Shuttle Omninas KS10 review

5. Final words

Review Pages

1. Features, specifications
2. The device
3. Setting up the NAS server
4. Menus, settings
5. Final words

The compact KS10 proved to be a friendly choice for media streaming and local cloud storage. We could easily upload files to the NAS either via a PC/MAC via copy/paste functions or even through the included FTP server.

The NAS has both UPnP and iTunes media servers enabled by default, so all you need do is copy your audio and video files on to the NAS and you'll then be able to stream them from any computer or console on your network.

The KD10's streaming performance is good enough to send HD video to a PC elsewhere on your network, although the transfer speeds are not the fastest you can find. Through a local network (1Gbit), we measured 60mbps and 50mbps reading/writing -- a performance close to what Shuttle quotes. Of course, make sure that the HDD you have installed can take advantage of the provided bandwidth. In addition, we initially installed
an older HDD, but the internal temperature of the NAS raised rapidly after a while and the device's protection system kicked-in to automatically shut down the server. So it could be better to install NAS-rated HDDs.

You can also use the built-in 801.11b/g/n radio that supports both client and hot-spot modes, allowing you to reduce the number of dedicated devices required on your networks. However, the Wi-Fi is limited to the 2.4GHz band and a maximum throughput of 54Mb/s.

The device also supports two USB devices (one at the front and one at the back port), meaning you can use USB enabled devices, like a printer, to make them accessible over the local Wifi network. Pretty handy feature. There is the possibility to auto-copy the SD files to the NAS server, again very handy for users who might need it.

The KD10's simple web interface includes a BitTorrent client, so you can leave your NAS downloading (legitimate) music and videos distributed as torrents. Unfortunately there's also no way to search torrent listings sites. You can also set up the OmniNAS KD20 as a web-accessible Share Box, a personal remote cloud storage device that's made available by registering it as a subdomain of omninas.net.

The included DLNA server, can be useful for users who wish to distribute digital media over their local network, either in DLNA -enabled TVs or gaming systems. The procedure is very simple - just copy the files to the NAS server and set the interval for server to re-scan for media files. There are several Android Twonky apps for such use, so you should look over the App Market and test what you feel suits most for your needs.

The device can also be scheduled to either shut down/reboot/ or wake-on lan.

We found not many features missing from the KS10. Of course adding an XMBC server to the player would have much better results for media sharing fans but the included Twonky server takes the job as well. And while Shuttle offers several other more advanced NAS products, we feel that the Shuttle KS10 is a smart solution for for anyone ready to build a NAS server. It doesn't cost a great deal and it is very easy to use, despite its multiple settings menus.

The Positive