Asustor FLASHSTOR 6 (FS6706T) ALL-SSD NAS Review

The Asustor FLASHSTOR 6 NAS has a similar design to Sony’s PS4 Pro, with more compact dimensions. It features six M.2 NVMe slots and a pair of 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, along with HDMI 2.0b and S/PDIF outputs. This is the ideal multimedia NAS, if you can cope with the cost of large NVMe drives. 

A NAS resembling a gaming console can only take NVMe drives, allowing for compact dimensions. The Asustor FLASHSTOR 6 (FS6706T) offers all of the above at an MSRP of 450 dollars. You should also consider the increased cost of NVMe drives if you want high capacities. There are six NVMe slots, so if you don’t have increased storage needs, you could go with 2 TB SSDs, with good ones going around 100 dollars each. So, fully loaded with 2 TB NVMes, the FS6706T exceeds 1000 dollars. Compact dimensions, decreased energy needs, and silent operation come at a cost, that’s for sure.

The main features of this NAS, besides the nice exterior design and the small footprint, are the pair of 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, the 4 GB of DDR4 RAM, the dual USB 3.2 Gen2x1 ports, and the HDMI 2.0b, which allows it to be directly connected to a monitor or a TV. There is also a S/PDIF output for higher sound quality. Moreover, the NAS supports 4K hardware transcoding. I left the quad-core Intel Celeron N5105 CPU for last, which might be inadequate for a modern PC or laptop, but it is strong enough for NAS running a custom-tailored Linux OS. You need the lowest possible power consumption in NAS boxes because they are meant for 24/7 operation, so strong and power-hungry CPUs are only for super-demanding applications. For home use or even for small business environments, Celeron CPUs will do fine.