Best Cheap NAS of the Year

The Best Budget Friend / Low-Price NAS Drives

It’s remarkable how much the range and affordability of private server devices have expanded in recent years, making them accessible even to budget-conscious users. In 2024, it’s hard to believe that you can now get a NAS device from major brands for as low as $99, brand new and running the latest software (see the updated Synology DS123j on Amazon!). For a long time, the debate over switching from public cloud services like Google Drive and Dropbox has centered around cost, as NAS devices used to be significantly more expensive. On day one, cloud subscriptions may only cost you between $2 to $10 a month, but before you know it, those months add up to years, and suddenly you’ve spent hundreds of dollars—and you’re locked into paying indefinitely or eventually needing to buy physical storage. So why not skip that whole cycle and invest in a NAS from the start? Not only do you gain long-term storage under your roof, but you also get full control over your data—whether it’s remote access, local access, or scaling up your storage as needed. The increasing affordability and variety of NAS devices available for between $100 and $200 make this decision even easier. So today, I’ll walk you through the best low-cost NAS options available in 2024. As always, brands like Synology, QNAP, and Asustor continue to offer more affordable options than ever, making it a popular choice for all levels of users. With the new year ahead, here are three of the best budget-friendly NAS systems you can get right now in 2024.

Best NAS of the Year

What do all the Best Cheap NAS Drives Have in Common?

Saving a few quid on a NAS is all good – right up until you realize that what you save in money, you immediately lose in time, missing features or support. It’s important to remember that while there are plenty of affordable NAS drives on the market, not all are created equal! With numerous low-cost brands emerging online, it can be tempting to consider these alongside the more established premium NAS brands. However, these too-good-to-be-true deals often come with risks—many of these brands disappear from the web before you even need to use your warranty! So, whether you’re considering the top three budget NAS solutions I recommend below or eyeing another budget-friendly option you’ve found elsewhere, the best NAS systems will always include these crucial features and services:

Note, ” (IMPORTANT!!!)” means something that, frankly, if you do not consider this in your NAS server solution, it will be absolutely crippling in terms of your day-to-day backup operations, as well as the recovery in the event of a failure. It’s EASY to find cheap NAS devices in the market that lack these features, as it’s a great way to save development/hardware costs – do not overlook these!!!

  • Combined Hardware & Software Solution (IMPORTANT!!!) – Your NAS should come with not just hardware but also a complete software suite, including a web-based GUI, mobile apps, and desktop clients for backup, media streaming, surveillance, and file management.
  • Cross-Platform Compatibility – All the NAS systems in this guide are accessible via Windows, Mac, Android, and Linux devices.
  • Warranty – Every recommended NAS comes with a 2-3 year warranty, with the option to extend to 5 years.
  • Local and Remote Access – These NAS systems allow you to securely access your files both over the local network and remotely, with no extra fees for remote services.
  • Support for Large Hard Drives – The latest NAS models support modern high-capacity drives, such as the 22TB Seagate IronWolf or WD Red.
  • RAID Support (IMPORTANT!!!) – All the recommended NAS devices support multiple RAID configurations for added data protection and performance.
  • Regular Updates (IMPORTANT!!!) – The best NAS systems receive frequent updates to improve security, features, and functionality.
  • Cloud Integration – These NAS devices easily synchronize with popular cloud services like Google Drive, Dropbox, OneDrive, as well as enterprise options like AWS, Azure, and Backblaze.
  • Native File Manager Integration – Your NAS should allow you to map network drives that seamlessly integrate with your computer’s file manager, like Mac Finder or Windows Explorer.
  • Direct Ethernet Connectivity – All recommended NAS solutions can be accessed directly by connecting your PC/Mac via an Ethernet cable for 100MB/s or higher speeds.
  • Backup and Sync Tools (IMPORTANT!!!) – The top NAS systems include tools for regular backups and data synchronization with your local devices, ensuring your files are always safe.

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 and cheapest NAS to buy now in 2024 and into 2025.


Most Affordable NAS, Honourable Mention: The Terramaster F2-212 NAS

0-44TB, Realtek RTD1619b 4-Core ARMv8 CPU, M.2 NVMe 2280, CPU, GB Memory, Gbe Port, yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $160

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Sept ’23:

If you look at the Terramaster F2-212 in the wrong light, you aren’t really going to appreciate what has been made here. Suppose you expect this device to perform as well as devices two to three times its price in the marketplace. In that case, you’re bound to be disappointed at best, and utterly infuriated at worst (it is not exactly blisteringly fast)! While this might be the lowest-priced, fully-featured NAS I’ve reviewed here, it’s indisputable that compromises had to be made to achieve this price point. This is not a NAS for someone wanting everything done instantly for them and 50 of their friends. The Terramaster F2-212 offers an affordable entry point into the world of NAS for those transitioning from third-party clouds to self-hosted remote storage. In that context, if you’re only going to use baseline applications for small groups of users and services, this system will excel. However, if you’re seeking more advanced applications, business or enterprise-level services, or lack patience when the system requires time to manage its memory cache for the long-term, this might not be the system for you.

Above all, small enhancements to the Terramaster F2’s hardware configuration could have made a significant difference. The default and non-upgradable 1GB of memory is a limiting factor, with a significant portion consumed by the standard operation of TOS in the background. An additional $10 or $20 to bolster the base memory could have truly made an impact. Likewise, many of Terramaster’s notable advancements to their platform may not be fully realized on this modest 2-bay system due to its physical scale or architecture. Features like RAID, AI photo recognition, and Docker might seem out of reach. But that’s not the point; this is an entry-level system. Concerns about expandability and adapting storage to multi-client setups are primarily for users who might consider investing more in their NAS solutions. If you recognize the Terramaster F2-212 for the budget, entry-level NAS it’s designed to be, it offers solid value for its cost. However, remember it comes with inherent limitations right out of the box.

SOFTWARE - 6/10
HARDWARE - 6/10
PERFORMANCE - 5/10
PRICE - 10/10
VALUE - 8/10


7.0
PROS
👍🏻Affordable price.
👍🏻ARM-based CPU ensures energy efficiency and reliable performance.
👍🏻TOS 5.1 software has seen significant improvements, bringing it closer to industry standards.
👍🏻Flexible upgrade options with USB to 2.5G network adapters.
👍🏻TRAID Flexible RAID is great stuff!
👍🏻Good CPU for the Price Point
👍🏻Supports Current 22TB HDDs from WD and Seagate
👍🏻Snapshot Replication
👍🏻BTRFS Support if preferred
👍🏻4K Video natively
CONS
👎🏻Limited 1GB of non-upgradable memory.
👎🏻Only a single 1G network connection.
👎🏻Lacks M.2 SSD ports and PCIe upgrade options.
👎🏻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

DEAL WATCH Is It On Offer Right Now?


These Offers are Checked Daily

 


Best Low-Cost NAS for Software – The Synology DS223j 2-Bay

0-44TB (24TB with Synology HDDs), Realtek RTD1619b 4-Core 64bit v8 ARM CPU, 1GB Memory, 1x 1Gbe Port, 2yr Warranty, Supports DSM 7.2

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $179

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review July ’23:

Overall, in this analogy, you get what you pay for with the DS223J NAS. Synology is not pretending that this is some kind of powerhouse system and is quite clear in all of their advertising and data sheets that this is a system designed for efficiency and as an entry point into DSM. In that mission, it 100% succeeds and I don’t think anyone could accuse Synology of mis-selling this system as anything more than that. However, it’s easy to imagine that a lot of users, who have been researching this purchase and looking exclusively at the brand and software, rather than any hardware restrictions or more affordable systems, might stumble and buy this system with expectations that are far beyond its capabilities.

To those users, the user experience from day one will always feel a little lacking. Therefore, it’s important to view the Synology DS223J in the correct context of its design and target market. So, if you’re looking for the best possible entry point into the world of Synology and DSM, at a price point that won’t break the bank, and you have low to middle expectations and demands of the software, I can certainly recommend this NAS to you. For everyone else, I recommend you shell out a few extra dollars and opt for a plus series model.

SOFTWARE - 9/10
HARDWARE - 8/10
PERFORMANCE - 6/10
PRICE - 9/10
VALUE - 9/10


8.2
PROS
👍🏻Supports MOST of the Synology App Suite
👍🏻Very Affordable
👍🏻Support of SHR, BTRFS and Snapshots
👍🏻Low Power Consumption
👍🏻Lovely Compact Design and Noise Level
👍🏻Large HDD & SSD Compatibility
👍🏻Three USB Ports & Copy Button
👍🏻The warranty can be extended
👍🏻Very Capable, despite ARM CPU
CONS
👎🏻1x 1GbE ONLY, 5Gb/s USB & No NIC Upgrade Support at all!
👎🏻1GB Memory is fixed
👎🏻No expansion Support

DEAL WATCH Is It On Offer Right Now?

Synology DS223J NAS Amazon UK UK £179.48 (6% Off) [LINK]
Synology DS223j NAS Drive (BF) Amazon usa USA $161.99 (15% OFF, was $189.99) [LINK]
Synology DS223j 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Realtek RTD1619B 4-Core 1.7 GHz 1GB DDR4 Amazon usa USA 94.61 OFF (WAS 291) [LINK]
Synology DS223j 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Realtek RTD1619B 4-Core 1.7 GHz 1GB DDR4 Amazon UK UK 299.75 OFF (WAS 779) [LINK]

These Offers are Checked Daily

 


Best Low Price NAS for Hardware – The QNAP TS-133 / TS-233 Server

0-22TB / 44TB (1 vs 2 Bay), Cortex 1.8-2.0Ghz Quad Core v8 ARM CPU + AI NPU Engine, 2GB Fixed DDR4 Memory, 1x 1Gbe Port, 2yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $129

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review March ’22:

As long as you keep your feet on the ground a little and stay realistic, the QNAP TS-133 NAS Drive is indeed a very impressive piece of kit. We are talking about a combined hardware and software solution that you can purchase with a 4TB drive from the likes of Seagate or WD inside all in for a little over $200. It can run plex media server, it has surveillance software included in QVR Elite, AI-powered photo recognition (with the system featuring a dedicated AI engine for these tasks), multi-tiered backup handing in Hybrid Backup Sync 3, host a DLNA media server, connect and synchronize with cloud services in a bunch of ways, access to a bunch of tailored mobile apps and a whole lot of other services that would take too long to mention. Also, the TS-133 NAS is the first system in the commercial NAS market to feature this new Cortex A55 processor, as well as twice (and in some cases) four times the memory of alternative systems in the same tier with it’s 2GB DDR4 RAM.

As long as you have realistic expectations about how busy you are going to be, how hard you intend to push the device and how much you expect it to do at any one time, I think the QNAP TS-133 NAS is easily the most powerful and capable 1-Bay NAS in the market to buy right now. The non-upgradable memory is a pain, the lack of 2.5GbE is perplexing and the continued appearance of USB 2.0 is a tad infuriating, but the TS-133 seemingly makes up for it with a wide variety of applications supported, a remarkably subtle and discreet deployment and in the hands of the right low-level user, this might well be the best NAS QNAP have produced in the value tier for years!

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


8.2
PROS
👍🏻Currently the most powerful 1-Bay NAS Drive in the market
👍🏻A 1-Bay with 2GB of DDR4 Memory is pretty rare in the Value tier
👍🏻
👍🏻Exceptionally low noise and power use
👍🏻
👍🏻Runs the latest version of QTS 5
👍🏻
👍🏻First Value Tier NAS in the market to use the Cortex A55 Processor
👍🏻
👍🏻Quad-Core Processor is a nice bonus
👍🏻
👍🏻Inclusive AI-powered component built into the hardware
👍🏻
👍🏻Support for NAS-to-NAS/USB/Cloud backups and also supported Hybrid Storage and mounting
CONS
👎🏻1GbE in 2022 event at the value tier is underwhelming
👎🏻USB 2.0 Ports is equally underwhelming
👎🏻
👎🏻Lack of RAID will put some users off (applicable to all 1-Bay’s though)

 

DEAL WATCH Is It On Offer Right Now?


These Offers are Checked Daily

Best Value Low Priced NAS – The Lincplus N1 NVMe NAS

0-32TB M.2 NVMe + 10TB SATA HDD / 16TB SATA SSD, 4+2-Bays, 4xM.2 NVMe 2280, Intel N5105/N5095 CPU, 16GB Memory, 2.5Gbe Port, HDMI+DP 1.4 60FPS 4K, UnRAID License Inc, 2yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon –$250-300)

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Oct 16 ’23 (when it was at the crowd-funding stages – now available at traditional retail):

When evaluating the Lincplus N1 NAS, context is paramount. Keeping in mind its price point and the brand’s objectives, as well as understanding how an SSD-centric system can fit into this mold, you’ll likely be thoroughly pleased with this NAS. For a mere $279, it offers an unmatched combination of hardware capabilities. The silent operation, bundled UnRAID software, two-tier storage, and genuine turnkey out-of-the-box deployment culminate into a device brimming with potential. It caters to both newcomers to private server ownership and seasoned home lab enthusiasts. Certain concessions were inevitable to attain this attractive price. Seasoned flash industry professionals might bemoan the absence of ECC memory, the use of a consumer-grade CPU, and limitations placed on the bandwidth and speeds for the m.2 NVMe slots. Even though the software is genuinely turnkey and the system is ready to run immediately after unboxing, UnRAID does come with its learning curve. It might be more user-friendly compared to other container-based GUIs, but there’s still a learning curve. Additionally, the default UnRAID settings could be better tailored to this SSD-driven system.

Hopefully, future firmware updates might address this. Such discrepancies are expected when the hardware is developed by one entity and the software by another. This dichotomy can lead to inconsistencies, such as those seen in drive monitoring results, raising questions about the demarcation of responsibility between the two entities. However, overlooking these minor points, the N1 stands out as a commendable alternative to a full DIY approach. It not only saves money and time but also offers a ready-to-use, compact solution. Provided you acknowledge and accept the inherent compromises, the N1 emerges as a notable midpoint in the burgeoning server market, bridging the gap between custom-built and all-inclusive turnkey solutions.

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


8.8
PROS
👍🏻Very Affordable at $279 (IndieGogo Price)
👍🏻Exceptional Value
👍🏻Genuinely Silent Operation
👍🏻16GB Memory is GREAT
👍🏻Includes UnRAID License
👍🏻100% Turnkey and 1st Time Boot Setup
👍🏻Plenty of Passive Cooling
👍🏻Very Low Power Consumption
👍🏻Attractive Design
👍🏻Exceptionally Portable
👍🏻Very competitive First NAS
👍🏻WiFi 6 and Bluetooth Support
👍🏻No Barriers in UnRAID + ZFS Support
CONS
👎🏻UnRAID is not Tweaked for this SSD Focused System
👎🏻1x 2.5GbE feels supremely limiting
👎🏻PCIe limits impact the system...
👎🏻...Which are understandable, but annoying


Need More Help Choosing the right NAS?

Choosing the right data storage solution for your needs can feel overwhelming, but it’s never too late to ask for assistance. With options like NAS, DAS, Thunderbolt, and SAS, setting everything up to access your data at the touch of a button can be easier than you think. If you need tips, guidance, or help with anything from compatibility to finding the right solution, feel free to send me a message below. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible with recommendations on what’s best for your needs, its suitability, and where to find it. This service is purely here to help with your data storage questions, without any profit motive, so I’ll do my best to respond promptly. Just provide a few details about your setup, storage needs, and (if buying a new solution) your budget—and both myself and Eddie the Web Guy will work together to assist you. This is a completely free service, run by two real people (no bots, no automated responses). Response times may take a day or two, especially with high traffic, but we strive to reply to every message. If you’d like to support this service, you can learn how to donate HERE. Otherwise, feel free to reach out for free advice whenever you need it!

📧 SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER 🔔


    🔒 Join Inner Circle

    Get an alert every time something gets added to this specific article!


    Want to follow specific category? 📧 Subscribe

    This description contains links to Amazon. These links will take you to some of the products mentioned in today's content. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. Visit the NASCompares Deal Finder to find the best place to buy this device in your region, based on Service, Support and Reputation - Just Search for your NAS Drive in the Box Below

    Need Advice on Data Storage from an Expert?

    Finally, for free advice about your setup, just leave a message in the comments below here at NASCompares.com and we will get back to you. Need Help? Where possible (and where appropriate) please provide as much information about your requirements, as then I can arrange the best answer and solution to your needs. Do not worry about your e-mail address being required, it will NOT be used in a mailing list and will NOT be used in any way other than to respond to your enquiry.

      By clicking SEND you accept this Privacy Policy
      Question will be added on Q&A forum. You will receive an email from us when someone replies to it.
      🔒Private Fast Track Message (1-24Hours)

      TRY CHAT Terms and Conditions
      If you like this service, please consider supporting us. We use affiliate links on the blog allowing NAScompares information and advice service to be free of charge to you.Anything you purchase on the day you click on our links will generate a small commission which isused to run the website. Here is a link for Amazon and B&H.You can also get me a ☕ Ko-fi or old school Paypal. Thanks!To find out more about how to support this advice service check HEREIf you need to fix or configure a NAS, check Fiver Have you thought about helping others with your knowledge? Find Instructions Here  
       
      Or support us by using our affiliate links on Amazon UK and Amazon US
          
       
      Alternatively, why not ask me on the ASK NASCompares forum, by clicking the button below. This is a community hub that serves as a place that I can answer your question, chew the fat, share new release information and even get corrections posted. I will always get around to answering ALL queries, but as a one-man operation, I cannot promise speed! So by sharing your query in the ASK NASCompares section below, you can get a better range of solutions and suggestions, alongside my own.

      ☕ WE LOVE COFFEE ☕

       

      locked content ko-fi subscribe

      DISCUSS with others your opinion about this subject.
      ASK questions to NAS community
      SHARE more details what you have found on this subject
      CONTRIBUTE with your own article or review. Click HERE
      IMPROVE this niche ecosystem, let us know what to change/fix on this site
      EARN KO-FI Share your knowledge with others and get paid for it! Click HERE

      ASK YOUR QUESTIONS HERE!

      236 thoughts on “Best Cheap NAS of the Year

      1. Thank you so much for your videos. I’m thinking to upgrade my DS218 with 6.2 to 7.1 or 7.2. I used for storagement and as a media server plex via to my smartTV and smartphone. Do you recomend me to upgrade or is better stay in dsm 6.2. I don’t want to lose the transcoding (even basic) and still streaming videos, music and photo using plex. Thanks for your comments.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      2. OK, after buying the NAS to consolidate all the drives I had into one usable plate form I am left with the backup problem. I am sitting at over 100TB of data on the NAS. NOW, I need something larger than the 100TB for the NAS. Will, paying for online storage is out. 1. $$$$$$$$$ ridiculous pricing. 2. If I was going to pay for cloud storage than why did I buy the NAS? Trying to back it up to the 33 external drives I had to start is a no go. Again, that’s why I bought the NAS. SO, it leaves me to either BUY ANOTHER NAS TO BACK UP MY NAS OR Buying something I can stick a crap load of hard drives into to back up the NAS. I was thinking, will why I just use a cheap desktop (system) in a big box and add a SH!% load of drives to it?’
        Can I do that?
        How do I connect the Synology NAS to a desktop computer that will be used ONLY as an external massive hard drive? LAN to LAN?
        How do I configure a system like this?
        Is this even doable?

        This was something I seemed to have missed when I was watching all these YT vids on why I need a NAS. And…. looking at the stack of hard drive on the floor next to me.

        So, anyway you look at it, I am doubling PLUS the cost of buying the NAS to back it up. And this would only be the first copy. 3-2-1. So right now, I am about 7K into the NAS and by the time everything is said and done I’ll have over 21+K into it. HMMMM Now where did I leave that key to Fort Knox? DUDE, I was scraping to buy the NAS! But now I am in a rabbit hole I CAN’T GET OUT.

        There has to be a better way of backing up your NAS that working Americans can afford! So, I’ll asked again, can you use a PC case and add a crap loaded of hard drives and making it the NAS backup? If so, HOW?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      3. I read in the synology compatibility list with UPS, and ds223j doesn’t seem to be compatible for autoshutdown but I see ds220j that is compatible, will this ds223j also compatible despite not in the list? thank you.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      4. This product has great potential , the quiet operation being of note here. But I do think there’s some issues that would need sorting maybe in a MK2.0 version . All of which you highlighted .
        I do have a question however how does this fare, when run as a media nas movies or music etc. Perhaps you discussed that on a previous video?
        Cheers S…
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      5. I’m sooo tempted to get this.
        – great form factor
        – 4 x m.2s with easy access
        – 2 x 2.5″
        I’ve considered a variety of NAS-es.
        This would be my “portable NAS” — small enough I’d bring it with me if I move to another country, as I am currently a tax-optimizing nomad of sorts.
        Based on the NAS units I’ve looked at recently, this one may be my favorite in terms of form factor.
        And the specs are acceptable.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      6. Depends what you expect :D. I just got QNAP TS-664 as my backup NAS (to backup primary NAS to) :D. Couldn’t find anything cheaper with the same set of features. I can even install QuTS Hero on it :D, but I have chosen normal QTS to be able to grow the RAID device with additional drives in the future :D.
        Paid ~$600.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      7. I bought it 2 weeks ago and I have had multiple problems with the DS223J, when I bought it I thought it would solve my life but it has given me more problems, it is a tear in performance and data transfer speed, it does not justify its value in any way. price
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      8. Has there still been no updates on the 1825+ ?
        I’ve been holding off for a while now, in the hopes of them releasing it, if I don’t hear anything by the time Black Friday Sale comes, they may lose out on my money….
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      9. I’m a total NAS savage. I want a NAS to only store files. I don’t want to access it from afar, it shouldn’t have strange servers for sharing media or anything like that. Just a file storage for my local LAN with a minimum of extra features. RAID is one of the few things I appreciate. If a NAS can handle eight drives I am going to use a Raid5 or Raid6 array. I can also accept if it can send me a mail if there is any kind of problem detected as I won’t be logging in just to see that it works.

        For me a NAS is just a mini storage server. Way back we used Banyan VINES for our server at work. after working there for several years there were suddenly a problem with the server as it was full, so any attempt to write to a file on the server was denied. What made this funny was that no one could remember exactly where that server was located. When I found it it lacked both keyboard and monitor and no one hat touched it in over six years. I also learned that Banyan VINES was running under AT&T UNIX System V, an OS I hadn’t touched since I started at this company. Now that is what I want form a storage server and even more from a NAS. Set it up and never look at it unless there’s an email telling me there’s a problem. That’s all I want from a NAS
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      10. Hi, you mentioned that everyone should turn off SSH on their Linux based Nas due to security issues. Is this problem now fixed? or should we still keep it switched off. Thank you.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      11. Bollocks. The best NAS is a used Haswell or later system with maxxed out RAM for free or next to nothing. Spend your money on drives and connectivity. These stupid appliances are terrible value and are usually poor quality, and reliability, with costly slow warranty (shipping). Pick the NAS distro of your choice; they are all better than the proprietary offerings.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      12. I need to catch up on your videos because I haven’t seen you talk about ANY of these. All I need is the perfect 4-bay NAS that can connect to it via a mobile app, act as my endless content farm, and has 10GBe ???? I really hope other solutions start supporting 10GBe soon
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      13. Have you lost your sodding mind?!?! 😀 The UniFi NAS Pro isn’t a nas, outside of just a headless Linux server with a nice GUI and SMB shares only. No iSCSI, no NFS, etc etc etc. Its a NAS simply because it has disks, a network connection and a SAMBA share. Its not a NAS in any sense of the pro-sumer, or professional NAS user.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      14. I have router with 4 Ethernet ports
        But i need 6 Ethernet port now
        My question is
        i have a 4 port switch
        It seems slow am using 4 Ethernet port on router and 2 on the switch
        Or show get an 8 port switch and not use the Ethernet port on the router
        Would that make a difference
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      15. I have a 1 TB drive from my dead laptop in an external box. If I buy a NAS and install the drive into it will I have access to the data or will the NAS format the drive? Second question can I add a second drive and switch it to raid mirroring without loosing the data on the first drive?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      16. So confussed, I need to replace an old D-LINK DNS-320L, all i want is to be able to storre my pictures and some other files with access from all the computers on the network, not really bothered about streaming to the TV but that would be nice, what should i buy for x2 4TB drives ?????
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      17. Hi, I tried activating the provided unraid license without disks installed. I think Unraid asked me my credit card info and i had to pay 49 USD to activate it. Am i doing something wrong here or linkplus provides a free unraid license? how does this work.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      18. The color makes it look like some Apple product which is a no no.
        If there is a black version, it would be great.
        Or I just have to settle for a different model in black of course.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      19. For those of us who have extensive 1Gbps networks and hosts that would be difficult to upgrade to anything faster than 1Gbps and not hosting a massive amount of people 1Gbps is fine. I rarely copy TB’s of data across hosts so can live with it. Really interesting product, especially for a mobile lab which is what I’m looking at it for.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      20. Hello. I have used NAS systems since some years ago for my modest home but efficient network. I was somewhat dissappointed with the reliability of the products I’ve used so far and decided that I don’t want anymore to deal with HDD. I have decided to avoid mechanical parts as much as possible. Because of this I am exploring buying a SSD NAS system. Brands : Qnap, Asustor and LincPlus. The latter seriously brought my attention because price is very good even with some limitations such as the 2.5 G Ethernet but I can live with that within my enviroment for a NAS. I live in South America and I buy these toys when travelling to US so the risk of testing that all is working fine and that the parts I have bought are all compatible lives with me always. Anycase, I am really exited to buy the LincPlus but I’ve got the feeling that the Manufacturer does not invest too much time to be strictly tidy to describe and write which SSDs are compatible with this NAS or it is so well basically conceived that any SSD fulfilling the “M.2 NMVe 2280 SSD or 2.5 inch SSD with thickness thinner than 9.5 mm” as they explain in Amazon FAQ is the sole formula an User must adhere to buy the drives ?? Any unbinding hint, help, comments to make ? Many thanks.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      21. 10gig lan will top at 1,3 G/s and four x1 ssd raid0 will top more than 3G/s so you will always bottlenecked somehow. This is a product for casual users like me and im very ok with 2,5 lan for this price.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      22. Indiegogo is the only option for some countries. Kickstarter doesn’t deliver stuff here in Brazil. Even when the campaign is on Kickstarter, I’m redirected to Indiegogo with the same campaign due my location.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      23. I’m thinking of getting this ? I have a NAS DS713+ since 2015 but is having issues in 2024. Wlil the HDD in the NASDS713+, which I think are 3.5inch fit, work in the DS223j.

        Thanks.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      24. I recently ordered one from their site, and they just did a “refund confirmation” email that showed X cents refunded, and then they emailed me asking how much was refunded to “confirm the order.” Weirdly nothing was refunded to my actual card, I only got an email, so at best this checks whether I have access to my email… Seems somewhat concerning and scam-y, hoping it’s just a weird ordering system…
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      25. *Apparently, Unraid’s disk and thus network performance should be much slower than that of Qnap and Synology,* for example, because Unraid does not work with the usual RAID, but has invented something itself. *Is that true?*
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      26. *Apparently, Unraid’s disk and thus network performance should be much slower than that of Qnap and Synology,* for example, because Unraid does not work with the usual RAID, but has invented something itself. *Is that true?*
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      27. Really good video, thank you. I’d like to have seen the software a little as that’s obviously the part that us day to day punters will engage with.
        Excellent video though. I like it.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      28. Hi – really like your reviews! Great work. English is perfect btw. I’m new to hardware and tired of cloud prices.. so considering NAS. I use docker and wondering what the implications are if it isn’t docker compatible. Are we saying if I wish to use docker and the file paths are on the NAS 223j, then I couldn’t get access via docker. TY
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      29. Hi and good evening,
        I need your help i am annoyed of having 2-3 small external hard drives(256-500gb).
        And to move them around from desktop to laptop and to take on trips .
        I store movies photos from camera and 3d files.
        And i was thinking of getting a small 2bay NAS to add like 4Tb at first one HDD.
        I was thinking of getting the DS223j since its at 200€ and it a good size for my case.
        But I wanted to ask if i can easily stream from it either inside the same network for example smart Tv (TCL 2023 model) . Or even when in a hotel to stream to my phone and then cast to local smart Tv. Will this work with this model?
        I read about it doesn’t have much power to do transcoding but doesn’t newer tvs and phones play 1080p files without problem? Can i test by simply adding the movie file to a usb and check if the tv plays it fine?
        Any thoughts?
        I dont need more than two bay for sure.
        Thanks in advance
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      30. So am looking for a simple media storage, torrent host and for the unit to be able to communicate with my bravia. Basically to have extra storage visible by my tv to watch movies. Will this work?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      31. Would you consider reviewing your unit compared to the model they are shipping out to their backers? The units everyone are receiving, have very loud fans. This isn’t the model you reviewed.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      32. It is going to be my 1st NAS. Which 2TB nvmes should i buy (specs) based on what speeds are supprted under the hood? I do not want to waste money on the latest n greatest nvmes. Budget is a constraint otherwise would have gone with asus flahstor.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      33. My IndieGoGo Lincstation N1 turned up at lunchtime today. I added a couple of m.2 SSDs and got the included unraid up and running in no time. I even got Jupyter Notebooks running as App. Thanks so much for the heads up on this. BTW the SSD temp warning level had been tweaked upwards.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      34. I bought the DS124… before i had the DS213j with only one 8tb drive – i do not need a raid at home, its only for fun – but i have always a backup made with HyperBackup. Restoring need something about 2-3 days for 4tb. I think this is ok! All services are running fine (smb, afp, TM, SynologyDrive, upnp etc). My dns-server-filter is running on raspberry. The complete installation spares a lot of power – Fritzbox Router+Raspberry+Nas max 23w/h . The only teardrop for the DS124 – no rubbers for the drive – the DS213j is with rubbers.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      35. Not sure if this has been mentioned, but a normal array in Unraid DOES NOT SUPPORT TRIM. Therefore, full flash arrays are not recommended. If you’re going to use full flash with Unraid, you’ll need to use ZFS to get TRIM support.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      36. Hello, recently I suffered data loss from an external drive (mostly because of my stupidity :), I am desperate for a portable NAS solution! I stumbled across your video, and I am excited about the Lincplus. Do you think it will be reliable, keeping in mind that it is just coming out on the market and there is no user’s data and which drives would you recommend buying for such a system? Thank you in advance, Milena
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      37. Well if the USB A ports are 3.0 5Gigabit then you could have “almost” (because USB protocol Overhead) 5 Gigabit per second with a cheap dongle but I think for 10 gigabit the CPU might not be fast enough ???? idk ????????‍♂️
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      38. I am a somewhat of a “heavy” user of OneDrive and Google Photos. I am an early adopter of OneDrive, and I’ve been using Google photos since the days it was completely free and “unlimited”, so that gives you an idea how much I rely on them. All my docs and pictures, and even my family’s are on those cloud solutions.

        But recently I got frigging tired of Microsoft and Google of asking more money every time I come even remotely close to my storage limit. They literally pop up a banner every time something was uploaded, saying “upgrade this, upgrade that for $x.99!!!”

        I don’t have a lot of money, but I finally got around to ordering the DS223j and a couple of 10TB nas disks this Black Friday. I think it will be good way to start my own hosted “cloud”.

        Wish me luck on the transition.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      39. I just gotta mention that you actually could plug in a USB-C to 2,5Gb Ethernet dongle so you end up with 2 ports. It will look stupid, but anyway.. Probably not gonna be able to aggregate those two though.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      40. Well… having it shipped with an Unraid licence is a bit rich knowing they still don’t support Trim on JBOD setup with SSDs… (unless you start using ZFS and for that… the CPU is far too slow and there is not enough RAM)
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      41. Another great review mate, but that single ethernet port makes the SSDs just a gimmick. I was searching for a good replacement for my old dual hdd Synology NAS and I found a great vfm solution that you should also check it out. I bought the Tbao R3 mini pc with dual bay drive support, (Ryzen 5500U,16Gb,512GB NVME,2.5Gx2, Vega 7 iGPU). Furthermore, I have also purchased an Unraid license, set it up, and this little thingy blew my mind. Jellyfin is working perfect, and it can also use the AMD iGPU for video transcoding without any issues.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      42. Excellent videos????
        This Linkstation N1’s aggressive pricing will be appealing to those who were holding back on getting the comparable Asustor Flashstor, which also has Celeron N5105.

        My rule of thumb: If it sounds too good to be true, then . . .

        Kindest regards, friends and neighbours.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      43. 8:40 “this thing is a finger print magnet”
        I wouldn’t worry about it too much. The design seems to lend itself well to being vinyl wrapped. I’m here for a wood grain wrap for that 70s VHS style… front or top laoder. hmm.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      44. Great review. The current processor offers roughly the same performance as the 12-year old Intel Core i5-2500 (Sandy Bridge). The Alder Lake-N chips only support single channel memory .. so better performances but some limitations. A better choice could be AMD Ryzen V1500B (Synology choice for 2023 models)
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      45. Indiegogo sucks. I supported around 10 campaigns in the past. Ommicharge, Packed Pixels, Incharge 6, Infinity Cable were the only one that I’ve received and last campaign that I did was over 2 years ago, so as you can guess I wont recieve the rest of them. Packed Pixels screens took almost 2 years to receive. Those that I receive were not realy good discounts as they claim. For example, Omnicharge Ultimate charger was “on sale early bird” for $369 + Shipping and TAX which was total over $400. It was supposed to be a price of $599 but when retail price dropped, it sold for $399 on Amazon and free shipping. So exactly what I paid and waited a year for. Not woth it. Most of campaigns i never received. Be careful guys.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      46. OK, so on one hand you complain about the 2.5 Gbit NIC saying it will nerf the SSD performance as they will saturate the NIC at something like 250 MB/s. Next you complain about the M.2 NVMe slots running at PCIe Gen3 x1 again nerfing the SSDs to something like 700 MBs. Now I agree that is still unbalanced, but giving more than one PCIe lane to each NVMe drive would be serious overkill as it is already nerfed by the NIC.

        Another point is that this is a $280 device, and you are complaining about it not having a 10Gb NIC? It’s entry an level, not enterprise level NAS. You suggest it’s use for portable storage when travelling. Few portable computers will have more than a 2.5Gb NIC, and you’re not likely to use more than one or two at a time when travelling. Besides it seems most notebook users today breaks out in hives the moment you even mention cabled networking.

        Finally with the CPU used there’s simply not enough PCIe lanes to go about to create advanced fast networking and splurge on multiple lanes for the M.2 slots. So that means they need a more expensive and faster processor, upping the cost a good deal.

        TANSTAAFL!

        In my opinion they’ve made decent choices not this particular machine. But it would have worked almost as well with SATA SSD’s, so that’s something to remember. NVMe and M.2 is nice and compact, but in this case it doesn’t really give a massive improvement over SATA SSD’s. Rebuilds will be faster, but that’s about it. SATA SSDs are still cheaper per GB and there are less thermal issues with them.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      47. 9:35 “it rocks out the gate with 16 gig memory with a price point of ($)279 which by the way with a quadcore Intel and being a six bay based system makes it *_more than half the price_* of all of these with the same hardware”

        So is the Linkstation more than half the price, or are you trying to say that it’s cheaper than half the price of the other products you are pointing at?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      48. Thanks NAScompares for clarfying the SATA drive height. I don’t think that Lincplus even knows the limitations. Their FAQ’s now lists the SATA size as 9.5mm so even less. On their discussions page the project manager claims 20TB as its max using six 4TB drives with one as “Backup” (parity) which is impossible. It’s more like a 12TB NAS using NVME w/parity or 16TB using 2TB SATAs in addition. They claim it should work with 8TB NVME drives but haven’t confirmed it.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      49. After the Dune PC Case disaster I will not sign up for Indiegogo campaigns again. When it became more than clear that Dune could not deliver IGG was useless. It appears they even released funds to the CEO after backers alerted IGG to the issues. While there is no indication that this campaign is fraudulent the protection IGG provides seems to be a lot weaker than with KickStarter.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      50. *update* the indiegogo campaign for this device is now live (here https://indiegogo.com/projects/lincstation-world-s-1st-unraid-6-bay-all-ssd-nas#/ ), so any further questions/feedback on this might be better shared and heard over there in the discussion section. They have two tiers live, one of which is even cheaper (which I find kinda mad, giving the margins for profit here… but ok….), so take a look.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      51. *Update 2* – The Lincplus N1 IndieGoGo campaign is now live and you can follow it here – https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/lincstation-world-s-1st-unraid-6-bay-all-ssd-nas#/
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      52. its good to see a NAS aiming for people who want all-flash because it’s quiet & small, and not because we need a blistering fast dual-socket 40gbe monstrosity, tbh, 10gbe would be nice, but then I’d have to pay for it, and maybe hear them cooling it
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      53. Just noticed that the breakout animation show on the Indiegogo product pages shows a fan running inside the case! So it the NAS using an active cooling solution and thus isn’t really a completely silent or passively cooled device?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      54. I don’t understand how this product is launching on late 2023 and not using an N305 CPU instead. It seems like poor product management on their end. This is a system that will be pretty expensive to equip, being all SSD storage based. I don’t think the potential buyers would have been turned away by the higher price needed to accommodate a more current CPU with still low TDP
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      55. I want a nas that sips power and is silent. Nearly all clients use WiFi, so 2.5gb Ethernet is sufficient for my requirements. People obsess about how fast the nvme drives can be pushed, or how fast the networking is, but that’s not important to me. It’s faster than my current hdd based storage, lower power and SILENT.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      56. Hi
        Can you help me please ?
        My problem in DSM that I can’t review the file there except the pictures, all other files like pdf , vid , doc ..act can’t review
        I have a lot of pdf files and I have to open one by one find what I want also the other files
        So what shall I do ?

        Thank you
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      57. This looks really promising, but just having the one 2.5GBe on an all flash system seems like a very odd choice to me. Even if stepping it up wasn’t possible for some reason, I feel like it should have at the very least a second port here.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      58. I’d love for someone to work with AMD or Intel and bring either low power embedded Epyc or a D Xeon to this market. U.2 in smaller capacities can be almost as inexpensive as M.2 and even a mixed use gen3 drive cost/performance will blow the pants off consumer gen 4 M.2 for this kind of use in the long term (and there’s always the option of buying used).

        I’d rather pay more and get a device with more PCIE lanes, U.2 and 10gb support (not to mention hot swap and higher RAM capacity support) than something like this or the Flashstor. Something like the QNAP TS-h1290FX but with say 8x bays and 1 1gb or 2.5g port and 2 SFP+ (or let the user add in a 10/25gb NIC) for maybe $1000ish. Hell, if they could make it around the price of a used R730XD even better.

        Worst case if Synology can get away with charging ~$2k for their 8 bay devices I guess the price could go that high but give me modern hardware with U.2 support.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      59. When I think of “6-bay”, I think of all six bays supporting the SAME architecture, and allowing a RAID array that includes ALL 6 drives. The real gain here is meaningful – drive space lost to parity is 1/4 in this device, and is only 1/6 in the Flashstor. If you’re using 4TB NVME, that means you lose 4 out of 16, leaving 12 (10.5 in the real world) vs 4 out of 24, leaving 20 (18.7 or so, in truth). The usable capacity of the Linkstor is, in this scenario, less than 2/3 that of the Flashstor 6. Add to this the UnRAID SSD limitations, and I have to see the result as an interesting, but limited solution for those with rather modest needs and budgets.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      60. Is the 2.5″ drive bays 15mm in height to allow drives larger than 2TB? There’s no mention that I can see and even Lincplus mentions 20TB maximum which would be 4x4TB NVME+2x2TB SATA.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      61. I think these companies need to sell more kind of barebones kits that are more modular. Imagine if you could pair the guts of this thing that came with all M.2 -> 5 x SATA III ports. Well now I have a tiny board SBC with 22 freaking SATA ports. They could even sell a chassis for this configuration that had the power hookups ready for an SFX/ATX PSU. I’m personally already running used 2TB Micron 1100 SATA SSD for my production NAS because I was getting them for less than $25/TB this year. M.2 price per TB is still much higher than SATA, and I’d reckon most people would take the bandwidth hit to double storage capacity and halve (or more) price per TB.

        That’s just my thoughts on this, great vid as always!
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      62. Agree that video editors (especially one’s using Apple Macs with limited data storage) probably want the 10gbs ethernet, so they might want to looks either the Asustor Flash 12 or the Black Magic NAS products, but at the DataKind event or even most coffee shop collaborations just use WiFi or vanilla ethernet cable.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      63. Great review, as always! I’m surprised they’re launching a NAS in late 2023 with a single ethernet port. If I had to pick I would take a second 2.5g over a single 10g. That enables failover, LACP, multisession SMB, etc. You can add a second 2.5g port via usb but that is notoriously unreliable. This one’s a “no, thanks” for me.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      64. Wow! I just got back from the Orlando Data Kind Data Dive and the LincStation would have been ideal.
        Normally, I would consider the built in WiFi a security risk. But, for a low security collaborative situation it is ideal. We were working with Census Tract level data and mapping applications in individual notebooks Github and Google Cloud. But with the LincStation we could have just popped that on the table, bring up a PostGIS (PostgreSQL with spatial) Docker Container and have everyone at each table (each table had a different project / client) connect through Wi-Fi (no need for an inventory of ethernet cables) and when we were done we could have donated the complete device and software to the not-for-profit without having to worry about cloud subscription fees! Another use case would be students notebook computers collaborating in coffee shop. It would be just one small box amount the notebooks and easily carried in a backpack. Not only could computer science students get hands on experience with RAID, but a wide range of students could get experience with collaborative / multi-user software that they could take with them after graduation when they no longer have access to the college campus network. On the downside, I saw some security red flags that would make me cautious about using this in an enterprise environment: one is the built in Wi-Fi and a second is a “root” user named root. This device would clearly need a security checklist for installing in a secure location.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      65. It would be nice if this channel only reviewed actual available devices. Promoting Kickstarter and Indiegogo launches only helps companies like Storaxa take the money and run
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      66. Yea, the price is good here, but the ports are a big letdown, 10G should be standard if you are running NVME SSD, and preferably more than one if it has a more expensive version.

        Don’t blame all of this on devs, they use intel low-end CPU, n5105, n6005 or n100 are all great for low-power NAS, but their PCIE lanes are so few you really can’t do much about it.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      67. Great review. Has Unraid changed their recommendation of not using SSDs for the Unraid Array (disk or parity drives) due to no SSD trim support? I understood that without this, the SSD performance will degrade faster than it should.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      68. Great to see such an innovative product. Good for us consumers ( especially those still looking to get a NAS )! Lack of another ethernet port is not so important for home use – if you really need anything more you are into high performance territory anyway and this is n’t for you. Just use another USB-Ether adapter if absolutely required.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      69. Another NAS crowdfund? Is this the year of the NAS? Storaxa, Zimacube, UGREEN (UGREEN series is going to be a retail release as far as I am aware) and now this?

        This should shake things up for the traditional NAS makers ????
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      70. *Update* , Lincplus reached out to respond to my comments on choosing Indiegogo for their crowdfunding: “The reason why we chose the Indiegogo platform is that Indiegogo has a customer support team in our country while Kickstarter does not. We have always invested a lot of energy in R&D and production, but marketing is our weakness. This is our first time using crowdfunding for promotion and producing a product, so a local support team is very helpful to us. We will offer the same after-sale service to customers who buy from Indiegogo as Amazon customers, and we will offer the best price on Indiegogo. We will also collect feedback from the first batch of customers.”
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      71. That was exactly what I was looking for. Wifi 6 build in and silent as it will be placed in my Living Room and the Modem is in another room. That little item is perfect, I hope they market it well as it will be a clear winner.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      72. 8:25 For network port being 1GB but saying “this system could also utilize the qnap USB adapter” meaning the expensive Qnap QNA-UC51T: note it clearly says on the web site for this USB NIC “QNA-UC5G1T does not support the following: the TS-131, TS-231, TS-431, TS-431U, TS-128A, TS-228A, TS-133, TS-233, TS-433.” So has anybody actually tested the QNAP USB Ethernet NIC with either the TS-133 or TS-233?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      73. Hi,
        I love your reviews.
        Can you tell me if i can link my very old synology nas to this one, just looking to access all the old films and pictures on the old nas via the new nas just to avoid having to transfer everything, (use old nas as just extra storage)
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      74. I updated to DSM 7.2 from 6.2 a few days ago and wish I hadn’t. I use Linux almost exclusively and access everything via NFS. Before the update everything was fine. After the update I lost all access and had to reconfigure the NFS permissions on all shared folders. After taking care of that I found that I only had read only access to about half the files on the NAS. For reasons I honestly don’t understand the files were owned by a user that was removed during the update. After changing ownership on anything I needed read/write access to I was ok. Maybe a Windows user wouldn’t have run into these problems but from a Linux perspective the update was less than ideal. I am mostly a QNAP user (I understand and can take care of my own network security, thank you) and never had an update go as roughly as this. I am not impressed with either DSM or the hardware Synology tends to use in all but the super expensive models. I doubt I will ever buy another one of their products,
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      75. Not a fan of Terramaster after struggling to use an ARM based 4 bay unit as well as an intel based 5 bay unit. Terrible software and unreliable hardware. Returned them both and bought a Synology NAS that has been significantly less annoying to work with. Of course it cost way more, but you really get what you pay for. I’ll never touch Terramaster again
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      76. I’ve recently invested time and resources into build my own NAS, learning about ZFS, TrueNAS, and Unraid. It’s pretty deep water. One of the frequent things I’m seeing is people generally recommending avoiding running storage over USB, citing USB Controller burnout. Is this something you could speak towards or provide some metrics as to how much write endurance we can expect from a NAS running 24/7 over USB? Or perhaps, how many TB written we could expect a typical USB 3.0 controller (5Gbps) to send before dying? In the past I have used DAS for backup solutions, but seeing people in forums and such talk about USB controllers frying is a concern I’ve not seen echoed here or on other NAS YT videos.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      77. I think the 4bay model is more interesting. One think puts me off buying a terramaster nas is their tos support in the future. Currently the older ARM models don‘t get TOS 5. Synology supports their NAS system a very long time. I still own an old DS214se and got the 7.1 release of Diskstation.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      78. Thank you Rob! The cheap price of the DS223j makes me considering to purchase it and use it as remote backup to my DS920+ (via Hyper Backup). Do you think its a good backup solution? Or maybe I should considering purchase some more advanced NAS for this kind of job?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      79. Hmm, the compatibility thing was not something I was expecting. I have an old DS213 air that’s still working great but I was thinking of getting another device before it stops working (easier to migrate when both work after all…) and was thinking that easiest would be if I can just move the drives to the new NAS and keep going… What are the odd that drives compatible with an older model but now not on the list simply won’t work? :p Have an old 4TB Red and a 4TB Gold.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      80. Hey thanks for your reviews, i need a home server running some TBs of memory in network mode for home storage like photos some files etc, is it enough? does it run windows on it?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      81. Hi, I would need a little help here. I am buying my first NAS. The main purpose of it should be replacing Google Photos. I am planning of putting about 8TB of storage inside of it. But I cannot choose between QNAP TS-233 and Synology DS223j. On one hand the QNAP is more powerful, but I heard that Synology has better software. Anyway feature that I use very often in Google Photos is searching using AI. For example if I want to search photo of my car, so I just type “car” and it shows me pictures of my car. I wonder which of the phone apps (QuMagie or Synology Photos) is overall better and also wnich have the better AI recognition. Or should I just choose QNAP for the hardware? I will be very greatfull for any opinion.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      82. So i got my DS223j yesterday and got it all setup. I installed practically half of their DSM applications while transferring data and indexing and updating and playing a video through video station. I was trying to see if i could break it haha. Well long story short it worked flawlessly even while doing many things at once. In fact it never went above 71% memory usage. I dont feel so far that ram is going to be an issue for this machine its going to be the CPU when indexing, in particular indexing videos for video station that process will make the CPU go to 95%. While its doing that my memory usage was only like 41%.

        So far i cant find a situation where you would need more ram you cant run VMs on this thing and DSM is extremely memory efficient. The cpu is certainly going to be the bottleneck that being said it ran very very well. I can see where the older version such as the 220j would certainly be memory starved.

        The only issue i had with this system is antivirus essentials taking 8 hours to update its virus definitions all the while using 300-400mb of ram…… Like really synology why the heck does it take that long to get virus definitions makes no sense whatsoever?

        Also i think anyone else would probably have even better performance as im using 3tb red drives from 2014 as i cant afford new ones at the moment so im using ones from my old NAS. That being said i didnt have any issues but i feel the system could perform even better with newer drives.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      83. This video is what convinced me to get the 223j instead of the 223. Why becuase your only using 56% of 512mb of ram and running dsm 7.2. So I couldnt justify spending 34% ($65) more for 1gb extra ram and 1 extra usb port. It just dosnt make sense when the 223j will run everything the 223 does including container manager. With that being said yes you cant run everything at once but i dont plan to anyway.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      84. I sent my trusty DS918+ packing in favour of an Asustor box. My 220j is my monthly backup NAS with a couple of WD Red 6TB drives in them. When that NAS finally dies I’ll either go all in on Asustor or get a 2 bay Terradata (think that’s their name) to try that out. What HDDs I choose to use is none of their business and I’m not buying their ‘branded’ drive (Toshiba) to give them more money. Nor am I buying a 10Gbps dongle/add on when my Asustor came with dual 2.5Gbps out of the box. Synology has well and truly lost the plot. Good vid though, I should swing by more often…
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      85. Finally someone explaining why one might, or might not, move to DSM7.2 My DS218+ had the ‘does not update automatically” message and that leaves one wondering why not – is there a potential problem; will something go awry. I was concerned at the long list of “new” security and am pleased to learn that these are, or will shortly be, included in 7.1
        I think that Synology could have made the update benefits ( or not) much clearer than they have; and you did. Thanks.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      86. I got my parents a DS218j a while back and its been running well for 4+ years now. Two 4TB drives in RAID1. Primarily it is just a Plex (direct play, no need for transcoding in 2023) system, Time Machine and general file sharing. I got it for £130 in 2019, can’t remember the price of the drives but that’s a separate thing anyway. For £130 it has probably been one of the best tech gadget purchases I’ve made for them followed by the M1 MacBook Air which has been the first computer ever I’ve never had to do tech support for. I am not an Apple fan but can’t deny those M1 Air’s are damn good machines. 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD was a smidge higher than a comparable Dell or Lenovo of the same form factor but performance and battery life was in another league. Don’t regret getting them a MacBook for a second. Getting into the Synology world is a bit like getting into the Apple world. Sure it is less flexible than a custom solution but it’s hassle free and reliable which is sometimes all you want.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      87. I have a DS218j and have no intention to change or upgrade. I am a low end user and utilise PLEX (server) and photo storage works perfectly. White also suits my office setup. If your new to NAS and you don’t need to be a show pony the DS223j will be a good choice.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      88. 7.2…I don’t want to say it CAUSED my file system to crash, but let’s just say it was running fine before I installed 7.2 (918+)…now it’s in Read-Only mode, I’m moving 20 years of data off to a TrueNAS box I had to throw together..and I’m kinda pissed about it.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      89. May I please ask where I can find and learn about info upgrading my DS918+ to the latest DSM 7.2 update?

        I’d like to know what features I’d lose and what features I’d gain. Basically is it a good idea to update my version 7.1.
        Or if its not broken then don’t fix it?

        I have found the manual download, and it is ready to update. However I have not pulled the trigger because I got a warning window to do some stuff first in case I get kicked out of my NAS box.

        Cheers
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      90. DSM 7.2 = NO DISABLED ACCESSIBILITY SUPPORT — UNPLUG YOUR MOUSE AND TRY TO USE DSM 7.2

        Being blind is not the only disability! NVDA is not appropriate or useful for every disability! And indeed, makes using DSM by voice or keyboard a nightmare.

        Each and every DSM desktop function MUST have a KEYBOARD SHORTCUT/Navigation with the keyboard MUST include FEEDBACK – WHAT ICON IS SELECTED? WHAT WINDOW INPUT ITEM HAS FOCUS? What will happen if ENTER is pressed? How are controls selected by voice?

        Example 1: Try to select the PERSONAL MENU by KEYBOARD or VOICE
        Example 2: Try to select a specific Pinned Menu item (icon) by KEYBOARD or VOICE
        Example 3: Even selecting Main Menu items is a nightmare – NO FEEDBACK – can’t tell which icon is selected!
        Example 4: After entering a Control Panel item (like Network) – NO FEEDBACK – can’t tell which control item is selected.

        WCAG 2.1 guidelines: apps must be accessible to users with impairments to their mobility – like those who find it difficult to use a mouse.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      91. DSM 7.x basically requires an additional RAM upgrade for the NAS to run smoothly and respond quicker. Any NAS that doesn’t have upgradable RAM could struggle with each new DSM release.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      92. Hi, has Synology corrected the vulnerability you disclosed during the beta? You said pressing the reset button allows a burglar to login as an admin and see the encrypted volume already mounted. Synology replied to you this should be corrected… is it now? Thanks.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      93. What DSM 7.x features are actually worth it to upgrade from 6.2 for the average home user (I use my NAS for Plex, streaming music, my photography archive and backup)?
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      94. You incorect I hosted old websites on my DS718+ – thaat old websites requayed PHP 5.6 to run upgrade them for example php 7.4 not make sence becouse for me all custom screapts I must reduing again and reistall websites from begining – for me is to mach money and time process – I asked Synology support about it and they are tell me something like this: “PHP 5.6. is end of life thats why We droped PHP 5.6 on DSM 7.2 and newer versions of DSM.” – for me I not se reason to install DSM 7.2 if I know this: Upgrading to DSM 7.2 broke all web part of my homelab installation – I simply don’t have time to reinstall it again on difrent engine
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      95. Excellent video. I have a DS420J, which was my first entry into NAS about 3 years ago. I was wondering if you have made a video about migrating/upgrading to new hardware? I’m guessing it’s not as easy as getting a new iPhone???
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      96. the argument for 2.5Gbit network does not make sense. Everything about 2.5G network is 3-5 times more expensive than gigabit, for barely 2.5X speed. 8 port gigabit switch: 17 euro and up. 8 port 2.5G switch: 120 euro and up. Gigabit is a good solution.
        and people are going to use it with devices over wifi anyway, so not even 1Gbps speeds will be typically achieved.
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE

      97. I don’t know which one to buy:
        Seagate ST4000VN008 or WD Red Plus WD40EFZX
        I want to buy : QNAP TS-253D for home use
        i haven’t had a NAS yet this is my first time
        thanks for the video
        REPLY ON YOUTUBE