QNAP have announced their latest network-attached storage device, the four-bay SS-439 Pro Turbo NAS. Capable of establishing various levels of RAID array for up to 2TB of total capacity, the SS-439 is based on Intel’s Atom N270 processor and offers media server, backup, print and web server functionality. Connectivity includes three USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA ports, which can be used to add more storage plus make removable backups, together with two gigabit ethernet connections.

Unlike the Acer Aspire easyStore AH340-UA230N also announced today, the SNAP NAS does not run Windows Home Server. That doesn’t leave it short on functionality, though; as well as RAID 0/ 1/ 5/ 6/ 5 + hot spare, single, JBOD, Online RAID Capacity Expansion, and Online RAID Level Migration setups, it offers AES 256-bit encryption, remote access and more.

The twin ethernet ports can either offer failover provision in case one connection fails, be used with load balancing to increase overall throughput, or even have independent IPs to allow the NAS to be access from two different workgroups. New drives are automatically included into the RAID array, and there’s a one-touch copy button which transfers files from drives plugged into the front-panel USB port onto the SS-439, or vice-versa.

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The market for home NAS drives has seen explosive growth in the past few years, with more and more people seeking to store their multimedia and document files centrally. This allows simultaneous access to the files from multiple PCs at once and also means you don't have to continuously propagate copies of the same files across your various devices. Setting up and administrating a NAS box will be pretty simple for most computing enthusiasts, but it presents a daunting challenge to beginners for whom the terms ‘IP address', ‘FTP' and ‘UPnP' are a foreign language.

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