Thecus Releases Firmware V5

Thecus Technology Corp. introduced a new firmware v5, skipping over v4.

There are many new functions, both visible and behind-the-scenes, that will change the way Thecus NAS users use and view their NAS. In addition to these changes, upgrading from v3 to v5 shows a jump in performance using NASPT (NAS Performance Toolkit) and a 50% speed increase using NetBench. Here is a summary of how Thecus NAS is going to change.

Piczza! Share a slice with new photo server
The first is a new photo server, Piczza! Share private albums with selected friends or post a professional gallery using templates to create a community around pictures. You can even host all your company’s event photos for a living, breathing showcase that everyone can add to. Upload your pictures, post responses, and share the occasions that matter most.

ThecusShare: Access pictures, music,
and video directly from your iPhone
Accessing terabytes and terabytes of multimedia content from your iPhone is possible, thanks to ThecusShare. Set your parameters for local or remote access, define which contents you want to share, then just walk away from your NAS and use your iPhone anywhere in the world. Watch your favorite movies, listen to the MP3s you’ve stored, and show your friends a few pics from your photo collection. You can also upload pictures to your NAS on the fly. All you need is a broadband connection.

EXT4 and 3TB HDDs
The new EXT4 file system: allows twice as much data capacity for each volume than EXT3 at 16TB. With 4K-block support, each file is broken into fewer pieces, giving you a speed boost and much less space-wasting fragmentation. EXT4 also has fast file system checks, improved timestamps, fewer sub-folder limitations, delayed allocation, and other functions that give more speed and efficiency. v5 also supports 3TB hard drives, allowing you to bump data capacity up by 50%. For example, where previously the limit on 5-bay NAS was 10TB, you can now store up to 15TB.

The v5 UI: Reorganized and with a universal help menu
The user interface itself has been improved. The menus have been reorganized to fit new functionality, and localization has been improved to make it easy to get the most out of their NAS. Another step is the advent of a universal, comprehensive built-in help menu to walk you through each function and ensure an greater ease of access. NAS are no longer reserved for advanced users.

Thecus Modules: New and open-source add-ons
Customize your NAS according to your needs thanks to Thecus modules, v5 style. Set up IP surveillance cameras, use Twonkymedia to play videos on your TV, backup your data with the Rsync system. v5 builds upon Thecus’s growing volume of modules by adding two major ones, Piczza and ThecusShare, and making the entire library of modules open source. That means developers and adventurous users can modify modules to fit their needs or create brand new modules and publish them for the Thecus community.

V5 firmware comes pre-installed on all XXX series Thecus NAS.

V5 for the N4200, N4200PRO, N4200Eco, N7700PRO, N7700PLUS, N8800PRO, and N8800PLUS will be available in mid-March. V5 for other models will follow soon after.