Pre-built NAS enclosures provide an easy way to set up a dedicated storage server for those who don’t wish to assemble one from scratch. Most NAS setups are quite bulky to accommodate all the high-capacity hard drives where you can store your data. But in recent times, all-flash NAS that bear M.2 SSDs instead of huge 3.5-inch HDDs have started making the rounds.

The Aiffro K100 is the latest addition to the all-flash NAS space, though it has some unique, or rather, eccentric features. For instance, it’s extremely tiny and barely consumes any power, making it more like a mini-PC with extra M.2 SSD slots. Unlike most NAS enclosures that ship with a proprietary OS, the K100 comes with Windows 11 pre-installed, and you can even switch to several other operating systems.

Although it's not ultra-fast in NAS workloads, the Aiffro K100’s high versatility and portability make it a compelling option for mini-PC enthusiasts and frequent travelers who need a reliable way to store data on-the-move.

About this review: Aiffro sent me a 256GB variant of the K100 NAS. However, the company had no input into the contents of this review.

Price, specs, and availability

Aiffro released the K100 NAS a few months ago, with the base model costing $399 for just the chassis. You can upgrade to a model that comes with a pre-installed 256GB SSD for $449, with the most expensive variant shipping with a 2TB M.2 SSD for $699. As of writing, only the 256GB version is available for purchase from Aiffro’s website.

It's worth noting that the 256GB SSD Aiffro sent me was manufactured by a no-name brand. Seeing as how you can grab a decent 1TB PCIe Gen 3 SSD from Crucial for $60-70, the cheapest model that doesn’t come with any SSDs is the only option worth choosing (assuming it goes back in stock). That said, the K100 is still one of the cheapest options out there for an all-flash NAS.

Design

If looks could kill...

Aiffro may be a new contender in the NAS landscape, but the company knocked it out of the park with the design of the K100. The Aiffro K100 is the tiniest NAS I’ve ever used and is even smaller than your average mini-PC. With a width of 117mm, you won’t have a hard time fitting the K100 on your computing desk.

The K100 is built with an aluminum alloy, which makes it quite lightweight and lends it a premium appearance. Unfortunately, the small form-factor restricts its capabilities, as Aiffro had to make quite a lot of sacrifices on the ports and performance fronts.

The K100 is built with an aluminum alloy, which makes it quite lightweight and lends it a premium appearance.

For starters, the K100 only ships with one Ethernet port, and to add insult to injury, it’s a mere 2.5GbE socket. As such, you’re bound to saturate the 2.5GbE connection if you populate the NAS with four high-speed SSDs or use a RAID setup. Not to mention, since the K100 doesn’t possess an extra RJ45 socket, it lacks load-balancing and port failover provisions.

The rest of the port selection is somewhat decent, as you get two USB Type-C 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two USB 2.0 connections, and an HDMI 1.4 socket. While I would’ve preferred the NAS to have USB 3.0 ports, you do get decent data transfer speeds via the USB Type-C connections.

Hardware

Quite limited on the performance front

With a size that small, it’s clear that Aiffro’s offering wouldn’t be powered by a high-end processor that could run multiple NAS projects simultaneously. The K100 is armed with a 12th-gen Intel N100 processor that packs 4 Efficient (E) cores and 4 threads. I had rather low expectations from the CPU, as it’s typically used in mobile and embedded systems. Besides some virtualization-related tests, the K100 performed surprisingly well in all the tasks I threw at it. That said, the NAS' CPU only supports 9 PCIe lanes, so you shouldn’t really expect blazing-fast transfer speeds on your SSDs.

Besides some virtualization-related tests, the K100 performed surprisingly well in all the tasks I threw at it.

While we’re on the subject of SSDs, the Aiffro K100 can only be equipped with up to four M.2 2280 drives. Installing a new drive is fairly easy, though you will need to use a spudger tool to remove the rubber feet and gain access to the screws that secure the bottom plate.

Unfortunately, the N100 is only compatible with the PCIe Gen 3 bus interface, meaning it won’t be able to reach the high read/write speeds of the newer standards. The K100 also packs 8GB of LPDDR5 memory, which is more than enough for a NAS of its caliber. But since it’s soldered onto the PCB, there’s no way to increase the RAM capacity.

Software

Plenty of operating systems to try out

The K100 is your best friend if you hate first-party NAS operating systems, but don't wish to go through the hassle of assembling your own rig. By default, it comes with an unactivated version of Windows 11 Pro, which you swap out for a multitude of other operating systems. As such, it triumphs over products like Ugreen’s DXP480T Plus, because you don’t need to put up with half-baked operating systems.

The K100 is your best friend if you hate first-party NAS operating systems, but don't wish to go through the hassle of assembling your own rig.

Once I’d installed a second Corsair SSD, I immediately swapped Windows 11 for TrueNAS Scale. After mashing the Del key on startup, I was able to enter the BIOS, where I switched the boot priority to an external USB drive containing the flashed TrueNAS Scale files. After the reboot, the TrueNAS Scale installation wizard appeared, and within a few minutes, the NAS had finished installing the OS.

Following the first boot into TrueNAS Scale, I launched the web UI on another PC and created a new pool. Afterward, I ran the fio command in the TrueNAS shell to ascertain the transfer speeds of the NAS. Initially, executing the command returned a write speed of 500 MB/s, though subsequent attempts gave reduced speeds each time, with 250 MB/s being the lowest.

For more practical speed tests, I set up SMB shares and sent some ISO files from my PC to the NAS, and the speed ranged anywhere between 180-300 MB/s. Speaking of ISOs, I also wanted to see how far I could push the NAS. To that end, I used the ISO file for NixOS to create a new virtual machine via TrueNAS. And like you'd expect, the NAS is just too underpowered to run a full-fledged desktop OS even after allocating as many as three cores to it.

I also installed Plex, Home Assistant, and some other apps. While it took some time for TrueNAS Scale to deploy the apps, Aiffro’s tiny NAS was more than capable of running them without noticeable hits to the performance. I concluded my tests by installing Ubuntu and CentOS, as Aiffro claims that the NAS supports both operating systems. Ubuntu worked as well as you'd expect, though I didn't use CentOS a lot since it's about to reach EOL in a few days.

Should you buy the Aiffro K100?

You should buy the Aiffro K100 if:

• You need a portable NAS that's small enough to accompany you on your travels.
• You want an all-SSD NAS without going through the trouble of building one yourself.
• You like experimenting with different operating systems and are not fond of large NAS enclosures that come with proprietary OS.

You shouldn’t buy the Aiffro K100 if:

• You need a high-capacity NAS for complex home-lab operations.
• You favor fast data transfer speeds above all else.

Having spent a week testing the Aiffro K100, I can say it’s not for everyone. Its small form-factor, pretty aluminum chassis, and support for multiple operating systems are its biggest draws. Although the K100 serves as a bridge between mini-PCs and NAS, it isn’t good enough for proper NAS-based workloads.

Yes, you can install four extra SSDs, but its reduced PCIe lanes and limited 2.5GbE bandwidth serve as huge bottlenecks. Plus, the Intel N100 is far from the best CPU for complex home-lab setups. Nevertheless, I’d still recommend the Aiffro K100 to anyone who needs a tiny, yet somewhat capable NAS for everyday storage and file-sharing needs.