Asustor Flashstor 12 Pro FS6712X - 12 Bay NAS Storage, Quad-Core 2.0GHz, 12 M.2 SSD Slots, 10GbE Port, 4GB RAM DDR4, Computer Network Attached Storage (Diskless)

Product Information

Both have identical exteriors save for the RJ45 Ethernet ports: the 6-bay unit has two 2.5G ports (pictured first), while the 12-bay unit has a single 10G port (pictured second):

With respect to the Flashstor, use of the word silent is merely adjectival funny business, or perhaps fanny business. What I mean is this. A useful practical description of an object ought to align itself with the uniformly objective convergence of common experience and yield to independent measurement and verification. Thus, silent is probably a non-starter as there is a ball bearing attached. Unless that fan is off, that is, or running on mag-lev oil bearings below the bar of a gentle draught, which it isn’t in this case. Mine is not accessible online and i only access it via VPN so my data remains safe and its plenty fast enough for moving files around my network vs my Synology with its limited 1Gb LAN ports (why Synology).Next, let us get inside the system to see what kind of magic Asustor used to get this all working, and it involves a lot of Asmedia. Asustor Flashstor FS6712X NVMe NAS Internal Hardware Overview

Putting twelve good NVMe drives in here has the combined bandwidth of 3.6 TB/s, all being accessed through a 10GbE (1.2GB/s) keyhole. There isn’t mitigation for this imbalance, as adding USB network adapters barely moves the bandwidth needle. This is still arguably a niche for audio output, but there are certainly users who will be thrilled about this. The HDMI output is utilized with Asustor’s portal application, a complete parallel graphical user interface to access the NAS. It provides a full HDMI user interface that can be controlled via infrared remote control, network remote control, or just a simple USB keyboard and mouse. There are hundreds of available applications and services that can run via this HDMI output, allowing you to run a vast number of local multimedia and business services directly from the device. These range from first-party tools for surveillance and streaming 4K media, to third-party applications for connecting streaming subscription services and virtual machines. Additionally, this system also features an HDMI dedicated parallel GUI, called Asustor portal. This separate user interface and means to interact with the data on your NAS in a far more graphical level is something currently only QNAP provides. The visual out used in conjunction with the two additional USB 3.2/2.0 ports opens up numerous KVM (or keyboard video mouse) applications, such as a stand-alone surveillance system, a stand-alone desktop computer used in conjunction with the virtual machine software, direct output of your movies and box sets from your collection, a retro arcade machine with support for controllers and numerous other first and third-party software options. Highly desirable, a silent domestic NAS device is a simple and clear objective concept. A design goal. Not a missed target. Not an Asustor. Not even a Flashstor. Not yet, anyway. To this day, the only silent NAS is a NONAS. So here’s a paradox for you. The elephant in the room is the Flashtor itself. As a design and marketing concept it is admirable: bold, striking and courageous. However, you could say that its greatest asset is at the same time its inevitable downfall. It is a victim of its own success. It contains the seeds of its own destruction. In other words, it has balls. And it’s a little fanny.The two heatsinks above cover the Marvell AQtion 10Gbase-T 10GbE NIC controller as well as the CPU. This system is powered by the Intel N5105 which is a quad-core Jasper Lake CPU that we have seen many times on fanless edge devices at STH. Price: The FS6706T is a premium NAS device, and requires the more expensive M.2 drives, its price may therefore be a concern for budget-conscious users.