In Use:

While the last several pages of this review could have been included in a section called "In Use", this part will be for some observations regarding things like the performance and experience. Quantifying the performance of a NAS can be influenced by factors other than the device itself; including network speed (10/100/1000?), network traffic, cable quality, network cards in the local computers, and so on. It is because of these things that I hesitate to publish benchmark figures (especially since it was connected to the local network with a single 100Mbps connections. That said, I did do some testing.

First, I fired up three Windows 7 based computers connected to the same network as the BlackArmor NAS 440 and staggered the start of large file transfers (4GB DVD rip MPEG files) to the NAS 440 from each. With just one computer sending files to the NAS, the transfer rate was just over 10MB/s. When a second computer started its transfers while the first was in progress, first computer's rate dropped to just over 7MB/s, while computer two maintained a rate just over 5MB/s. Inviting the third computer to the write party saw all three maintain transfers at just over 5MB/s. Reversing the process saw a maximum read speed of just over 10MB/s when just one system was accessing the NAS, it dropped to a fairly even 6MB/s per system split with two computers, and it dipped to just over 5MB/s each when all three accessed read the MPEGs back at the same time. Not particularly fast, but as I said, the network has to take some of the blame, and these were larger files than you might normally be transferring all at once from different locations.

Transferring smaller files seemed much faster, although the rates were about the same. Simply because a handful of MP3 files and Word documents don't occupy much disk space, the transfers were done in no time. Streaming music from the NAS 440 was flawless, and all three test systems could stream music simultaneously without interruption. Accessing the Word documents from the NAS was like working on them from a local hard drive, and having multiple people working from files like this stored there would not be a problem.

Running a typical disk benchmark on the network confirmed the results of the read/write test above. ATTO showed a maximum of just over 11MB/s for writing to the NAS 440, and a maximum of just over 10MB/s for reading from the NAS 440.



Power Consumption:

AC power consumption was measured by plugging the Seagate NAS 440 into a Seasonic Power Angel set to display AC wattage. The idle condition was established by leaving the NAS powered up, but with no active transfers. The active condition was established by rebuilding a RAID 5 array, while transferring large video files to it from one PC and running CrystalDiskMark from another PC.

For a point of reference, I ran the same tests on another NAS device on hand... The Thecus N4100PRO, reviewed here almost two years ago. The present configuration of the Thecus enclosure has four 5400RPM 640GB Samsung drives inside, for a total of about 2.5TB of storage space.

The chart below details the findings...



I have to say I was pretty surprised. Not only because the Seagate unit with its four big 7200RPM drives draws less power, but that at its highest draw it is using about as much power as the Thecus NAS does at idle. 40W to 50W isn't bad, and in terms of a practical analogy you can imagine the NAS 440 drawing less than a typical incandescent light bulb, whether at idle or active.