Exterior

Let's take a look at the NAS device itself. As you can see its footprint is medium and actually most of its internal space is occupied by the four hard disk drive trays (also called drive caddies).


All the front face is made from plastic while the top and side panels are actually formed by a single piece of steel with a nice brushed finish.


Contrary to the Pro QNAP models the drive trays in this one are not equipped with locks so they can easily be removed by anyone. Above them there is the two line LCD screen which is de-activated automatically once the start up or reboot phase finishes, for energy saving purposes most likely. However it is enabled every time you press one of the two small buttons on its right side. Through these buttons you can perform some basic administrative tasks or get informed about the IP address of the NAS in the network, the system temperature etc. Below the LCD screen there are four LED indicators and also there are four more right above each drive tray.


In the front bottom left corner we find a USB 2.0 port and a copy button. Via the NAS web interface you can set the function of the copy button (e.g. copy the contents of the USB external disk to the NAS storage or the opposite). Above the copy button resides the Power switch which turns the unit on or off.


After removing all drive trays we had a clear view of the PCIe expansion card to which all drives attach and at the four metal rails which guide the trays to their respective positions. The trays are numbered from one to four and the first should be installed in the far left position, according to QNAP's HDD sequence sticker located on the top panel.


The trays support both 3.5" and 2.5" HDDs/SSDs and are numbered. The bundle includes all necessary screws to install the HDDs on the trays.


A close, angled, shot at the QNAP logo.


Only one of the two side panels features an exhaust grill.


On the rear side we find most of the I/O ports along with the reset switch, which restores the NAS to its default settings so it is essential if you forget the admin password. The two top red ports are the eSATA ones and below them reside two Gigabit Ethernet ports. Three USB 2.0 ports follow and last we find the 12V input socket. Although the TS-419P II shares the same case with the TS-469 Pro which features an internal 250W PSU, QNAP chose to equip the first with an external power adapter. The main cooling fan, that removes the hot air from the internals, has 90mm diameter and is temperature controlled (automatic or manual via the web interface).