Asustor FLASHSTOR 6 (FS6706T) ALL-SSD NAS Review

Epilogue

The Asustor FLASHSTOR 6 (FS6706T) is a NAS compatible only with NVMe SSDs and has a unique exterior design resembling Sony’s PS4 Pro. In its stock configuration, this NAS is not for applications requiring increased storage space unless you are rich enough to buy large and super-expensive NVMe SSDs. The easiest and less painful way to expand its capacity is using the AS6004U, which can take 2.5″ and 3.5″ drives with a lower cost per GB ratio than NVMe SSDs.

With NVMe drives and the pair of 2.5 Gbit ports, I didn’t expect anything less in performance, especially with multiple clients connected to the NAS. That said, I noticed a problem in five and six client tests, and under high throughput, the NAS froze several times, and I had no other way to make it work but to remove the power and perform a hard reset. I cannot be sure if this problem has its root in the Corsair NVMe SSDs that I use or in the NAS hardware because I didn’t have spare NVMe drives of a different model to try out. This problem occurred only in the most challenging five and six-client configurations, which tends me to believe that it could be a software issue too. In any case, it is frustrating to spend 1000 dollars for this NAS and the corresponding NVMe drives and face any problems under high-load conditions with multiple clients.

Overall, I liked the exterior design and the compact dimensions of the FS6706T, and its HDMI port is also a nice feature. I would love to use it as a media center device in my home, but the increased cost of NVMe storage will forbid me from doing that. It is nice NOT to hear the noise that HDDs make, but the fact is that they offer a way better cost-per-GB ratio than SSDs, especially NVMe ones.