Digital Reviews Network

The Power Couple: QNAP TBS-453A 4-Bay NASbook with ADATA M.2 SSDs Reviewed

StorageWritten by Martin Regtien on 28 October 2016.

Here at DigitalReviews.net we have been reviewing NAS storage units for about a decade, from very simple one or two bay units to enterprise level rack monsters.

Nothing much surprises us anymore in that field. Except when QNAP announced its NASbook.

This is a form factor that will attract many new users and one of the reasons for its anticipated success will have nothing to do with QNAP but the type of SSDs used in this unit.

We elected to equip them with 4 M2 SSDs from ADATA, a great combination.

Let’s see what this is all about.

CyberPower PR2200ELCDSL UPS – Not Just for when the Lights Go Out....

MiscellaneousWritten by Martin Regtien on 18 October 2016.

To survive as human beings we need air, water, food and shelter. In this modern age you may certainly add electric power to that short list. Without adequate power all but the basic agrarian societies would collapse.

Have you experienced a power outage lately? If you were in South Australia recently you would have experienced a major inconvenience at the very least when everything went dark. And even when the power goes back on the dramas are not over yet for many businesses where computers did not shut down properly when the power tripped.

Enter the Domain of the Uninterruptible Power Supply.
How can a UPS benefit not only businesses but also households?

We will have a look at why UPS units are lifelines for electronic equipment.

Specifically, we are looking at the 2200VA unit from CyberPower.

Synology Conference 2017 - Melbourne

Industry NewsWritten by Paul Moons on 13 October 2016.

Earlier this week we attended Synology 2017 at Melbourne’s Convention and Exhibition Centre. At the Conference Synology announced a number of new products and services including a 24 bay SSD NAS, an Australian advanced NAS replacement program and upcoming DSM features such as an Office Suite for Synology NAS devices and Synology’s new public cloud backup solution, Cloud Squared.

Also announced at the event was Synology’s first 12bay 3RU RS3617xs+ which is rated at over 500,000 IOPS and the upcoming RT2600ac router which we are itching to get our hands on.

A Long Distance Photographic Affair - Synology DS716+II Review

StorageWritten by Paul Moons on 09 October 2016.

The Synology DS716+II is a scalable high performance Networked Attached Storage device, featuring 4K transcoding and through its DSM operating system, features a cornucopia of software enhancements.

So obviously, we chose to focus on the DS716+II as a remote photo back-up device.

Wait, what?

Read on for our long distance review.

4Cabling 18RU Half Height Server Rack – Why Your Business May Need One

StorageWritten by Martin Regtien on 22 September 2016.

We reviewed many a server rack over the years, from very small ones to a Godzilla-sized one. In researching and reviewing these enclosures we’ve come to appreciate why any growing business would want to have one.

Today we will look at a medium sized server rack and explain some of the considerations that go into selecting the right one for your business.

BISSELL CrossWave -- Waving Goodbye to the Mop and Bucket Brigade!

AppliancesWritten by Martin Regtien on 16 August 2016.

In my college years I did a stint of janitorial duties that included quite a bit of floor mopping so the “joys” of using the mop and bucket have scarred me for life....
Many different solutions have been created over the years to get rid of dirty floors.

One specialist purveyor of floor care products, BISSELL, has just brought out the CrossWave, which probably is one of the best arguments to ditch the mop and bucket altogether. And perhaps the vacuum cleaner too!

Just follow me in my dirty tracks....

UPRIGHT - How to Keep Your Back Straight with the UPRIGHT Posture Trainer

MiscellaneousWritten by Martin Regtien on 08 August 2016.

Like a lot of people that are fairly tall I have always suffered from a bad posture. That is not helped by a mainly sedentary work environment...

Well, now there is an app for that! Coupled with a device that will attach to your lower back which you can calibrate for when you sit perfectly straight, it will signal when you revert back to slouching. It is a training device which you can wear for up to 45 minutes a day to remind your back how great it is to feel straight again!

That’s the theory, but how does it work in practice?

QNAP TS-453A – a Multi Media NAS as Karaoke Machine?

StorageWritten by Martin Regtien on 17 July 2016.

A Network Attached Storage system is a jack of all trades, a Swiss Army knife of interconnected computing, based on a bunch of drives that play nice with just about any computing platform.
That is my definition anyways...

But a NAS as a karaoke machine is a bit different. Mind you, it is just another app that will run nicely on this particular QNAP model in addition to the host of other standard NAS applications.
So QNAP has done something different to make this machine really sing and dance.

Let’s have a look and listen.

OLIGHT SRmini Intimidator II Rechargeable Flashlight – Be Intimidated!

MiscellaneousWritten by Martin Regtien on 06 July 2016.

Let There Be Light!
From the beginning of creation light was essential for our existence and survival. The trouble is that in our electrical age we don’t give it a second thought: just flip a switch. But what if you’re in the great outdoors, at night in a power outage or in a survival situation?

You want a reliable, rechargeable light that will last a long time and will illuminate a vast distance. It would help if you can vary the output and if, for life-threatening situations, you can blind an opponent with a dazzling strobe light. So essentially, you are looking at a flashlight like the Intimidator from Olight.

Let’s throw some light on the subject.