Giada GT200 Micro NAS Server Review
“Giada” , derived from the Italian, means “Jade”, which symbolizes the quality and style of Giada product, also indicates the enterprise’s spirit of pursuing “perfect design and excellent feature” .
Unboxing and Quick Setup
Giada offers wide range of products from Server’s to Mini PC for Industrial and SME. We got today is the Giada GT200.
Part from a new line-up of micro-servers that been unveiled in the recent Computex 2015 the GT200 and GT400. These compact servers give small and medium-sized business a cost-effective and low-power consuming server in a small package. Powered by Intel High-speed Dual-core processor, the server consumes power as low as 17w. This multi-function server can be utilized for many purposes including private cloud data center, print server, web server, email server, surveillance server etc.
it’s a 24/7 server with half the fraction of the size of some industry servers. It’s a great for SME who want’s to get things done and access all their files in a centralized compact build Micro Server.
Giada GT200 Specs
- Intel® Celeron® Processor 1037U
- Intel® HM77
- 4GB RAM
- 32GB SSD Built-In
- 1TB Sata HDD (Sold Separately)
- 2 x Lan Ports
- 2 x USB 2.0 Ports
- Powe, LAN, HDD 1,HDD 2, Status LED indicator
- VGA port
- 19V 4.74A 90W AC Adapter
- Quiet cooling fan (75*75*15mm), DC 5V
- FREE BSD pre-installed
Build and Design
The Giada GT200 is solid build aluminum body with a combination of plastic material in front and top covers. In front includes the Power buton, USB 3.0 and LED Indicators to check if the Server is functioning Well.
Included in the package is a User Manual, CD Drivers , Screws for the HDD mount and the plastic handle for the HDD.
The review unit I had includes 2 500GB Toshiba HDD w hich is meant for 24/7 Surveillance system.
the power brick adapter is also quite huge in terms of size but it has logo branding that lights up to indicate its working.
Looking at the side is the Engrave marking of the Giada branding that looks really awesome with this device.
Moving to the back part where all the ports are located, starting with the SPDIF audio jack then a pin hole for the Reset and CMOS Reset, blow that is the JAHC on and off switch.
The great thing about this micro server it comes with a VGA port. attaching an external monitor to configure this server is pretty much easy.
Attaching also a USB Devices like mouse and keyboard is possible since it comes with 2 USB 2.0 ports. below that is the 2 LAN Ports for the RJ45 to give a LAN connection. and lst but not the least is the DC input for the power adapter.
Actually there is an additional USB 3.0 inside the device which is attached to the motherboard but it’s easy to access and I think it’s mainly use for debugging purposes. Inside is a 2 bay for the HDD that can be a raid connection.
it also includes a 32GB SSD card inside which where the FREE BSD resides and also where you can install other operating systems like,
- Novell SLES 11 SP3/ Red Hat Enterprise Linux 7.0
- Ubuntu server 14.04
- Windows Server 2008 R2
- Windows Server 2012
- Windows Server 2012 R2
But for this review I just used the Built-in Operating system which is the FREE BSD. What’s great about this device is it’s very silent even having a fan at the back for exhaust comparing to my WD 8TB NAS system which I will also review in the next upcoming days. With this server I really didn’t had any issues of loud fan noise which is really great since this is a server for sure it’s 24/7 open and changing the room temperature might give it a heat but on my end upon using it for almost 3 weeks straight the fan was so silent and had a great uptime for the server.
The Hard Drives are fully secured although I find the plastic handle fragile, so hopefully it will not break for a long year of usage since we know plastics get’s crispy when exposed to heat. but still the handle is a nice addition for the hdd but it’s the only way for you to pull the drives. so just be careful and saddle when pulling the HDD drives.
Even having Hard drives inside the weight is still pretty much lighter comparing to other NAS server I tried, boot up takes a while but once fully configured it will just takes a couple of seconds to boot up.
Transfer rate Speed from PC to server depends on the router but the on my end since I am just using a generic router for the test it gave me a 17mb/s for the transfer rate which is not bad.
Overall the Giada GT200 is a Micro size server great for SME that delivers speed and reliability. Although the design is pretty much like UPS at first glance but still it gives what you pay for. Price start at US$ 320.00, if you’re an SME who want a centralized file system and server in one the Giada is a great choice.
