Introduction

We would like to thank Shuttle for supplying the review sample.

Shuttle is a company with a long history in the IT industry, since it was founded in Taiwan in 1983. The company specializes in the development and production of mini PCs and currently has a rich portfolio of relevant products, including mini, slim, and all-in-one PC systems. Since NAS servers share many similarities with mini-PCs, they also decided to enroll into the NAS market many months ago by releasing their first NAS product, the OMNINAS KD20.

The KD20 is a two-bay NAS that addresses home environments and users with avarage needs by including a lot of storage space and super-fast data transfer speeds. The KD20 surely doesn't carry the features that the high-end competition provides, and its operating system looks poor compared to the ones that QNAP and Synology use, but it is really affordable. Its administration interface is also very simple and doesn't confuse the inexperienced user. Setting the KD20 up is a piece of cake, and we think that if you are new to the NAS world, you will highly appreciate the simplicity of its graphical interface despite its shortcomings.

The KD20's elegant style made a good impression when we first saw the NAS. The serious network administrator may not appreciate style, but looks are surely important to the end user looking for enhanced usability in a nice package. Shuttle scored a "ten" in this area, teaching the dull looks of some competing products a lesson in design. The KD20 is also equipped with a card reader and a USB 3.0 port, which will greatly assist with fast transfers to/from compatible external storage devices. Shuttle also released an application for Android and iOS devices through which you can manage the KD20 and the files it stores.

Specifications

A PLX NAS 7821 CPU is the brain of the KD20. It includes a dual-core ARM 11 MP. Each core runs at 750 MHz and has application-specific hardware engines for networking-, storage-, and security functions. The NAS 7821 also provides two integrated SATA ports, hardware-based RAID 0 and RAID 1, RGMII, and two USB 2.0 Host/Device ports. The operating system of the KD20 is based on Linux, and the unit only has 256 MB of available RAM.

Its storage capacity can reach 8 TB if two HDDs with 4 TB capacity each are used, and there is support for JBOD and RAID 0- and 1 levels. You can of course install one disk if your budget is limited. Finally, both HDD bays support hot-swap.

The NAS uses a single Gigabit Ethernet port for networking. The additional I/O includes two USB 2.0- and one USB 3.0 port, and an SD-card reader that will proof useful once you have to transfer photos you took with your camera to the NAS.

The dimensions of the KD20 are pretty compact, which is convenient in a crowded home office. Also, its weight is low, even with two HDDs installed.

The without a doubt most crucial advantage of NAS servers, compared to custom-made PC servers, is their very low energy consumption that allows them to operate 24/7 (aka continuously) without having to worry about a drastically increased electricity bill. Their power consumption is actually so low that you will barely notice an increase on your bill. According to Shuttle, the KD20 only consumes 9 W at idle and 21 W in a worst case scenario. This means that its external power supply is greatly overrated at 65 W as even a 40-50 W one could easily handle the task. Shuttle apparently sought to be on the safe side, especially since mechanical HDDs exhibit significant power spikes during start-up. Finally, the cooling of the NAS is handled by a small 70 mm fan that, according to Shuttle, operates in a hybrid mode by engaging after a specific temperature threshold has been reached.

The KD20 comes with a three year warranty, which is longer than the high-end competition (QNAP and Synology). Its price is affordable, at least for a NAS server.

Packaging

The KD20 comes in a small, white box with a plastic handle on top. The front has a scheme of the unit along with Shuttle's logo and the model name of the KD20, which is OMNINAS.


This side has a sticker that describes the most crucial features of the KD20. According to Shuttle, its read and write speeds reach 75 MB/s and 55 MB/s respectively. These are definitely not high, but this is a mainstream NAS for home use, so they will suffice for the average user if real.

Contents & Bundle

The first thing we noticed after opening the package was the small accessory box. Under it is the KD20, protectively wrapped in cloth and tucked into two foam spacers.


The accessory box stores all the necessary screws for HDD/SSD mounting on the caddies, an Ethernet cable, a software disk, the user's manual, and the power brick.


The power brick is provided by Asian Power Devices. It can deliver up to 3.42 A, so its maximum power output is 65 W.