Pros & Cons
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- Reasonably priced for the feature set
- On-point performance
- Generous app catalog
- Includes a multi-gig LAN port
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- No HDMI port
- Like with most modern NAS enclosures, drives not included
Asustor AS1202T Specs
| Bay Size | 3.5-inch |
| Connection Type | 2.5GbE |
| Connection Type | USB 3.2 (3) |
| External USB Hard Disk Expansion | |
| Hard Disk Configuration | RAID 1 |
| Media Server | |
| Network Medium | Wired |
| Number of Bays | 2 |
| Printer Server | |
| Rack-mount or Standalone | Standalone |
| RAID Level | JBOD |
| RAID Level | RAID 0 |
| RAID Level | RAID 1 |
| RAID Level | single |
| Remote Access | |
| UPnP Capable | |
| Wired Network Speed | 10/100/1000/2.5GbE |
An entry-level backup and storage solution for home use, the Asustor Drivestor 2 Gen2 AS1202T ($199.99) is a reasonably priced two-bay NAS drive that offers multi-gig LAN connectivity, three 5Gbps USB ports, and more than 150 productivity and multimedia apps in its store. It’s a solid performer, and is easy to install and manage thanks to a tool-free enclosure and Asustor’s user-friendly ADM operating system. An HDMI port would be welcome, but at this price, it’s hard to complain. As it is, the Drivestor AS1202T is our new Editors’ Choice winner for affordable two-bay NAS devices.
Design: Tool-Free All Around
The AS1202T uses the same black enclosure as the AS1102T that we reviewed in 2021. It also sports the same diamond-check design. The front panel contains LED indicators for power, system status, LAN connectivity, and disk activity. Here you’ll also find a 5Gbps USB port.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)Around back are a single 2.5GbE LAN port, two additional 5Gbps USB ports, power and reset buttons, a power jack, and a 70mm cooling fan. Missing are the secondary LAN and HDMI ports that you get with more expensive NAS models, such as the Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2+ AS6702T v2.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The enclosure is tool-free. To access the drive bays, you loosen two thumbscrews and remove the cover. The drives are also held in place by thumbscrews that are included in the box, along with a LAN cable and an installation guide. As with nearly every NAS that we review, the storage drives themselves are not included. Below, you can see the guts with the cover off.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)The AS1202T uses a quad-core 1.7GHz ARM64 processor and comes with 1GB of DDR4 RAM (non-expandable) and 8GB of eMMC storage. It supports 3.5-inch SATA drives of up to 26TB for a total on-board storage capacity of 52TB.
To increase storage capacity, you can connect up to two optional Asustor Xpanstor 4 (AS5004U) expansion units, which can add up to 104TB each when populated with four 26TB drives.
The AS1202T supports the Btrfs and EXT4 file systems and supports Single, JBOD, RAID 0, and RAID 1 configurations.
Software and Features: An App for Almost Any Storage Need
As with other Asustor NAS devices, the AS1202T runs the Asustor Data Master (ADM) operating system, which offers a Windows-like desktop environment with tiles for each installed application and utility. Tapping the Access Control tile opens a screen where you can manage local users and groups, set application privileges, and manage shared folders. The Settings tile takes you to a screen where you can configure network settings and notifications, enable LED indicators and buzzers, and configure hard drive hibernation settings.
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(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)To configure firewall profiles, monitor network transmissions, and create a trusted IP Address list, tap the ADM Defender tile. The Storage Manager tile takes you to a screen where you go to create drive volumes, configure RAID settings, and view Self Monitoring Analysis and Report Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) drive information.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)You tap the File Explorer tile to browse and manage files, and tap the Activity Monitor to view CPU and memory usage charts, network traffic charts, and storage usage charts. To download additional apps, tap the App Central tile. Here, you’ll find (at the time I wrote this) 156 applications that let you use the NAS as a cloud server, a media server, a web host, a surveillance center, and more.
Setup and Performance: Respectable Throughput
Installing the AS1202T is easy. I removed the cover and installed two Seagate 10TB IronWolf drives using the included thumbscrews.
(Credit: Joseph Maldonado)I then connected the NAS drive to a 2.5GbE switch, which was also connected to my desktop PC’s 10GbE LAN port and to my router, and powered up the NAS. Next, I opened a web browser on my desktop PC and typed http://acc.asustor.com in the address bar. I downloaded and ran the Windows version of the Asustor Control Center software, and the PC immediately recognized the device.
Next, I tapped the Uninitialized button next to the device name to install the ADM operating system and, once ADM was done, created an account. I selected 1-Click Setup with a balanced configuration and Btrfs enabled, which yielded a total of 9.09TB of storage in a RAID 1 (mirrored) configuration. (You can manually configure the NAS with a different RAID configuration, if you prefer.) I tapped Initialize, and after 12 hours, the drives were synchronized, and the installation was complete.
To test NAS performance, we record read and write speeds while transferring a 4.9GB folder (containing a mix of music, video, photo, and office document files) between the NAS and a desktop PC connected to the same network. We then compare the results with those of similarly priced and configured NAS devices using the very same drives.
While not the fastest two-bay NAS we’ve tested, the AS1202T turned in respectable scores on these tests. Its score of 233MBps on the write test matched the QNAP TS-216G, but was a bit slower than the Ugreen DXP2800 (245MBps). On the read test, the AS1202T’s score of 188MBps was identical to that of the Ugreen DXP2800 but not quite as fast as the QNAP TS-216G (196MBps).