Best 2-Bay NAS of the Year – 2022/2023

Last updated on 27 Dec 2022 📧 Subscribe
Contents hide
1 A Guide to the Best 2-Bay NAS Drives to Buy Right Now
2 What Have All the Best 2-Bay NAS Drives Have in Common?
2.1 Best All Round 2-Bay NAS Drive – QNAP TS-253E NAS
2.2 Best Software 2-Bay NAS Drive – Synology DS720+ NAS
2.3 Best Value Hardware 2-Bay NAS Drive – Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2 NAS
2.4 Lowest Priced Plex 2-Bay NAS Drive – Terramaster F2-423 NAS
3 Need More Help Choosing the right NAS?
4 Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

A Guide to the Best 2-Bay NAS Drives to Buy Right Now

When you are looking for a new data storage solution, chances are that in terms of cost vs storage, a 2 drive solution is pretty much a solid choice – especially for tech novices or those dipping their toes into owning their own server for the first time. If you can overcome the initial downfall of losing 50% of your storage space (RAID 1 over two hard drives), you can get some genuinely incredible 2 bay solutions in 2022, as well as many 2023 releases having already appeared. 2 Disk storage systems always held a rather wimpy reputation till about 2017/18, as it was assumed that because the system had limited capacity and throughput to work with, it would be a waste to make it powerful. Fast forward to now and the general standard of hardware that is equipped on some of the 2-Bay NAS released in the last year or so has escalated hugely, 10GbE support has appeared and add to that the fact that NAS hard drives (such as Seagate Ironwolf and WD Red) are now available in 20-22TB sizes, a 2 HDD NAS server is compact, powerful and hugely capacity enabled! So today I want to talk about the best 2-Bay NAS drives of the year and help you choose the right one for your home or business needs, covering the best for software, the best for hardware and the best for both. Let’s begin.

What Have All the Best 2-Bay NAS Drives Have in Common?

It is worth remembering that although there are ALOT of different 2-Bay NAS drives available to buy, they are by no means created equal! With numerous super-budget brands popping up online, it can be tempting to consider these alongside the premium NAS brands. However, all too often they offer solutions righty seem ‘too good to be true’ and then are gone from the web before your warranty even gets cold! So, whether you are looking at the three best 2-Bay solutions that I am recommending below OR are looking at another 2-Bay NAS you saw on offer/recommended elsewhere – the best NAS system ALWAYS includes the following software and services:

  • Combined Hardware & Software Solution – That means that you are buying the hardware, but it ALSO includes a web browser GUI, mobile apps and desktop client apps (including backup, media, streaming, surveillance and file management software)
  • All NAS systems in this guide are compatible with (and can be accessed by) Windows, Mac, Android and Linux operating systems
  • All NAS Solutions arrive with between 2-3 years Warranty (with the option to extend to 5 years)
  • All NAS drives can be accessed locally over the network, as well as secure remote access is possible with brand-supported services (at no additional cost)
  • The most modern and regularly updated NAS systems will support the very latest 20TB NAS hard drives (such as the Seagate Ironwofl 22TB and WD Red 22TB)
  • All the recommended solutions support multiple drive configurations (RAID) for drive failure protection and performance enhancements
  • All solutions receive regular updates to their security, features and services
  • All recommended NAS drives can connect and synchronize with cloud services (Google Drive, DropBox, OneDrive, etc), as well as Business/Enterprise services such as AWS, Azure, Backblaze and more
  • All NAS solutions (regardless of brand) feature the ability to host a shared drive on your PC/Mobile/Laptop systems that are synchronized with the NAS via the network/internet, but is shown in your native operating system file manager (i.e Mac Finder or Windows Explorer)
  • All the NAS solutions listed can be accessed DIRECTLY via an ethernet/network cable being connected from your PC/Mac system, to the NAS RJ45 port for 100MB/s and higher connectivity (higher in some cases)
  • All the best NAS solutions (regardless of brand) feature backup and sync tools that can be installed on your local client computer and allow regular backups of your files and system data

So, make sure that if you are looking at a NAS solution that is NOT recommended below, that it includes all of the above. As these are some of the clearest areas that brands all too often cut orders to produce cheaper by ultimately inferior NAS servers for home and business. So, let’s discuss the very best 2-Bay NAS to buy now in 2022/2023.

Note – ORIGINALLY I would have put the QNAP TS-264 in this category, regretfully though, it is still unavailable at the time of writing, so it cannot be included. However, it would DEFINITELY deserve to be here and might even be the real ‘best all-round 2-Bay NAS.

Best All Round 2-Bay NAS Drive – QNAP TS-253E NAS

0-44TB, 2-Bays, 2x PCIe Gen 3×2 M.2 NVMe 2280, Intel Celeron J6412 CPU, 8GB Memory, 2x 2.5Gbe Port, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10G), 1x HDMI 1.4b 4K 30FPS, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $509

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Aug ’22 Review of the TS-453E (4-Bay Alternative):

The QNAP TS-453E NAS is a device that really grew on me! With these home/business server companies releasing refreshes of their ranges every 2-2.5yrs or so, it is easy to see them fall into repetitive patterns when it comes to how the hardware is picked at each tier/price-point. The TS-453E NAS on the other hand manages to carve a new tier into the brand’s portfolio right now in 2022, managing to give you some really solid internal/external hardware that most would have assumed would be half of what it is at this level of QNAP’s 4-bay portfolio (i.e Quad-Core, 8GB, NVMe M.2s, 2.5GbE, 10G USB, 3yr warranty, etc) and it will certainly make some buyers wonder about whether the current Prosumer/flagship TS-464 is as necessary to their home or office as they once thought.

The fixed memory, even at 8GB default, is rather annoying and a lack of PCIe slot means that 10GbE will remain out of reach – but look at this NAS sandwiched between the TS-451D2 & TS-464 and it makes alot of sense. This is for those not really looking at expandability years from now and although that plastic case still looks a little dated/cheap, this is not a device designed to be noticed day-to-day. For those looking to make their first tentative entry into the world of NAS a decent one or looking to upgrade cautiously from an ARM system, the QNAP TS-453E is an excellent shout!

SOFTWARE - 8/10
HARDWARE - 8/10
PERFORMANCE - 9/10
PRICE - 7/10
VALUE - 8/10


8.0
PROS
👍🏻Exceptional CPU choice for the Scale/Tier
👍🏻8GB of DDR4 Memory
👍🏻2.5GbE (x2) Ports on Day 1
👍🏻Two USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb/s) Ports!
👍🏻2x M.2 NVMe Slots alongside those 4x SATA Bays for Storage (Caching, Tiered Storage or standalone Pools)
👍🏻Includes VM, Surveillance (8 licenses and upto 32 Cams), Backup, Sync, Multimedia, SaaS sync/migration and office tools (some with added AI services)
👍🏻3-Year Warranty (Can be extended)
👍🏻VERY Compact, low-impact design
👍🏻Supports 1-2x Expansions
👍🏻20TB and 22TB Confirmed Compatibility
CONS
👎🏻
👎🏻Memory Cannot be Upgraded
👎🏻M.2 NVMe SSD Slots are Gen 3 x2
👎🏻Chassis is still a little dated looking

 

Best Software 2-Bay NAS Drive – Synology DS720+ NAS

(Note – The Synology DS723+ NAS was first revealed unofficially in October ’22. This is the refresh to the Synology DS720+ NAS, but with a Ryzen Processor, ECC Memory and optional 10GbE upgrade. However, launch of that device looks like it will be Jan ’23)

0-44TB, 2-Bays, 2x PCIe Gen 2×4 M.2 NVMe 2280, Quad Core Intel Celeron J4125 CPU, 2-6GB DDR4 Memory, 2x 1Gbe Port, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $399

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review June ’20:

The Synology NAS brand is one that we have long associated with software as the KEY selling point. However, users these days know alot more about this kind of technology than ever before and Synology has clearly responded some ways better than others. The inclusion of NVMe SSD caching is absolutely something that I can get behind in a positive way! The standard of 1Gbe (x2 technically) is still a bit of a sore one and something many would have assumed would serve as a pricing/buying tier between the DS220+ vs DS720+ (also the DS420+ vs DS920+) but though 2.5Gbe is still in its infancy, it is growing trend that Synology will not ignore for much longer and perhaps something that will give more experienced users pause before clicking the ‘buy now’ button.

In practically EVERY OTHER WAY the DS720+ is a worthy successor to the DS718+, as well as easily earning the title of the best 2-Bay the biggest brand in modern NAS has ever put out. From its strengths in supporting DSM as one of the best software GUIs and platforms in the area of storage to its mould-breaking utilization of SSD caching in DSM 6.2 (with promised improves even more in DSM 7.0), the Synology DS720+ is a NAS drive that gives you ALOT of power and potential under the hood to help you enjoy your data, just know that it arrives with the tiniest bit of a network ‘glass-ceiling’ down the line.

SOFTWARE - 9/10
HARDWARE - 9/10
PERFORMANCE - 9/10
PRICE - 7/10
VALUE - 8/10


8.4
PROS
👍🏻Dual NVMe M.2 cache add-on
👍🏻Great RAID Options
👍🏻Excellent choice of Apps
👍🏻Snapshot Replication
👍🏻BTRFS and SHR
👍🏻Support Plex
👍🏻Virtualization
👍🏻4K Video transcoding
👍🏻Full Plex Transcoding
👍🏻Hot-Swap trays
👍🏻DLNA Compliant
👍🏻Expandable
CONS
👎🏻Only 1Gbe Ethernet ports
👎🏻No PCIe slots
👎🏻2GB Memory is a little low in the long term
👎🏻Only a single accessible Memory Bay

 

Best Value Hardware 2-Bay NAS Drive – Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2 NAS

0-44TB, 2-Bays, 4x PCIe Gen 3×2 M.2 NVMe 2280, Intel N5105 CPU 4-Core Integrated Gfx, 4-16GB DDR4 Memory, 2x 2.5Gbe Port, 1x HDMI 2.0b, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $399

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Dec’22:

The Lockerstor 2 Gen 2 NAS is a respectable piece of kit! Indeed, the hardware here is almost faultless! Unless you are particularly noise sensitive (and therefore the metal chassis adding a few dBa to the ambient sound), there is almost nothing I can fault here on the devices hardware. The scaling up of practically all hardware over the Gen 1 Lockerstor, such as Better CPU, Better Memory that goes higher, HDMI 2.0b, USB 3.2 Gen 2, a 10GbE upgrade option and THOSE FOUR M. 2 NVMe SSD SLOTS – you simply cannot fault how much is getting included here at the price point vs it’s competitors. The software is a little less compelling, with a smaller range of 1st party applications on offer, more of a reliance on 3rd party services and the absence of a few AAA+ features that are present on other devices in the market (AI services, Cloud Bolt on live synchronization, 1st Party SaaS native sync with Google Workspace/Office365, etc).

That said, ADM does run very well, is clear and still quite user-friendly. The addition of a choice of file systems EXT4 or BTRFS, flexibility on the use of those M.2 NVMe SSD bays and the Asustor HDMI portal still bring fantastic flexibility to the Lockerstor 2 Gen 2 NAS too. Ultimately, this is a system that is clearly making big waves on it’s hardware more than it’s software, but as long as you keep your feet on the ground and appreciate that this system is more of a 70/30 purchase of hardware vs software, you will come to respect and rely on this Asustor NAS as the backbone of your data storage setup.

SOFTWARE - 8/10
HARDWARE - 9/10
PERFORMANCE - 8/10
PRICE - 8/10
VALUE - 8/10


8.2
PROS
👍🏻Hard/Impossible to find this level of NAS Hardware elsewhere at this price point
👍🏻Those FOUR M.2 NVMe 2280 SSD slots are great and turn this 2-Bay NAS into an 6-Bay
👍🏻2.5GbE by default, as well as the option to add further 2.5/5Gb connections over USB
👍🏻$45 increase over RRP of Lockstor Gen 1, but upgrades practically everything 1-2 levels (New Celeron CPU, Better/High Memory Max, USB 10G, HDMI 2.0b, PCIe Gen 3 Architecture)
👍🏻Includes support for either EXT4 or BTRFS
👍🏻Includes KVM Support with Parallel GUI over HDMI, Asustor Portal
👍🏻ADM is better than it has ever been, responsive, clear and intuitive
👍🏻Several different setup and initialization options
👍🏻Full Support of the traditional RAID levels
👍🏻Storage can be expanded with TWO of the Asustor AS6004U 4-Bay
CONS
👎🏻Lack of a fluid RAID System (such as Synology Hybrid RAID, Drobo BeyondRAID or Terramaster TRAID) to allow mixed drive media and easier scaling of storage over time
👎🏻Metal chassis and trays is going to result in an increase of ambient noise (hum/vibration) than other plastic casing/tray NAS systems
👎🏻Some apps (such as the Surveillance Center apps) are long overdue an update in visuals and services
👎🏻ADM is good, but lacks the killer apps/AAA and AI service tools that are being offered by other brands right now
👎🏻They were targeted by the Deadbolt ransomware attack at the start of 2022 and although the linux vulnerability that was used has been reported to be closed and they worked with affected users, this is still going to be on the minds of some buyers

Lowest Priced Plex 2-Bay NAS Drive – Terramaster F2-423 NAS

0-44TB, 2-Bays, 2x Gen 3 x1 M.2 NVMe 2280, Intel N5105 Celeron CPU Quad-Core Integrated Gfx CPU, 4-16GB Memory, 2x 2.5Gbe Port, USB 3.2 Gen 2 10G, 3yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $389

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review (4-Bay Review, but F2-423 Coming Very Soon) – Watch

What I said in my review May’22:

Terramaster still continues to be the most affordable fully-featured provider of the whole NAS market and although a number of their solutions have always felt a little rough around the edges, you always got the impression that you were getting a good deal for the hardware that was available from QNAP and Synology. Now in 2022/2023, the same continues to be true but in the F2-423 NAS’ case, you are actually getting some pretty top tier (for the Home/Prosumer) market at a price tag that is really tough to argue with. Terramaster has clearly been watching their bigger competitors and cherry-picked the features that people have been asking for (2.5GbE, USB 3.2 Gen 2, M.2 NVMe SSD bays, etc) for this new generation.

In terms of software, things are a little less convincing and although TOS 5 still continues to evolve into something genuinely fully featured and impressive, TOS 4 that the F2-423 includes at launch is usable (if unexciting) platform that provides the base level services that a new NAS user would want, but lacks killer apps that their competitors are offering right now (File Streaming, AI photo recognition, Surveillance, etc). Most of these ARE included in TOS5, but until it arrives much later in 2022 in a full release, the F2-423 feels like a powerful NAS that doesn’t have the software to show off its strengths yet. If you are reading this later in 2022 or 2023, this might well be irrelevant though, as the brand rolls out their bit firmware update to ALL Terramster NAS devices. Overall, I definitely CAN recommend the F2-423 NAS for its hardware, for Plex Media server or as an affordable multi-tier backup solution, but if you are looking for a NAS for more tailored data access or in a much more fully-featured package.

SOFTWARE - 7/10
HARDWARE - 9/10
PERFORMANCE - 8/10
PRICE - 9/10
VALUE - 9/10


8.4
PROS
👍🏻2.5GbE at the Price of 1GbE
👍🏻TRAID Flexible RAID is great stuff!
👍🏻Good CPU for the Price Point
👍🏻Supports Current 22TB HDDs from WD and Seagate
👍🏻VERY easy TrueNAS installation is possible
👍🏻USB 3.2 Gen 2 is very forward-thinking for local backups
👍🏻Great RAID Options
👍🏻Snapshot Replication
👍🏻BTRFS Support if preferred
👍🏻Supports Plex and all 1080p Transcoding
👍🏻4K Video transcoding natively
👍🏻A large amount of maximum memory supported (16-32GB - TBC)
👍🏻Includes two M.2 NVMe SSD Bays that can be used for storage or caching
CONS
👎🏻HDMI Currently Unsupported
👎🏻Although TOS 5 has seen some big improvements and more AAA+ apps and services added, it is still not as polished as DSM or QTS from their competitors

 



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      119 thoughts on “Best 2-Bay NAS of the Year – 2022/2023”

      6. I just bought this NAS in Germany, and surprise – it has two internal RAM slots, one with a Kingston 8GB DDR4 module! No hint on the box or the written manual that it is expandable now.
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      8. Great stuff!I am seriously considering this one for a dedicated Surveillance system. I have a 9 bay QNAP for work that I love, but, want to keep that dedicated for my work. You do the BST reviews!!!
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      10. Hello, considering this video was made about a year ago, although you mentioned his as such a great product to have, you also mentioned about the lack of some software features. I don’t know if you’re still using this device but, how has the progress been since your review software wise? Has some of the features you were mentioning that had to be added or improved got available? I’m planning to buy my first NAS. I’ve been doing this with my Raspberry PIs but I really like to have a fully featured 2 bay NAS drive in my house both for storage and maybe even for hosting my web server and many more stuff… I think I like the features of this product but when you reviewed it, it was a new product and the software needed some tweaks. Do you think today, it is safe to go with this device without thinking about any software issues? Overall, has it got better since it was first launched?

        Thanks.
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      15. I have some technical questions, would be thankfull for help:
        -If used both, is the M2 and HDD storage combined or seperated? If yes, do they function like one raid and each must be the same size?
        -Can the M2 storage SSDs each be bigger than 2 TB?
        -I read, that the M2 must be installed first, because then the system will be installed there?
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      17. This is the one I set up today with my 2- 8TB HGST drives and 2- 1TB NVMe’s for read/write cache. it was a breeze, took the two 8TB drives out of the AS1102T and popped them in my new AS6702T and it did the work for me, didn’t lose any data. This thing runs fast and good. Plus I can add two more NVMe’s for more storage if I want.
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      18. I much prefer QNAP’s chassis design of the TS-453E vs. the TS-464. That ’rounded-edge’ look on the TS-464 looks like it’s trying to look more ‘cutesy’, as if it were trying to add some Apple-like flair to the hardware. It’s a NAS (Not ‘NAZ’ btw.), it not supposed to look sexy. Function over form, what does it do – how well does it do it. Since my TS-453-Pro has just died after the QTS 5.1 update with the dreaded ‘J1900 LPC-clock bug’ I’m now in the market for an upgrade, and this ticks all the right boxes for me. I plan on trying the resistor trick on the old TS453-Pro, but given it’s on it’s way out, evidently, time to look at a potential replacement.
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      20. Thank you for unpacking and the work you do.
        I would very much like to see your video in the F4-423 vs F4-223 comparison format. Why does TerraMaster separate them and make different prices for them??
        Not necessarily full-scale, but something in the format of 15-20 minutes would be great.
        Thank you in advance.
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      23. Thanks for again a really great review! It made decide to buy one and this is a great piece of hardware. Not the top notch but good for my usage. I’ve setup Xpenology with 4 4TB MX500 SSD’s and it works great! After activating C states in bios I’m idling at 10 watt with 2 2.5gbe connections and a few basic iscsi and smb shares.
        I also put 2 WD blue M.2 2tb as separate volume but the power consumption at idle climbed to 15 watt. As I dont need so fast storage I took these back out. It is quiet and with 24°c room temperature the SSD’s stay around 27-28°c.
        I have 1 negztive point to mention. I tested the speed of each SSD’s via the integrated benchmark tool of DSM and the 2 first disks give expected speed of 500+ mb/s, but disk 3 and 4 are only reaching 350mb/s. I have no clue why.
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      27. I have been watching your videos. They are very useful. However, you always give one piece of information wrong (afaik). HDMI 1.4b supports 4K only with 30 fps but you write 60fps.
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      29. any update on the TOS support to applications?… I hear its not great… Thinking about the TrueNAS Scale that you did a review on… I’m still waffling between TOS and Scale..
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      31. I finally got this excellent baby after following your reviews for over a year. However I am still stumped on how to set up a Virtual Switch to allow a direct Cat 6 connection between the NAS and my PC which has a 2.5 Gbe. I believe Qnap has this function.
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      33. So I went went for the TS-253E and what a big disappointment….boot times, application load times compared to my 469 Pro aren’t worth the change…the software didn’t work out of the box properly and all I tried configuring was the webserver, Maria DB 10 and phpmyadmin….which I got working on my Pro without any issue.
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      34. The eternal question, this or the 723+, same price where I am. 2 strong cores or 4 weaker cores. I just want to max out a 2.5Gbe Link and run Directory Server/DNS. I am waiting to see if DSM 7.2 will allow me to do storage on the nvme slots. A 4TB NVME would be sweet for current projects backed up to pair of 14TB Red RAID 1 with 1TB NVME cache for finished projects .That’s some serious firepower, but if it can’t do storage on NVME then I don’t want.
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      35. Great reviews…since rebuilding my TS469 Pro last week which I purchased new in 2013, I’m struggling to justify a replacement…it’s running as good now as it has ever been for a mixture of things, surveillance, webserver + php and NVR but I haven’t tried it for streaming. I think unless the unit itself fail, I’ll run it into the ground because for what I run it for, none of the new devices offer anything workwhile.
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      36. So I’m new to NAS, but looking into it to replace an old, traditional external HDD that died. Figured now is a time to start ripping and up converting all my movies if I need new storage. Would you say this would be a good choice for a consumer like me? Do you have a recommendation for compatible NAS drives?
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      37. Just come across your channel as my HDDs pretty much failed in my Netgear RN312 (which has served me well to be fair) – so thought, why not look to upgrade it all! Like your presentation and the detail – you’ve just taken about 8 hours of my life and I only found you about 3 days ago (but that’s good ????). My question to you if you’d accept it – I’ve watched you review of this and the Lockerstor 4 Gen 2 – I’m going to have RAID 5 most likely across 4x8TB Ironwolf Pro drives (the new NT version) – which one would you choose if the cash is not the factor (I liked the TS-453D and TS-464 as well but don’t think they are the ones). Mostly about file protection and eventually YouTube video creation and photography with Lightroom. Appreciate your content.
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      40. Put a sticker with the purchase date on the hdd, then x many years down the line, you know when the warranty runs out and time to get a new one.

        I would rather they save on the brown box and not save on putting cheap hardware in.

        I like the look it’s more unique than the others but would look funny in my rack lol.
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      44. One question, i can’t seem to find a native notes app for iOS or Android . Does the ADM software have one ?
        I have checked eveywhere but cant seem to find one.
        This is one thing that is a deal breaker for me.
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      45. the Lockerstor 2 Gen 1 goes now on sale , in Germany is costs 130 euro less than Gen 2 , would you still recomend the gen 2 ? I think those 2 SSD slots are enough to make the difference
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      46. Great video rob, i am a Syno fan boy and have been for quite sometime.
        I currently use a DS918+ as my NAS of choice but also have a Qnap TS251 as well .
        This Asustor NAS appears to have the best of Synology and Qnap with some very interesting bonuses as well.
        As someone who uses mostly the basics ie Calendar, Photo, Video, Notes, Surveilance, Backup, could you please do an in dedicated review on each one of these more basic necessities as well as the HDMI functionality.
        This is a NAS that seems to have it all for the home user and i would love to know a lot more !!
        This may be a replacement for my Qnap now and my Syno, inthe future.
        Great video !!!
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      47. Only thing i don’t like about asustor is that theydo not mention years of support anywhere that i could find. All they say is that it will be supported “for a long time”. They should make this more clear and direct: X number of years of support, like what Qnap and Synology do
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      48. I’m in the consumer group being targeted by Asustor with this product. I’m looking for my first NAS. it’s taking a while to decide, in fact I thought I found the one for my usage factor, however, as PC mentions in a comment, Synology are making some consumer unfriendly moves in the product line especially at consumer and prosumer level, so Synology, count me out! Having watched many of yours and other video reviews on the tube, this NAS, is looking a sound possibility for me, I also like how you describe the ethos and non-aggressive stance toward their products and consumers. I’m a photographer, I use a particular brand for the same reasons and as a result I get the product that i want and works for me every time. All I want is to edit some fairly heavy images, possibly the odd video, and organise my photos with some redundancy and backup, could this be the one!! Thanks for your continued ace hard work and honest unbiased reviews. ????. Happy new year. ????
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      49. Good to see them raise the bar for the competition. If I was in the market for a NAS I would def consider this brand! Never been a fan of mixing drives for some hybrid raid, hurts performance and never been an issue to me to have the same drives in the nas… btrfs is really sweet option over ext4 and having modern ports is nice. Great point Robbie, they took the best of the competition.
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      53. I’m a Synology fanboy and the Asustor will be my next device either gen2 or by the time I need it the gen3. Synology are pulling some really anti-consumer moves and I recently learned they’ve removed support for most USB devices in DSM 7. When I learned this it was the last straw. Imagine having dual 2.5 GbE ports or even 10GbE in future, Asustor just looks too appealing.
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      54. I don’t care how many NVME slots it has, its over priced. Keep in mind large reliable NVME drives are damn expensive, by the time you spend through the nose for them for that NAS to utilise it as a four or six bay and then add a bunch of decent worst case 1TB NVMEs this will be one mega expensive unit and its not even one of the big brands.

        Id rather buy a 4Bay Synology or Qnap with 2 NVME slots and possibly a PCI port and have the ability to put cheaper larger capacity drives and just have a better well polished, widely supported device.

        Also this device is going to have way less community support than the larger brands, less cross platform application and services, and likely less refined official apps and community apps in general.

        The HDMI is a cool to have but nine times out of ten although I always want one on a NAS I rarely ever use them, I just want to know its there if I ever need it. So its not essential but a nice to have.

        2.5Gbe NICS are cool but it’s pretty much standard now so its not really a selling point.

        If Asustor wants to make gains in sales and popularity and want to charge stupid money they should do things that we haven’t seen very often rather than all the same boring shit that we’ve seen time and time again.

        How about they make a near equivalent NAS on par with Synology and QNAP hardware wise but have an edge where you can upgrade the CPU.

        How about they make a NAS with the ability to use their OS out the box or provide a supported firmware which can enable users to install TrueNAS or some other opensource OS of their choice.

        Change it up a bit…

        We live in a time that the world keeps droning on about global warming and that whole green agenda and these NAS companies keep making hardware which is NOT really upgradeable performance wise, its ridiculous.

        Asustor is just another typical NAS manufacturer that has just jumped on the NAS band waggon with the delusion that its on par with larger brands in this part of the world when actually its not and yet they still think they can offer next to nothing different and charge a premium.

        I ain’t buying it!
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      55. It should be mentioned that – on the larger devices – you have to remove the nvme card to plug in a 10gb network card. In other words: To have high speed networking you’ll have to give away the nvme storage.
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      57. Its a pity a unit isnt make with interchangable cpu and ram slots , so you could say install an i3 and 16GB DDR4 so that upgradability to extend use type and life span was an option.
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      58. I’m not sure, does YouTube pays more for longer videos? Some of these videos are getting unnecessarily long. It’s not just you, but I’ve been noticing hosts are putting a lot of ‘fluff’ and filler to make their vids longer. There are 63k+ views on this, just imagine how much time you could have help save.
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      59. Hello NASCompares
        According to your knowledge, which brand is better (quality/prices/technical support): ASUSTOR or TERRA MASTER.
        We are talking about all the variety of NAS that they have. Both personal and business.
        Thank you very much for your help
        br
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      73. Just a warning for anyone looking to purchase this NAS. According to the terra-master forum, terra-master has disabled support for ALL third party RAM for this model after the TOS 5 update. They are only allowing their “officially supported” RAM modules that just so happen to cost 4-5 times the price of equivalent third party RAM. I just found this out after purchasing the NAS and think I will have to return it. Third party RAM is usable if you install another OS like TrueNas so they are disabling support in their software.
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      75. THANK YOU NASCompares, your reviews are valuable. I bought this NAS because of this review, couldn’t be any happier with it. It is so good on so many levels, can’t thank you enough.
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      76. Anyone installed the app on mobile phone for this device.?
        I’m trying to do this after following the full guidelines on setup , and for over 24 hrs I’m trying to add to my phone and see the Nas, but can’t login.
        On my Pc and sharing on my network is ok, i can see and connect, but once I’m open my app on phone, i can’t login.
        I’m using my user name and password,but on last option said,, PLEASE INPUT TNAS ADDRESS “. That’s the problem i just can’t understand,what do i need to add there.
        Any help or advice will be really appreciated.

        Thank you
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      77. Any news whether this QNAP NAS will have a slot for upgadable memory? Even old NAS as TS-451 has upgradable memory to ditch the standard 4GB to max out 16GB to help out CPU to perform.
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      84. I have ordered one of these from Amazon UK for a smidge under £700, it’s coming from Qnap directly. My DS1815+ died a second time and the soldering the 1k resistor fix didn’t work for me 🙁 Will be extending warranty to 5 years..
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      86. In general a good package (except the non-extendable memory and again the lack of at least more USB 3.2 Gen1 ports for backup at the back of the device). But where is the sensor for the remote control? This seems to be another big downside compared to TS-451+ and TS-453pro.
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      90. Dull packaging? Good! I don’t need to be entertained by the box my gear comes in. Entertainment comes after it’s installed. Packaging needs to tell me what’s inside if it’s a spare sitting on the shelf waiting to be used, and protect the stuff inside. That’s it.
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      93. Very nice, thorough, review of the device.

        TBH, I’m not so chuffed as you about the lack of included M.2 drive heat sinks. I’d rather go with a heatsink from the drive maker than some “one size fits all” attempt by QNAP.
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      94. I have the QNAP 451+ and so very interesting review of its replacement. I don’t like the plastic drive trays on either NAS. I do like the chasis though of both units, so it is a personal thing.
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      102. Great to see. The more competent competition the better. Keep Qnap and Synology on their toes 🙂
        Not that this is a “Synology Killer” I certainly hope it wakes them up!
        If Synology doesn’t have competitive x22/x23 models before the end of the year they are going to have a notable gap in both their new and returning customer base.
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      105. Nice review, as always! I really wish the microphone was not mechanically coupled to the desk. Every time something is moved on the desk, a nasty rumbling noise distracts me from what you’re actually saying. Never mind if I’m just overly sensitive with the musician/sound engineer part in me and the fact that I’m listening through decent headphones. In either case, thank you for the great job.
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      107. I suspect that one thing that keeps their costs down and upgrade timeline moving faster is that they don’t have the relatively huge array of apps to update like Synology and QNAP. I have a NAS made by all three of these companies and Terramaster’s app selection is far smaller. But it does have a few really good ones like cloud sync for Google Drive and Onedrive. They are also far simpler and therefore easier to use although there are a few places where you need to guess what to do next when using them. But, overall, for people with more basic needs, the Terramaster will be great and far less painful to setup.
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      112. I am in the process of replacing my Synology DS212 (I think it has a bad port as any hard drive I install in drive bay 2 fails within a year), would the Synology DS720+ still be considered the best Synology two drive option available today?
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      113. Thanks for the video! How good is Synology’s Active Directory program? I’m interested in using this as my AD server instead of using a Windows Server. Would that work well for a small business with 20 endpoints?
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      116. ………..THANK YOU! ….so would you recommend the DS920+ over the DS720+? ….and which 8, 10, or 12TB HDDs would you recommend? (WD Red, WD Red Plus or IronWolf etc) …where can i find the best price this week? …and many people say cacheSSDs are not a good idea, because the nas will soon tell me that they are no longer usable because TBW (Write Count) has reached its maximum. So even if they work, they cant no longer be used.
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