Many homes today have several computers distributed throughout the house, and there is always some common data to share between them. Whether it be MP3s, photos, videos, drivers, games, or whatever; it is alot more convenient to have a single repository of these files that everyone on your home network can access. Some people utilize a home network server that just sits around and gobbles up electricity, when its sole purpose is just to keep your files accessible 24/7.
A Networked Attached Storage (NAS) appliance can serve the purpose of a home file server, and do it by sipping only 20 watts of electricity. Some NAS devices have other value-added services like print servers, media servers, full-features web server, and other handy features that can easily replace a large noisy computer.
QNAP is one company that has several innovative NAS appliances on offer. Their TS-109 Pro NAS server has a ton of exciting features that cater to the home and small business user. The unit also has some nifty features to dynamically expand storage and copy data to the unit without a computer. Not only can the unit serve files, but it also has support as a Media Server for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles, in addition to all of the other standard NAS features.
QNAP TS-109 Turbo Station is the most powerful Network Attached Storage (NAS) product designed for SOHO/ Home users. With the friendly web-based interface, users can easily set up a network system for all sorts of storage applications without MIS help. With stylish silver/ black aluminum housing, noise-free (Silent PC) design, easy installation, and complete server feature sets, you can easily build up a perfect multimedia storage center for backing up and sharing multimedia files with your friends and family. TS-109 provides a lot of attractive server functions, such as iTunes Server, UPnP/ DLNA Media Server (TwonkyMedia) with Internet Radio, Multimedia Station, BitTorrent Download Station, etc. for multimedia applications.
All-in-one NAS server also provides the most complete backup solution for SOHO/ Home users: Remote Replication (R.R); Anto-Sync/ Instant/ Schedule client backup by professional Netbak Replicator; Unique Q-RAID 1 mirroring for real-time system redundancy to secure the priceless files safely. QNAP TS-109 Turbo Station supports high volume SATA disk of up to 1 TB and is extendable to 2 TB by ultra-fast eSATA and USB 2.0 port. Besides, more valuable features such as disk checking, bad block scanning, and network recycle bin, etc. are included. TS-109 is definitely one of the most powerful and safest repository to ensure all of your precious digital files be stored securely and will never be lost or damaged. TS-109 can run 24×7 without any fan noise at low power consumption for only 14.4W. It is perfectly designed for a quiet SOHO/ Home environment.
Powerful All-in-one NAS Server (12-in-1 Server !!!)
| UPnP Media Server (with built-in TwonkyMedia Server) TS-109 is a perfect media storage center and it works well with DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compliant media players. You can play the photos and videos on TV. In addition, you can listen to your favorite music and Internet Radio on your Hi-Fi System. |
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| Share your music by iTunes Server Music fans and Apple enthusiasts will be certainly rocked by the coolest music-sharing feature of TS-109! All your MP3 music can be collectively stored and streamed to Mac or Windows PC. Just turn on the iTunes program and enjoy all the music around your home network |
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| Multimedia Station for photo sharing Now you can share photos with your family and friends by TS-109. By uploading your photos to TS-109, the server automatically generates a web-based photo album with thumbnails and details, such as date, resolution, focal length, aperture, etc.. You can browse and share the digital photos in a convenient way! |
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| Enjoy continuous download independent of PC TS-109 serves as a continuous download machine without turning on your PC. TS-109 supports download through BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP. The great web-based interface allows you to manage the download tasks anytime, anywhere! |
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| Create your own File Server in the easiest way The basic purpose of File Server is to allow users to store and share files. Users often concern that their private data or confidential files would be accessed by others. TS-109 allows server manager to create user ID and password, and define the authority and quota for each user. Thus personal data stored on TS-109 are well protected. |
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| FTP Server simplifies the data sharing Having troubles with sending large files by e-mail due to the limited capacity? You can establish your own FTP server by using TS-109. You can manage the access authority of the FTP server and share your files with your friends or customers easily in a few steps. |
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| Backup Server with the most professional auto-backup software Data backup may sound time- and effort-consuming for most users. QNAP’s Turbo Station now brings you the enterprise-class technology to make backup extremely simple and efficient! The most intelligent automatic backup software, NetBak Replicator, is provided for users to perform real-time synchronization or schedule backup from multiple PCs to TS-109. |
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| Enhanced data protection by optional RAID-1 mirroring Imagine, your server’s hard drive crashes and you lose everything. What would you do to have it back? QNAP’s exclusive Q-RAID 1 provides the ultra-high-level redundancy, which helps to keep a real-time synchronized mirror in your external USB or eSATA hard drive box. In case the main storage is damaged, the backup disk can be installed to TS-109 to resume normal operation |
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| Remote Replication Remote Replication provides a superior level of data protection. Files can be backed up from TS-109 to other QNAP NAS products in remote locations. Advanced options including data compression, block level incremental backup, and data synchronization save tremendous bandwidth and time for data backup. |
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| Establish your interactive Web Server Owning a web server is no more a dream! With the dual support of MySQL and SQLite, SOHO/ Home users can easily set up their own web server. With the editable php.ini support, there is no need of going through all the hassles of setting up a web server. You can either develop programs by yourself or download a variety of open-sourced applications, such as online shops, forums, blogs, etc., over the Internet. |
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| MySQL Server TS-109 is the most affordable choice as a standalone database server for system integrators. It can be applied flexibly in various deployments such as a database server of another web server in remote site or as an additional backup database server to achieve system redundancy. |
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| Share your printer resource by Printer Server You can share your printer device over the network without duplicating investment by simply connecting a USB printer to TS-109’s USB port and enabling the printer sharing function. |
TS-109 is specially designed for different users to share the files across Windows and Mac environment.
Stylish silver/ black aluminum case
TS-109 uses the stylish silver/ black aluminum housing to match your interior design.
No fan design
The fan used inside a device is for the purpose of cooling system, no matter how quiet it is, the fan has to be activated for air ventilation. Somehow, it is inevitable to generate intermittent chirping noise which distracts your work or diminishes your enjoyment. TS-109 adapts no fan design approach by using silver/ black aluminum case for thermal dissipation. It provides an absolute quiet working environment for you!!
For more details about fanless design
One touch USB auto copy
When a USB device such as digital camera, digital camcorder, or pen drive is plugging into the front panel USB port, data in the USB flash disk or digital photos in your camera can be backed up to TS-109 automatically by simply pressing the USB copy button.
No idea how’s the health status of your centralized storage hard disk? TS-109 is embedded with HHS technology which lets you to perform checking disk and bad blocks scanning to prevent potential data loss.
Unique Web File Manager
TS-109 provides unique Web File Manager function for you to easily download, upload and manage the files on the server by browser.
SSL Security (HTTPS)
You can access and manage your Turbo Station by using web browser securely. All connections between PC and NAS including user ID, password, files, download tasks, etc. are encrypted in SSL tunnels and are well protected.
QGet is powerful P2P download management software provided with QNAP’s Turbo Station series. QGet can be installed on any Windows computers for users to simultaneously manage BitTorrent, FTP and HTTP download tasks of multiple Turbo Station servers.
Can you imagine if you delete an important file on the NAS by mistake and lose it forever? You don’t need to worry now! The files deleted from the network shares of the TS-109 will be moved to a particular recycle bin folder. You can restore your data anytime in case of unintended file deletion.
Built-in DDNS support
TS-109 supports dynamic DNS (DDNS). You can register a unique domain name from a DDNS service provider and assign it to your Turbo Station. There is no more need to remember a lengthy IP address!
Establish a PC-less Home Multimedia Center by Using QNAP NAS and PS3 or Xbox 360
Ultra-high-speed Performance
Thermal Performance
For more details about fanless design
Low Power Consumption
Quiet and Noise-free Design
The QNAP TS-109 Pro has a nice attractive aluminum case that encases a powerful all-in-one PCB and single SATA drive mount. Included in the box is the unit itself, a getting-started manual, mounting screws, vertical positioning feet, external power supply and power cable.
The front of the unit houses a single power button, copy button, LED status and activity lights, and a single standard USB port (used to transfer files to the unit directly). The front LEDs indicate Front USB status (if a storage device is plugged in), NAS status, Hard Disk activity, eSATA (activity on the back eSATA port), Network (activity on the network), and Power (activity on the power… I mean if the unit is on).
QNAP TS-109 LED Status Messages
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The back of the unit has two standard USB ports (used to expand storage or connect a printer), a recessed reset button, an eSATA port, gigabite LAN port, and DC port.
Opening the unit is very simple. By default the unit is not secured with screws, so the inside compartment slides right now. The internal component contains the PCB with all of the unit’s intelligence, and is where a single SATA drive can be mounted. The PCB has five LEDs that illuminate the front of the unit’s case, two pushbuttons (the actual switches behind the Power and Copy buttons), a standard USB port and a tiny speaker (used for warnings and other auditory diagnostics). The rear of the unit is connected directly to the backplate, and houses the eSATA jack, network jack, DC power in, reset button and dual USB 2.0 jacks.
In the center of the PCB is an aluminum frame where a standard SATA drive can be mounted. There is a single connector that plugs directly into the drive which makes both the data and power connections. The data port is perfectly positioned, so all you have to do is place a drive into the aluminum mount and slide it into position until contact is made. The drive can then be secured by attaching the included screws to the side of the drive mount.
The innards can be inserted back into the aluminum chasis. The backplate can then be affixed within the case by securing screws to the backplate. Installation of a drive is now finished, and you can begin to play with your new digital toy.
One thing to note about this unit is that is completely fanless. This may be a boon for those who want their NAS sitting on their desk, but most users will probably locate a NAS to a network or wiring closet. The unit is constructed of aluminum and does dissipate heat (it gets rather warm in use), but I would rather see a unit with even a small fan. I have used many detachable storage devices, and most of the ones with fans are so quiet that you never notice them, and they keep the unit’s temperature within t
Getting the unit setup on your network is also rather simple. If your home network already has DHCP enabled, then all you have to do it plug up a network jack and run the included software on one of your PCs. The setup application can detect the QNAP NAS and runs you through a wizard to configure the unit. One of the first things the setup application does after establishing a connection is give you the option to synchronize time with the Internet.
The wizard continues on, allowing you to change your passwords, configure your IP settings (which should be a piece of cake even for network n00bs). The next step to get your device ready is to format the enclosed drive. I was dismayed that I had to format my drive, as I had already slapped in a drive all ready with the common files I wanted on the network.
Once this is done then the unit can be seen on the network and is ready to serve files. The device now has shared folders to support the different functionality of the device. Here are the folders that are created:
- Public: Public network share
- Qdownload: Network share for Download Station
- Qmultimedia: Network share for Multimedia Station
- Qusb: Network share for data copy from USB ports
- Qweb: Network share for the Web Server
Being a Network Storage device is just the tip of the iceberg as far as the features are concerned. The QNAP TS-109 Pro has so many features that it can easily replace a dedicated home server, and all of these features are easy to configure with any web browser.
Dynamically expandable storage
At first I was a little disappointed that this unit only had room for one drive. Then I discovered that the unit’s storage can be updated using eSATA or USB drives to expand the storage by up to three more drives (two on USB, and one on SATA). It is alot more efficient to attach an eSATA drive, however. Each additional externally-powered USB drive has its own power supply, each of which wastes power in converting AC to DC. Assuming 80% efficiency for each, then running two drives would only be 60% efficient (as you have 2 drives with 20% loss each). Running an eSATA drive runs off the same power as the NAS itself, thereby saving power. Just something to think about…
All of the features of the QNAP TS-109 NAS are configured using a standard web browser. Just type in the NAS IP address you’ve assigned to the unit and you’ll be prompted to enter a username and password (you DID set one up, right?). Once you’ve successfully logged in you can configure any and all of the server’s features.
USB Drive Support
The unit also supports USB disks and thumb drives for extended storage (and the Q-RAID 1 function). You can choose to use the USB disk as a network share from the TS-109, or configure the USB disk as a mirror of the SATA disk. You can also copy data from the front USB port to the NAS without any PC intervention by simply plugging in a thumb drive and pressing the COPY button.
If you have setup a mirror for data recovery and the main hard disk starts to fail, you can easily recover from the backup disk. If you have implemented the Q-RAID 1 feature (everything is mirrored to the external eSATA disk), then you can simply replace the main drive with the external drive for instant recovery.
Multimedia Station
Multimedia files like photos, MP3s, or videos can be shared and streamed from the device by enabling the Multimedia Station. You can enable the general Multimedia Station, and independantly enable an iTunes service and UPnP MediaServer.
The TS-109 Pro provides a user-friendly web management interface to manage and share personal albums and multimedia files through the network easily. It supports embedded iTunes Server music sharing, UPnP, and DLNA standards, so sharing your multimedia files should be a breeze no matter which services and programs you prefer to use.
Once your multimedia files are configured, you can setup a Web Interface to access all of these files through a standard web browser (or any device with a web browser like a cell phone, Nintendo Wii, Pocket PC, etc.). You can even make this website public so people outside your home can access them.
The TS-109 Pro has a built-in TwonkyMedia, DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance) compatible UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) Media Server which will share media files with any DLNA compatible media device (such as the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3).
How to play music on the QNAP Turbo Station Wirelessly by Sony PSP
Since the TS-109 Pro has TwonkyMedia server, you can play music on your Sony PSP as well. PSP gamers can freely access the music on the NAS.
To configure this, just login to the administration page of the TS-109 Pro and open the “Network Settings > Media Station” page. Check the box that says “Enable UPnP Media Server” and enable the option under “UPnP Media Server”. You can now configure the Media Server on port 9000 (http:// qnapip:9000) and enter the TwonkyMedia Configuration.
Then all you have to do is connect your PSP to your local wireless network. On the PSP home menu, go to the “Internet Browser” under the Network panel. Enter the address of your NAS (http:// qnapip:9000/rss). The TwonkyMedia server will serve up some “RSS feeds” with the music you want to listen to that can be easily browsed. You can listen to most popular formats on the PSP (MP3, MP4, ATRAC3plus, WAV, and WMA).
Download Station
The unit supports, BT, HTTP, and FTP download. You can add download tasks to the TS-109 and let the server finish downloading (independantly of your PC). This can be very helpful if you are downloading large files like Torrents or multi-gigabyte files from services like EasyNews or other newsgroup services. You could login to the unit from your work PC (through the internet) and start downloading files to home. This can be a great way to maximize cable’s unused bandwidth during the day while everyone is at work.
You can add torrents (yes there are some websites that provide legal torrents) to the Download Station window, and the unit will automatically download them to the Qdownload network share. You can also setup an FTP or HTTP download mask with login information and start downloading. You can easily change the download priority, pause or delete a download task depending on your needs. All downloaded files are written to the Qdownload share of the TS-109 Pro.
Mirror Station
Provides unique Q-RAID 1 technology which enables mirroring data backup to external USB or eSATA disks. One of the main reasons people spend extra money on a two-drive NAS is to support RAID1, and this unit effectively gives you this feature for free.
Disaster Recovery
TS-109 Pro supports remote share folder backup via the network. In case of data damage on your PC, you can restore all backup data.
Web Server
This unit enables you to create your own website using PHP and MySQL/SQLLite to establish interactive websites. It is not known what version of PHP and MySQL this unit supports, which could determine how useful this feature is (Different versions of MySQL have compatibility issues, from my experience). You can also choose to enable or disable register_globals (which is disabled by default for security purposes) and php.ini.
The server also supports a simple SMTP server so you can use PHP mail functions. The server also features a Dynamic DNS Service, so you can use the web server on a connection with a changing IP address (such as cable). There are also a several features to connect to and maintain the MySQL database.
While this feature supports a highly dynamic database-driven website, I would be leery of using it for commercial purposes. From my experience, a consumer device such as this isn’t meant for heavy activity and could drop traffic like an L.A. freeway during an earthquake.
Backup Server
NetBak Replicator is a powerful backup software solution to automatically schedule backups. Block level remote replication is supported to provide reliable, instant and secure data backup. NetBak Replication also supports backup via WAN, so you can enter the IP address of the TS-109 Pro for data backup directly and select a share folder.
This is a handy feature to have to backup files on your PC. Since the files are copied to a particular network share this seems to be one of the more elegant network backup solutions I’ve seen for a consumer device. It can even automatically backup on a schedule, and can backup intelligently so it only copies files that have changed.
File Server
Provides convenient and secure file server functions that support central data management. Users can be granted different access permissions for different shares.
FTP Server
TS-109 Pro offers the simplest FTP server setup procedure without professional assistance or software installation. The server can be setup to support Unicode, and even supports SSL and TLS encrypted FTP. You can even enable anonymous access, a passive FTP port range (55536-56559) , FTP Transfer Limitations and other features. It isn’t as granularly configurable as FileZilla or other standalone FTP clients, but is way better than IIS’s built-in FTP support.
Print Server
You can connect a standard USB printer to one of the rear USB ports and enable the printer service to transform any normal printer into a networked device. This works rather well, but some features of a multi-function printer can be lost using this method. For example, while you can still print to an all-in-one printer, you may not be able to automatically scan or press the Scan button and have it automatically write to a pre-determined folder on your PC. It’s best to connect just a standard printer to the NAS to ensure full functionality.
There are so many other features that the QNAP TS-109 NAS has and I didn’t cover them all Needless to say there is a lot to like about this unit, and is easily one of the most robust consumer-level NAS devices available.
Administration Features
The TS-109 Pro also supports several features that will help the system admin (or the control Nazi at home that loves to spy on their kids). The unit supports User Management with groups and quotas, the Network shares can be independantly controlled, and you can setup Alerts and automatic restarts and system updates. The unit even supports event logs of who accessed each of the unit’s services.
The unit also supports several networking technologies and can function as a standalone server or be added to a Windows Domain. It can also function as a WINS server, Domain Master, or you can enable AppleTalk support to interface directly with an Apple network.
The unit even has UPS support, and will automatically shut down after a certain amount of time after a main power outage. Since this device sips power then it can certainly last several hours on even a modest UPS.
Network Recycle Bin
One of the best features this unit supports is the “Network Recycle Bin”. When you delete a file hosted by this NAS from a remote PC, it is placed in a recycle bin just like on a modern Windows PC. It has happened so many times that I delete a file from the network accidentally, but it doesn’t appear in my computer’s Recycle Bin… and then I end up having to run advanced NTFS recovery on my server’s disks just to get the file back (which sometimes doesn’t work).
The QNAP TS-109 Pro Networked Attached Storage unit is one of the most feature-packed NAS units available for the consumer. Not only does it come with every feature under the sun that you would want in an NAS, but it is highly configurable and sports several professional features.
It has many consumer features that lend itself to be almost essential in today’s digital home. Nearly every networkable media device today can connect to and share the music and videos stored on this unit. Even the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 can interface with the unit, making the TS-109 Pro a suitable appliance for those who don’t require a full-blown Home Theater PC.
At nearly $300, the QNAP TS-109 Pro costs quite a bit more than a standard USB drive enclosure, but you get quite a bit more. This small little server offers big benefits and only sips electricity, especially when compared to a full-blown server.
Even if you don’t use the media features of this device, there is still alot to offer. From a full-blown PHP web server with MySQL support to Automatic Downloads, Network backup, a full-featured Print Server and capable Administration features; this unit packs a serious punch for any technology enthusiast in the digital home. Many of these features can be easily configured using a standard web browser and are rather easy to setup.
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