SETUP

Prior to starting the setup procedure, you should head onto the official support page to download the ASUSTOR control center and the latest firmware version (we actually used v3.3 BETA for this review in order to also use the Snapshots feature).

You can also start the setup procedure via your smartphone but as usual we'll be using the ASUSTOR Control Center and a web browser.

Of course, in order to initialize the NAS an HDD is needed in bay 1.

The installation wizard will ask you to either update the firmware of the NAS automatically from the internet or manually (you will need to download it first) as seen above.

Next step will be to format the mounted drive, create partitions, install the firmware and restart the NAS.

After that you can choose between the fast 1-click setup and the custom setup (we always follow the custom route).

Via the custom route you will need to set the server name (if you don't like the default one), server password, time zone, network options and configure the drives (single/RAID/JBOD) in order to proceed.

If you decide to format the drive or drives using the Btrfs file system you can use the snapshots feature which effectively backups all the data in your NAS.

At the end of the setup procedure you will be asked to register the NAS and choose the services you'd like installed (for Home/Personal or Business use).