Features

As with all current ASUSTOR products, the AS4004T runs ASUSTOR's ADM 3.0. You can download the comprehensive ADM 3 user's guide here. If you want to take the user interface for a spin, ASUSTOR's online demo will let you check out many, but not all of the features.

The screenshot below shows the ADM 3 landing page.

ASUSTOR ADM 3.0 Landing page

The App Center has an extensive library of apps that can be downloaded and run.

ASUSTOR ADM 3.0 App Center

Services allows you to enable/disable services and configure ports for each service.

ASUSTOR ADM 3.0 Services

Settings has a tabbed menu system that allows you to configure most settings.

ASUSTOR ADM 3.0 Settings

ASUSTOR also has a full suite of mobile applications that work with ADM 3-powered NASes.

ASUSTOR ADM 3.0 Mobile Apps

Performance

Firmware version 3.2.1.RKU4 was loaded onto the AS4004T and performance tests were run using the Revision 5 NAS test process. All tests were run using Western Digital Red 1 TB (WD10EFRX) (x4 SNB supplied).

The primary focus of this review is about the 10 GbE performance of the A4004T and how it compares to the QNAP TVS-471-i3-4G. As we've pointed out in many reviews, NAS performance is often limited not by the ability of the NAS to handle a heavy load, but rather the limit of Gigabit Ethernet and a single client.

If you want to break the 1-Gigabit barrier, you need to use multiple clients, enable link aggregation on the NAS ports and connect through a switch that also supports link aggregation. Or you need to move to 10 GbE. Although 10 GbE will cost more for both NAS and client, this method supports higher throughput with a single client with no link aggregation required.

Note: During our backup tests to an external drive formatted for FAT32, we experienced the errors below. Since the tests didn't run to completion, FAT32 results were not included in our benchmark scores or in our Ranker ratings. We experienced the same FAT32 backup error when we tested the ASUSTOR AS3102T.

[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4'
[Operation not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_06_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_02_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_07_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_01_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_06_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_03_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_07_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_07_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_01_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_02_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_04_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_03_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_08_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_02_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_01_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_02_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_06_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_04_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_08_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_04_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VIDEO_TS.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VIDEO_TS.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_05_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_08_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_05_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_03_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_05_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_01_2.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_07_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_05_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_06_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VIDEO_TS.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_08_1.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_01_0.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_04_0.BUP' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_05_2.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_03_0.IFO' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
[Warning] Can't chown '/USB1-1/Public/firefly4/VTS_02_2.VOB' [Operation
not permitted(-1)]
787: Operation not permitted(1)

Performance - 10 GbE

To get a feel for how the five 10 GbE products in our charts performed, I created a chart for 10 GbE File Copy Write and 10 GbE File Copy read. For File Copy Write, the AS4004T was fourth and at 298.8 MB/s had only about 55% of the throughput of the TVS-471-i3-4G. For File Copy Read, the AS4004T was the slowest NAS of the five products in our chart.

10 GbE File Copy Write and File Copy Read comparisons

The benchmark summary composite chart below shows only the 10 GbE test results run using a single 10 GbE client. If you want to see the complete results including the Gigabit Ethernet tests, you can click here for the AS4004T or here for the TVS-471-i3-84 results.

Looking at the chart below you can see that the QNAP TVS-471-i3-4G outperformed the ASUSTOR AS4004T for most, but not all tests. But for many of the tests, the ASUSTOR AS4004T turned in results in the range of 300MB/s, so clearly it has enough CPU power to take partial advantage of the 10 GbE connection.

Benchmark Summary Comparison - 10 GbE

Some time ago, we created a separate class for RAID5 10GbE NASes. The chart below shows the five current 10GbE capable NASes. Since there are only five NASes, I decided to leave the results sorted by Rank. The NAS Ranker shows that the Synology DS1517+ still has our #1 with the ASUSTOR AS4004T being the #4-ranked NAS.

Ranker Total NAS comparison - 10 GbE

Turning to the Ranker Performance Summary, you'll find that there are lots of data in the composite chart below. Looking first at the Gigabit Ethernet results near the top of the chart, you'll see that the AS4004T did surprisingly well. It tied for the Read and Mixed Read Write categories and actually outperformed the QNAP for the Video and Backup categories. Bear in mind, however, that these are categories within the RAID5-10GbE class which consists of only five products. It does not compare the AS4004T to all of the Gigabit-only NASes. (more on that later)

For the 10 GbE category rankings, the QNAP TVS-471-i3-4G outperformed the ASUSTOR AS4004T in every category except for Video. For the Video category, both NASes were tied with a #3 ranking.

Ranker Performance Comparison - 10 GbE

Closing Thoughts

Our NAS Ranker only allows a product to belong to a single class, so it's difficult to see how an individual 10GbE NAS might compare to all other RAID5-cable NASes with only a Gigabit connection. Since the AS4004T has a price that puts it well below even the next most expensive 10GbE-capable NAS, we temporarily classified the AS4004T as a RAID 5 class NAS to see how it would compare.

The chart below shows the top five RAID5 NASes, sorted by rank, as though the AS4004T were only a RAID5 class NAS. As you can see, the AS4004T would be the #2-ranked RAID5 NAS and none of the other less expensive NASes have a higher rank. That makes it the best value for a 4-bay NAS.

Ranker performance by Rank

The chart below shows the category performance ranking of the AS4004T, as a RAID 5 NAS, compared to the #1 ranked Synology DS918+. The DS918+ won all of the categories except for the Backup and iSCSI categories where the two NASes were tied.

Ranker Performance Comparison

Discounting the AS4004T's 10GbE port and treating it like a standard RAID5-class NAS, the AS4004T is the best performing 4-Bay NAS in our charts. The #1 ranked DS918+ has 5 bays and supports SSD caching, but also carries a $160 premium.

But the AS4004T does have a 10GbE port and that puts it in a class with significantly more expensive NASes that have features such as PCIe expansions slots, expandable memory, and support for SSD caching. Not surprisingly, when matched up with NASes that have beefier hardware and cost three to four times more, than a RAID5-10GbE class NAS, the AS4004T only ranked #4 of 5. Still, the AS4004T had enough CPU power to achieve some benefit from a 10 GbE connection.

If you're looking for a top performing 4-bay NAS, the ASUSTOR offers the best performance as compared to other Gigabit NASes. If you're looking to maximize your investment in a 10 GbE environment, other 10 GbE capable NASes offer significantly better performance, but also carry a significant premium.

Update 9/20/18

ASUSTOR let us know the 2 bay AS4002T has optimized 10 GbE RAID 1 read performance that they claim can reach "nearly 400 MB/s". They also advise that if configuring the AS4004T for RAID 1, users should select drives 1 and 3 or 2 and 4 to construct the volume. (Slots 1 and 2 share one SATA device and 3 and 4 share another. So alternative drives ensures each drive gets full SATA bandwidth.

Introduction, Inside Features, Performance, Closing

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