Game Data

Since most people will use their NAS for storing and retrieving data, we run a set of sequential file copying tests that should help demonstrate how well a NAS handles different types of data. The first dataset is a 96.2 GB game library which is copied as is from an NVMe SSD on the host computer to the NAS. This is then copied back from the NAS to the host PC. Everything is timed and converted to transfer speeds in MB/s. The performance is very good by all accounts and as long as your network can take advantage of the extra speed delivered by 5 Gbps Ethernet over 2.5 Gbps Ethernet, you will get a decent performance boost in most scenarios. The F4-425 Pro can't really compete with the F4-424 Max in terms of throughput here, but there's also a significant price difference between the two.

Single Large File

Next up we copied a single 66.9 GB large file to simulate something like a large video file or a compressed backup file being copied to and from the NAS. As long as we're not involving SSDs, the F4-425 Plus isn't that far behind the F4-424 Max when it comes to reading data from the NAS, but it's still trailing behind when it comes to writing data to the NAS. Once some solid state storage gets involved, there's simply no competition, for obvious reason.

Photos

The third and final test consists of 10.6 GB of photos across 4,084 files. This is the test with the smallest gap between the F4-425 Plus and the F4-424 Max, due to the handling of smaller files always being tough for any and all types of storage media.

We chose to compare with the faster F4-424 Max above, but what about the F4-424? Since it's closer in price, it should be the one to compare with, but in most instances, it doesn't stand a chance. It comes close using RAID 1 when copying large files and when copying photos from the NAS, but outside those two edge cases, it doesn't stand a chance against the F4-425 Plus. With that said, the F4-425 Plus doesn't double the performance of the F4-424, but often delivers 50 percent or more extra performance in real world tests. This is obviously down to the faster networking interface and not so much any of the other hardware upgrades. On the other hand, if you don't have a 5 or 10 Gbps switch, you wouldn't be able to take advantage of the extra performance on offer.