| Article Index |
|---|
| Intel SS4200-E NAS Review |
| Internals and Functionality |
| USB and eSATA Peripherals |
| Performance |
| Is the SS4200 For Me?} |
| Conclusion and Thoughts |
| All Pages |
The SS4200 has an unusual layout. Most NAS devices will have a tiny custom motherboard with the disks stacked on top of each other, to save space. The SS4200 is effectively two distinct layers. The bottom layer is the power supply and motherboard, and the top layer is the four disks. This makes the Intel NAS quite large - certainly larger than most comparable devices.
From the top we see both disk trays in the normal position:
Gently lift up the tray marked "3" and "4" and we see the motherboard:
While lifting the tray with disks 1 and 2 shows the power supply and cabling:
Installation of the drives is a snap, with Intel providing custom screws with a three dimensional plastic head. This allows the disks to be placed inside a frame and a clamp applied to the frame over the screws - secure but quiet fast to service and less fiddly than many drive trays.
The custom screws are circled in red in this photo - quite an unusual design. They screw directly into the standard holes for a 3.5" drive:
Unfortunately, the cabling for my unit was upside down and I needed to cut the cable ties to allow the power cables to connect to the drives. This may not be the case for yours.
The firmware delivered with the SS4200 gave me the ability to store files using Windows file sharing (SMB or CIFS for the technically inclined). This was a bit of a surprise as the unit appears to be based on a Linux kernel. A firmware upgrade was required to enable Network File Sharing (NFS) for Linux clients. The problem with the upgrade is that the unit happily reported that it was completely up to date - the new firmware had to be manually located on the Intel website.
Manually downloading and installing the firmware from the Intel site was successful first time around, although I had to use Internet Explorer to perform the update - in Firefox the javascript .web page complained that the file did not exist.
Strangely enough, the new firmware (version 1.1.11.32736) also addressed one of the initial criticisms of the unit when it was powered up for the first time. Despite numerous cries of "Cool" (from the guys) and "Pretty" (from the girls) at the sight of the 7 bright blue LEDs on the front of the unit, it was quickly observed that the LEDs are high intensity LEDs - and bright doesn't begin to describe them.
The new firmware gave me the option of setting the LEDs to three levels of brightness. The default level (as delivered) is characterised as "High" brightness. The lowest level, "Low", is dim even in a darkened room, making the NAS suitable for home theatre environments. The "Medium" setting is just about in the middle.
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|118.90.90.xxx |2009-05-03 09:39:38 Andrew Watson - Thanks for the heads up on the firmwareI have been using one at home for about 5 months and find it excellent (I mainly use it for media and downloads). Thanks for the informative review (I wouldn't have known about the new firrmware otherwise). I do wish it had a squeezebox compatible music server. Apart from that it has been faultless and fast enough to not notice as an external disk.
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|71.252.47.xxx |2010-01-09 14:52:57 F32 - Killer with WHSThese sell for as low as $170 on newegg and $140 on ebay and are absolutely KILLER with WHS. If you get one one ebay and add $100 WHS it is $210 and every one of your shortcomings is addressed and it makes the HP WHS line, even discounted models, look terrible.
Google the ss4200 and WHS, installing it is easy you don't need a video card you just image a $5 2gb usb memory stick. You can even then use the ide port for a fifth ide drive!
