The QNAP TS-431KX is a small-business grade, 4-bay NAS box that carries a price tag of $389<\/a>. Considering it features 10Gbe SFP+ and nearly all the capabilities of QNAP’s second-to-none operating system and app ecosystem, that’s a pretty decent price.<\/p>\n The TS-431KX I tested shipped with 2GB of DDR3 memory feeding a 1.7GHx ARM Cortex A-17 processor. There’s only one SODIMM slot, so if you want to upgrade the maximum 8GB, you’ll need to replace the existing memory stick. As mentioned, there are four lockable, easy-access drive bays with quick change trays using the now common snap-in retaining rails. Note that while there is no dedicated slot or bay for a caching SSD, you can use one of the main bays for caching (2.5-inch SATA).<\/p>\n As you can see from the main photo, the box is attractively styled in QNAP’s business-like gray and black color scheme. The power button, status lights, quick-copy SuperSpeed USB 5Gbs port and button are on the left front of the unit as you face the box, with the bays on the right. Quick copy copies the contents of whatever mass storage device is attached to the USB port to the TS-431KX.<\/p>\n Alas, this doesn’t include exFAT formatted media unless you pony up an additional $4 in the QNAP license store<\/a>. I kid you not. There are some hidden costs with QNAP boxes, depending on what you want to do with them. Take a gander at the store to see if they might affect you.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n On the back, as shown above, you’ll find a single 10GbE SFP+ port, two gigabit RJ-45 ethernet jacks, two more SuperSpeed USB 5Gbs ports, and the 12-volt power jack. There’s also a small, recessed reset button. The button accommodates both soft (reboot) and hard (user data erasure) resets depending on how long you hold it.<\/p>\n What you don’t get that you’ll get with QNAP’s more expensive boxes (some considerably more) are PCIe or M.2 slots, and the ability to run virtual machines. If you’re looking for those features, this is not the QNAP product you’re looking for.<\/p>\n The larger part of QNAP’s appeal is its QTS operating system. It’s stable, offers a large array of easily-installed apps, and sports a slick windowed-operating-system-in-a-browser (demo it here<\/a>) web interface. Said array of apps<\/a> covers everything from mail and website hosting to video surveillance. Media streaming, backup, and remote access are particularly well-represented.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I don’t recommend hosting your website using QNAP and the version of WordPress offered in the app store. It’s extremely out of date, and vulnerable enough that my own site running on it (Yes, I know…) was ransom-wared<\/a> while running on a QNAP NAS box. I lost only a modicum of writing and website data because it didn’t attack the attached backup drive, but lesson learned.<\/p>\n If you want to use any QNAP box for website content hosting, install and administer the software manually, keep WordPress up to date, keep it backed up, and don’t keep any other important data on the box. QTS is a flavor of Linux, so if you’re familiar, you can add just about any capability to the box you wish.<\/p>\nFeatures<\/h2>\n
QTS – QNAP’s Operating System<\/h2>\n