[Story] My TS-101

[Earendil]

<Disclaimer>
I realize the TS-101 isn't the most cybersecure or safest thing to use in today's computer environments. I realize it's not updated any more. I realize it's old. I realize y'all may have other experiences. This is just this user's quick story.
</Disclaimer

A long time ago I decided to look for a storage solution that was economical, large and easily accessed throughout a wired, protected network. I was new to network devices but had run computers and various OS' for years. I found two solutions I liked the most - Qnap and FreeNAS. FreeNAS required a larger investment and more knowledge of FreeBSD so I planned that for several years later. What impressed me about their only home NAS product was three things 1) Acceptable cost, 2) Robust construction consisting of a forged aluminum case with no fan and 2) Super low power consumption. I believe I got one in the year they came out, 2006 or early 2007 (can't find the receipt). I put a new 500 GB HDD in it and I was amazed at the apps it had. I still have trouble with Unix' permissions (I always have this issue on any Unix box, sometimes they never work exactly as I expect them to) and it was slow (firmware updates took nearly 30 minutes sometimes). But the silence and the tiny current draw meant I can leave the TS-101 on 24/7.

I had several issues - firmware updates, apps failing and learning pains - and Qnap answered. I remember several times I actually had chat sessions with their Taiwanese engineers while they reached out and remote manipulated my home computer to access the TS-101. Those were the days of TRUST (user trusting Qnap and Qnap trusted the user) and SERVICE (Qnap personnel actually had the bandwidth and priority to participate in product troubleshooting for the user). The later is sacrificed due to their success since I doubt their personnel could deal with a fraction of their customers with issues today. Hence these forums and their helpfulness.

It finally became too slow for the home movies I had especially as the resolutions went beyond 480p and data rate of the network connection became limited by the 266 MHz(!) CPU in the TS-101. I got other Qnaps and built my FreeNAS/NAS4Free/XigmaNAS server as my NAS requirements continued to grow (see my sig for details).

Today it is a backup to low security data with a 2 TB HDD. It's rudimentary rsync still works with all rsyncs today (today's Qnaps and XigmaNAS). It STILL runs 24/7 so you do the math, that's 15 years. It's got the latest firmware I can find, v2.3.0 Build 0825T and still performs as a NAS. The only problem I have is it does not show the log entries although there is always mention of a tally of them. I can clear them and they'll slowly grow in amount but I never see them listed. Since it just works I guess I don't need to know what's happening under the hood.

I just wanted to mention this interesting and quality product. Not everyone may have the same experience as mine but it has continued to run at it's approximate 15W power consumption for 15 years. Thanks Qnap.

Qnap TS-101 pic.jpg

[OneCD]

Today it is a backup to low security data with a 2 TB HDD.

Great to hear your old TS-101 is still running!

Can you help me by providing a few details about the TS-101 so I can fill-in some blanks on the ARM model spreadsheet?

• Does your TS-101 have a file called [/etc/platform.conf]? If so, what are the contents of that file please?

• Do you recall which QPKG architectures were compatible with that old NAS? I've only been able to find reference to x09 as the earliest QPKG type, but these were compiled for the generation of QNAP NAS that followed your TS-101.

• Do you recall the actual date your model was released (or was available for purchase) and the date it became EOL?

Thank you.

[Moogle Stiltzkin]

wow u rely are a nas pioner, kudos.

i only got into nas with the ts-509 pro. i needed a lot of space to store my stuff and i could put 5 hard drives into this model and combine the hdds together into 1 single big pool in raid5. also if 1 drive died, i just simply replace the drive and it will rebuild and everything would seem as if nothing bad ever happened (only later did i learned you still needed a backup regardless if raid could rebuild or not which is no guarantee, and there other possible ways to lose data).

i still use my QNAP NAS a lot to this date :} The ts-509 pro as a backup for my ts-877 (which is my main nas atm). The oldest model still works to date.

as for freenas aka truenas (now truenas, either core or scale depending which you are using), it's an alternative OS that uses zfs. But qnap had recently gotten in on that with their quts hero series to introduce zfs.