SilverStone DC01: An Entry Into The Linux NAS Market

When talking about SilverStone Technology on Phoronix it's commonly about one of their wonderfully-designed computer cases that we have enjoyed reviewing over the past six years, one of their power supplies, or the few other product categories this Taiwanese manufacturer has explored. Among the more peculiar products from SilverStone has been the HDDBOOST, the Raven mouse, and the Treasure RFID Enclosure. What we have our hands on today is SilverStone's first entry into the single-drive Network Attached Storage (NAS) market. The SilverStone DC01 is an affordable Linux-based NAS server.

The SilverStone DC01 hardware consists of a dual-core 750MHz ARM 11 processor, 256MB of DDR2 SDRAM, 256MB of NAND flash, a Realtek Gigabit Ethernet adapter, a single 2.5-inch Serial ATA hard drive bay, an external eSATA port, and two USB 2.0 ports. SilverStone sent the DC01 over to Phoronix as a review sample.

The DC01 NAS server can only accommodate a single 2.5-inch Serial ATA SSD/HDD internally due to its very small form factor. The dimensions on the DC01 are 123 x 123 x 33mm and the weight is just 500 grams, without a disk drive installed. The mini network storage device enclosure is comprised of aluminum and SECC steel. Its size is just a bit bigger than a Fit-PC2 NetTop.

The ports on the rear of the DC01 include a power button, DC power supply connection, two USB 2.0 ports, one eSATA port, one 100/1000Mbit network connection, a reset button, and a Kensington lock slot. On the front of this mini network server is simply a blue LED indicator. The external power supply for this ARM server is a DC 5V/2A adapter.

Installing a 2.5-inch disk drive into the unit simply requires removing the screws from the bottom of the device and then inserting the 2.5-inch disk drive. Thanks to the low-power ARM architecture, this server is passively cooled.