QNAP TS-328 3-bay NAS Review

QNAP's first 3-bay NAS, the TS-328 neatly solves the problem of providing better data protection for a NAS in the entry level market sector. A 2-bay NAS can provide RAID 1 data protection but if you want RAID 5 protection then you need to opt for a more costly 4-bay NAS option. The TS-328 gets around this by offering a more cost effective RAID 5 solution by using the least number of drives needed to build a RAID 5 array; three.

With a 1.4GHz quad core processor backed by 2GB of DDR4 memory, the TS-328 has enough grunt to perform the everyday functions of a NAS competently as can be seen from the test results earlier in our review today. If you have the feeling that a bit more memory might help the unit do the job a bit faster, then you are out of luck as the default memory configuration can't be changed.

Any NAS stands or falls by its OS and the TS-328 uses QNAP's QTS OS which is one of the best around. Fast and easy to install, the feature rich software offers a graphically rich interface with all the major functions represented by icons which makes navigating around easier for the first time user.  For the more experienced user however using the control panel interface opens up a whole heap of extra settings to fine tune the NAS for whatever jobs its being asked to perform.

QTS also provides Snapshot data protection support for the TS-328. Once only found on SMB/enterprise NAS, Snapshots fully record the NAS system state and the metadata contained on it. If files are accidentally deleted or there is some other data related problem, the system can be brought back to how it was before the problems occurred. Using the Storage Manager in QTS, Snapshots can be either taken manually or scheduled and even backed up to other NAS units/servers for extra protection. It's to QNAP credit that they have brought this feature from the high-end NAS models to the entry level ranges.

We found the QNAP TS-328 on Span.com for £266.40 (inc VAT) HERE

Pros.

• RAID 5 support with three disks.
• Overall performance.
• Tool free drives.
• QTS software

Cons.

• Drive trays feel a little flimsy.
• Doesn't support drive hot swapping.

KitGuru says: QNAP's TS-328 is just the job if you want more data protection than a 2-bay NAS can offer but don't want to stretch the budget to a 4-bay unit.

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