Testing:
After some rather extensive usage in every day situations, I decided the review needed some numbers in order to wrap things up. Whether you have a 100Mbps or 1Gbps network connection, data transfer rates are not going to be the most exciting feature of a NAS device like this. The speed of SATA 3Gbps hard drives installed in the N3200 won't be the bottleneck, whether you are in RAID 0, 1, 5, or JBOD. I therefore decided to test the read and write speeds of just the RAID 5 configuration while using the three Maxtor MaxLine III 250GB drives shown earlier in the review.
Testing was broken up into four phases; small file write, small file read, large file write, and large file read. The "small file" test consisted of three folders totaling 10.1GB in disk space, made up of a mix of txt, mp3, html, jpg, and gif files. The "large file" test consisted of one DVD ISO image totaling 4.3GB in disk space. A stopwatch was used to time the duration of each transfer, and for good measure both the host computer and the N3200 were rebooted between tests. The method of transfer was to simply select all files to be transferred, right click and select "cut", then paste them into the destination folder. The chart below details the results.
What we see is that the transfer rates aren't all that bad for a NAS, but that those expecting to see SATA 3Gbps-like performance need to remember that all that speed is going to waste. You wind up with transfer rates a bit slower than you might get with a USB 2.0 connection, but with the mass sharing capabilities of a network connection (plus redundancy, if you happen to choose RAID 1 or 5).
In a subsequent, informal test, I found that FTP transfers from the N3200 could also move along with some of the best downloads I have ever seen. With the N3200 connected at home (with a 30/5 Mbps connection), I could download files at another location with a 30/5 Mbps connection at close to 2 Mbps.
The next chart takes a look at something that was of personal interest to me. The Thecus N3200 not only provides three disks worth of storage, but is also able to function as a print server, iTunes server, and webcam server. What might have required a dedicated PC can now be handled by a small box that should use much less electricity. The chart below takes a look at the sleep, idle, and active AC power consumption measured by a Seasonic Power Angel.
When the device powered down due to inactivity it drew a mere 16 Watts, and at the highest point it drew 54 Watts. Either value is rather small; less than the typical (incandescent) light bulb. The minimal power consumption is just another positive to add to the device's growing list.
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