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QNAP TS-239 Pro II Review

The QNAP TS-239 Pro II is the next generation of the already successful QNAP TS-239 Pro. It’s a product that sits in the middle when it comes to the QNAP NAS product range, between the QNAP TS-210 which is the budget QNAP 2 bay NAS solution and the new high end QNAP TS-259 Pro, which we have already reviewed. Is there a major performance downgrade from the QNAP TS-239 Pro II to its bigger brother the QNAP TS-259 Pro? Read on to find out what the team @ ExpertsInStorage.com thought..

Date Of Review : 29th January 2010

Manufactured By : QNAP [http://www.QNAP.com]

Price As Supplied : £339.95 + VAT Diskless

Supplied By : ExpertsInStorage.com [http://www.ExpertsInStorage.com]

Firmware Version As Tested : 3.2.0 Build 1221T

Its very hard to tell any difference between the QNAP TS-239 Pro II and its bigger brother, at least in specification the QNAP TS-259 Pro. That’s simply because the only difference is within the units, it being the processor. The QNAP TS-259 pro boasts an Intel Atom D510 1.66GHz (Dual-Core) whilst the QNAP TS-239 Pro II has a Intel Atom D410 1.66GHz (Single-Core) fitted. As you can see when you compare both products side by side this really is the only difference.

The firmware is the same on both units, therefore they also have an identical feature set. QNAP don’t advertise the fact that the QNAP TS-239 Pro II is also VMware certified, you can only assume that they would rather sell the QNAP TS-259 Pro into the VMware marketplace.

So basically its a simple cut and paste when it comes to the QNAP TS-239 Pro II hardware from the QNAP TS-259 Pro. The QNAP TS-239 Pro II hardware is a two bay device that accommodates two 2.5″ or two 3.5″ SATA hard drives, currently with a maximum storage capacity of 4TB. It supports RAID the default setting is RAID 1, thus all data on drive 1 is automatically mirrored onto drive 2, protecting your data. The device uses the same disk caddy mechanism for both 2.5″ and 3.5″ drive types, the difference being the placement of the drive screw locations on the caddy. For the purpose of the review we used 2 x Seagate 500GB ES hard drives in a mirrored RAID 1 configuration. Installation of the hard drives is quick and easy, as they have a hot swap design, so easily accessible. The rear of the unit does not disappoint when it comes to expansion possibilities, with 4 x USB ports plus 2 x eSATA connections, not forgetting the dual gigabit ethernet connections.

Given the fact that both the QNAP TS-239 Pro II and the QNAP TS-259 Pro have the same firmware we will use the same version of video to demonstrate the user interface as the QNAP TS-259 Pro.

You can download a high quality MP4 format video directly from here.

After our first review we were contacted by a MAC user asking if we could show the procedure for integrating a QNAP NAS solution via iSCSI onto an iMAC. Well we are happy to oblige. First you need to enable the iSCSI service on the QNAP NAS as well as create an iSCSI Target & LUN. Sounds daunting well it isn’t, it couldn’t be easier.

Once that is configured you then need an iSCSI initiator to connect to the new QNAP iSCSI target. The one we use is Global San iSCSI from studionetworksolutions.com.

Once connected your iMAC should immediately recognise the fact that a hard drive has been installed. If it doesn’t don’t panic, simply launch Disk Utility which can be found under Applications/Utilities. You now need to configure the new hard drive, partition and format.

Once complete you will have what appears to be a locally attached hard drive, when in fact it is located on a remote QNAP TS-239 Pro II NAS. iSCSI is as easy as that to configure and use.

Well we have already said that the QNAP NAS TS-239 Pro is practically identical to the TS-259 Pro, but can the same be said when it comes to the performance figures? Lets get on with the testing..

First as a straight NAS device, Windows share under Vista.

Our QNAP TS-239 Pro II NAS test results showed ;

Minimum Write Throughput : 3.6 MB/s
Maximimum Write Throughput : 90.0 MB/s
Average Write Throughput : 57.4 MB/s

Minimum Read Throughput : 3.8 MB/s
Maximum Read Throughput : 113.5 MB/s
Average Read Throughput : 70.8 MB/s

Compare those results to the QNAP TS-259 Pro NAS test results ;

Minimum Write Throughput : 3.7 MB/s
Maximimum Write Throughput : 98.2 MB/s
Average Write Throughput : 63.2 MB/s

Minimum Read Throughput : 3.7 MB/s
Maximum Read Throughput : 115.4 MB/s
Average Read Throughput : 79.4 MB/s

So if you do a direct comparison between the two models when testing NAS performance you can see roughly 10% difference. The QNAP TS-239 Pro II is around 10% slower than the QNAP TS-259 Pro on both Read & Write transfers.

How about the QNAP TS-239 Pro II iSCSI Performance?

The QNAP TS-239 Pro II iSCSI test results showed ;

Minimum Write Throughput : 2.1 MB/s
Maximimum Write Throughput : 80.4 MB/s
Average Write Throughput : 50.3 MB/s

Minimum Read Throughput : 3.5 MB/s
Maximum Read Throughput : 118.8 MB/s
Average Read Throughput : 73.9 MB/s

Compare those results to the QNAP TS-259 Pro iSCSI test results ;

Minimum Write Throughput : 1.9 MB/s
Maximimum Write Throughput : 80.2 MB/s
Average Write Throughput : 53.0 MB/s

Minimum Read Throughput : 3.6 MB/s
Maximum Read Throughput : 118.8 MB/s
Average Read Throughput : 76.0 MB/s

The iSCSI transfer results when compared were much closer to call, the QNAP TS-259 only just edging ahead of the QNAP TS-239 Pro II.

StorageReviews.co.uk / ExpertsInStorage.com Conclusion

Reviewing the QNAP TS-239 Pro II so close to the initial QNAP TS-259 Pro proved to be very interesting. Given the very close performance figures of both units, the question arose of which one would we buy. On this we were split. For the extra money some said the QNAP TS-259 Pro, as you may as well get the best there is, rather than try and save a few pounds, but equally there were those that said they would rather save the money and opt for the QNAP TS-239 Pro II.

However the old adage that you get what you pay for remains true when you compare either the QNAP TS-239 Pro II or QNAP TS-259 Pro. They are not the cheapest options for any NAS solution, however anything this good never is. If you are looking for a unit that literally can do everything, then a QNAP solution remains well worth looking at.

From the very slick QNAP interface to the numerous applications and features. QNAP really are the market leaders when it comes to NAS / iSCSI solutions. Other manufacturers always seem to be playing catch up with QNAP. QNAP develop new features, others follow, we think that will be the case with the TS-239 Pro II and the QNAP TS-259 Pro.

The team @ ExpertsInStorage.com are split over which unit they would purchase. We expect the sales of both models to be equally split. However one thing that is the same is the ExpertsInStorage.com awarded score.

The StorageReviews.co.uk & ExpertsInStorage.com Team Award The QNAP TS-239 Pro II A Score Of 9.