TESTING METHODOLOGY

   Originally, we had decided that since some of the NAS servers/devices we've tested in the past are no longer in our possession (naturally) we would keep performing the exact same testing methodology we did in the past for as long as possible in order to provide accurate comparison results. However, since our real-life tests are not enough for some people, we also decided to throw in ATTO V2.47 and Crystal Disk Mark V3.0.4 to cover the more demanding users. However as always we will be using a single Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB SATA III and up to 10 Seagate IronWolf 12TB SATA III hard disk drives with 3.5” compatible units (we switched to 12TB models for RAID tests since August 2018 – due to high workloads the performance of previous drives had started to deteriorate) and up to two (for now) Enterprise Capacity 2.5 HDD V3 2TB SATA III HDDs with 2.5” compatible units to perform several upload/download tests with 10.9GB (Single) and 40,8GB (RAID) files. Tests are repeated a total of 4 times after which we record the average numbers (from the 4 peak ones) into our charts. The network device used for 1GbE tests is the same Netgear D7800 VDSL Modem/Router we’ve been using lately when performing tests on NAS servers.

* Since the 25th of June 2015 for 10GbE tests we’ll be using a Netgear ProSafe XS712T 10G Smart Switch and an Intel XT540-AT2 10GbE PCIe card (10GbE compatible NAS cards will be provided from each company and stated in each review).

** In May 2019 we also introduced TB3 (Thunderbolt 3) tests using our latest test rig (X299 AORUS GAMING 9 / INTEL CORE I9 7980XE / 64GB DDR4-3200 / GC-ALPINE RIDGE V2.0). For TB3 tests we'll be using ATTO V4.00.02F, Crystal Disk Mark V6.0.2 and Passmark Performance Test V9.1.

*** As of October 2019, we'll also be using the QNAP QSW-804-4C Ethernet Switch for 2.5/5G NAS reviews. The benchmarking programs used will be ATTO V4.01.0F1, Crystal Disk Mark V6.0.2 and several real-world upload/download tests with 30GB (Single Drive) and 60GB (Raid) files.