QNAP TS-453mini NAS Review

Storage/NAS by stefan @ 2015-07-28

Powered by a dedicated and efficient platform from Intel, the J1900 quad-core processor and paired with 2GB of RAM, the TS-453mini is running the last version of the fully-fledged QTS which is currently at its 4.1.4 version and is also sporting a unique-shaped chassis design. Speaking about the chassis, now it looks more stylish, ideal to be installed in our living-room and the discrete LEDs help us find out the system status at all times; the memory is now very easy upgradable up to 8GB of RAM by simply removing a small plastic cover on the bottom area of the unit.

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Product Features

Innovative design and easy system upgrade

 

The glossy TS-453mini features a stylish vertical design that takes up 29% less desktop space*, making it suitable for offices or even study rooms at home. Compared with the traditional NAS cooling fan, the TS-453mini houses a quiet internal compact exhaust that helps dissipate heat, delivers less noise and reduces dust. With the tool-less design, you can easily remove the TS-453mini’s magnetic top cover to add or replace hot-swappable 3.5” hard drives**. Upgrading the RAM of a NAS has also never been easier with a conveniently accessible cover at the bottom. This streamlined architecture design helps you maintain the TS-453mini with minimal effort.

 

Smart LED

 

The aesthetically-designed skyline LED indicator will flash a blue light to remind you the system is in S3 sleep mode. Based on the surrounding environment, you can adjust the brightness of all system indicators (from a scale from 0 to 100, in 20-step increments) and also schedule the system to automatically dim the LEDs at certain times when needed.

 

Quad-core CPU delivering high performance

 

Powered by a quad-core Intel® Celeron® 2.0GHz processor with 2GB energy-efficient DDR3L RAM (upgradable to 8GB), coupled with the support of SATA 6Gb/s, 2 Gigabit LAN ports and HDMI output, the TS-453mini is a powerful NAS that delivers up to 220 MB/s read & write speeds. The TS-453mini can also automatically increase the processor's clock rate from 2.0GHz to 2.41GHz when needed for CPU-intensive tasks. The TS-453mini’s fast encryption and decryption performance provides transfer speeds of up to 220 MB/s with AES 256-bit volume encryption, boosting system performance & security while ensuring the safety of sensitive business data stored in the TS-453mini.

 

QTS - Simple and efficient

 

Thanks to the intuitive user interface of QTS, system operations of the TS-453mini are smooth and handy. Its intelligent desktop allows you to find desired functions quickly, create desktop shortcuts or group shortcuts, monitor important system information on a real-time basis, and open multiple application windows to run multiple tasks concurrently, bringing greater operating efficiency.

 

Qsirch – A smarter, faster way to search

 

Quickly and easily find documents, photos, videos, and music with Qsirch, QNAP’s new built-in NAS search application lets you find what you need by real-time, natural search. Simply type in as much as you know about what you are trying to find, including bits of the file name or even words/phrases in the document, and Qsirch will display a list of matches, complete with thumbnails, as you type. Qsirch even remembers your search history so you can quickly navigate to files you’ve previously searched for. Qsirch is a huge productivity boost – it greatly reduces the amount of time spent looking for files on the NAS so you can focus on other tasks.

 

SSD cache acceleration

 

The TS-453mini supports SSD caching which can greatly boost IOPS performance of storage volumes. It is perfect for improving overall workflow of IOPS-demanding applications such as virtualization.

 

Use your TS-453mini as a PC with the exclusive QvPC Technology

 

QNAP’s exclusive QvPC Technology consolidates a number of high-end technologies including virtual machine (VM) integration, multimedia transcoding, HDMI output, cloud integration and NAS connection technologies, allowing users to operate the TS-453mini as a PC when they plug in a keyboard, mouse and monitor. With QvPC Technology, the TS-453mini is transformed into a cost-effective device with PC functionalities for users to directly access stored data, run multiple applications using Windows/Linux/UNIX/Android-based VMs, surf the web on Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, enjoy Full HD videos with up to 7.1 channel audio with Kodi, monitor Surveillance Station in real time with local display, and much more.

 

Run additional operating systems on the TS-453mini

 

With the support for Intel® Virtualization Technology (VT-x), the TS-453mini can operate the Virtualization Station, transforming the TS-453mini into a 2-in-a-box NAS that can function as an all-in-one NAS and a virtualization platform that supports multiple operating systems, fast VM creation, VM import/export, snapshot, and enables desktop operations on web browsers. With the easy-to-use interface, you can centrally manage all of the VMs created on the TS-453mini with minimal effort. You can also download VMs on demand from online VM markets and import them to the TS-453mini without any complex procedures.

 

Cross-platform file sharing, centralized data storage

 

The TS-453mini supports SMB/CIFS, NFS, and AFP protocols for file sharing across Windows, Mac, Linux/UNIX networks. Data, logs and ISO images of CDs and DVDs can be centrally stored on the TS-453mini and protected by an integrated antivirus solution. The Windows AD and LDAP services enable system administrators to configure user permissions by using an existing Windows AD server, LDAP server or built-in LDAP service. The TS-453mini supports SAMBA v4 and can act as a Windows domain controller to manage privilege settings.

 

Well-rounded backup solutions to secure data

 

QNAP NetBak Replicator supports real-time and scheduled data backup on Windows including Outlook email archiving. Apple Time Machine is also supported to provide Mac OS X users with a solution to effortlessly back up data to the TS-453mini. The USB 3.0 port on the front panel of the TS-453mini features a one-touch-copy function for you to instantly back up data from external drives to the TS-453mini with just one click, or alternatively to back up data from the TS-453mini to external drives. A wide range of third-party backup software such as Acronis® True Image and Symantec® Backup Exec are also supported.

 

Disaster recovery solutions brings peace of mind

 

The TS-453mini offers various data recovery options. RTRR (Real-Time Remote Replication) supports real time or scheduled data backup to a remote Turbo NAS or FTP server and synchronizes files to a remote folder from a local folder with better backup efficiency and reduced backup time. The TS-453mini also supports rsync protocol to back up data to another remote server on scheduled basis. Data can also be backed up to and restored from a range of cloud storage services, including Amazon® S3, Amazon Glacier, Microsoft® Azure, ElephantDrive®, Dropbox® and Google Cloud Storage.

 

Comprehensive security options

 

In open network environments, business data may be exposed in a potential hack. The TS-453mini provides numerous security options, such as encrypted access, IP blocking, and more. IT administrators can also control the access rights of each user to different folders, preventing unauthorized access to important files. The TS-453mini is validated with military-level FIPS 140-2 AES 256-bit encryption, preventing sensitive business data from unauthorized access and breach even if the hard drives or the entire system were stolen.

 

Real-time & offline HD video transcoding

 

The TS-453mini delivers superior real-time Full HD video transcoding to convert videos to formats that can be smoothly played on PCs, mobile devices and Smart TVs. It allows for up to 5 devices to simultaneously view different videos stored on the TS-453mini with on-the-fly hardware accelerated transcoding. The TS-453mini allows you to enjoy instant videos on multiple devices - even those that lack computing power or have limited file format support - without the need for complicated and time-consuming file conversion.

 

With the benefit of offline transcoding, if you can only connect to an Internet connection with limited/restricted bandwidth, you can still enjoy smooth videos by selecting a pre-rendered lower resolution to play the videos via File Station, Video Station, or the Qfile mobile app without affecting the TS-453mini’s system performance running other applications. The TS-453mini also allows you to set a dedicated folder for automatic video transcoding.

 

Full HD videos local display with HD Station via HDMI

 

QNAP HD Station integrates the powerful Kodi media player and web browser. With HDMI connectivity, you can connect the TS-453mini to a HDTV to enjoy your multimedia on the big screen. The splendid user interface and support for 7.1-surround sound passthrough* brings smooth playback of Full HD 1080p videos**. You can even watch YouTube videos, surf the web and manage the Turbo NAS using Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox with multilingual keyboard input. The HD Station supports multi-tasking and user authentication so only authorized users can access data stored on the TS-453mini via HDMI monitors.

 

The TS-453mini is packed with QNAP RM-IR002 remote control for you to conveniently control the HD Station via the built-in IR receiver of the TS-453mini. You can also turn your mobile devices into remote controls by installing the Qremote app. The HD Station also supports YouTube Pairing, allowing you to select a YouTube video on your smartphone, tablet or computer and play it on HDTV via the TS-453mini.

 

File synchronization across multiple devices

 

The Qsync utility turns your TS-453mini into a safe data center for file synchronization with a large storage capacity. Any file uploaded to the TS-453mini will be made available for all linked devices, such as computers, laptops or mobile devices. Qsync is especially useful for frequent travelers to manage files and always have the most updated files on different devices. Qsync provides multiple ways of file synchronization and group file sharing, greatly enhancing the flexibility of collaboration.

 

Storage for comprehensive virtualization applications

 

The TS-453mini supports VMware® and Citrix®, and is compatible with Microsoft® Hyper-V™ and Windows Server 2012, benefiting flexible deployment and management in the virtualization environments. The TS-453mini supports VMware VAAI and Microsoft ODX to increase performance by offloading server loading for ESXi server and Hyper-V respectively, and supports QNAP vSphere Client plug-in and QNAP SMI-S provider with enhanced operational efficiency and management in virtualization applications.

 

Comprehensive surveillance solution providing 24/7 security

 

Surveillance Station is professional network surveillance Video Management System (VMS) that offers a user-friendly management interface, over 2,700 compatible IP camera models, and expandable IP camera channel licenses. It supports real-time monitoring, video & audio recording and playback with a wide range of customizable settings. You can also install the Vmobile mobile app on your iOS® or Android™ devices to manage the monitored channels anytime and anywhere to safeguard your office environment, or install the Vcam mobile app to turn your device into a network camera to instantly record to your TS-453mini. The TS-453mini offers 2 free IP camera channels and you can expand up to 24 channels by purchasing additional licenses.

 

Signage Station - Creatively present your animated content and ads

 

With the Signage Station, it is easy to create content for a wide range of materials such as menu boards, advertisements, posters, and business profiles. The Signage Station is a great tool to invigorate your advertisements or animated materials for promoting your services, and to update contents in a timely manner. The iArtist Lite application, with intuitive editing tools, helps you create these signs with simple drag & drop tools. Your creativity can now travel around the world with a few simple steps to instantly get published, revised, and shared.

 

Sync and enjoy with your mobile devices

 

The TS-453mini is your private cloud storage that virtually enlarges the capacity of your mobile devices. Qfile allows you to access, upload, download, manage, and share stored files easily as if you are carrying tons of files in your pocket. If Qfile is installed on an iOS device, users can also browse videos & photos stored on the TS-453mini and play via Apple TV. Qmanager lets you monitor & manage the TS-453mini remotely and efficiently without turning on a PC, and you can enjoy and share music, photos and videos on the TS-453mini anywhere and anytime with Qmusic, Qphoto and Qvideo apps.

 

Install-on-demand apps to extend NAS functionality

 

The TS-453mini has a built-in App Center that provides various install-on-demand apps developed by QNAP and third-party developers, including tools for backup/sync, business, content management, communications, download, entertainment, and much more. It is also a centralized location for managing & updating installed apps. In addition, QNAP’s development platform embraces the open-source spirit to enable developers to create their own apps, adding potentially limitless potential for the TS-453mini.

 

Economical storage expansion with scale-up solution

 

The TS-453mini offers a high performance yet affordable storage solution to fulfill the needs of small/home offices in archiving rapidly growing data & large files. The TS-453mini supports capacity expansion by connecting a QNAP expansion enclosure. With the QNAP scale-up solution, the raw storage capacity can be expanded on demand, making the TS-453mini an ideal file center with a large storage capacity for digital data.

 

Energy-saving

 

The TS-453mini features a 22nm CPU and DDR3L RAM which feature low voltage requirements and low power consumption whilst maintaining high performance in system operations. Other eco-friendly designs include S3 sleep mode, scheduled power on/off, hard disk standby mode, and Wake on LAN.

 

Additional SMB-ready features

 

The TS-453mini supports various business applications as an all-in-one Turbo NAS with cost-efficiency.

 

The Turbo NAS supports FTP server to share large files, with user-defined settings including bandwidth limitation, number of connections, and write-only permissions.

The Turbo NAS supports VPN server which provides an easy way for IT administrators to build up a secure private network and allows the staff to log on from outside the office and access business resources securely such as files and Internet connections.

 

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