NAS Cases Compared - Fractal ARRAY R2 Mini ITX NAS Case Review

Cases & PSU/Cases by piotke @ 2010-08-22

Now that we have affordable unlimited internet in Belgium, the need for storage has grown. Of course you can fill your computer with hard disks, or to make it easier to share you can buy a bunch of external disks. But in my opinion a dedicated solution for storage, such as a NAS would be more practical. In this review we´ll be taking a look at some solutions.

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Competitors

Intel SS4000-E

Product specifications
  • Number of disks: Four 3,5 inch sata disk:
  • Processor: A single Low Voltage Intel® XScale® 80219 processor operating @ 400 MHz
  • Memory: 256MB PC 200 SD RAM

    Madshrimps (c)


    Installation of the machine is fairly straight forwarded. Power it off first, click on the handle to unlock a drive bay, and pull it out. Place hard disk in position, tighten with four screws, and click the bay back in. Installation time depends on how handy you are with a screwdriver. But normally replacing or installing a disk should take no more than half a minute.

    Once everything installed, you can enjoy the 4 network, and three systems LEDs showing you the activity. Also per bay you can see if the disk is on, and active or not.

    Madshrimps (c) Madshrimps (c) Madshrimps (c)





    Shuttle K45

    Product specifications
  • Number of disks: Two 3,5 inch sata or pata disks. With some modding a third disk can be added.
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo / Intel Dual-Core E2000 series / Celeron D 400 series Support 533/800/1066 MHz FSB
  • Memory: depending on the installed motherboard

    Madshrimps (c)


    To install or replace a disk you need to unscrew the top cover. Once this is pulled back, I can only hope you want to use the top drive bay. This disk can be accessed the easiest. Remove the screws, and the hard disk can be swapped. This will take you about a minute or so. But if you need to remove the second disk, of perhaps the third disk you installed the do-it-yourself way it will require you to de-assemble half your system. I predict 15 to 20 minutes of cursing.

    Madshrimps (c)
    Notice the mounting for the bottom hard disk. I also had to cut a piece of the Intel processor cooler.





    Fractal ARRAY R2

    Product specifications.
  • Number of disks: Six 3,5 inch sata or pata disks + one SSD. With modding more disks might be possible
  • Processor: depending on the installed motherboard
  • Memory: depending on the installed motherboard

    We equipped the case with an Asus AT3IONT-I deluxe mainboard. The next page is dedicated to its installation.
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