

The latest version of ADM also brings support for the latest version of Takeasy. Takeasy can now download videos from subscribed YouTube and Twitch channels automatically allowing the creation of personal archives of channel content.

The two bay AS5202T, at the time of writing, supports up to 32TB of internal storage space – but if this should not be enough, no problem as it supports Asustor's expansion units. The AS5202T supports up to three AS6004U expansion units via its three USB ports. The AS6004U is a four bay unit which supports drives up to 16TB to give a capacity of 64TB – meaning that by using all three USB ports of the AS5202T, the total amount of supported capacity is a very impressive 224TB.

Although 10GbE hardware prices are dropping, currently it still is an expensive option for the home user. With the AS5202T, Asustor have offered another pathway to faster networking speeds with a well featured NAS that is competitively priced.

We found the Asustor AS5202T on Overclockers UK for £309.95 (inc VAT) HERE

Pros

• 2.5GbE ports.
• ADM O/S.
• 4K 60fps support.

Cons

• Lack of PCIe slot for upgrading.

KitGuru says: Not content with bringing 10GbE to the consumer market at a pretty affordable price, Asustor is now bringing 2.5GbE to the same segment, again in a competitively priced package.

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