Unboxing the ZimaCube NAS: Discover the Power of this 6-Bay Storage Solution

IceWhale Introduces New NAS Server to Meet Existing Users’ Needs
A new player has entered the crowded field of Network Access Storage (NAS) servers. The Chinese company IceWhale has released the ZimaCube, a server designed to compete with the best NAS servers already in the market.

IceWhale, best known for its ZimaBoard single board server, is now introducing the ZimaCube with six drive bays, decent internals that go up to a 10-core Core i5 on the Pro model, 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet as standard, M.2 bays, and Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. The sleek design and advanced hardware of the ZimaCube make it worth the attention.

This new NAS server is now being crowdfunded on Kickstarter, with the general sale scheduled to commence next year. It is available in two versions: a quad-core model powered by Intel’s Alder Lake-based N100 is priced at $499, and a Pro version that has the 10-core Intel Core i5-1235U starts at $899.

The design of the ZimaCube has a lot going for it. The server has a chassis made entirely out of metal with a unique 6+1 configuration that accommodates six drive bays for installing 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drives and a slot housing two M.2 bays. However, the drive installation isn’t tool-less, and the drive bays can be challenging to access. Other than that, the metal build of the server is built to last, and customers get easy access to the ports of the server.

The ZimaCube comes with an extensive feature set that includes an Intel N100 that has four cores and can go up to 3.4GHz, 8 to 16 GB of RAM, and 256GB M.2 SSD installed out of the box. Both versions have a good assortment of ports – two USB 3.0 ports at the front alongside a USB-C port, and a 3.5mm jack, two 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports, four USB ports, an HDMI as well as a DisplayPort 1.4 port. The pro model also gets a PCIe Gen4 x16 slot in addition to several other built-in features

While the performance of the ZimaCube was not put to extensive testing, it functions well with the lightweight ZimaOS designed for single-board servers. The built-in app store has all the utilities one needs in a NAS server, like Plex client, Emby, Home Assistant, Portainer, Jellyfin, etc. Also, customers can install Pi-hole or AdGuard for network-wide ad blocking, making it a versatile and useful addition to their tech setup.

Despite a few minor design limitations, the ZimaCube is a promising addition to the NAS server market. It offers powerful hardware, an extensive feature set, and a sleek design that competes with the best NAS servers currently available. With its current crowdfunding success, it is likely to gain wider recognition and become a go-to option for tech enthusiasts and small businesses seeking reliable, advanced, and user-friendly storage solutions.