Article: Thecus 5200B Pro IP Storage Server Product Review

[Spudco]

I'm drooling!<br />

<br />

This is exactly the kind of product we need in the marketplace. I only wish I had a few extra bucks.

[The Computer Audiophile]

I agree Spudco! I highly recommend reading over the user manual. There are so many more features I didn't discuss in the review. I had to cut the review off at some point!

[markr]

......What's 'her' phone number? I think I'm in love....

[The Computer Audiophile]

Ha! I love it!

[imagehawk]

Hi,<br />

Great review, thanks for posting.<br />

<br />

I am a photographer and have more or less the same storage requirements as audiofiles. I am just wondering how Drobo with FW800 would stack up against Thecus5200 as far as getting best throughput.<br />

<br />

Regards,<br />

Ed

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Ed - Welcome to Computer Audiophile. I've done my fair share of photography including a photo safari to Kenya and plenty of weddings, so I have an idea what you're looking for.<br />

<br />

In your situation I would probably go with the Drobo FW800 model because you don't need the silence of a real NAS unit located in another area of the house. Plus the Drobo is absolutely as easy as it gets to configure and use. Locally attached disk is always simpler to use as well. As far as throughput goes this can be a tough one. there are sources that will say Gigabit Ethernet is faster than FireWire 800 and vice versa. If you use it to edit photos from I would go with the local disk i.e. Drobo.

[minzyman]

Hey Chris,<br />

<br />

I have the Thecus 5200 Pro with three 1 Tb Seagate hard drives in it and have it largely setup via my airport extreme network. I have both LAN and WAN setup so I can access via hardwire ethernet cable directly from my Macbook Pro, or wirelessly via my airport network and the thing is configured via DHCP.<br />

<br />

So, getting the HD to come up on my desktop is kind of experimental at this point. Sometimes it comes up, sometimes I can see the 5200 under "Devices" but can't access the folders on it. I'd like for an icon to come up on my desktop when I boot up my laptop, just like I get when I powerup one of my FW external drives. Why is it that I usually have to sort of jiggle the wires to get the thing to work? And only folders within the HD come up on my desktop, not an icon for the whole NAS drive.<br />

<br />

Also, in your article on the Thecus you talk about the USB function, which allows you to just plug in an external drive via the front panel USB port on the thecus and the thing auto backs up. Yet, during setup of the Thecus I setup the usb folder as a seperate folder from the rest of the drive's contents, as that is how setup does it. Thus, if you back up in this way via usb you get a bunch of music files that are in a totally separate folder. I want all the music files together, in one place for Media Monkey or iTunes to access.<br />

<br />

What is WAN LAN Exchange? When I enabled this, I couldn't access the drive at all.<br />

<br />

Much of this may be fairly simple. But I am not super techy with things like IP addresses. Hopefully you can suggest a few setup basics that work for this configuration.<br />

<br />

Thx Chris.<br />

/Lee

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Lee - On Macs only the shared folder pops up on the desktop when connecting to a NAS drive. You may be able to get the whole NAS device to show up, but I haven't seen it done yet. <br />

<br />

Can you describe the USB issue a little more. I'm not really following you on that one :-)<br />

<br />

The LAN WAN Exchange is if you want to switch the LAN and the WAN ports. I'll go out on a limb and suggest that you don't need this function :-) This is also only available on the 5200BR Pro. I have the 5200B Pro that doesn't have the built in extra Ethernet ports.<br />

<br />

I do recommend that you that you assign the Thecus a static IP address.<br />

<br />

Let me know if I only caused more confusion with these answers and I'll be happy to help out.

[minzyman]

Hey Chris,<br />

<br />

Hope you are well and had a great holiday. Perhaps I'll see you next week at CES?<br />

<br />

I wanted to ask you if you thought an SS drive in a computer used with a NAS drive (that has spinning drives in it) is redundant. My thinking is that the NAS drive is essentially another computer and if spinning/vibrating drives can distort an audio signal in a computer with a spinning drive then certainly tracks coming from a NAS will have distortion or jitter induced artifacts as well. Thus, my thinking that for now an SS drive may be a waste. <br />

<br />

Do you agree with this theory? Has anyone out there tested an SS drive pc used with a NAS? I know Tim used an SS drive recently with great success: said it sounded even more analog than a regular drive. However he used a standalone pc with no peripherals attached and played the Rx track from the internal SS drive. <br />

<br />

/Lee

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Lee - I'll certainly be at CES and hope to see you there!<br />

<br />

<i>"...if you thought an SS drive in a computer used with a NAS drive (that has spinning drives in it) is redundant..."</i><br />

<br />

I don't think redundant is the word you meant to use. Maybe a word like "useless" would be better?<br />

<br />

I think your question is a good one, but one that is treading on unknown ground. There are a few different technologies involved which make a NAS with a spinning drive different than a local spinning drive. It's kind of apples and oranges. But, when playing music from a NAS drive it's likely copied to the local drive and/or RAM before it's accessed by the playback application. I can't be positive on that statement about every application, but it's my educated guess. With a local SSD everything except the music on the NAS would be run from the SSD. That's certainly not a bad thing.<br />

<br />

On the whole the subject of SSD v HDD is a very touchy one that many people don't buy into. I've heard Tim's SSD based system, in fact I built it here at Computer Audiophile :-) The sound is spectacular. Unfortunately I did not do an A/B of the SSD v HDD.

[jem777]

OMG! This is way too awesome! WOW! This one should be in a good storage.<br />

<a href="http://classyclosets.com/design.php">closet designs</a>

[zettelsm]

I know you have about a zillion irons in the fire, Chris. Here's an idea for a future project for your "spare time" (ha ha ha):<br />

<br />

How about a primer or "how to" specific to the Thecus 5200 series NAS? You have some great suggestions, a log on script, etc. but they are scattered around your site. Pulling them all together would be a really helpful thing for those of us looking to set up a Thecus of our own. . .<br />

<br />

Just a thought. Great and useful website. Thanks for all your work.<br />

<br />

Steve Z

[sammie]

Hey Chris,<br />

<br />

I recently bought a 1TB HD and an enclosure to connect to Airport Extreme. I thought this would work as plug/play. I should have researched better. The airdisk/setup/login stuff seems like a huge pain to me. So, I'm looknig at getting the Thecus Pro as a more permenant, easier to use solution. I have a HD + enclosure conencted via FW800 to my Mini. So, the Thecus would simply serve as backup. Eventually, I might use it as a media server for Mini. So, for backup, will it work with time machime for our two macbooks and also for our mini music server? Or, is there a better way? How difficult is it to set it up to perform automatically? Or, do I need to perform backups manually? Thanks!

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi sammie - An Ethernet connected NAS will not work with Time Machine at the current moment. I suppose it's possible to use the Thecus in a different manner to connect to the Airport Extreme, but I don't recommend it.<br />

<br />

What do you mean by this -> <i>"The airdisk/setup/login stuff seems like a huge pain to me."</i><br />

<br />

To use a Thecus as a backup server for multiple Macs sounds like a cool idea. I think a backup application designed for this will be your best bet. I can't think of any at the moment, but a google search should bring some to your attention.

[zettelsm]

Hi Chris,<br />

<br />

I'm hoping you or someone familiar with the Thecus/Mac OSX might be able to help out with my Thecus problem.<br />

<br />

After getting some network addressing issues straightened out, I was able to successfully mount the Thecus shared volume on my Mac laptop's desktop, using either Go > Connect To Server > afp://(IP address) or by the neat AutomountMaker script.<br />

<br />

Things worked well for several days and I moved my iTune Music folder over to the Thecus, ripped some new music to iTunes using my wireless network and the Thecus, etc.<br />

<br />

Two days ago in the middle of ripping a CD to iTunes I received the message "lost connection to the server" and the process stopped, though the Thecus network icon still appeared on the desktop. Attempts to mount the server again via afp "beachballed" and wouldn't stop spinning with no action until I restart the computer. <br />

<br />

I didn't change anything about the Thecus, the network, my Mac -- nothing. I can log in as a user or administrator via my network (and determined that the volume and the shared folders are intact), but so far no matter what I've done, I cannot mount the Thecus shared volume on the desktop. I even tried direct ethernet connection from computer to Thecus to no avail.<br />

<br />

I've run AppleJack on my computer, updated Thecus firmware to the latest version, cleared out and re-entered the afp address information, done the same with users and authorization on the Thecus, ensured shared folders are still shared, afp is still enabled. . . etc etc.<br />

<br />

Any help would be appreciated. As it is now, the Thecus is totally unusable for me via afp, and iTunes wants to have the iTunes Music folder in afp.<br />

<br />

Thanks!<br />

<br />

Steve Z

[zettelsm]

No replies to my problem above, but thought I'd pass along the solution to my problem.<br />

<br />

Thecus support (and after browsing around, several other sites also had the same suggestion) suggested:<br />

<br />

"It is our pleasure to work with you on your Thecus U.S Support ticket #KMU-28789-880. If you have any questions please feel free to respond to this email ticket.<br />

<br />

Can you follow these steps to see if AFP shares return.<br />

<br />

Turn off AFP<br />

Reboot n5200<br />

Use SMB to connect to N5200, then delete the invisible file ".AppleDB"<br />

Start AFP services<br />

Reboot n5200<br />

<br />

The sudden disconnect may have corrupted some of apple files stored under .appleD* folder, the problem should be resolved by delete .apple* folders."<br />

<br />

I used the utility program Xray to look for the invisible files on the shared Thecus volume after mounting it via smb, renamed .AppleDB without the dot to make it visible, dragged it to the trash and deleted it.<br />

<br />

After logging back into the Thecus as an administrator and restarting AFP services and rebooting the Thecus, I have been able to log back into the Thecus shared volume via afp<br />

<br />

However, I'm wondering if afp is really the best way to go about mounting the shared N5200 volume containing the iTunes Music folder?<br />

<br />

I noted that file transfers, such as ripping a CD via iTunes, or transfering music files from desktop/local drive to the Thecus are at least 2X as fast using smb as afp. The files so far have been ending up in the target iTunes Music file on the Thecus and are recognized and played back via iTunes without issue, even when connected via smb.<br />

<br />

Comments? Recommendations?<br />

<br />

Thanks,<br />

<br />

Steve Z<br />

near Libby, Montana USA<br />

<br />

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Steve - Thanks for the followup. I've had much better luck with AFP than SMB and never seen this a the proposed resolution before. Very cool that you've posted it for all of us to keep in our back pockets if the problem arises.

[zettelsm]

You're very welcome, Chris. The least I could do to contribute, where you've given us so much information. If it saves someone a bit of frustration that's a good thing.<br />

<br />

Another tip, FWIW --<br />

<br />

Wake on LAN (WOL) for Thecus works well for the N5200BR PRO. Here's how I implemented it for my Macintosh network:<br />

<br />

Logged onto the Thecus as the administrator.<br />

<br />

Under Status > WOL > Enable > Apply<br />

<br />

For the next step, on the Thecus go to Network > WAN<br />

<br />

Copy the MAC address to the clipboard.<br />

<br />

Using the Macintosh freeware program WakeUp:<br />

<br />

Launch WakeUp<br />

<br />

Click on the lock icon in the WakeUp window, log in as administrator.<br />

<br />

Click on the + box to add a computer<br />

<br />

Double-click on the "Machine Name" field that popped up when + was clicked, and rename as whatever pet name you have for the Thecus (or any other machine you wish to wake from sleep)<br />

<br />

Double-click on Ethernet Address field and paste the Thecus MAC address.<br />

<br />

That's all there is to it. WakeUp doesn't tell you when the Thecus has spun up, gone through it's self-checks and is available so I wait about a minute before trying to log onto the server. There is, however a cool Auto Update feature in WakeUp (click on the Auto Update box when in the administrator mode) that will automatically collect the machine information whenever a new machine connects to your network.<br />

<br />

Since I don't always need the Thecus up and running every time I start my Mac, I can now use this utility wake the server from sleep when needed, and avoid unnecessary run time on the server drives. An enterprising individual could write a script to have WakeUp run at startup, then run AutomountMaker to mount the N5200 one minute afterwards if they always wanted the Thecus available to their computer.<br />

<br />

Hope this is useful to somebody.<br />

<br />

Steve Z <br />

<br />

[zettelsm]

Where I previously thought mounting the N5200 via smb provided faster file transfers to the Thecus than afp, after some more experimenting ripping the same CD and timing, I don't think one mode is faster than the other. I think other network traffic (my wife was busy on the network when I was first using afp) was impacting afp speed.<br />

<br />

Sorry for the red herring!<br />

<br />

Steve Z

[The Computer Audiophile]

Steve - You're never going to guess what just happened to me! I lost contact with my NAS via AFP while ripping the new Elvis Costello disc. Now I can't connect to it via AFP, but I can via SMB. I searched for the answer and found your post!!!!!!<br />

<br />

I'll give it a shot right now and let you know if your suggestion works for me (fingers crossed).

[The Computer Audiophile]

NICE! It worked perfect!<br />

<br />

I found a great tool to show and hide hidden files on a Mac.<br />

<br />

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/showhiddenfiles.html<br />

<br />

This make it a simple click to show and hide files.

[zettelsm]

Hey Chris,<br />

<br />

Glad I could finally do something to help you after all the help you've given me. Thanks too for the link to the utility program. I like it better than XRay.<br />

<br />

Best regards,<br />

<br />

Steve Z

[matossan]

Hi Chris<br />

<br />

I just bought the NAS and I agree with you it is a neat device. I do have a question for you though. I tried to transfer my entire library by using the USB copy feature in the front of the unit but with no success. My existing library is close to 2.6 T..do you think the size could be an issue? The reason I did not use my network connection is that is dramatically slows down my connection or freeze it. I am now experiencing transferring 100 GB at the time which seems to work fine. <br />

<br />

Thanks for your help<br />

Cyrille

[jimim]

Chris and Steve,<br />

<br />

Are you guys still using the Thecus units? Just wondering what HDD you all are using. Also what did you all settle on for mounting, SMB or AFP?<br />

<br />

Any problems lately if so?<br />

<br />

thanks alot,<br />

jim

[zettelsm]

Yes, still using the Thecus here. I installed 5 Hitachi 1 TB drives when I bought the Thecus. Don't remember the model number, but they were on the Thecus list. At the time I was doing this Seagate was having lots of problems with their energy-saving feature and hadn't acknowledged or issued a patch, so I went with the Hitachis.<br />

<br />

Absolutely no problems since that one early glitch not being able to access the NAS. I use afp exclusively. I got a great deal on the Thecus from Newegg on an "open box" special, and I would recommend it (and Newegg).<br />

<br />

Good luck!<br />

<br />

Steve