Conclusion:

The Thecus W4000+ 4-Bay Windows Storage Server is a solidly built product that is well suited to handle the shared storage needs of a small office / home office environment. It does not have all the bells and whistles of plugins and apps available on other NAS servers, but it does run on Windows Storage Server 2012 R2. This interface may be preferred by users in corporate environments, although it may make it less appealing for personal use.

The performance of the W4000+ was quite impressive when it came to serving files from the 4x 3TB drives that were installed inside. It was easily able to achieve transfer rates in excess of 100MB/s in a variety of tests, which is definitely impressive. When it came to writing to the W4000+, the performance was not as impressive, with the results coming in below average when compared to the eight other NAS servers tested in the same way.



Energy efficiency for the unit is decent. With the four drives installed, it operated in a range between 46 and 55 Watts, which is perhaps just a bit above average for a device of this configuration. However, compared to a full fledged server, the W4000+ may offer you consider savings when it comes to power consumption.

Thanks to the Windows Storage Spaces approach to configuring drives, the setup of the W4000+ does take a bit longer and may require more instruction reading than other NAS servers. Once setup, the shared folders are readily accessible and easy to share in a Windows environment. Recent updates to Windows 10 have made shares from my Synology DiskStations harder to access via SMB, but this issue has not occurred with the W4000+. But, other than sharing files there isn't a whole lot of excitement with the built-in capabilities of the W4000+. I have become accustomed to using plugins and apps available from within the NAS server interface, and it doesn't quite work the same in this environment. You can find some Windows based programs to add functionality, and the included Orbweb.me cloud application installer is one example.

The W4000+ sells for around $500 (US), which does make it higher priced than many other 4-bay NAS servers that I might consider. That said, those other units typically have the operating system installed on internal flash memory, not a 60GB SSD, and the operating system would not be Windows Storage Server 2012. The SSD and license for Windows Storage Server might set you back a couple hundred dollars on their own, so if you really cared about both of those features for your server, this might be a very good deal.

Pros:

» Very good read speeds
» Familiarity of a Windows interface
» Windows Storage Server allows for easy integration in corporate environment
» Two front mounted USB 3.0 ports
» Operating system pre-installed on 60GB SSD
» HDMI port makes it a media player without the need for a network connection

Cons:

» Mediocre write speeds
» SSD used for OS is budget friendly model, and not really designed for 24/7 long term usage
» Doesn't have the built-in excitement of something like a DiskStation

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