Zimacube Pro Review - This Should Have Been BRILLIANT...

[@Spreadie]

Getting burned by Storaxa really cooled me off with crowdfunding - I could've jumped straight at the Zima campaign. So, glad I didn't. It's easy to say the cooling can probably be fixed with a little tinkering, but this is a £1200 NAS!!! Bullet dodged. One out of two ain't bad.

[@M4XD4B0ZZ]

Go for the Q670 from topton :)

[@corican]

Yeah. I lost about $800 with the Storaxa ordeal. Sucks. I'm going with a Terramaster F4-424 now.

[@crush_override]

​@@coricanI lost 1500USD on Storaxa. I got Ugreen and happy with though

[@agh8459]

Hi there fellow Storaxa victim. I am still doing crowdfunding things... always did. I've certainly lost some money but I've gotten some great stuff out of it too. For my part I did go and crowdfund the UGreen DXP series and got myself a DXP6800 Pro that I couldn't be happier with. Much cheaper, same CPU and a great tinkering box. Running it with unRAID and it's perfect for that. You're right though... as much as I want to like the Zimacube (and I do dig that NVMe slot mount... that's cool!) it's definitely far too expensive for my taste.

[@robertedelmann0711]

The System needs definitly a change in cooling. I updated the fans at the back to a pair of thicker noctuas and the cpu-cooler with a thermalright fan (something that can thread through the backplane...) and it became silent. And I changed the OS to TrueNAS.

[@nascompares]

You and everyone else did I think, yeah. That and UnRAID of course

[@santiagob1519]

Do you own the pro version of this NAS with Thunderbolt? If so, how is the process of getting TB to work on this NAS?

[@robertedelmann0711]

@@nascompares With an internal USB-Port available UnRAID is a fitting choice...

[@robertedelmann0711]

@@santiagob1519 Sorry, I didn't look into that, it was just a quick look on the management, fileshares and then I installed TrueNAS, which doesn't support Thunderbolt connectivity. If you just want to connect drives via thunderbolt that is just a matter of plugging in the drives and creating a pool.

[@deepblu3.]

@@santiagob1519 I couldn't get TrueNas on Proxmox to work with Thunderbolt at all. For some reason Truenas does not work as DAS.

[@pepper5105]

Any updates on the N5 from Jonsbo?

[@nascompares]

Chasing them as we speak!!!

[@nicopelle72]

Hope for the best, i look forward for buying one N5 unit 🤞

[@MorikaWeb]

I can’t wait for that review. I’m looking forward to an unraid build in it.

[@marcus3d]

The N5 seems to be designed without any thoughts about cooling/airflow. The HDDs will get hot and dusty AF. :(

[@haplopeart]

ZimaOS (and CASAOS) is INCREDIBLY limiting. This isn't rocket science by any means in both cases it has been laid out for them by other companies in the space what should be included. The simple fact that at this point neither supports basic NAS functionality such as creating iSCSI volumes to then be mounted as a target by other machines is just inexcusable. One look at the OS of a Synology machine, a QNAP machine, TrueNAS, or OpenMedia Vault could have informed them of what is expected on a NAS. Since my device was delivered I have reworked it a bit switching to TrueNAS, replacing the CPU cooler. The stock cooler wasn't even installed correctly someone forgot to peel the cold plate protector, and the Thermal paste wasn't spread at all, just a blob which tells me the cooler wasn't torqued down correctly. This lead to crazy high temps. I still need to address the fan intakes and exhaust, it needs more of both, and probably some fan exhaust holes drilled in the top and sides.

[@I-R0K-ZERO]

I have tried everything and i keep going back to my custom built pc you just have way more choice than with anything else and way easier upgrades.

[@agh8459]

Interesting write performance issues on the NVMe over Thunderbolt. Could that be due to doing sync writes to the NVMe? Seems really consistent and would track with my experience. I do wonder if you used NVMe drives with PLP would the OS recognize that and enabe async writes? Also seems it's something that could be fixed in software.

[@WantClue]

Can't wait to see you throw TrueNAS on it

[@haplopeart]

It makes an awesone TrueNAS box actually. It does seem to have some instability in the 10G connection, I am still trying to work out if that is my Networking hardware, or the M2 adapter they used for the 10G connection. The location I have the device in art the moment I only have SFP+ so I have not had a chance to test it with straight RJ45 connection, use with a SFP+ to RJ45 adapter so that "might" be a source of the network instability.

[@ZOMBIEC0RP]

This would be nice as a case only but the N5 is going to eat it's lunch.

[@peterjauch36]

I recently got this zm pro

[@kaufman98]

Thanks for the video. Any updates on the UGREEN NAS that was supposed to launch to the public the 1st of July?

[@45KevinR]

Very interesting, though even this is outside of my needs/budget. The *constipation* in certain transfers is intreaging since that's a often encountered limitation of the N100 machines. Even with those it's not clear if it's the raw PCIe lanes, some switching/multiplexing chip(s), the cpu itself or thermal throttling somewhere. IIRC even your review of the X86-P5 plus 4M2 noticed some weird slow downs on M2->M2 copies. Like it would have been faster to copy to another machine and back again. However it is good they got a functioning product out the door, given even I can recall 2 crowd funded devices that evaporated (and I'm not super into NAS).

[@nascompares]

And, to be fair, they are still acting on their promises to maintain a s improve the is, as well as improving the system optimization in updates. Fairplay to them

[@lukevenn8921]

Any decent mATX NAS cases coming out (4 - 8 bays)? I'm doing my utmost to avoid giving Jonsbo hard earned cash for the N4, but see no better alternatives. The new 'Treasure Box PRO' looked possibly good (8 bay all hot swap, SFX psu) but hard to find and very pricey at $200+ on Taobao

[@kevinoneill2170]

The Silverstone CS382 case is 8-bay (hot swappable) mATX, plus one 5.25-inch bay. Goes for about $225USD. There is also the older CS380, which is a bit bigger and fits ATX motherboards, but is also 8-bay hot swappable, plus two 5.25-inch bays. Probably can find one used for about $150USD or less. nascompares has done videos on both, and I think a few other channels have done videos recently on the CS382, which came available earlier in 2024.

[@tomnel]

Some units shipped with plastic still on the cpu cooler and atrocious paste application. (Like mine) your cpu temps make me think you might have one.

[@nascompares]

Ouch! I didn't know much on this. As mentioned in the vid, non backers cannot access alot of the updates and therefore it's another classic KS case of terrible comments scrolled UI issues. Cheers for the heads up man

[@tomnel]

@nascompares other then that and the not so great cooling in general its a great machine with truenas. Hope the cooling updates happen soon

[@davidfarning8246]

@@nascompares This is also applys to the discord channels. Bad news quickly gets lost, (ie let's talk about that in a DM) while good news is repeated and amplified by icewhlale staff and 'community members' who are incentivesed via payments or free stuff.

[@nascompares]

Icewhale say that are sending me the improved cooling now, I'll cover this and a few other new things in a follow up video. Also, dedicated PLEX video next week

[@raymc85]

Thanks for the video, waiting for ZIMA with unraid on it :)

[@joshuawaterhousify]

Supported this for the Pro to use as either a virtualisation host or storage for multiple virtualisation hosts; I expected the latter due to the platform I use for it, but so far it's seemed like I could do the virtualisation on there as well. Unfortunately I've only got the stock 16GB of RAM in there at the moment, but when I can get 64GB plan on getting it set up for full virtualisation to run various servers for LAN parties. Glad to hear the biggest limiting factors seem to be the OS, as even from the start I planned on scrapping that; the only downside I've hit so far is that the 10G chip isn't supported in my hypervisor natively yet, so I'm having to work through that (or, I could just run it with that passed directly through to the VM I care about network speed on...either way)

[@xXxCowsWithGunsxXx]

Thank you for the video. One question, what is the file you are showing at time stamp 4:55? Is it something you can find on the system to read after unit is booted up? Where is it and what is the name?

[@nascompares]

That's a command that you can enter via SSH. It details the allocation of PCIe lanes

[@santiagob1519]

I backed the pro version. That is actually how I found your channel since I wanted to know a little more about the product. I was looking at other Thunderbot NAS and this just fit my budget and aesthetics more than others. I like the hardware but I'm pretty bummed with the lack of software features. I though it would be a more simplified NAS UI since other options can seems daunting but it's even more simple then I thought. I have been looking at changing OS to get me to where I wanted to be even if it's a steep learning curve for me. I have one main question about owning this NAS now and wanting to switch the OS. How do I get the TB ports to play nice with other NAS OS? Are there any OS that work well with TB and can you talk about this (working or not working) if you do future videos with this NAS? Thank you.

[@laurenpan8641]

What key features do you see missing? I will organize the software product team to follow up on your feedback! Lauren from Zima

[@santiagob1519]

​@@laurenpan8641 We can make a storage pool with RAID but we can not make separate volumes within that RAID. I wanted to make separate volumes for my documents, media, backups, etc. (each with different permissions). I also wanted a more traditional way to setup remote access to my PC, Mac, and iPhone. I know I can use your app to connect easily but it would be nice to have those more robust networking options. Especially for cases where a device doesn't have the ability to use your remote access app like my iphone. I'm still new to NAS and Zima Cube so I am learning from the forum but as far as I can tell none of these are available yet. That is why I was disappointed and looking at changing the OS if it didn't seem like ZimaOS would get all of these by the end of the year.

[@santiagob1519]

@@laurenpan8641 I wanted to be able to create users with different admin levels. Create multiple volumes so I could separate my main docs, media, and backups. I appreciate that you have an app to make connection easier but I would like to see more options to setup remote access without the app for devices that can't install your app. After backing you product the UGreen NAS was announced and honestly their software seems way more what I needed than ZimaOS. I would ask that you take a look at what UGreen offers and add those features. I like the simplicity of your software but we need to also have more features available to use that allow for more complex needs.

[@strickter]

Been waiting a long time for this review

[@nascompares]

Hope it didn't disappoint. Also, there is a part 2 coming

[@grisha0]

Thanks for your review, i did backed it to a pro version - and yes there are some "overstatements" from icewhale on this product especially in area of cooling for sure, amount of noise... as well. im currently playing with original OS... but i unfortunately expect that once ill have some time and move to "normal" nas ... this product will fly... there are number of bugs that are coming out and 'are to be fixed' like ssds not always showing in the interface ... deal breaker... no... anoyance... yes. did they delver all of their promises i think ... no... but is it a great product... firm YES from me :)

[@nascompares]

Summed it up great! Nice 1 man. Also, I didn't really expand on it here in the vid, as it was too 'poet production ', but the file manager is increasingly inconsistent with tracking file management/transfers...but now have UnRAID running and it's A DREAM!

[@grisha0]

@@nascompares ill consider it as a spoiler alert... and wait for the video "how to make it from good to dream level" ... and then ill find some time... to install it :) also if you could comment on unraid "forever license" does it make sense ? (im lazy guy and don't want the hustle of upgrade every 15 minutes, but i like being up to date with security patches :))

[@gabest4]

2:10 What's that ESP32-C3 Supermini doing there on the M.2 board?

[@tomnel]

@@gabest4 apparently it controls the leds

[@gabest4]

@@tomnel I wonder if they turned off the wifi, it can get toasty.

[@tomnel]

@gabest4 I don't think so because they're using wifi to do it , there's a usb dongle on the motherboard

[@ChrisGuerin-p8t]

Can you add a graphic card to the PRO model? If so what GPU will work?

[@WEIQIDU]

2000 ada

[@ChrisGuerin-p8t]

@@WEIQIDU Wow thank you for your response, ok, i do not need a beast of a GPU like that, hope other can be used in the future again thank you

[@kev2020-z9s]

The rear fans look like slim ones will that make it loud.

[@nascompares]

At peak...they...are certainly audible!!!

[@laurenpan8641]

@@nascompares The R&D team will be in direct contact with you this week to provide our latest cooling upgrade solution for the mass production units. Kickstarter backers have mentioned this issue, and the team has been paying close attention to it. Over the past 3 weeks, we have finalized the upgrade plan.

[@markbooth3066]

Why would you call a NAS model "Pro" and then not support ECC? RAID is so 1990's, I have far to many ZFS volume to risk corrupting them. Devices like this don't encourage me to move on from my old Enterprise gear.

[@marcus3d]

I agree wrt ECC, but what do you mean by RAID being '90s? What would you use instead of, say, raidz2/3?

[@markbooth3066]

RAID-Z isn't *just* RAID @@marcus3d, it's a *very* different beast. I stopped trusting RAID at home long ago, and while superficially similar, RAID-Z has a substantially smaller risk profile than traditional RAID. I know that I can pull a set of ZFS disks from one machine and pretty much guarantee that they will work in another, but swapping disks from one motherboard manufacturers software RAID to another's, or one hardware RAID manufacturers card to another, or one COTS NAS to another, and you have no such guarantee. Even DAS's that aren't JBOD can sometimes lose everything on a power cycle, as work found with a GPFS cluster recently.

[@brain2cloud156]

Went back to a Synology 5 bay…

[@SuperMari026]

Still waiting on the creator version, i expected a dumpster fire of a product when I saw your title but it's a little clickbaity. Would love to see apples to apples tests. Really hope the purchase is worth my while.

[@nascompares]

Unfortunately, I had to err on the fence a bit, as I had such bloody high hopes for this thing. I was originally just gonna put "This should have been great" as the title.., but every time it sounded a bit hollow and incomplete. So adding 'bit' sounded organic (as that's what I kept repeating to people I spoke to about the device, RG "it's great hardware...but...). That said, I totally see your point man

[@hpsfresh]

Why external psu? Why?!

[@nascompares]

Mainly a space thing I imagine. Adding an internal PSU would cut down airflow even more than already. Otherwise the case would need to be bigger and they are opting for the cube thing. To be fair, it's a decent quality PSU

[@annebokma4637]

1x10gbe and that noisy? Next

[@GavinKacavenda]

Love my pro. Yes I’ve tweaked the cooling and installed unraid.

[@laurenpan8641]

Appreciate your great support in bringing it to the market! Lauren from Zima team.

[@GavinKacavenda]

@@laurenpan8641 happy to support a great project!

[@xellaz]

The UGreen NAS has better specs, design, and price. My DXP6800 & DXP8800 are still running great! 👍

[@christopherwarsh]

I kinda wish yall made your own NAS… you’d be better than UGREEN

[@nascompares]

If ONLY you knew how often me and a few server reviewers joke around about this as an idea.

[@junior-OG]

@@nascompares seagull OS 😂

[@christopherwarsh]

One of the biggest reasons I stick with Synology is the software… so yeah SeagullOS would need to beat that. I have no doubt your hardware would be on fleek for sure

[@iblackfeathers]

after the sketchy mislabelled cpus of their cyberpunk style boards & how they handled that issue, i felt i no longer could support this company. glad i did not back this one, which was their next campaign. jonsbo it is.

[@nascompares]

Tbh this IS a very solid product and comfortably one of the best built (inside and out) NAS system from outside the usual players I've ever seen..it's just inconsistent at the moment and I hope this changes over time with further optimization. Also, to be frank, THIS is what the storaxa NAS should have been (or 'like'), if they hadn't bailed...

[@zazelskycrest2525]

@@nascompares aaa storaxa, it still stings me of what great opportunity they mess up.

[@tolpacourt]

Seems to me anyone buying this system is not going to be satisfied with the installed OS. They shouldn't have wasted any time, effort or money on the software.

[@andrewgeiger4560]

Pro-Backer here. There are a number of adjustments that can be made to the case/cooling components that turn this into a great unit. Swapping the fan to a thermalright axp90-47 and doing a full thermal compound swap brings the temps within stable ranges.

[@nascompares]

Cheers for your input mate. Tbh I have been running it without the lid on and the back fan covers on, but just because I have to work close to it. The brand already confirmed a new cooling system in progress, so fairplay to them for supporting and commuting on that, post crowdfunding..they could have easily ignored it

[@andrewgeiger4560]

@@nascompares The Icewhale discord has been great for working through the thermal concerns.

[@ericbowers71]

Just an observation… your right cheek area seems swollen. Maybe an abscess tooth. May be worth having a doctor take a look.

[@nascompares]

Lol cheers dock! I've had a chest virus for 6+ weeks. Coughing like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge! You can tell in my recent vids, as I have to cut between mid 'rants' as I have to cut around a coughing fit!

[@CantankerousDave]

Is it any surprise? What does an alcoholic soda company know about NAS units? (Is Zima even still a thing?)

[@tomnel]

@@CantankerousDave hahahaha

[@MaderhaseTwo]

Could you please tell me which command you used at 6:14 to output the PCIe lane linkspeed?:)

[@nascompares]

lspci vvv

[@MaderhaseTwo]

@@nascompares Thanks a lot!