Product Comparison: QNAP TS-251 vs QNAP TS-251A

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QNAP TS-251 2-Bay Personal Cloud NAS

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QNAP TS-251A 2-bay personal cloud NAS/DAS with USB direct access, HDMI local display

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General Specifications

Brand

QNAP

Model

TS-251

TS-251A

Origin

Taiwan

About the Product

The TS-251 provides a high performance & high capacity storage solution for SOHO & home, workgroup, and SMB users. Powered by the advanced QTS operating system, the TS-251 performs as an easy-to-use yet powerful NAS for data backup, file synchronization, remote access, home entertainment, and is ideal for users to build a personal cloud to access their data easily.

The TS-251A provides the innovative USB QuickAccess port that allows you to quickly complete the first-time NAS installation and to then directly access files and data stored on the NAS. It also supports two additional transmission modes: Ethernet NAS mode and iSCSI SAN block-based mode. Combining USB QuickAccess, NAS and iSCSI-SAN into one box, the TS-251A is a powerful but easy-to-use storage solution ideal for backup, synchronization, remote access, and entertainment. It greatly helps to boost productivity and can meet the demands of photographers and audiovisual enthusiasts for direct, quick access to files. The TS-251A is powered by a high-performance 14nm Intel® Celeron® N3060 dual-core 1.6GHz processor, and supports 4K video playback and transcoding.

Key Specs

Hard Drive Capacity

24 TB

Number Of Slots

2 -bay

Storage Drive Type

3.5”, 2.5”, SSD, SATA 6Gb/s, SATA 3Gb/s

Hard Drive Capacity
Number Of Slots

What customers say about "Key Specs"

QNAP TS-251 2-Bay Personal Cloud NAS

The operating system was a bit of a challenge to learn, and I am still exploring the features and applications that this drive brings to the table. So far, I am using it as a network drive, with file sharing between the two of us who live here.
I installed two 4 TB Seagate NAS rated hard drives, and set them up as a RAID 1, so that I have redundant storage in the event of a drive failure.
Easy to setup. Even getting the bonding interfaces is super simple. Nice Web UI. You also get the most usual options for RAID or setup you may want.
Don't get me wrong the QNAP is outstanding in its class and price point, the only mandatory upgrade is 8GB RAM if you plan to stream or transcode.
The only downside is that this machine needs more than the 1 GB ram that it comes with
VERY IMPORTANT!!!: I bought the one with 1GB and no disks. And bought a couple of 4GB Crucial, they worked like a charm but in order to install the second stick you have to break a small sticker that voids the warranty.
This is not a con if you only want the NAS. But remember that the CPU here is pretty anemic and stuff like Plex transcoding might be too much for it.

QNAP TS-251A 2-bay personal cloud NAS/DAS with USB direct access, HDMI local display

It was easy to set-up, and it does what it’s supposed to do very well. I use it exclusively to back up my media library and serve it up via Plex to Roku, Apple TV, and phones.
I do bulk transcoding off-line using Handbrake on 24 cores and only apply the Plex Optimize function occasionally, so the dual core Celeron meets my needs.
Could barely handle 1080 video. The processor is too slow. No way it would've handled 4K.
Just the facts. Even with upgrade to 8 Gb of ram, poor performance with Plex DVR.
Those experienced with Plex should be familiar with how hard it can churn while transcoding on demand. This box is optimized for low power and thus uses a dual-core Celeron and doesn’t transcode quickly

Size & Weight

Color

White

Height

6.65 in.

Width

4.02 in.

Depth

8.62 in.

Weight

2.82 lbs.

Features

CPU

Intel® Celeron® 2.41GHz dual-core processor (burst up to 2.58GHz)

14nm Intel® Celeron® N3060 dual-core 1.6GHz (up to 2.48GHz)

RAM

1 GB

2 GB

RAID Support

RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, JBOD

Extras

QTS - Simple and efficient, Qsirch – A smarter, faster way to search, Easily build your personal cloud and access anywhere, Real-time & offline HD video transcoding, Stream media via DLNA, AirPlay, Chromecast and Plex, Extend the functionality of the TS-251 with Virtualization, Cross-platform file sharing, centralized data storage, Well-rounded backup solutions to secure data, Disaster recovery solutions bring peace of mind, Archive your photo memories. Share your life., Build your home music library and enjoy music anywhere, 24/7 download center, Dropbox-like file synchronization across computers and mobile devices, Comprehensive surveillance solution providing 24/7 security, Signage Station - Creatively present your animated content, Access, use, sync and enjoy with your tablets and smartphones, A private space for work & sharing, Install-on-demand apps to extend NAS functionality, LED indicators with adjustable brightness controls, Economical storage expansion with scale-up solution, Energy-saving, NAS management can be just that easy.

14nm Intel® Celeron® N3060 dual-core CPU and hardware-accelerated encryption engine, Direct access to files with the USB QuickAccess port, USB QuickAccess/NAS/iSCSI SAN triple solution, Superior 4K video transcoding, Enjoy media freely with multi-zone multimedia controls, Enjoy an exclusive karaoke experience with OceanKTV, QTS – Simple and powerful, File synchronization across devices and clouds, Cross-platform file sharing, centralized data storage, Centralize backup, restoration and synchronization with Hybrid Backup Sync, Restore files with Snapshot for Volume & LUN, Qsirch - a smarter, faster way to search, QmailAgent: a mailroom center for your private cloud, QTS-Linux dual systems for IoT applications, Storage for hosting virtual machines and containerized applications, Comprehensive surveillance solution providing 24/7 security

Included Software

QTS (Linux for Build-in System), Transmission, Joomla!, phpMyAdmin, WordPress, AjaXplorer, vtigerCRM, eyeOS, Magento, GLPI, QUSBCam, Tomcat, Mono, XDove, OpenLDAP, Optware IPKG, Python, Java, iStat

QTS (Linux for Build-in System), Transmission, Joomla!, phpMyAdmin, WordPress, AjaXplorer, vtigerCRM, Magento, eyeOS, QUSBCam, Tomcat, GLPI, Mono, XDove, OpenLDAP, Optware IPKG, Python, Java, iStat

What customers say about "Features"

QNAP TS-251 2-Bay Personal Cloud NAS

We are also sharing pictures, movies, and music on the drive. I also have some Web cameras mounted around the house that are connected to the NAS acting as security cameras.
There are hundreds of Applications that you can choose from that allow this NAS to do a large number of tasks. I am still investigating them.
Runs very quiet. Nice selection of applications. Clients, servers, etc. To add a little bit to the basic NAS. Backup to other places.
Kodi works very well. I've seen 1080p movies without a hitch. Gets updates fairly regularly although I get that probably most of them are for new products.
The best part about this device, aside from the stability, is the user interface which has an equally user friendly on desktop as mobile platforms. It integrates with iPhone syncing so you can use it like a mirror to iTunes or just as a backup for the media on your phones.
Buy a version with more than 1GB of RAM otherwise you will be constrained as soon as you get happy about apps, specially if something uses Java.
I'm disappointed with the speed and power of the OS. It gets the job done for me (I just needed a nas/archive storage) but I couldn't imagine using all the "built in" features because I feel like they would be painfully slow interfaces to us

QNAP TS-251A 2-bay personal cloud NAS/DAS with USB direct access, HDMI local display

Qmusic allows iPhone Music to interrupt in between songs while connected to a bluetooth device....other music apps do not e.g. Amazon Music. Also, Qmusic needs to have specific settings for Random & Continuous play
Qvideo needs the ability to browse the network like Qphoto does. Also, Qvideo needs the ability to share e.g. Facebook as does Qphoto as well as the ability to download to your phone as does Qphoto.
If you select "random song" from the menu, random songs will continue to play; however, if you select a song from a file list it will only play that song once and stop. Yes, I am picky, but still stand by five stars.
The real kicker: it kept crashing! Would just shut down and only come back on by unplugging. This was not a sleep mode issue. Even Qnap tech support confirmed it.
This product just crashed in the middle of the night after less than 2 months of use. It will no longer power on.

Interfaces

LAN Speed

1000 Mbps

Number of LAN

Number of USB

eSATA

HDMI

Yes

What customers say about "Interfaces"

QNAP TS-251 2-Bay Personal Cloud NAS

The QNAP 251 is a great NAS. It was easy to install, and easy to setup as a mapped network drive.
I plugged both of the network cables into the router. I recommend this for faster network speeds.
I have a couple of Macs along with PCs. It was fairly easy to setup Time Machine. Disk encryption. Nice selection of apps from QNAP for IOS and Android.
The unit supports all common RAID configurations and is apparently scalable if you want to add a second, third or more units.
The device also doubles as a home of or HD media server via the USB and HDMI cable. I don't really have the utility for that but it's a great option for some given the form factor.
The trays are plastic with screws so don't think about changing disks a lot, I do not believe they will hold much. On the other side, I believe it is expected at this price point.
I love the idea of the qnap os and offerings. Seems sluggish when overtaxing it like when first populating the drive with data. Sometimes we admin interface is not coming up.

QNAP TS-251A 2-bay personal cloud NAS/DAS with USB direct access, HDMI local display

this a nice NAS with an awesome webUI. Tons of forum support and the tech support is helpful and knowledgeable.
I have it set up as a raid 1 with 2- 8tb's and perfect so far. It has become a key piece in my info-tainement system.
It will be a challenge if you are not computer savvy. But yeah, I should give it 5 out of 5. The only point away is because if you don't know much about computers, you may need a little help setting this up
I have opened a ticket with QNAP support, but they have yet to provide any updates after 2 business days.
If your going to use this as a Plex media server, make sure you turn off the systems media player ( or keep it off ). 16gb of memory won't be enough to run both.

Warranty / Certifications

Manufacturer Warranty

2 year(s)

Certifications

EAC, FCC, CE, NOM

Other Information

Manufacturer

link

Link

Manual

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