In this review we will see from next door the NAS Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro, a device capable of managing up to 4 HDDs or SSDs at the same time which therefore makes it suitable for use by professionals or in small and medium-sized businesses for backups and digital archives.
Data is invaluable. Once upon a time, companies and professionals had entire rooms full of shelves filled with folders. Today, however, with the digital revolution everything has changed and it is much easier to manage data and documents from the PC. However very often it is impossible to use a simple laptop or desktop PC for security and scalability reasons. That’s why there are NAS that make data management simple and effective.
In this review we will see in particular Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro, a product that in our opinion should be considered primarily for professional use. Our tests have therefore also focused mainly in this sense. Although nothing prevents you from using it as a home device, if you are looking for a NAS for a home multimedia hub or as a back up for your PC, we recommend a product like Asustor Nimbustor 2, more compact and equipped with some features that facilitate use at home. .
Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro review: technical specifications
- CPU: Realtek RTD1296 Quad-Core 1.4 GHz
- Memory: 2GB DDR4
- Internal memory: 8GB eMMC
- Maximum internal capacity: 64 TB, supporto Single, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10
- Discs: 3.5 ″ SATA HDD, 2.5 ″ SATA HDD, 2.5 ″ SATA SSD
- Expansion: USB 3.1 Gen-1 x2
- Net: 2,5 Gigabit Ethernet x 1
- System fan: 120 mm x 1
- power supply: 90W x1
- ADM 4.0 System
- Content streaming with 4K transcoding
- Supporta Wake on LAN e Wake on WAN
Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro review: design and construction
From a design point of view we have the classic Asustor touch that we know well by now. The NAS is made of plastic, with a magnetic front cover that if disassembled exposes the trays for the disks, up to 4. Mounting an HDD or SSD is very simple: once the handle is pulled out, the tray is extracted – if necessary the 2.5 adapters for disks are used thumbs – and finally everything is fixed. Once you have connected power and network cable to the router, you will have your NAS ready to use.
On the front we also have several LEDs that indicate the status of the device which allows us to understand on the fly how many disks are mounted, if the device is working, and so on. There is also a buzzer that signals the most important events or emergencies. On the back we find a nice 120 mm fan that will allow you to keep everything cool even during the most intense workloads. Also, given the size, the fan tends to never spin at high revs, making the Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro quite quiet. Also on the back we find a very simple connection park: the 2.5 Gbps LAN port to connect to the network and two USB 3.0 to connect external devices, useful for example to create a cold backup of data on a different device. In reality these connections are more than enough to make the most of this NAS.
Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro review: the ADM 4.0 system
The real strength is certainly the internally developed operating system that we find on Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro, the ADM 4.0. The graphical interface, halfway between that of a classic window-based desktop operating system and a mobile with installed application icons and the notification bar, makes using the device really simple and intuitive. A number of pre-installed apps and features allow you to use basic NAS functionality out of the box. If, on the other hand, you want something more specific or advanced, you will have to download one of the many apps in the official store. Almost always it is required to install a “client” app on the device to be used and a “server” on the NAS in order to access the functions remotely. Alternatively, through the IP, you can access the web app that manages the NAS, which is also very convenient and well done, both for desktop and mobile devices.
But let’s move on to analyze the main features in more depth. As this product is highly rated for professional use for data archiving, as already mentioned, we have focused mainly on this in our tests.
Back up and data archive
Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro provides various functions to manage data backup and archiving. Using a classic file system, you can create copies of your data and organize them just like on a PC. The first very simple way is to access the web page of the NAS and simply upload the files by hand dragging or uploading them one at a time. A little uncomfortable at times. The EZ Connect app allows you to map the storage space to your PC’s file system. This way you can access the NAS as if it were a hard drive in your PC. Very convenient if you want to directly save files inside the NAS. Thanks to EZ Connect you will also be able to access Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro remotely, using the appropriate link generated automatically even if you are not connected to the same LAN.
With EZ Sync instead it will be possible to synchronize a folder on your PC with the NAS. In this way, any changes made will be automatically saved. It is essentially about a hot backup of our data and it works very well. Also because it is possible to apply gods filters that work on the extensions of individual files in order to send to the NAS only what interests us without having to worry about anything. The intuitive graphical interface makes it easy to do this. For a more advanced management it is possible to install some famous Database Management System such as PostgreSQL or MongoDB. In this way, you can quickly access the data via customized queries or web apps. You can then install third-party apps to set up your own personal cloud such as Nextcloud.
We obviously tested the data transfer and writing speed, without noticing big differences between the various approaches. When copying large files, the NAS is really fast and can saturate the speed of our router reaching about 100 MB / s connected via Ethernet. However, when it comes to transferring large quantities of small files, organized in folders and sub-folders, there are limits: the speed drops drastically around 200-300 KB / s on average. This fact could also be due to the speed of the discs used in the test.
Web hosting and more
This Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro can also work with hosting device for a website or web app. The amount of RAM and processor power actually limit application scenarios a lot, however it is possible to do this with technologies such as Apache or Nginx. Among other things, you can also install compilers and / or interpreti for some popular programming languages like Python or Java so you can program and run your own scripts in the NAS. The ability to use the terminal then essentially allows you to use the NAS with a Linux-based PC or server. The characteristics of reliability and solidity still allow it to work 24 hours, making it also perfect for video surveillance of large environments.
Although perhaps it is an oversized device to be used as server multimedia, Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro allows you to manage multimedia files with great ease thanks to hardware encoding. If you have a smart TV, you can stream the content on the NAS using apps like Plex.
Safety
Given a professional vocation, it is useful to say a couple of words on safety. All data in Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro is protected by AES-256 encryption, practically impregnable if you use a good password. It also comes with a firewall and a protection system developed in collaboration with ClamAV against malware. Some interesting features are automatic logout and connection via VPN. But also the certified SSL connection and 2-factor verification. The folder and file isolation feature is also useful. All very useful tools to protect yourself.
The most important thing, however, to be 100% sure is the possibility of make cold copies of data on external devices and not connected to the network. This can be done very easily from the MyArchive app. Furthermore, snapshots can also be programmed which save the system status periodically (for a maximum of 256 snapshots) and allow the system to be restored in case of malfunctions.
Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro review: conclusions
The trademark Asustor does not disappoint. We were pleasantly impressed with this device. As reiterated several times, we recommend the purchase to those wishing to make a professional use of it for their work. The price is certainly not cheap, also taking into account the fact that you will have to purchase the discs. However, the ADM 4.0 system is really well done and there are few defects that we can find in Asustor DRIVESTOR 4 Pro. Its features will greatly simplify the back up and data management process, they also make everything more secure. Recommended!