INTRODUCTION

   During the last 3 years we've witnessed the introduction of quite a few new companies focused in the design and manufacture of NAS (network attached storage) devices, mostly entry level ones aimed at home users but in some cases mid-end ones for small business users and even high-end ones for large enterprises. Competition is always a good thing in the market since through that prices tend to take hit all the time while in the process build quality tends to improve. Still when you are about to spend your hard earned money (whether we are talking about home, small business and even enterprise users) to purchase something you simply want the best and at least to date QNAP has proven time and again not only that they are by far the most reliable NAS manufacturer in the market currently but also that their solutions can outperform with relative ease their counterparts. So today with us we have their latest 4-Bay TurboNAS TS-469U-RP Rackmount NAS server which due to its size, specifications and design is naturally aimed towards small business IT environments.

   QNAP Systems, Inc., as its brand promise "Quality Network Appliance Provider", aims to deliver comprehensive offerings of cutting edge network attached storage (NAS) and network video recorder (NVR) solutions featured with ease-of-use, robust operation, large storage capacity, and trustworthy reliability. QNAP integrates technologies and designs to bring forth quality products that effectively improve business efficiency on file sharing, virtualization applications, storage management and surveillance in the business environments, as well as enrich entertainment life for home users with the offering of a fun multimedia center experience. Headquartered in Taipei, QNAP delivers its solutions to the global market with nonstop innovation and passion.

   The TurboNAS TS-469U-RP is by far the most powerful NAS server we've ever received to test and that's mainly because this particular NAS server is not ideal for home use so it in a way lacks two very important characteristics home users look for when purchasing such a device, low noise levels and low power consumption. However what it lacks in these two areas it makes up with top notch performance, superior build quality and a wealth of features we've never before seen in a NAS server. More specifically the 4-bay TS-469U-RP sports an dual-core Intel Atom 2.13GHz CPU, 1GB DDR3@1333MHz RAM, two Gigabit RJ-45 Ethernet ports, 2 USB 3.0 ports, 5 USB 2.0 ports, 2 eSATA ports and its 4 bays can be configured to manage the drives in Single, JBOD and RAID0/1/5/6/10/5+Hot spare modes. The only problem i can find is the Rackmount design of the device that makes it really hard for office use (need to find a Rackmount stand) but that aside the TS-469U-RP is literally perfect. Just how perfect? Read on to find out.