By Samara Lynn Asustor's AS-202TE ($293.91) is a superb and affordable little NAS (network attached storage) device for home users and SOHO businesses. A few minor niggles aside, just about the worst thing about it is its not-very-catchy name. Its read performance beat the all-time record among NASes I've tested in its class. Furthermore, it provides incredibly efficient and simple RAID data protection, and it has an excellent software management interface. The AS-202TE NAS is light on features for larger businesses or those with more enterprise-based storage needs, but for power users and Small Office Home Offices (SOHO), it's excellent choice.
Specs
The AS-202TE has some of the most robust hardware specs in its class. It ships with an Intel Atom 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1GB DDR3 RAM. Many competing two-bay NASes ship with only 512MB. You'll need to provide your own disks, however, as it ships diskless. The good news is that, in addition to supporting 2.5- and 3.5-inch SATA drives, the AS-202TE supports SSDs. Note that its more expensive, cousin, the AS-602T, strangely does not. SSDs are great for performance gains; typically in cases where a server is hosting a heavily used database or website—and not usually supported in NASes in this category.
Connection options include Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports, and two USB 3.0 ports. The AS-202TE also has an audio jack on the rear panel, as well as a not-often-seen infrared receiver, for transferring files from infrared-enabled devices.
The device itself is a beautiful, dark brushed metal, like that of the AS-602T,with the same excellent LEDs. These are long, horizontal lights, rather than the typical round LEDs. They make it easy to see the power and disk activity status from a distance. Plus they just look cool.
The front drive bays have wide latches that make sliding the drive trays in and out of the chassis simple. This is one of my favorite two-bay NAS designs ever. I am especially delighted with the drive bay design after recent unpleasant experiences with NASes made from less-sturdy material, such as the Thecus N2560, which uses plastic strips on the side of the drive bays to (precariously) hold its drives in place.
Setup
Asustor's NAS ships with a quick-start guide that doesn't tell you much more than how to connect the NAS to a network and to run the included setup disc. Sounds minimal, but it's fine, as the disc automatically runs a setup wizard that helps you handle the rest.
Walking through the quick, easy wizard installs the Asustor Control Center tool. As soon as it installed on my Windows 7 laptop and launched, I got a pop-up notification telling me a new version of the control center was available. I like that immediate notification when new software related to my NAS is available.
Once you've got the Control Center installed you can see networking information about the NAS, as well as device information such as the serial number and firmware level. A button in this utility also lets you jump right into the management interface, Asustor Data Master.
On the off chance that you do have a setup problem (or if you just like to read directions) the disc also has a text-based installation guide and a user guide. It's also home to several utilities, including a NAS control-center tool, some backup software, and a download assistant.
Control Center and Features
The AS-202TE has an extremely clean, uncluttered UI that's clearly Apple-influenced. It's not quite as pretty as OS X, but it has similar rounded icons and it's accessible and user-friendly. I like that design is a clearly a priority for Asustor, but that they don't go overboard with gimmicks, such as the annoying wiggling, jumping icons in the Thecus N2310 NAS. Attractive but resource-conservative is the way to go with NAS UIs.
When you open the UI for the first time, the Asustor Data Master launches with a walk-though tutorial for those new to Asustor's NASes. It's a very good starting point for NAS noobs in general, in fact. The 11 icons give you access to configuration options, such as the device settings, storage manager, backup manager, activity monitor, and downloadable apps. You can rearrange these icons by dragging them, and you can further customize the home screen with several included backgrounds or by uploading an image to the NAS.
From this interface, you can access the unit's built-in VPN, firewall, disk hibernation, and power on-and-off scheduling. The device also supports VLAN and iSCSI targeting, IPv6, and wireless connectivity with a supported dongle. It also supports the usual file services, including those for Windows, NFS, and AFP. You can configure RSync and WebDAV, and MySQL comes right in the box.
The File Explorer within the UI is exquisite. I often find NAS UIs limited when it comes to working with files and folders. It's even true of some top-shelf NASes, such as Western Digital's My Cloud Mirror. Not so with the AS-202TE. You can do plenty of data management from directly within the UI—not just the typical copy, rename, upload, and download. I was able to compress a large video clip within the File Explorer to save disk space and even shoot a file over to someone else via a shared link.
The only minor annoyances I found while working in File Explorer were repeated certificate errors and a very long (but required) Java update when I first opened File Explorer. The certificate errors are annoying but don't prevent you from accessing the interface. Unfortunately, I could not find anywhere within the interface to upload a third-party SSL security certificate to resolve the errors.
Asustor's NAS does lack a few features that some businesses may want, such as support for using the device as a video-surveillance recorder. Nor does it have settings in the interface for integrating directory services such as Active Directory or LDAP. However, this NAS is targeted more to power home users and the SOHO set, neither of whom are likely to miss these features.
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