ZyXel NAS 540 Unboxing & Full Review
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- Zyxel NAS 540 Prices & Availability:
US: goo.gl/r2Tr2r
EU: goo.gl/xtcNaK
The Zyxel Nas 540 Features a Dual Core CPU clocked at 1.2Ghz and 1GB of DDR 3 Ram
It has 4 Drive Bays and a great built quality, all made of a high quality black plastic and a inside metal cage with supports to avoid vibrations.
In my video review i took a closer look at the Zyxel Nas and tested:
- The performance on writes and reads
- The Dashboard interface
- Front Panel Backups from SD Cards and USB Drives
- NAS Backups to External Drives and other NAS Units
- Access the NAS within the Network and Outside the Network
- Mobile App Access
It it as great Enclosure for the Price in my opinion that might be better if there are some details that are improved on firmware updates or software implementation.
Things i Liked the Most:
- Built Quality and Overall Design
- Silent Operation
- Ability to Remove Default System Folders
- Performance, Specially on the Read Speeds
- Scheduled Backups Option on USB
Things i Liked the Less:
- Access to the NAS Outside of the Network could be Easier
- The Fan Should be Completely Dead When the NAS is Sleeping
- Backups Stored as .DAR with no Other Option Available
Hope it helps on your decision
RJ
I needed a NAS and this happened to be on sale. I liked this video a lot, even if it is an older one, but still gave nice intro :)
Missä oli tarjouksessa ja mihin hintaan? Osaatko sanoa, onko tuo tuulettimen "always-on" korjattu? Kiinnostaisi myös tämä laite... Kiitos jos vastaat!
@@gszah Moi,
Verkkokauppa.comista ostin 11.1.2020, oli tarjouksessa 199,90. Mielestäni tuo tuuletin ongelma sinä edelleen on, ihan varmaksi en osaa sanoa.
Okei, kiitos!
Did you like this one?
@@MyVitros It seems to do what I wanted it to do, so yeah, why not.
One problem is those screw holes that some HDD:s have, they don't fit in this.
Thank you for posting the review Roberto.
I purchased the little brother to this, the NAS520, and the Console with the latest Zyxel software does not have the same "Playzone" link as in your video. What is frustrating is the way the Zyxel locks down the media server port, even the password is locked from editing. I am trying to get the system to require authentication when logging in to the media server (Twonky) in order to have some security when connecting externally. Opening the port just lets anyone go right into the media server which is short sighted to say the least. All in all, a pretty good device for the money.
Thanks
Great review Roberto. 520 is in shop chart and waiting, thanks again for the useful information.
+tinkano Hey Tin, hope you enjoy your new machine!!! :)
RJ
Hi Roberto,
First of all thanks for being the only one doing an in depth review, which is indeed helpful to decide. In my case I'm surely going with it(NAS542 newer model). I'll be using it for home entertainment and camera backup. Two things I wanted to ask you: 1) can i use openVPN in nas? & 2) is it possible/needed to increase ram for multiple download events?
I hope your schedule allows you to reply on my queries.
Great video! and best wishes for your future work.
+Anuj Amin Hey Anuj, thanks for the feedback!! 😀 It was great to test out and use this NAS, its a solid unit and the new one looks improved so its on my opinion a nice choice price / quality wise.
Regarding your questions 1) i believe that some VPN services have software to install on routers and on NAS units but this will depend on the VPN service. 2) Regarding ram its not possible to upgrade as its soldered but i would not worry to much about it, you may just add the download files and it will take care of them even if it needs to put some on queue
Hope it helps
All the Best
RJ 😀
+Roberto Jorge (Tech Reviews) Thnx a lot! Just ordered nas542:-)
Anuj Amin
😀 hehe!! Enjoy it
Great video !
You are one of the best review makers on the net ! All you do very clear to understanding ;-)
+opiusclay Hey!! Thanks for the kind words and im glad that was useful :) All the Best. RJ
olá roberto boa review. gostava de saber se este nas ainda é relevante em 2022? ou um parecido do mesmo valor? 200eur no amazon
obrigado
Great video Roberto 5 stars
+musicaportuguesa2010 Oi Thanks!! Obrigado 😀
RJ
Januar 2023, where can i dwl nas540 starter utility ?
i will buy that nash
Great Video! I am 99% sure I'm going to buy this one. Quick question, can you back up to an internal drive as well? I am planning on running 2x4TB drives in Raid 0 for performance and I want to get a 8TB Internal Drive that will backup all the content on the array. I noticed on the video there was the option for internal on the 'Backups'. Thanks and keep up the great work!
+Mark Broere Hey Mark, yep you can. I actually used that option on my tests, but i did not found it useful at that time as i was on raid 5, but now that you mention that scenario of RAID 0 + 1x8TB for back up make a great sense.
Thanks for sharing that idea, will certainly be useful in the future :)
All the Best
RJ
Does it support playing MP4 videos on Android devices? x264 encode, 720p, 180p?
NAS are not, normally, media players so the limitation is the device playing them.
Hi Roberto. Great video. Lets say that you have all four bays in use. Can you setup raid 1 between two of the drives and go fore raid 0 on the two remaining drives? One last thing, can you use a drive with data on it or do the nas need to format the drive to recognize it? This in raid 0 mode of course.
Great review! Roberto, only one future advice - HIDE extrenal IP adress... You never know, who might get interested to check on you.
+Karolis Navickas Hi Karolis, thanks for the feedback and off course the advice :) You know i have had a few comments and even private messages regarding that aspect and i know you guys are 100% correct but my ISP changes IPs very often so not to worried, non the less once again i should have hidden it :) Thanks All the Best. RJ
What if the fan is staying on, because the hard drive temperatures cause the fan to move? What happens to the fan if you install one hard drive that runs cool?
Can u tell the sequential speed(read-write)(video files) between Nas and Pc/Mac ?
I`m aiming to buy this Nas ONLY to USE as a backup of a HP Proliant Microserver via AFP protocol.
Wat is great about 542 is support till 48TB HHD`s (Nas 540 24TB).
4:15 takes bout 5 minute first time.makes sense.empty discs.or is it still doing it while it can be used
Great video! Just a couple of questions. Why RAID5 and not RAID10? I have 2 separate routers one VPN router and one non-VPN router so I coulf hook both routers up via LAN1 and LAN2 connection and have access through both networks? Thanks again for the great video.
Hi Raid 10 is safer and great for servers etc but for storage in my opinion the Raid 5 is more cost effective and still safe.
Raid 5 = 4 x 1TB drives = 3TB usable / 1TB Parity (can lose up to 1 disk)
Raid 10 = 4 x 1TB Drives = 2TB usable / 2TB Parity (can lose up to 2 disks, but only one for each Raid 1 array)
In the machines that i have used thus far and that had the Raid 10 option speeds were the same toping at 100-120 MB/S read and write
So my own conclusion is servers raid 10 is better but for storage raid 5 is more cost effective
Regarding the routers you should use the VPN router as your main router and the other to expand your connection and then you can access from both, but the advantage is that even accessing on the non VPN you will have all the VPN advantages provided by the main VPN router
RJ 👍👍
Are the backup files read-only or are they writable? I want to create a RAID 1 and in the case of a ransomware attack, would it be able to encrypt the backup archives? Thanks
Hi Roberto,
Great review, I bought this, in part because of watching your review earlier this year. I was wondering, and I didn't get a straight answer from the Zyxel Customer Support, but have you tried to swap drives when they've become full and then reinsert them to get data from them? I've removed a drive and reinserted it later, but the NAS didn't recognize it as a previous drive and only saw it as a new drive that needed to be formatted. I asked Zyxel if there was a config that I could used that would allow me to fill up drives, remove them and reinsert later to use the data ('cause if not, what's the point) and they said something technical that I didn't understand and asked for clarification, twice, and never got an answer back. But, it seemed like they were saying that, unless your OS is Linux, like that of the NAS, it won't recognize it. That didn't seem to make sense to me, so I asked for clarification that I never got. Please let me know if you've successfully done this. Thanks.
I'm assuming that the SATA II speed limitation doesn't affect performance since 7,200 rpm drives can't even reach that speed right?
+Light Yagami Hi you are 100% correct!! :) RJ
+Roberto Jorge (Tech Reviews) So I take it that you work for ZyXel because you too have a great response time :)
Which would you say it's the bottle neck, the Sata II interface, the gigabit ethernet or the cpu? How are the transfer rates between the internal drives?
Light Yagami
Not exactly :) i work for my self. But i guess that i caught your comment at the time of replying which i usually do more or less everyday at the same time, so if a user has just commented 5 min ago i will get is answer quick but there can be a delay of 24h-48h max in my replies :)
Regarding the NAS for all the tests that i have made to be faster i think that its a matter of improving Firmware and probably some controllers. The drives directly on a Sata connection get about 150-180MBS, the link aggregation i also tried but with no real differences. RJ
Nice RJ thx for this extended review. I like to buy it nice that u can remove all kinds of crazy folders created by the NAS. Easy setup to.
Mel Berg Hey Mel, yep was the 1st one that allow me to remove default folders and its great!! :)
Nice I'm so tempted to set up a nas or build one... Any thoughts on what would probably be cheaper?
gotja Hi, thanks for the input. In my opinion i would prefer a NAS over building one. Off course the experience of building one is nice, but spend a lot of time and probably not the features that we want. So my suggestion is to pick one that has everything that you want within your budget and i think you will be happy. I have been using NAS for years and i must say that was one of the best things that i have integrated in my life about 10 years ago. Let us know what you get and your experience with it. All the Best. RJ
Building is cheaper. All you need is a small PC-type box, an old mobo with memory (it can be any processor from a 2005 era processor with DDR or newer,). Then you can add all the HDDs you want and run Xpenology on it. There, a NAS that is as good, or better, than those made by DROBO, Synology, etc and not limited to their HDD bay numbers.
What about NFS??? Kodi and sbmc works best on nfs. But i cannot figure it out how to set it uop
Have there been any firmware updates since this video? I would like to back up the NAS to a cloud service such as Amazon Glacier or Backblaze B2. Somewhere affordable for a few TB. Does this NAS support that?
Hi Pete, i dont have this unit anymore so i cant say for sure. I know they have released a new unit and i hope that they implement the new firmware on the older 540 model. But check out their official page to see if there is any sort of info on that and if not contact the support which is very friendly to ask that question
RJ 👍
do the 4 lights for each drive blink individually when there is activity on each drive?
Hi Vince, yes. Mine were probably all flashing because i use Raid 5 :)
RJ 👍👍
Hello. I need ask if i can install 4 disk on this nas, to work separately without raid and if this nas have torrent client capabilities?
Jim Tsinaforniotis Hi Jim simple answer Yes and Yes :) RJ
Hello Roberto, again a nice review :) I think that the NAS520 and 540 as similiar bu the 520 has only 2 bays, still how would you compare this device with the WD My Cloud EX2 which you are reviewed, thx Martin
+Martin Spilovsky Hey Martin, thanks for the feedback!! The Zyxel 540 was a joy to test out. The only major dificulty i had was to use it outside my network and on that matter i would prefer the WD My cloud which has a very easy way of setting up. Inside the network the Zyxel has a better performance so depending on how we use it then we will need to make a choice based on that :) Hope it helps. RJ
+Roberto Jorge (Tech Reviews) Hello Roberto, can you be more precise what was the issue, cause from what I read the Zyxel has a personal cloud also with application on android and iOS, so it should work. I want to ask a question how can I play movies from my future NAS using my Minix H8-X Plus connected over HDMI to my TV, UPnP should be a nice choice or would you recommend something else ? Thank you very much Martin
Martin Spilovsky
Hey Martin, i could get it to work but was not as easy as other NAS units in terms of access from outside the network. Usually with WD or QNAP its just a matter of minutes and here it took me a few hours and i needed help from support :) But that aside i really liked it.
Regarding Android Boxes the way i use is i enable NFS on the NAS (Also can use SMB) then create a share on the NAS with my Movies other with series etc
And on the Android Box with Kodi i just need to select the source in this case the NAS and them use the Movie Scanner to grab the covers etc :) Hope it helps. RJ
+Roberto Jorge (Tech Reviews) Fair enough, thank you for your support :), just maybe a summary question if Im just a average user, and only want to share my movie on a NAS, sync important files from one disk to another inside the NAS (as a form of backup), and not need the speacial feature, software, apache, mysql, mail as Synology offers and rather buy something powerfull I thinking rather to put the extra cash something like this NAS520 since I need only 2 disk bays. Martin
Martin Spilovsky
Hey Martin, yep for those needs the Zyxel 540 or the 520 are great choices. The 4 bay has better future proof that yo can just insert more drives once you require even if not now but maybe in 1-2 years you will want to increase storage. RJ
Ohh im missing DAS benchmarks via USB :(
Hi Roberto, did you try the dual link aggregation?
How can we increase the RAM on ZyXel 540?
6 HOURS? what if the power went out in the middle of the process?
(yes, my country is funny that way)
HEY XUAN, Yes it was the longest one so far :) i use UPS here that will give me about 24 hours uptime for this kind of device so it would be a good idea to use one
PS: All my office is connected to 2 UPS units and although its rare to have a power failure im 100% safe as UPS wont let anything go down
RJ 👍
yeah, good advice.
I used to have a ups, a freebie when i bought my previous computer
but the battery died after a year and it only lasts for about 10 min with both the case and monitor on anyways.
I'm considering getting a new one but they ain't exactly cheap either.
thanks for reviewing this not so popular brand budget solution anyways!
Can I use the two USB to add another HD and share its content?
Yes Davide 😊
Wow, it blows my mind how Portuguese and Serbian accent when speaking English is really similar.
Hello Roberto, this NAS has a client for the eMule network?
Humm. Emule i cant recall as i dont use it. I remember the torrents feature but can recall emule. Sorry about that. I would suggest contacting Zyxel support and ask if it has.
Rj 👍
I cannot recall if Emule works for torrents but, if it does, it would have to work on the NAS software (linux on this one?) If not, just direct the save folder to the NAS mapped drive you want.
Damn this thing is slick
👍👍
3:58 Im genuinely surprised this thing had RAID 5 as recommender with 4 drives in. RAID 5 is a death trap even on small arrays. Just dont.
True that but its a option 👍😉
Why is it a death trap?
is this still a good nas for about 150 euros? or too outdated?
I'm concerned if i buy cloud storage and keep in on, the hard drive's life will be depleted faster.
wewyllenium Hi, if the NAS makes the drives sleep when its not in use you will be fine. The Zyxel has that feature and works great, the only thing that doesn't sleep on the Zyxel 540 is the fan :) . The Zyxel is the newest one that i have but using other NAS for the past 10 or so years i have never so far lost a drive. Non the less im really careful regarding backups, always updated :) RJ
I had two drives in a DNS-323 that ran a torrent app and downloaded continuously, pretty much, for 4-5 years. The drives I still have while looking for a new NAS. Yes, HDD wear out due to the moving parts but they could last a day or a decade+ which is why raid is good (10, I think, is the one where one drive in use and two will mirror it).
Will never by ANY Zyxel product again. The company is terrible. I
purchased a NAS540 and while it works locally it cannot work outside of
my local network. Also the model is end of life. Zyxel doesn't show that
on their website, but there tech support will tell you that when they
can't fix it. They said it wouldn't work with Google WIFI router and all
the software on the unit hasn't been updated since 2015 or ealier and
won't be. They DID update firmware but that was no help and may be the
last one ever. I then bought their Multy plus mesh and it wouldn't
detect my internet and was problematic with bluetooth. The support said I
had to be withing 2ft and it still didn't work at a distance less than
that all the way down to 2 inches away. When I called after having 3
other wifi routers that did work with my modem, Zyxel continued to blame
everything else. Two different sets of their units wouldn't work. I
then bought another brand NAS and in trying to copy data off the 540 via
its copy button, it randomly missed all the data in random folders but
did make the folder on the external drive. I then had to manually copy
each folder myself and waste time deleting everything it had done
because I couldn't count on what was missing or there. DO NOT BUY
ANYTHING FROM ZYXEL!!!
Nash?
Very silent fan? LOOOOOOOOOOOL
nash?!
can you buy me one for christmas
CB ANIMATION STUDIOS :) thats not easy hehe!!! RJ
;-)
MBit/s≠MB/s :/
+pussy1337wagon Yep i know the difference :) my bad on the disk speed test readings but all info is on screen so all good hehe!!
Thanks
RJ
could not watch due to the fact you cant say NAS right ...
+neko77025 Hehe!!! You are a funny guy!!
for me it added the comedy element to the video :) naažžž :)
NASH, NASH, NASH...
You might laugh, but we're serious.. it's annoying.. N A S.