SmallNetBuilder

Performance

The 439 was tested with our standard test process. I upgraded to the latest 2.1.6 Build 0428T and used the Samsung HE103UJ 1 TB drives installed by QNAP. Tests were run with four drives configured in RAID 0 and 5 with 1000 Mbps and 1000 Mbps with 4k jumbo LAN connections.

Backup

I first checked backup performance to an Iomega UltraMax Pro Desktop Hard Drive configured in RAID 0 attached via both USB 2.0 and eSATA. The test copies a 4.35 GB ripped DVD test folder that I use in the NAS Chart Vista SP1 file copy tests from the NAS to the attached drive.

The results are summarized in Table 1 along with the TS-639 Pro's for comparison. Best performance, almost 64 MB/s, is with EXT3 format and an eSATA connection. The other combinations of format and connection match up pretty well against the TS-639 Pro.

Table 1: Attached backup throughput test summary

I was also able to test the QNAP Remote Replication feature for NAS-to-NAS backup. Table 2 summarizes the results for full backups of the test folder without and with the encryption option (SSH connection) enabled. The 439's replication speed is almost identical to the 639's and even the more powerful TS-809 Pro's.

Table 2: Networked backup throughput test summary

Benchmarks

Figure 3 presents a summary of the benchmark tests run for the 439 with RAID 0 and 5 write and read plotted. Performance boost at the smaller file sizes isn't extreme for either RAID 0 or 5 writes and read performance is pretty flat across all file sizes tested. It's good to see that you don't give up a lot of speed by using RAID 5 vs. RAID 0.

Figure 3: Performance benchmark summary

RAID 0 Performance with a 1000 Mbps LAN connection averaged over the 32 MB to 4 GB file sizes and with cached results above 125 MB/s removed from the average comes in at 52.2 MB/s for writes and 68.5 MB/s for reads. RAID 5 results were 52.2 MB/s for writes and 64.3 MB/s for reads. All results ranked the 439 in the top 10 in each chart, except for RAID 0 write.

Performance - Competitive

I'm taking a bit of an unusual approach and comparing mostly QNAP products with the 439 and only adding in the NETGEAR NVX along with the TS-509 Pro and TS-639 Pro.

For RAID 5 write (Figure 4), the NETGEAR NVX's high cache boost on smaller files compresses the plots, forcing us to the table to discern the ranking. The overall winner is the TS-509 Pro, which maintains 50+ MB/s throughput with the larger file sizes. The NVX seems to have a slight edge over the TS-439 and 639 Pros in the mid filesizes, but drops down equal to them in the low 40 MB/s with the 2 and 4 GB files.

Figure 4: Competitive RAID 5 write comparison - 1000 Mbps LAN

For RAID 5 read (Figure 5), the NVX and 509 Pro are most evenly matched with speeds in the 60 - 70 MB/s range, followed by the TS-439 and 639, which hang in around the high 50, low 60 MB/s.

Figure 5: Competitive RAID 5 read comparison - 1000 Mbps LAN