Nowadays, as the amount of data becomes larger and larger, NAS has become the choice of more families and studios. Many novices also hope to have their own NAS, but they are often stopped because of the more complicated operations. In fact, many NAS are now not only aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises and professional gamers, but are specially built for families and small studios. For example, the ORICO Orico MetaBox Pro we are going to experience today is like this. This time, the MetaBox Pro I got is dual hard drive and bit. The specific model is HS200. So what is the experience like? Let’s find out together.
Simple unboxing
ORICO MetaBox Pro's packaging contains a considerable amount of information. There is a picture of the actual product in the front, and the specific parameters at the back. It is worth mentioning that it is noted on the front that the client and APP cover multiple platforms such as Android, , Apple , Windows, Mac, TV, etc., and have good compatibility to meet the needs of different users. In addition, the accessories section includes network cables, power cords, instructions, fixing screws and screwdrivers, so we don’t have to worry about installation at all.
Opening the outer packaging, we can see the body of ORICO MetaBox Pro. It uses a one-piece aluminum alloy body. The overall shell is simple and exquisite. There are no big gaps in the whole. I believe it is durable enough. On this basis, the hard drive of the ORICO MetaBox Pro is placed horizontally on the side with a cover to prevent dust. It is compatible with both 2.5-inch SSD solid-state drives and 3.5-inch mechanical hard drives. In addition, because this is a model with dual hard disk bays, it is quite compact overall and will not take up much space when placed in various locations.
On the other side of the ORICO MetaBox Pro, we can see the grille-style air outlet, and we can clearly see the 6010 cooling fan inside. Below is the interface and reset button. In terms of interfaces, it has an DC power supply interface, an .5Gbps network port, and a double-row USB3.0 interface.
When building a NAS, the hard disk is a very important part, so it is highly recommended to buy a NAS dedicated disk, because the NAS hard disk is shockproof and supports 7x24 hours, 365 days of work, which is more suitable for the needs of the NAS to work around the clock. What I chose here are two 6T NAS hard drives in the Toshiba N300 series. The entire system uses CMR technology, adopts a 7x24-hour working time design, has 1 million hours of MTTF (mean time before failure), and supports an average of 180TB of data written per year. , not only does the magnetic head have a loading/unloading life of up to 300,000 times, but it also comes with a 3-year warranty, which is enough to use with confidence. In addition, I suggest you not to be lazy or save money. It is best to replace the NAS hard drive every few years to ensure the security of your data.
The Toshiba N300 NAS disk in my hand adopts conventional 3.5-inch specifications, has a highly compatible SATA 6.0Gbit/s interface, 7200rpm rotation speed and 256M cache, which can easily cope with various NAS environments. Toshiba N300 NAS disk provides a variety of capacities including 4-16T. Our studio does not have much data, so chose two 6TB disks for combination. In addition, it has a built-in rotational vibration (RV) sensor that can avoid data loss due to vibration. It is optimized for large-scale NAS server systems and RAID, and can support up to 8-bay NAS systems, which is more than enough for use here.
speed test
Before officially putting the Toshiba N300 into the NAS, we first put it into the PC host environment and conducted a simple speed test. In the CrystalDiskMark test software, the average reading speed of the hard disk is 239.06MB/s, and the average writing speed is 236.52MB/s. The reading and writing speeds are basically the same. This speed is still quite satisfactory.
In addition to the commonly used CrystalDiskMark software, I also used HD Tune Pro for testing. HD Tune Pro can display the overall read performance of a mechanical hard drive and reflect the average read speed of the hard drive. In the actual test, the overall performance of Toshiba N300 is relatively stable, with an average value of about 184MB/s, and the fluctuation is within a reasonable range and will not affect normal use.
Based on the basic speed, I tried to import recent materials into Toshiba N300. In actual practice, the speed is around 227MB/S. This is mainly limited by the performance limitations of a single hard disk. It has reached the read and write bottleneck of a 3.5-inch hard disk, and its reading speed is still very good.
Simple installation
Different from the complicated NAS installation in the minds of some novices, using ORICO MetaBox Pro is really quite simple. In terms of hardware, secure the two Toshiba NAS hard drives N300 series hard drives to the hard drive bracket with screws after confirming the front and back sides, and then connect the power supply and network. You can rest assured that ORICO MetaBox Pro supports disk health status monitoring and self-check, so that everyone can know the health status of the hard disk in time.
For formal use, we need to download the corresponding version of the control software on a mobile phone or PC. Then, we just follow the instructions to install it. The only thing we need to pay attention to is how to use the disk. Among them, LVM and RAID 0 both use hard disks in a unified manner. The hard disk utilization rate is higher, but the data security is average, while RAID 1 mirrors the two hard disks to each other and has better security. I choose here It's RAID 1 mode. It is worth mentioning that ORICO MetaBoxPro supports NAS to NAS remote automatic remote mirroring and disaster prevention backup. If both the company and home require NAS, then data security will be very high.
Practical experience
MetaBox Pro is a product specially designed for families and small studios. Most functions can be completed using the mobile APP, which is safe and convenient. It not only supports automatic backup of mobile phones and WeChat, but also supports videos uploaded on mobile phones. Pictures, files, audio, etc. are automatically classified, which is convenient enough to use. At the same time, we can manage the files in the NAS, such as copying, deleting, renaming, etc., and can also resume uploading at breakpoints, and remotely access the internal and external networks. I will check the video I made today at home.
The NAS I have here has quite complex requirements. It is not only used by my studio partners, but also by my family. I also put some information and videos into it myself, and ORICO MetaBox Pro can do it in one go. Meet my writing needs. It can set up access rights for multiple accounts, set usage rights and spaces for various members, not only separate content, but also set secondary passwords or hide folders, so that everyone can ensure their privacy. Purpose. In addition, MetaBox Pro uses an exclusive SDVN virtual secure network for encrypted transmission. Even if it is accessed from the external network, the security is very high. Although I do not have this need, it is obviously better to be more secure.
Summary
ORICO MetaBoxPro is a NAS that is geared towards home use. Its biggest feature is that it is simple and easy to use. With a suitable NSA disk, even a novice can easily create his or her own NAS. On this basis, it not only has solid workmanship and powerful strength, but can also meet the needs of an entire family. For family members, they can manage data simply by using their mobile phone, which is very convenient and fast. It is a complete little steel cannon. . In summary, ORICO MetaBox Pro is very suitable for most families or small studios. Even a novice can buy it with confidence. I believe its experience will not let you down.
