If you’re looking into some home network storage and is always craving for more space, check out this dual-bay Gigabit NAS Server from Edimax.
Been looking for some network storage solution for some time now but since I already got an external HDD, an Apple TV and HDX 1000 NMT (that’s a total of 1.5TB of storage), I never found any more use for a NAS.
However, the Edimax NS-2502 SATA NAS Server some some pretty nifty features that’s making me reconsider. Not only is it a network storage device, it’s also an iTunes Server, Media Server and BitTorrent client. That means you can download your torrents directly into the server without the need for a computer.
The NS-2502 has two drive bays so you can get as much as 4 terabytes (2x2TB) in there. The NAS hooks up to your router via RJ45 (LAN cable). The device can be managed via the browser in a password-protected local IP.
It also comes with a USB port in the front so you can actually attach another USB device there and copy the entire contents into the NAS with a single push of the button. It supports a number of file formats –CIFS, NTFS, FAT16, FAT32, ext2, ext3 file systems.
The NAS isn’t cheap by any means and retails for about Php7,350 without the HDD.
I too am interested in the transfer rates of this unit and also if the unit can accept 2x 2TB SATA drives as opposed to the reported 2x 1TB SATA drives. If anyone can help with these questions I’d be very grateful.
By the way, if you go here – http://edimax.ie/en/support_detail.php?pd_id=260&pl1_id=17#02 you can get the latest firmware for this unit dated the 20-10-2009.
Ohh, for anyone wondering…I’ve found some transfer rates but it doesn’t specify what filesystem has been used – http://www.hardware.info/en-US/productdb/bGlkbJiWmJXKZ8g/viewproductspecs/Edimax_Gigabit_Fast_Ethernet_2Bay_SATA_NAS_Server_NS2502/
The tarnsfer rates don’t look particularly great…
@Jethro the firmware 0.61d is the version that came on the NAS from the factory (I think is the first firmware they released), on the Polish site I’ve mentioned you can find the latest version 0.72 which rocks comparing with the initial one.
I had a look at the firmware that you mentioned on the polish Edimax site and the 0.72 firmware is dated the 27-08-2009. The firmware I posted is from 20-10-2009. I think that they may release different firmware versions for different regions.
I could be wrong however and it may be an error on Edimax’s part…
0.72 broke streaming to PS3 for me.
Ramzez, what do think of the transfer rates of the unit. Do you stream any HD content from it?
Also, I’m just reading through the documentation on it and it mentions that the maximum file size for FAT32 and NTFS on this unit is 4GB!?!? I know that’s true of FAT32 but not of NTFS. Does anyone have files larger than 4GB on this unit while formatted as NTFS?
I am currently streaming 720p video content without any problems to a media player TVIX, I tried also 1080p yesterday and works fine (over Ethernet).
2 x 2TB Drives No Problem
Print Server No Problem
Files Larger than 4GB on NTFS no problem
Bittorrent no problem
Follow this link for a the correct firmware.
http://forum.edimax.pl/viewtopic.php?f=12&p=4566
Nice work Kurt…I’ll be definitely be buying 2 of these now. It’s funny that buying 2 of these is still a hell of a lot cheaper than buying a 4 bay NAS enclosure!
The topic from the Polish forum mentioned by Kurt was opned by me
!
I didn’t try HD, but was really disappointed the upload rate is not so good, the firmware is so so, it is quite noisy. Bittorent is about 7-10 times slower then on pc, so I have sold mine and ordered QNAP.
The support only replied to my email once and sent me a 0.72b firmware, although it fixed some of the problems it was extremely slow to access any menus and as mentioned earlier ps3 streaming didn’t work after about 20 minutes of watching a video.
if speed is important, you may want to consider qnap, thecus, synology or netgear’s high level NAS.
on gigabit network they can transfer as fast as 85mb/s, and can be much faster than local HD if you use iSCSI.
I copy files to this NAS with Windows Explorer with 7-8 MB/s over the Ethernet cable and with 5-6 MB through the FTP protocol. I bought a Gigabit Wireless router Linksys WRT320 so after I will replace the CAT5 cables with CAT6 the speed will increase. I have 2×1 TB Caviar Green EADS disks inside so they are not so speedy but overall I am pleased with the performance for this price. If they will fix the BitTorrent client (which is important for me) I will have no complaints anymore!
Can anyone confirm for me that you are able to format the internal drives in this unit as NTFS? I really don’t want to use EXT2, EXT3, FAT 16 or FAT 32…
If you want RAID you cannot select NTFS, it is only one option: autopartition and format. If you use JBOD you can choose any file system.
Thanks Mishu!
on NAS it will be ext2 ext3 or ext4 since NAS are mostly running on Linux system. The latest one are now in ext4.
mishu, doubt you will see any negligible improvement when you change your cable from cat5 to cat6 since the bottleneck is on your NAS.
i’m on cat5 and i can transfer 700mb file in 5 seconds.
I am not convinced you are right because the NAS network card is Gigabit so when all my cables will be CAT6 and all my networked devices are conected by Gigabit network cards the speed will increase significantly. About your transfer speeds over CAT5, what router are you using, a Gigabit one and your PC network card is Gigabit?
theoretical limit of 1 gigabit network is
1000Mbps / 8 = 125MBps, that’s 125 megabyte per second
so the bottleneck is in your NAS’ system.
You can check this
http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/component/option,com_nas/Itemid,190
which compares different NAS
I have here firmware version .73, post your email here if you want that latest firmware version.
Great, here is my address mihai.margineanu@gmail.com but if the file is bigger than 10 MB it will not pass. Maybe you can give me the web site where from I can download it. Thanks a lot!
Hey Otie, I would love a bash at the new firmware please. its chrisdj [at] chrisdj.plus.net
Thanx
Hi Otie, could you email that 0.73 firmware to me please? My email address is cbx2000 [at] hotmail dot com. Thanks! Am interested to see what changes this firmware has.
There are no significant differences between 0.72 and 0.73. At least I didn’t saw any so I went back the Planex firmware which is so good comparing with the Edimax version.