QNAP Issues Version 3.1 Firmware For NAS Drives

QNAP not only provides a respectable array of NAS devices (as we saw in own testing), but it also looks out for its customers. In fact, we can't think of another company that issues as many firmware updates and provides more new features to existing owners than QNAP.

Today, the company is doling out another monumental update with its Version 3.1 firmware. The new NAS management software adds a few rather significant new features including virtual disk support (up to 8 virtual disks via iSCSI expansion over the network) and an exclusive QNAP RAID Recovery that can recover a degraded or inactive RAID 1, 5, or 6 due to unintentional removal of drives. Furthermore, Network Discovery Services are enhanced with new Bonjour support offering zero-configuration networking for HTTP, SAMBA, FTP, AFP, and SSH based networks, and full UPnP support.


Other new bits include EXT4 support for very large volumes and file sizes, SNMP support, and bitmap support for faster rebuilding of RAID volume after a crash or adding/removing a drive. The new 3.1 NAS management firmware ushers in a completely new AJAX based User Interface that allows easy NAS configuration via a Web interface allowing less technical-savvy users to easily install the NAS server on the network with simple wizards for adding new users, and setting up services. The new UI supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Safari (version 3 and 4), FireFox 3, and Google's Chrome web browsers. Best of all, the firmware is totally free, so follow the directions below to get your download going.

The new 3.1 firmware is available immediately for free download at http://www.qnap.com/download.asp for owners of these QNAP Turbo NAS models:

• TS-119/ TS-219/ TS-219P
• TS-239
  Pro* / TS-439 Pro* / TS-639 Pro* / SS-439 Pro* / SS-839 Pro* / TS-509
  Pro / TS-809 Pro / TS-809U (Intel-based Models)
• TS-109 / TS-209/ TS-409 series