Cloud Computing & Tricks and Tips - UK - Edition 04 (2020)

(Antfer) #1

QNAP’s mid-range business


NAS models are remarkably


impressive looking and


impressively specified units.


The TVS-682T sit within this


range and offers the business


user a wealth of features,


hardware scalability and


incredible performance.


QNAP TVS-682T


The TVS-682T represents the top end for the SMB user, those
whose businesses are likely to expand quickly and support a
workforce in the potential hundreds. This is a high performance
NAS, utilising an Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz dual-core
processor, 8GB of DDR4 memory as standard and with the
capability of expanding up to 64GB of memory and a 512MB
flash memory module.

The four main 3.5-inch hard drive bays that can accommodate
drive capacities up to 10TB are impressive enough but QNAP
has designed the TVS-682T to take a further two fast Solid
State Drives (SSD) and another pair of M.2 SSD modules as well.

The additional SSD elements allow for fine-tuned storage
options, which the user can utilise for fast access storage, or
use as cache acceleration drives. The acceleration will
significantly boost the read and write access times of the
main 3.5-inch hard drives, pushing the most used files to
the cache to be read from the faster SSDs. The overall
performance therefore, including the powerful CPU and
memory, is quite incredible.

Beyond the drive capacities, you can find a pair of 10GBase-T
network ports, a further four Gigabit Ethernet ports, three for
HDMI, a pair of Thunderbolt 2s, four USB 3.0 ports to the rear
and a single USB 3.0 to the front of the unit. There’s even a pair
of built-in speakers for a full-media machine setup.

Whilst the above may seem a little extreme to some, those who
will need a power-house NAS solution will greatly benefit from
having access to the QNAP TVS-682T. A good working example

is a small production company, who records footage in 8K for
editing. The storage capacity and performance of the TVS-
682T make short work of that editing process, allowing the
crew to work on finer details.

The QTS 4.2 Linux operating system that drives the TVS-682T is
easy to use and speeds through its processes thanks to the
unit’s specifications. You get the usual array of media serving
and streaming elements, alongside file sharing, backup control,
virtualisation and of course, cloud computing.

An interesting feature on this model is the ability to partition
the installed drives according to the applications you use. For
example, virtualisation images can be stored on the SSDs to
provide fast read and write access to the virtual desktop users.
Surveillance, shared folders and cloud data can be stored on
the high capacity hard drives and the M.2 SSDs can work in
tandem providing data caching for the entire system.

The design of the TVS682T is quite extraordinary, because it’s
essentially a powerful desktop PC. Its 231 x 225 x 320mm
mixture of matte and glossy plastic and metal looks good and
the drive bays dominate the face of the unit impressively.

Looks aside, considering the specifications, performance,
scalability, features and everything else about the QNAP
TVS-682T, this is a NAS unit that leaves most of the competition
standing. Naturally this level of NAS doesn’t come cheap; in fact
expect to pay out in the region of £1,000 before you even
factor in the four hard drives, two SSDs and two M.2 SSDs. The
overall cost would certainly exceed the £2,000 mark.

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