March 10, 2009 at 20:30Small, but deleted - QNAP QBack 35S (Drive Overview)
The problem of lack of free disk space sooner or later faces the edge of any happy owner of unlimited Internet. It’s good if you have enough willpower to put things in order in the “ Downloads ” folders and in countless black holes called “ New Folder ”. And if the computer is in full order, but gigabytes of RAWs from the weekend can not be avoided? Or movies from LAN. Or ... (add what you need). In general ... we must somehow deal with this.
Traffic
The reason is either an initially small amount of space for data, or its irrational use. If the second is a consequence, for which the user is responsible ONLY, then sometimes you just can’t argue with the first paragraph.
Gritting your teeth, remove the “unnecessary of the necessary” and “the most necessary of the unnecessary? Burn DVD discs? Use online storage? Everyone decides for himself, but perhaps the most obvious is simply to buy a capacious hard drive and insert it into the case. With an increase in free space, we get additional heating of the space inside the computer case and a wide range of additional features (hardware), which are completely absent in this version.
You can go the other way - remove the hard drive from the system by placing it in an external box. In this option, we will get a temperature that is more favorable for the disk, a stylish appearance, the ability to transport, and, importantly, new hardware capabilities.
There are a lot of boxes for disks, but today in my article we will talk aboutQNAP QBack 35S . We meet! ;)
Inside the box (in the foam - for safe transportation) it turned out:
- Boxing QNAP QBack 35S for 3.5 ”-disk;
- Stand for the device;
- A strip adapter from SATA to eSATA (External SATA);
- eSATA wire;
- USB cable;
- AC adapter;
- Network wire for PSU;
- Disks with software;
- Instructions for working with the device;
- 6 screws for mounting the disk;
Agree, not bad! What is nice - all the components are packed in separate bags that everyone loves to clap;)
The instructions include the Russian language, in the manual itself there are small illustrations, looking at which it immediately becomes clear what and in what sequence you need to do.
Dimensions of the device - 209 x 123 x 38 mm. Boxing is made of two materials - metal and plastic. The metal part represents most of the device - it is anodized brushed aluminum, the color of which I can’t exactly name - in some circumstances it is gray, in some it is grayish-brown. The front and rear end parts are made of plastic.
The front part is glossy black; there are no controls on it. From the available - the logo of the manufacturer and two indicators (device and drive).
On the back frosted end are: OTB (One Touch Backup) button - for instant data backup; USB 2.0 Type B connector eSATA-connector for connection (the adapter is in the kit!); a connector for powering the device (DC, 5V / 12V) and a disk on / off button.
The assembly is decent, I like the look. It is a pity that both surface materials are somewhat easily soiled - apparently, the devices were originally designed not for active hand touching.
This is also trying to confirm the plastic stand for the disk from the kit, which is faithfully ready to hold the device vertically somewhere in the pantry or on an empty shelf in the table. On the back of the stand there are four rubber inserts that will not allow the disk to move away from spurious vibrations, as well as additionally suppress them.
The first thing you need to do to get started with the device is to unscrew the screws that secure the top cover with a screwdriver that is not included :) Having done this, it becomes possible to extend the internal metal stand-chassis for the disk on which the controller is installed (JMicron JM20336).
It’s just impossible to completely remove the chassis - the wire that goes from the control buttons on the front panel to the controller gets in the way. The instruction says that you need to pull out the same wire, but this is not so easy, especially without nails at least three days old.
The next step was to install a SATA-drive, I have this 500GB Seagate Barracuda.
First, the disk is placed on the stand, then it is slightly moved into the controller, after which fixed SATA-dad and power are inserted into its SATA connector. The holes in the disk are exactly opposite the openings of the box (bumps, discrepancies and non-standard sizes of the disks - I was mentally waiting for you!) - I screw in the screws to minimize vibration during operation (and, as you know, the disks are the main source of noise).
Next, we assemble the device in the reverse order.
The power adapter by itself does not stand out anything special compared to other adapters, which can not be said about the cable from the adapter to the disk - in some ways it reminded me of the good old PS / 2;) It consists of 4 contacts that can be inserted uniquely.
Next, you need to decide how the drive will work - through a USB or SATA cable. For starters, I chose the first option - connect. Everything is ready to go.
Nothing happened just because I forgot about the on / off switch on the back of the drive, which was initially turned off. Turning it on, on the front panel of the device the blue indicator of operation of a sufficiently large brightness lights up. The disk starts to buzz, the system detects a new device (it’s nice that you don’t need to install any drivers, everything works without them).
To increase the functionality, you can (need !!!) put software from the disk from the kit, which is what we’ll talk about.
On the disk from the kit is QBack software , the distribution of which takes about 115 megabytes. Quite a lot, but as it turned out, this is due to multilingualism (English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish). I found out after I went to the manufacturer’s website, hoping to download a newer version of the software. Surprised - usually new versions of programs are always available on the site, but in this case the software was fresh on disk.
The site has the ability to download software only in the language that you need - the Russian version weighed about 15MB. During installation, the program searches for mapped drives, which in my case was found without problems.
After starting the program offers to create a protected area on the disk, indicating the size necessary for this with the slider. I decided to do without it, created a completely "transparent" disk, which was further formatted. If you want to encrypt something, AES algorithm with a 256-bit key is at your service.
Then some initialization takes place, as a result of which two folders appear on the disk - QBackData and QBackSetup . The first one contains user data, the second one contains a backup copy of the installation program (exactly the version and language that was installed in the system) - well, this is a very logical move!
The main program window is as follows:
From it, the transition to the necessary functions is carried out. I will start with the last paragraph, with system parameters. There are not many of them, but they are;)
In the left part of the parameters window there is a system log in which such events as starting / stopping a disk, creating some partitions on it and so on are recorded. On the right are 4 buttons.
Filter Options
Allows you to configure masks filters. I decided to use the example from the tooltip, saving myself from temporary files.
One-touch action setting
Activates or deactivates the quick copy button on the device. There are few options, as you see - I would add the following opportunity: a single press - fast copying data to disk, holding the button - deleting pre-selected data without the possibility of recovery. Developers, wind up on us - sales in Russia will jump up;)
Managing a protected disk
Everything is clear here - changing the password on the disk, connecting and disconnecting it.
Initialization
In case the drive is not detected by the system.
I’ll go over the other tabs.
Automatic backup
Specify in the file tree those folders (or files) on the backup disk that you want to copy to the QBack disk. The program will hang in the tray and track changes to these files.
Click "Start" - after a while, the program will inform you about the successful completion of the operation, the results of which will be on the disk and in the window's log.
Apparently, everything worked.
If you try to repeat the operation, the program will report the completion of the operation much faster - only those files that have been changed or new files in the marked folders are copied (cumulative method).
Scheduled backup
A fairly useful feature. The necessary files and folders are indicated in the file tree, then it is indicated at what time, when and with what frequency the backup should be done.
Instant backup
It would seem, what is the difference between automatic and instant copying, and why each time you need to poke around in the tree of files and folders, choosing the right one? There is a difference - the first option is suitable for you when you just want to copy the necessary files and folders that you usually don’t copy (Music, photos, programs) or if you need to monitor the change of some files on the source disk by copying them on the fly. Instant copying is activated by a button on the device’s case - what you need to copy with enviable constancy (all kinds of reports, text documents, source codes, etc.).
Instant recovery
Well, where without the recovery function. First, select the drive from where the information will be copied (it is nice that the program supports working with several devices), then the user on the local computer [forgot to say that on the backup disk all information is divided into the same structure as on the original drive. In addition, the name of the user who made the backup is taken into account. The program will either not allow the order to grow, or make a copy of it :)] The
files that need to be restored from the disk are selected and the last item indicates the place where everything will be restored.
Voila!
Once again, I turn to the wonderful program HD Tune Pro 3.10 , which helps to build beautiful graphics for my stats) To get started, I drove off my 500-gigabyte drive by connecting it directly to the SATA connector.
We look at the numbers from the linear reading chart. These speeds (Mb / s) are at a maximum of 74.1 , at a minimum of 35.5 , and an average of 60.1 .
Something told me that when connected via the eSATA-bar from the kit, the speed will not change much. And so it happened, but the processor load instead of 16.6% became just some 2.3%. I ran the test several times - the same thing. Good :)
Well, the final stage was the race through USB 2.0. I connect, run tests. The average indicators are (Mb / s): maximum - 33.1 , minimum - 31.6 , average - 32.3 ; CPU load - 11.4%.
Well, excellent performance! (I recall the numbers of other external drives I tested).
Pay attention to the temperature of the disk in the pictures. When connected via USB, it was not determined; when connected via SATA2 (into the case), it was 40-42 degrees, when brought out - 30 -35 degrees. This is what I said at the beginning of the article.
Cons
- Marked surface;
- The OTB button works only through a USB connection;
Pros
- Excellent equipment;
- Rugged construction, good assembly, nice materials; stylish appearance;
- Ability to connect via eSATA and USB 2.0
- Ability to vertically mount
- Simple and functional software with support for 9 languages, including Russian;
- Support encryption function;
- Price (2000-2500 rubles).
There are ready-made external solutions with disks inside, where your overpayment is proportional to the volume of the drive. Here is a decent price for excellent boxing. What to insert inside you decide for yourself - the user who decided to start making backups should have the freedom of choice! ;)
Thanks to the stylish appearance, the device will not be a black sheep in any corner of your apartment or office. Simple and intuitive Russian-language software will not make you nervous - you won’t have to figure it out for a long time, everything works like a clock. Moreover, remembering it is not even necessary - just configure it once, then the program will do everything itself.
In general, if you really wondered about the safety of your data, if you need a decent personal assistant, I can recommend this device.
By the way, the name of the company QNAP stands for “ Quality Network Appliance Provider ”, which means “ provider of high-quality network devices ” in Nashi - I think it is, because I was not too lazy to go to the manufacturer’s website, study the model range and read reviews on other sites. By the way, there are interesting devices designed not only for home and office use - take a
closer look;) I ’ll end with one truthful saying - “ All PC users are divided into two categories - which make backups and which still do not. ”
My other recent reviews are:
- Logitech HarmonyOne - Almighty Remote
-Logitech MX 5500 Revolution review
- Overview of the HIPER HMC-2K53A-H2 media center
- Optimus Maximus keyboard review
- Optimus Mini Three keyboard review
- My Success Blog
!
Traffic
The reason is either an initially small amount of space for data, or its irrational use. If the second is a consequence, for which the user is responsible ONLY, then sometimes you just can’t argue with the first paragraph.
Gritting your teeth, remove the “unnecessary of the necessary” and “the most necessary of the unnecessary? Burn DVD discs? Use online storage? Everyone decides for himself, but perhaps the most obvious is simply to buy a capacious hard drive and insert it into the case. With an increase in free space, we get additional heating of the space inside the computer case and a wide range of additional features (hardware), which are completely absent in this version.
You can go the other way - remove the hard drive from the system by placing it in an external box. In this option, we will get a temperature that is more favorable for the disk, a stylish appearance, the ability to transport, and, importantly, new hardware capabilities.
There are a lot of boxes for disks, but today in my article we will talk aboutQNAP QBack 35S . We meet! ;)
Equipment
Inside the box (in the foam - for safe transportation) it turned out:
- Boxing QNAP QBack 35S for 3.5 ”-disk;
- Stand for the device;
- A strip adapter from SATA to eSATA (External SATA);
- eSATA wire;
- USB cable;
- AC adapter;
- Network wire for PSU;
- Disks with software;
- Instructions for working with the device;
- 6 screws for mounting the disk;
Agree, not bad! What is nice - all the components are packed in separate bags that everyone loves to clap;)
The instructions include the Russian language, in the manual itself there are small illustrations, looking at which it immediately becomes clear what and in what sequence you need to do.
Appearance
Dimensions of the device - 209 x 123 x 38 mm. Boxing is made of two materials - metal and plastic. The metal part represents most of the device - it is anodized brushed aluminum, the color of which I can’t exactly name - in some circumstances it is gray, in some it is grayish-brown. The front and rear end parts are made of plastic.
The front part is glossy black; there are no controls on it. From the available - the logo of the manufacturer and two indicators (device and drive).
On the back frosted end are: OTB (One Touch Backup) button - for instant data backup; USB 2.0 Type B connector eSATA-connector for connection (the adapter is in the kit!); a connector for powering the device (DC, 5V / 12V) and a disk on / off button.
The assembly is decent, I like the look. It is a pity that both surface materials are somewhat easily soiled - apparently, the devices were originally designed not for active hand touching.
This is also trying to confirm the plastic stand for the disk from the kit, which is faithfully ready to hold the device vertically somewhere in the pantry or on an empty shelf in the table. On the back of the stand there are four rubber inserts that will not allow the disk to move away from spurious vibrations, as well as additionally suppress them.
The first thing you need to do to get started with the device is to unscrew the screws that secure the top cover with a screwdriver that is not included :) Having done this, it becomes possible to extend the internal metal stand-chassis for the disk on which the controller is installed (JMicron JM20336).
It’s just impossible to completely remove the chassis - the wire that goes from the control buttons on the front panel to the controller gets in the way. The instruction says that you need to pull out the same wire, but this is not so easy, especially without nails at least three days old.
The next step was to install a SATA-drive, I have this 500GB Seagate Barracuda.
First, the disk is placed on the stand, then it is slightly moved into the controller, after which fixed SATA-dad and power are inserted into its SATA connector. The holes in the disk are exactly opposite the openings of the box (bumps, discrepancies and non-standard sizes of the disks - I was mentally waiting for you!) - I screw in the screws to minimize vibration during operation (and, as you know, the disks are the main source of noise).
Next, we assemble the device in the reverse order.
The power adapter by itself does not stand out anything special compared to other adapters, which can not be said about the cable from the adapter to the disk - in some ways it reminded me of the good old PS / 2;) It consists of 4 contacts that can be inserted uniquely.
Next, you need to decide how the drive will work - through a USB or SATA cable. For starters, I chose the first option - connect. Everything is ready to go.
Nothing happened just because I forgot about the on / off switch on the back of the drive, which was initially turned off. Turning it on, on the front panel of the device the blue indicator of operation of a sufficiently large brightness lights up. The disk starts to buzz, the system detects a new device (it’s nice that you don’t need to install any drivers, everything works without them).
To increase the functionality, you can (need !!!) put software from the disk from the kit, which is what we’ll talk about.
Software
On the disk from the kit is QBack software , the distribution of which takes about 115 megabytes. Quite a lot, but as it turned out, this is due to multilingualism (English, Russian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, French, German, Italian, Spanish). I found out after I went to the manufacturer’s website, hoping to download a newer version of the software. Surprised - usually new versions of programs are always available on the site, but in this case the software was fresh on disk.
The site has the ability to download software only in the language that you need - the Russian version weighed about 15MB. During installation, the program searches for mapped drives, which in my case was found without problems.
After starting the program offers to create a protected area on the disk, indicating the size necessary for this with the slider. I decided to do without it, created a completely "transparent" disk, which was further formatted. If you want to encrypt something, AES algorithm with a 256-bit key is at your service.
Then some initialization takes place, as a result of which two folders appear on the disk - QBackData and QBackSetup . The first one contains user data, the second one contains a backup copy of the installation program (exactly the version and language that was installed in the system) - well, this is a very logical move!
The main program window is as follows:
From it, the transition to the necessary functions is carried out. I will start with the last paragraph, with system parameters. There are not many of them, but they are;)
In the left part of the parameters window there is a system log in which such events as starting / stopping a disk, creating some partitions on it and so on are recorded. On the right are 4 buttons.
Filter Options
Allows you to configure masks filters. I decided to use the example from the tooltip, saving myself from temporary files.
One-touch action setting
Activates or deactivates the quick copy button on the device. There are few options, as you see - I would add the following opportunity: a single press - fast copying data to disk, holding the button - deleting pre-selected data without the possibility of recovery. Developers, wind up on us - sales in Russia will jump up;)
Managing a protected disk
Everything is clear here - changing the password on the disk, connecting and disconnecting it.
Initialization
In case the drive is not detected by the system.
I’ll go over the other tabs.
Automatic backup
Specify in the file tree those folders (or files) on the backup disk that you want to copy to the QBack disk. The program will hang in the tray and track changes to these files.
Click "Start" - after a while, the program will inform you about the successful completion of the operation, the results of which will be on the disk and in the window's log.
Apparently, everything worked.
If you try to repeat the operation, the program will report the completion of the operation much faster - only those files that have been changed or new files in the marked folders are copied (cumulative method).
Scheduled backup
A fairly useful feature. The necessary files and folders are indicated in the file tree, then it is indicated at what time, when and with what frequency the backup should be done.
Instant backup
It would seem, what is the difference between automatic and instant copying, and why each time you need to poke around in the tree of files and folders, choosing the right one? There is a difference - the first option is suitable for you when you just want to copy the necessary files and folders that you usually don’t copy (Music, photos, programs) or if you need to monitor the change of some files on the source disk by copying them on the fly. Instant copying is activated by a button on the device’s case - what you need to copy with enviable constancy (all kinds of reports, text documents, source codes, etc.).
Well, where without the recovery function. First, select the drive from where the information will be copied (it is nice that the program supports working with several devices), then the user on the local computer [forgot to say that on the backup disk all information is divided into the same structure as on the original drive. In addition, the name of the user who made the backup is taken into account. The program will either not allow the order to grow, or make a copy of it :)] The
files that need to be restored from the disk are selected and the last item indicates the place where everything will be restored.
Voila!
Speed of work
Once again, I turn to the wonderful program HD Tune Pro 3.10 , which helps to build beautiful graphics for my stats) To get started, I drove off my 500-gigabyte drive by connecting it directly to the SATA connector.
We look at the numbers from the linear reading chart. These speeds (Mb / s) are at a maximum of 74.1 , at a minimum of 35.5 , and an average of 60.1 .
Something told me that when connected via the eSATA-bar from the kit, the speed will not change much. And so it happened, but the processor load instead of 16.6% became just some 2.3%. I ran the test several times - the same thing. Good :)
Well, the final stage was the race through USB 2.0. I connect, run tests. The average indicators are (Mb / s): maximum - 33.1 , minimum - 31.6 , average - 32.3 ; CPU load - 11.4%.
Well, excellent performance! (I recall the numbers of other external drives I tested).
Pay attention to the temperature of the disk in the pictures. When connected via USB, it was not determined; when connected via SATA2 (into the case), it was 40-42 degrees, when brought out - 30 -35 degrees. This is what I said at the beginning of the article.
Control weighing
Cons
- Marked surface;
- The OTB button works only through a USB connection;
Pros
- Excellent equipment;
- Rugged construction, good assembly, nice materials; stylish appearance;
- Ability to connect via eSATA and USB 2.0
- Ability to vertically mount
- Simple and functional software with support for 9 languages, including Russian;
- Support encryption function;
- Price (2000-2500 rubles).
Total
There are ready-made external solutions with disks inside, where your overpayment is proportional to the volume of the drive. Here is a decent price for excellent boxing. What to insert inside you decide for yourself - the user who decided to start making backups should have the freedom of choice! ;)
Thanks to the stylish appearance, the device will not be a black sheep in any corner of your apartment or office. Simple and intuitive Russian-language software will not make you nervous - you won’t have to figure it out for a long time, everything works like a clock. Moreover, remembering it is not even necessary - just configure it once, then the program will do everything itself.
In general, if you really wondered about the safety of your data, if you need a decent personal assistant, I can recommend this device.
By the way, the name of the company QNAP stands for “ Quality Network Appliance Provider ”, which means “ provider of high-quality network devices ” in Nashi - I think it is, because I was not too lazy to go to the manufacturer’s website, study the model range and read reviews on other sites. By the way, there are interesting devices designed not only for home and office use - take a
closer look;) I ’ll end with one truthful saying - “ All PC users are divided into two categories - which make backups and which still do not. ”
My other recent reviews are:
- Logitech HarmonyOne - Almighty Remote
-Logitech MX 5500 Revolution review
- Overview of the HIPER HMC-2K53A-H2 media center
- Optimus Maximus keyboard review
- Optimus Mini Three keyboard review
- My Success Blog
!