Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: Mature {hardware}, toddler software program
Accent producer Ugreen is shifting into a brand new product class, and has launched a variety of community connected storage units with a wonderful price-to-performance ratio. Sadly the road ships with software program that’s too immature to unconditionally suggest as we speak.
The Ugreen NASync vary consists of storage home equipment for shopper {and professional} use, starting from a two-bay gadget as much as an 8-bay model. It additionally presents a four-bay version geared toward media professionals, one which makes use of M.2 NVMe drives for top speeds.
For this overview, Ugreen provided us with the DXP8800 Plus, the eight-bay mannequin meant to supply excessive capacities of storage for enterprise and energy customers.
As its first foray into the NAS subject, it could even be anticipated that Ugreen would persist with a reasonably easy association, particularly an entry-level providing a base stage of options and few frills. As an alternative, Ugreen is trying to swing for the fences with its preliminary try.
The pitch was proper down the center, the swing was clear, and the ball was smashed deep to middle subject — however it hasn’t cleared the wall but.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – Design
The DXP8800 Plus is a reasonably typical-looking NAS clad in an aluminum enclosure, and is as massive as you’d count on a tool that holds eight onerous drives to be.
Drive caddies are lockable, with particular person mechanisms for each on the entrance, under an figuring out quantity. Beneath and to the left are a row of 9 indicator lights for drive exercise and the community connection, in addition to the primary energy button.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: Mac Professional for scale
To assist with media ingesting and entry, there are additionally two Thunderbolt 4 ports, in addition to an SD 4.0 card reader, and a USB 3.2 Gen 2 connection that works at as much as 10Gbps.
These ports don’t present Drobo-like options, although. You may’t use them to instantly hook up with a pc to make use of the {hardware} as direct storage. They’re just for the growth of the NAS with typical enclosures.
On the rear is a big magnetic mud cowl, full with Ugreen branding within the center. There’s a second USB 3.2 connection, in addition to two USB 2.0 ports able to 480Mb/s, HDMI, a Kensington lock slot, and a pair of 10gig Ethernet connections that may be aggregated to twenty Gbps on a correctly configured and outfitted community.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: Rear, with ports and detachable magnetic mud cowl
This final level is particularly helpful for business-based networks, since you’d count on to benefit from a high-speed community infrastructure to supply file entry to a number of customers. It’s actually overkill for dwelling customers as we speak, however a few of the different lower-capacity fashions embrace 2.5 Gig ports as nicely.
Additionally across the again of the enclosure is a PCI-E 4.0 x4 slot, giving extra growth choices.
Beneath the unit is an growth door that may be unscrewed. Within the compartment are two RAM slots, and two M.2 drive slots.
When working and beneath load, the unit hits about 49 decibels at a meter away from the unit, which is generally drive chatter and fan whine. This is not too dangerous, and contemplating that almost all community connected storage units aren’t in your desk, is not a problem in any respect.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – Drives and Processing
Putting in the drives into the person drive trays is easy, and no instruments are required. After sliding the tray out, a piece to at least one facet of the tray will be pulled out so a drive will be positioned, then pushed again in to pin it contained in the tray. There are additionally screw holes for two.5-inch drives, like SSDs.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: How the drive tray can take drives, with out screws or instruments
With eight important drive bays to take 3.5-inch onerous drives, the DXP8800 Plus has the best potential capability within the vary, merely due to the drive depend. In a position to settle for as much as eight 22-terabyte drives, it might have as much as 176 terabytes of spinning platters put in at a time.
Nonetheless, Ugreen says the utmost capability of the DXP8800 Plus is definitely 184 terabytes. This consists of the 2 M.2 SSD drive slots, which might every take a 4-terabyte drive.
These M.2 drives might be used as further storage, however it’s additionally attainable to make use of the drives for caching, doubtlessly permitting customers to take pleasure in even quicker switch speeds than coping with spinning steel alone.
One other constructive level for the DXP8800 Plus is processing grunt. Packing a Twelfth-gen Intel Core i5-1235u processor with two 4.4GHz efficiency cores and eight 3.3GHz effectivity cores in addition to 12 threads, the NAS boasts multitasking capabilities and {hardware} decoding of video.
Helping the processor is 8GB of 4,800MHz DDR5 reminiscence, which once more helps with pace. Nonetheless, customers can improve the reminiscence manually, with a most supported RAM capability of 64 gigabytes. The processor additionally permits for PCI-E 4 assist, for the growth slot on the gadget.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: Door beneath unit offering M.2 and RAM slots
That processor is sufficiently beefy to do many issues directly that the gadget simply cannot do proper now. Extra on that in a bit, although.
Whereas customers can hold the NAS working beneath JBOD, it additionally consists of assist for numerous RAID configurations. The DPX8800 Plus can deal with RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, and 10, giving a big selection of capability, pace, and redundancy choices.
That is all superb and good, however community connected storage units typically host a mish-mash of drive sizes. As offered, the UGOS Professional working system cannot cope with that sort of configuration in RAID, and calls for all drives to be the identical measurement.
This may most likely change with time, however as of April 2024, the performance would not exist.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – Setup and interface
After putting in the drives, the setup strategy of the DPX8800 Plus is pretty simple. After downloading and putting in shopper software program, an choice to look the community for the NAS is introduced, adopted by a registration course of, after which the creation of an area administration account.
This registration is required to make use of exterior community options, resembling SMS notifications and permitting distant entry through the companion cell app.
The desktop and cell apps permit customers to stream films saved on the NAS, view images, and to handle and switch recordsdata. To maintain the recordsdata safe, the software program consists of SHA256 encryption and makes use of SSL/TLS for transfers.
A built-in Safety supervisor additionally presents real-time safety options and can be utilized to schedule virus scans on the info.
As of April 2024, all advised, the working system is satisfactory. It really works, and delivers what you’d count on for pace throughout a ten gigabit wired community — however it lacks options that different units have.
For instance, there is not any two-factor authentication and no whole-volume encryption. We’re anticipating enhancements over time, however cannot give them credit score for that proper now. Clearly, longer-term occupants of the NAS area have extra mature software program.
And, many apps obtainable to different NAS ecosystems aren’t obtainable. Up to now, there’s restricted digital machine assist, and no solution to natively set up Plex or a BitTorrent shopper outdoors of a container.
For extra superior customers, Docker was added within the final days of this overview. It permits for these apps to be put in from different sources, opening up the utility of the gadget significantly.
Previous to that Docker debut, this overview was a bit harsher. It would not change the truth that most NAS customers choose native apps to Docker containers, although.
For a extra area of interest set of customers, there isn’t a iSCSI assist in any respect, and there would not look like a short-term path for it to get added.
So far as various working methods go, there is a documented process for it, and we fooled round with TrueNAS for some time. UGreen initially mentioned that you’re going to lose all {hardware} warranties in the event you achieve this, however feedback within the Kickstarter threads have lightened up on that in current days.
Total, these are massive omissions. We won’t overview merchandise based mostly on options that do not exist. This can be a drawback for the target market — however hopefully a short-term one.
The beefy Intel processor might be glorious at typical transcoding and media streaming performance, sooner or later. This might be helpful when you’ve got a group of films you wish to watch. When you can stream them over the native community, the included HDMI port gives a extra direct connection with out community entry, and with 8K video assist too — however the present HDMI replay interface is rickety.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus overview: Rear ports, with HDMI
That processing and reminiscence pace additionally helps one other little bit of sensible know-how used within the gadget. The NAS consists of image recognition and classification, which means it might analyze and acknowledge the content material of pictures saved on its drives.
For finish customers, this might imply an finish to shopping whole collections within the seek for the proper picture, just by trying to find batches of pictures utilizing a textual content immediate. Current Photographs customers on macOS and iOS might be aware of how helpful this may be, particularly for bigger information collections.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – An awesome first effort
An organization’s first try to introduce a product in a brand new class can take that swing for the fences and miss, as designers and engineers get their grips on the {hardware}.
There’s a few of that on show right here. The {hardware} is sweet, however the software program is missing proper now. We’ll see how that shakes out over time.
Within the DXP8800 Plus, Ugreen demonstrates a NAS that may simply be utilized in a enterprise surroundings or an especially demanding dwelling community. Add in issues just like the automated image recognition system, 8K video assist, and the huge storage capability, and it is an especially succesful piece of {hardware}.
It is simply not extraordinarily succesful in software program as of mid-April 2024. In truth, it is nonetheless in beta.
I just like the {hardware} an ideal deal. However, given the immaturity of the software program, it is not going to interchange my Synology but. We’ll attempt once more in about six months.
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – Professionals
- Glorious worth to efficiency
- Highly effective {hardware} for the worth
- PCI-E, SSD, and RAM growth is simple
- Fairly slick drive trays, however…
Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS overview – Cons
- These trays would have been means higher in the event that they had been steel
- The Ugreen NAS working system remains to be in a fairly early beta as of April 2024
- Hybrid RAID not supported proper now
- Extraordinarily restricted native app assist as we speak
- No iSCSI assist
Score: 3 out of 5
We won’t fee merchandise on promised future options. The UGreen DXP8800 Plus has glorious {hardware}, however different community connected storage units have extra mature software program.
We did not expertise any information loss within the month we have been hammering on the unit, however we’re cautious of any beta wherever accessing essential recordsdata, and the power to destroy them if issues go badly.
We do wish to stress, nevertheless, that one community connected storage gadget getting used for working is on no account a backup resolution. Be sure that in the event you get any community connected storage gadget from any vendor, that you’ve “chilly” storage off-site on your very important recordsdata too.
Anyway, if all you are ever going to wish is community storage, you are most likely good to go along with the Ugreen NAS lineup sooner or later in 2024 — simply not as we speak until you wish to put the {hardware} on the shelf and watch for OS updates. We’ll be revisiting this later within the 12 months, because the working system matures.
The place to purchase the Ugreen DXP8800 Plus 8-bay NAS
For now, the Ugreen DXP8800 and the remainder of the cohort is being crowd-funded on Kickstarter. The corporate is well-established, the undertaking is considerably over-funded, and we’re not that involved concerning the {hardware} supply.
That mentioned, any crowd-funded undertaking entails threat.
As reviewed, and as of mid-April, the DXP8800 Plus has a price of $974, with an anticipated retail worth of $1499. For comparability, the eight-bay Synology DS1823sx+ retails for $1800.
Different items can be found within the Kickstarter, with an assortment of decisions for variety of bays and processors. Shipments are anticipated in June 2024.
