QNAP TVS-951X 5+4 Bay NAS Reviewed

Today, network storage devices are becoming the norm in most homes and small to medium enterprises. Whilst we all have access to cloud-based storage, internet speeds here in Australia and other countries still make NAS devices an attractive alternative for backups and content sharing. QNAPs latest offering in this space is the TVS-951X. As with all their storage products, you have great file sharing capabilities to Mac, Windows, and Linux devices.

Let’s take a look to see whether the QNAP TVS-951X is good enough to become your own private data center in the garage.

QNAP TVS-951X Features

Some of the notable features include:

• Efficient Storage – With the Qtier technology and SSD caching, you can optimize storage on the QNAP TVS-951X.
• Data Snapshots – To assist with data deletion and malware attacks, the TVS-951X supports Snapshots on some of the volumes. Snapshots make it easier to protect your data on a real-time basis.
• 4K Video Playback – Users have an edge with the transcoding process due to the high-quality Intel HD Graphics 610 processor used. You can easily stream videos to other media devices or playback directly via the onboard HDMI.
• Superb Music Experience – The QNAP TVS-951X is compatible with the Roon Server app that provides easy way to stream music to multiple devices. You can enjoy listening to your favorite songs.

Design & Build Quality

The design is always consistent from model to model with QNAP. I would have preferred the memory slots a little easier to access but it wasn’t too bad once the case was off. The only negative I had with the build quality was the use of the plastic drive caddy. I feel that these distract from the overall quality of the build.

QNAP TVS-951X

The rear ports on the QNAP TVS-951X

Access to the memory slots

Plastic HDD caddy

Performance

A quick CPU check via SSH confirms the inclusion of the Intel processor as described in the specs:

[~] # head -5 /proc/cpuinfo ; echo ; uname -a ; echo
processor       : 0
vendor_id       : GenuineIntel
cpu family      : 6
model           : 142
model name      : Intel(R) Celeron(R) CPU 3865U @ 1.80GHz

Linux NAS2CDFF5 4.2.8 #1 SMP Fri Aug 10 11:44:30 CST 2018 x86_64 GNU/Linux

First up was a basic transfer test performed on the device using a bunch of SSDs in JBOD configuration:

[~] # hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  1520 MB in  3.00 seconds = 506.10 MB/sec
[~] # hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  1530 MB in  3.00 seconds = 509.37 MB/sec
[~] # hdparm -t /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing buffered disk reads:  1526 MB in  3.00 seconds = 508.02 MB/sec
[~] #

Next up was some data transfer without using the drive cache:

[~] # hdparm -t --direct /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing O_DIRECT disk reads:  1416 MB in  3.00 seconds = 471.95 MB/sec
[~] # hdparm -t --direct /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing O_DIRECT disk reads:  1412 MB in  3.00 seconds = 470.51 MB/sec
[~] # hdparm -t --direct /dev/sda

/dev/sda:
 Timing O_DIRECT disk reads:  1424 MB in  3.00 seconds = 474.17 MB/sec
[~] #

Speeds were as expected on the local device. We also did some quick tests over 10Gbps by transferring files to and from another 10GbE enabled QNAP. Straight up you can see that we hit limitations with the write speeds of the test SSDs. Read performance was a lot better though easily hitting speeds over 300MB/s:

QNAP TVS-951X NAS to NAS Copy

Finally, we benchmarked the performance using an Apple iMac as a desktop client accessing a share via SMB:

QNAP TVS-951X Disk Speed Test

Final Thoughts

The QNAP TVS-951X is a must have NAS for any home and small business with high storage demands.  The wide range of features and supported 3rd party apps puts the TVS-951X ahead of the pack. File transfers, when coupled with the QNAP QSW-1208-8C 10GbE switch, were fast and could be even better with some quality SSDs. Video streaming and transcoding were also flawless during our tests.  With the high quality and excellent user-experience with QNAP products, the TVS-951X should definitely be on the top of your NAS shortlist.

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