Wanxiang NAS HS-201P Unboxing and Troubleshooting: Hardware Value vs. Software Pitfalls

Wanxiang NAS HS-201PNAS unboxingUNAS 6.0 alphaOMV 6NAS fan noise

Published·Dec 11, 2021Modified·Jun 5, 2022

I already own a QNAP TS-453B mini. After seeing the Wanxiang NAS HS-201P Double 11 promotion in a group chat, the value for money was too good to resist, so I couldn't help but place an order. It has been two weeks since it arrived, and this is a belated unboxing. (The image below is a flashy promotional picture from the official website)

About Wanxiang NAS

Wanxiang was established in 2007, with the full name "Ningbo Wanxiang Information Technology Co., Ltd." It is one of the manufacturers engaged in the independent research and development and production of network storage hardware and software, as well as a provider of overall data storage solutions. I hadn't heard of this name before. It is said that they used to produce NAS chassis in the past, and there are not many reviews online, making it a relatively niche NAS merchant.

About NAS HS-201P

Let's look at the configuration first:

CPU: Quad-core J4125
Memory: 2-32G optional (DDR4 laptop memory)
Network Ports: 2x 2.5G ports (Realtek network card, model: rtl8125b-2)
Hard Drive Bays: 2 hot-swappable 3.5"/2.5" SATA3
HDMI: 1 x HDMI
USB: 1 x USB 3.0 front, 2 x USB 3.0 rear
Operating System: UNAS 6.0 alpha (more complaints later)
Others: Built-in 16G eMMC for the system, also supports one NVMe interface (can install one M.2 SSD)

Let's talk about the price:

Looking at the configuration above, guess what the price would be? The regular price for the minimum configuration is 1380 CNY. During the Double 11 promotion, it could be bought for as low as 1111 CNY, and now for Double 12, it costs 1212 CNY. When I purchased it, I chose 4GB memory, and after the discount, it was 1161 CNY (order screenshot attached).

Unboxing

It came in an outer box, and inside was a chassis box. The label on the chassis box was slightly damaged.

Then I bought some accessories separately on JD.com:

The SSD has a 5-year warranty, the memory has a lifetime warranty, and the hard drive has a 3-year warranty. Buying from JD.com should make it less likely to encounter issues. However, there are two versions of that Seagate hard drive: one is vertical, and the other is SMR. The older version with less cache is vertical, while the newer version with higher cache is SMR. Be careful not to buy the wrong one (confirmed with customer service before purchasing). Here is a family photo.

Next, I started disassembling the machine to install the SSD and memory. There are three black screws on the back. After removing them, the casing can be easily peeled off.

After opening it, you can see the built-in 4GB memory stick. There are two DDR4 memory slots. I will install the newly purchased 8GB memory and SSD.

Another angle, one more shot.

Oh, right, I bought the Space Gray color. Here are two more appearance shots.

Another member of the home device family is the Wanxiang HS-201P. (A bit messy, haha).

Hardware Complaints

The hardware configuration of the HS-201P is well worth the price, but it is not without pitfalls. For example, the fan speed is automatically controlled by their system, and BIOS speed control is not supported. Moreover, there is no software method to control the speed. Therefore, once you switch to a non-UNAS system, the fan will run at full speed, creating very loud noise. I tried to slow it down with software, but after a lot of troubleshooting, I failed. So I had to slow it down physically. There are currently two methods:

Method 1: Use a speed reduction cable (economical and cost-effective)
Method 2: Replace with a silent fan

So I chose Method 2: replace the fan. I continued to look for a PCCOOLER F-85 8cm Case Fan on JD.com. The parameters claim only 18 decibels, but I actually feel it's more than that. However, it is indeed much quieter than the original fan. There is still noise, but personally, I feel the sound level has decreased by 40%-50%.

Next, I started changing the fan, and the pitfalls kept coming. The original fan wire was blocked by the motherboard and couldn't be taken out??? Unless all the motherboard screws were removed. Afraid of damaging it, I didn't remove the motherboard screws and just cut the wire. (It seems the official company doesn't want you to change the fan and uses their terrible system to slow it down for you).

In summary, except for the fan, I haven't found any other pitfalls in the hardware. Let me summarize. To control the fan speed, the methods are (choose one):

Use their original U-NAS system
Use a speed reduction cable
Replace the fan

Method 3: Software Speed Reduction

Experts are everywhere. Thanks to Leo from the comment section for providing the software speed reduction method, which xiaoz has organized (applicable for Debian-based systems). The method is as follows:

# Install i2c-tools
apt-get install i2c-tools
# Add the module
echo "i2c-dev" >> /etc/modules
# Reboot to make the module effective
reboot
# Fan speed control, 100 is the speed, range 0-255
i2cset -y 0 0x54 0xF0 100

About U-NAS System

Next, you will understand why I didn't use the U-NAS system to automatically control the fan speed but instead changed the fan. The built-in U-NAS system is version 6.0 alpha. Alpha system, alpha system, alpha system, can you believe it? A system that hasn't even reached the beta (public test) stage is being released for use? Although the hardware value is high, it feels like buying hardware and getting software as a free gift, and you are acting as a beta tester for them. I used this system for a few days and then reinstalled OMV 6. Let me tell you about some of the pitfalls I encountered with the system.

The day after receiving it, their software store started a gray-scale test, and suddenly no software could be seen in the software store (already resolved).
The built-in file manager is extremely laggy.
Stopping Mariadb caused the VM software to become unusable, and the page gave no warning about the consequences, causing me to search everywhere for the cause. Finally, I found out it was because I stopped Mariadb.
rsync synchronization: remote server passwords do not support special characters.

According to feedback in the group, many people have reported other software pitfalls, so I懒得 to collect them. I am really worried that clicking randomly on the page might break the system. Finally, I directly reinstalled OMV 6 (will share more later), and then the fan speed could no longer be controlled.

Summary

The Wanxiang NAS HS-201P has very high hardware value for money, worthy of the price. However, if you don't use their system, the fan speed cannot be adjusted.
The U-NAS 6.0 alpha system is very difficult to use. Many details were not polished before release. I hope they can improve it in the future.
My feeling about the HS-201P is that without Wanxiang's soft power, it doesn't want users to replace other systems.