Getting one for home (Windows Server)

[tridy]

Hi.

I came here thinking that soon I would like to replace my Zyxel NSA 220 Plus with either 302T or 602T. I like the idea of Asustor being able to run Windows Server Essentials on it and use it as my development SQL and ASP.Net server besides it being Active Directory, Photos and Videos storage, media player and running my apps I write in .Net.

I have a bit of dilemma here. On one side, I like the option for the IR remote control (and a bit lower price) in 302T. At the same time 602T has better processor that might be better for handling Windows Server.
Could anyone tell me if either of 302T's Atom 1.60 GHz Dual-Core Processor or 602T's Atom 2.13 GHz Dual-Core Processor can handle Windows Server [Essentials] properly (or am I better off with Windows 8 and Active Directory installed?), meaning that there will be maximum 2-3 users using its features simultaneously.

WIll expanding the 602T RAM to 3 GB significantly increase performance?

And what are the 2 network ports in 602T are used for?

thanks!

[Auberon2k]

I'm very glad you posted here before buying, all the small NAS units run their own OS, Asustor's are linux based. You cannot install Windows Server Essentials on the box itself.
As for the dual NIC on the 6 series, they can be used for load balancing, fail over or just having dual network connections.

[tridy]

all the small NAS units run their own OS, Asustor's are linux based. You cannot install Windows Server Essentials on the box itself.

Ouch!

Thanks for letting me know.

I thought that since the processor is x86 based then you can install Windows OS on it.

So, the "Supported OS" part of the specifications has to deal with OSes that can communicate with NAS, and not installed.

I was wondering what are the limitations for not allowing custom OSes? I believe this could be quite a selling point.

Another question - what is the advantage of having Atom processor compared with ARM based in this case, since you probably could have built your own Linux based OS for ARM processor as well. I am not saying there is anything wrong with Atom, but wondering why.

Thanks again!

[Auberon2k]

Those are definitely questions for the Asustor team to answer. I suspect part of the reason behind Atom vs ARM has to do with some of the multimedia functions, which the Intel processor supports in hardware.