What happen when you choose a more powerful processor for your NAS? What’s the different if I choose two-bay over one-bay device?
NAS are not as flexible as personal computers on spec. Most will provide fix spec on processor and bay. Some have RAM upgrades as options on certain models. Therefore, performance questions are difficult to tell.
I test QNAP TS-119PII, QNAP TS-212P, QNAP TS-112, and Buffalo HD-LX2TU3 as below.
Spec Difference
The key difference to QNAP TS-119PII, QNAP TS-212P, QNAP TS-112 and are processor speed (2.0GHz, 1.6GHz, and 1.2GHz), RAM size (512MB, 512MB, and 256MB), and storage (WD10EFRX, Seagate SV35 2TB as RAID 1, and Seagate SV35 2TB). Buffalo HD-LX2TU3 has a Seagate Desktop HDD aka Barracuda (ST2000DM001) inside.
Test Method
I connect NAS to computer directly, use the same test sample in File Transmission with Different Sharing Solution on NAS, and use Linux command mount for better performance. I also add Buffalo HD-LX2TU3 to compare.
- QNAP TS-212P with two Seagate SV35 7200rpm 2TB as RAID 1.
- Buffalo HD-LX2TU3 is Seagate Desktop HDD 2TB aka Barracuda (ST2000DM001). with USB 3.0 but connects to USB 2.0 on Lenovo: ThinkCentre Edge 72z.
Performance
Analyze
It is easy to see QNAP TS-119PII and QNAP TS-212P are clear winner. QNAP TS-119PII is faster on NFS write while QNAP TS-212P provides RAID 1 for better data protection. RAID 1 helps reading but slow on writing.
QNAP TS-112 seems to better stay with Samba. The performance gap is increasing while using NFS.
More Thoughts
If you want your NAS running more than file transfer at the same time, processor makes even more different. You might need more RAM for background process, too.
Please refer to Performance Comparison on Retrieving Contacts from SugarCRM with QNAP TS-112, TS-212P, and TS-119PII if you want to know the different running AMP (Apache–MySQL–PHP) applications on your NAS.
Reference
- QNAP TS-119PII
- QNAP TS-212P
- QNAP TS-112
- WD: WD10EFRX
- Seagate Surveillance HDD
- Wiki: Standard RAID levels: RAID 1
- Buffalo HD-LX2TU3
- Seagate Desktop HDD
- Wiki: USB: USB 2.0
- Wiki: USB: USB 3.0
- Lenovo: ThinkCentre Edge 72z
- Connect NAS to your Computer Directly
- File Transmission with Different Sharing Solution on NAS
- Using Microsoft Networking via Samba with QNAP TS-112 and LevelOne GNS-1001
- Wiki: Network File System
- Wiki: Samba (software)
- Performance Comparison on Retrieving Contacts from SugarCRM with QNAP TS-112, TS-212P, and TS-119PII
- Wiki: List of Apache–MySQL–PHP packages
- Wiki: Background Process