Qnap TS-210

A few months ago we reviewed the Synology DS210j, a device that allows you to connect one or two hard disks to a home network and use as a mini server for storing files, backups, music and video.

As its name suggests, Qnap's TS-210 is a very similar product.

It's almost exactly the same shape, with a similar white plastic case but a rather more stylish front panel. Like the Synology product it has a single network socket and two USB ports on the back and a third USB port on the front, while a small, quiet fan keeps it cool.

You'll need to add one or two desktop PC-sized hard disks to the TS-210 before it can be used. This is simple, so as long as you have a screwdriver to hand it won't take more than a few minutes.

Connecting it to a home network is similarly easy as long as you have a spare cable. To get the best from it, though, you'll want to install the latest firmware – this is a free download from Qnap's website, but it'll take a few minutes to get it installed.

The TS-210 appears to Windows as a network server so you can simply drag and drop files onto it, but simply doing this would be a massive waste of its abilities.

Accessing its interface using a web browser allows you to set it up to do all sorts of clever things, such as acting as a multimedia server that can stream photos, videos and music to PCs, games consoles or other devices – a great way to show off all your photos on a TV.

The functions on offer via the web interface are, largely, the same as those of Synology's product, but just like the device itself, Qnap's version is controlled with a more elegant interface; in this case an iTunes-like flipbook system allowing the user to choose functions.

One really unique tool, though, is Qnap's iPhone app. This can be installed on any iPhone or iPod Touch and – once configured – allows users to browse and play multimedia files from the server on that device over the home network.

It's a really clever tool, but annoyingly fiddly to set up: instead of enabling one option in the web interface there are several that must be set, and these are not well labelled. In the end we had to look online for a guide to the process.

This criticism aside, there's much to like about the TS-210. It's well made, quiet, and offers just about every function you could want from this kind of storage device.

Its online price is just about identical to the Synology DS210j, so choosing between the two is tricky.

Our recommendation is that if you want a storage device that'll be used primarily for streaming media files, or you could use the iPhone application, you should pick the TS-210.

For storage and backup alone, Synology's simpler, duller web interface is slightly easier to use, so choose the DS210j instead.