Minisforum N5 Pro Review – Reinventing NAS? The Minisforum N5 Pro marks the company’s first deliberate step into the network-attached storage (NAS) segment, building upon its established experience in producing compact desktops, mini-PCs, and workstation-class hardware. First hinted at during industry discussions at IFA 2024 and formally revealed during CES 2025 in Nevada, the N5 […]
Aoostar WTR Max NAS Review The Aoostar WTR Max is a compact, AMD-powered NAS platform aimed at advanced users seeking a balance between high-density storage and compute capabilities. Designed as a substantial upgrade over the earlier WTR Pro model, it offers support for up to eleven total drives, including six SATA bays and five M.2 […]
If Not Synology? Which Other NAS Brand Should You Choose? It’s an odd question, but with Synology arguably making some rather higher business and enterprise decisions in recent years, there have been increasing queries about who would fill the void if they moved onwards and upwards. As Synology holds such a powerful position in the […]
Well, I did, but apparently my pihole still catches everything... sorry, that's not as easy a fix to do...
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This webpage is soooo good!
Thanks a bunch!
(I deactivated my adblocker for you)
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Thats a laptop cpu. A processor designed for a mobile device put into a desktop device, never intended to be moved or go mobile.
A desktop device needs a
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Has anyone tested 24TB drives? I have the WTR Pro and it does NOT support 24TB drives and support is non-committal.
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Seems strange that you make no mention of the DisplayPort connector, just the HDMI
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I really enjoyed trading this article. I think the refurbished Minisforum units are an excellent value.
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Rob, love your work, but the links are $h!t. Looks to me like it's not actually available ....
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Not if you create a RAID or zfs pool with the 4 NVMe's, use that as fast storage and the HDD for the cold store.
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I have mine on order and I figure we are going to be hit with the import tax regardless of where we buy.
Shipping is due 10th July and I'm looking forward
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partally Seagate and Toshiba
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Second that. This NAS is ideal for a Proxmox+TrueNAS setup but will largely depend if the SATA can do passtrough. I have ordered mine in the hope that it d
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What about passthrough ? Did you check if it’s at least easily doable for the disk controller and the NVMes ?
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I like the Synology NAS'es a lot. The software is really, really good, and I use several of their built-in apps and mobile apps as well. And I've been a lo
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Sooo.... 40% less issues with Synology Branded drives compared to... what?
A NAS populated with 4 different random drives, 2 of which are 6 years old d
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Am I the only the one that find it insane that you are in a situtation where you must choose between a 4 year old platform and a newly released system?
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Disappointed you didn't do a comparison of back-up features.. I've seen a lot of mentions about Centralized Backup.. so I'd love to have seen a comparison
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Crucial 8GB DDR4 3200MHz CL22 CT8G4SFRA32A works fine in a DS420+ running DSM 7.2.1-69057 Update 7. No Warnings
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Thanks for this very informative review. I'd already pre-ordered one of these, and your review gives me confidence that it was a good decision to choose it
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Do you know what size heatsink will fit in there? Aoostar said there would not be enough clearance so already ordered some ssds without a heat sink :(
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Thanks for your great review! I'd be interested in its audio latency, would you mind checking (with LatencyMon)?
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Does the Orico Cyberdata Vault CF56 and CF56 Pro Deserve Your Data? IMPORTANT – This is a review of two early prototypes of the Orico Cyberdata Vault NAS devices that will be launching on crowdfunding in July, and likely will see improvement and optimization as time and development continue. I provide this rolling/dynamic review as […]
Is the CWWK N355 Soft Router Firewall / NAS Box Worth Your Data? (Review) DIY router boxes have gained popularity in recent years, especially those coming out of China with various hardware configurations. The CWWK N355-powered firewall appliance is an intriguing option, not just as a high-performance router but also as a potential NAS device. […]
Synology vs QNAP NAS – Which Should You Buy in 2025? When choosing a NAS solution in 2025, two brands dominate the conversation: Synology and QNAP. These Taiwan-based companies have evolved their offerings significantly over the years, adapting to changing user needs in backup, multimedia, virtualization, and enterprise storage. Synology, with a strong emphasis on […]
TB5 M.2 NVMe Pegasus5 from Promise Revealed At Computex 2025 in Taipei, PROMISE Technology introduced the Pegasus5 M8, an NVMe-based RAID storage system built around Intel’s Thunderbolt™ 5 interface. This new addition to the Pegasus5 product line focuses on delivering high-throughput, low-latency performance in a compact form factor tailored for professionals working with data-heavy content. […]
QNAP Tech Summit 2025 – All New Hardware and Software Solutions Unveiled During Computex 2025 in Taipei, QNAP hosted its annual Tech Summit to unveil a broad array of new hardware and software solutions aimed at addressing evolving demands across creative, enterprise, and edge environments. The event marked a continued shift in QNAP’s product direction—placing […]
Synology at Computex 2025 – New NAS, Flash, and Surveillance Solutions Unveiled At Computex 2025, Synology unveiled an extensive range of new hardware and storage solutions across both consumer and enterprise tiers. From compact desktop NAS to high-performance rackmount flash storage systems, the 2025 product line spans diverse use cases in home multimedia, business backups, […]
Orico CF Cybervault NAS Series Coming Soon ORICO is preparing to launch a new range of hybrid and all-flash NAS systems under the CyberData Vault banner, targeting a wide spectrum of users—from content creators and post-production teams to small office environments and AI development professionals. The information, shared directly by the brand ahead of its […]
Synology Beestation Plus 8TB Revealed and Detailed Synology has unveiled the BeeStation Plus (BST170-8T) in their pre-Computex build up (alongside an early reveal back in Jan 2025 at CES/Pepcom), the latest addition to its growing portfolio of personal cloud storage solutions aimed at everyday users. Building on the success of the original BeeStation (BST150-4T), the […]
UGREEN Headquarters in Shenzhen, China – NAS Plans, Company Culture, R&D and More As part of a week-long visit to Shenzhen to better understand the operations behind some of the rising tech brands in China, I arranged a tour of UGREEN’s headquarters. The visit was not sponsored or paid for by UGREEN, nor was I […]
Synology 2025 NAS Series 3rd Party Drive Compatibility Tests UPDATED 07-05-25 = Added Unverified HDD and SSD (Migrated) Storage Pool RAID Repair, RAID POOL Expansion and Hot Spare Tests. Right now, the following is what works and what does not (between pre-2025 Series and the 2025 Series that is releasing now): Feature / Function Pre-2025 […]
UniFi UNAS Pro: 6 Months On — A Measured Look at Ubiquiti’s First NAS Six months since its public release in October 2024, the UniFi UNAS Pro has matured modestly but meaningfully. Initially positioned as an affordable $499, 7-bay NAS with integrated 10GbE and 1GbE networking, its appeal centered largely around seamless integration into UniFi […]
The Aoostar WTR Max is Coming Soon – And it’s kinda INSANE… Aoostar had formally unveiled the WTR Max, its latest high-performance NAS mini-server platform, around about a month ago, and it has fast become one of the most requested NAS solutions from followers of this website and YouTube channel in a long time! Powered […]
The Synology DS925+ NAS is (STILL) Coming..and Soon UPDATE 3rd May 2025: The Synology DS925+ NAS is Now Released, and I have made a YouTube Video Review here, and a written DS925+ NAS here ORIGINAL ARTICLE BELOW: It is fast becoming the worst-kept secret in the world of network-attached storage, but Synology’s continued plans to […]
Visiting a NAS Production Facility in Shenzhen, China – The CWWK Factory and Office Tour As part of a broader effort to explore the landscape of Chinese tech manufacturers, I recently visited the facilities of CWWK (ChangWang) in Shenzhen, China. CWWK is best known in enthusiast circles for producing NAS motherboards and compact computing solutions, […]
Synology DS401+ Review: A Big Leap in Data Portability Synology has once again redefined innovation with the launch of its latest device, the DS401+, a radical departure from traditional NAS design. Unlike anything in their existing lineup, the DS401+ is a compact, ultra-portable single-bay system that arrives with 8GB of pre-installed storage. While its modest […]
UniFi Cloud Gateway Fiber Review – Overkill? UniFi has absolutely been slamming hardware releases in the first quarter of 2025. Last year, they launched a new NAS solution, and in the last few months, we’ve seen them hammer out a wide range of new surveillance accessories. However, February 2025 has seen a huge rejuvenation of […]
How to Install TrueNAS Scale/Core on a Terramaster NAS If you’re new to private server storage, you’ve probably heard the phrase “everything runs on Linux.” While that’s not entirely true (many other platforms exist with their own foundations), Linux remains the dominant base for much of the software we use daily—including Network Attached Storage (NAS). […]
UniFi Express 7 Review – The Affordable UniFi Gateway? UniFi has seriously hammered the subject of Wi-Fi 7 into their existing portfolio at an alarming speed, but it’s easy to forget that just half a year ago, there wasn’t a single Wi-Fi 7 solution in their lineup. Fast forward to February 2025, and they’ve now […]
UniFi U7 Lite and U7 In-Wall WiFi7 Mesh APs Review UniFi continues to flesh out its Wi-Fi 7 portfolio at the start of 2025, and, hot on the heels of the launch of their latest router and gateway devices, we see this brand start to roll out new Wi-Fi 7 access points intended to challenge […]
Why NAS Drives are NOT for Everyone – 5 Reasons You Do Not Need a NAS Network Attached Storage (NAS) is often promoted as the ideal solution for data management, offering advantages like local control, redundancy, and flexible access. However, while NAS has many benefits, it is not the right choice for everyone. Depending on […]
The Lincstation N2 NAS Review The Lincstation N2 NAS is the successor to the Lincstation N1, a flash-focused NAS system that made waves in 2024. While the N1 was praised for its compact size and SSD-centric design, it had certain limitations, such as the lack of 10GbE connectivity and limited active cooling. Now, Lincplus has […]
20 Ways to Improve Your 10GbE Network Speeds Upgrading to 10GbE networking should, in theory, allow you to achieve 1GB/s (1000MB/s) network speeds, unlocking ultra-fast data transfers for large files, backups, and high-performance applications. However, many users find that real-world performance falls far short of these expectations. Instead of the seamless, high-speed experience they anticipated, […]
GMKTec NucBox G9 Flash NAS Review – Insane Value? The GMKtec NucBox G9 represents the brand’s first attempt to transition from the mini PC market into the world of network-attached storage (NAS). This 4-bay, SSD-only system targets entry-level users and light workloads, offering affordability and versatility in a compact form factor. Designed as a hybrid […]
Should You Buy the Asustor Lockerstor Gen 3 NAS Series? UPDATE – The Lockerstor Gen 3 NAS Series is NOW AVAILABLE in a 4 Bay ($1299) and 6 Bay ($1499) configuration, with an 8-Bay and 10-Bay system coming later in 2024. The Asustor Lockerstor Gen 3 NAS series, which includes models ranging from the 4-Bay […]
Firefly Pocket Cloud Mobile NAS Docking Station Mobile NAS solutions have become somewhat vogue in the last year or so. Network Attached Storage solutions (NAS) have become increasingly popular as a cost-effective and storage-desirable alternative to cloud services, but once you step outside of the local area network of your chosen NAS solution, certain limitations […]
Minisforum MS-A2 Workstation – Coming Soon We spoke about a lot of mini PCs in 2024, and as 2025 rolls around, you will be unsurprised to know that many of the existing brands hoping to take advantage of growing demand for efficient, compact, yet powerful computers have not exactly been resting! One of the most […]
Review of the New Synology DP320 Active Protect NAS – A Good Change? Quick Note for this review – As much as I want to review the DP320 separate from other Synology NAS solutions (with DSM appliances, and therefore completely different intended user), it is impossible to do this. This is because Synology Diskstation and […]
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