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GENERAL NAS FEATURE COMPARISON

NAS Plex (local 4K) Plex HD (remote) Plex 4K (remote) BACKUP (MS/GOOGLE OFFICE) BACKUP (BAREBONE) PHOTOS (OBJECT AI) VIDEO EDITING (4K) VIDEO EDITING (8K) DOCKER VIRTUAL MACHINES PC MODE (QVM) 2.5GbE 10GbE 25GbE Thunderbolt NVMe Pcie Expansion HDMI Drive Mixing
TS-264
TS-453E
DS423 -
AS6604T
AS6602T
AS5304T - -

LATEST PRICE LIST

TS-264425.32 GBP74.64 USD
TS-453E683.13 GBP639 USD
DS423414.99 GBP965.95 USD
AS6604T
AS6602T390 GBP
AS5304T461.98 GBP494.8 USD

BEST FOR Virtualisation

NAS CPU Cores Threads Speed (GHz) Docker/VM Score ECC
TS-264 Intel® Celeron® N5095 4-core/4-thread p... 4 4 2 (MAX:2.9) Docker/VM 4036 NO /8 GB DDR4 on board (non-expandable)
TS-453E Intel® Celeron® J6412 4-core/4-thread processor, b... 4 4 2 (MAX:2.6) Docker/VM 3849 NO /8 GB DDR4 on board (non-expandable)
DS423 Realtek RTD1619B 4 4 1.7 Docker 700 NO /2 GB DDR4 non-ECC
AS6604T Intel Celeron J4125 4 4 2 (MAX:2.7) Docker/VM 2982 NO /4 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 Compatibility
AS6602T Intel Celeron J4125 4 4 2 (MAX:2.7) Docker/VM 2982 NO /4 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 Compatibility
AS5304T Intel Celeron J4105 4 4 1.5 (MAX:2.5) Docker/VM 2984 NO /4 GB SO-DIMM DDR4 Compatibility

BEST FOR MULTIMEDIA

NAS GPU Base_GHz/Max Codec FPS Transcoding Plex
TS-264 Intel® UHD Graphics 450/750 H.264 60 2160 2160p
TS-453E Intel® UHD Graphics for 10th Gen 400/800 H.264 30 2160 2160p
DS423 Mali-G51 GPU / H.264, H.265 60 2160
AS6604T Intel® UHD Graphics 600 250/750 H.264 60 2160 2160p
AS6602T Intel® UHD Graphics 600 250/750 H.264 60 2160 2160p
AS5304T Intel® UHD Graphics 600 250/750 H.264 60 2160 1080p

BEST FOR FILE STORAGE

NAS BAYS Bandwidth HDD storage expansion Drive mixing File System
TS-264 2 HDD 5Gbit (2 ports combined) 44TB EXT4
TS-453E 4 HDD 5Gbit (2 ports combined) 88TB EXT4
DS423 4 HDD 2Gbit (2 ports combined) 88TB EXT4 BTRFS
AS6604T 4 HDD 5Gbit (2 ports combined) 88TB EXT4 BTRFS
AS6602T 2 HDD 5Gbit (2 ports combined) 44TB EXT4 BTRFS
AS5304T 4 HDD 5Gbit (2 ports combined) 88TB EXT4 BTRFS

*All NAS support multiple RAID/ volume groups, if you want to mix different size drive on non supported model.

BEST FOR BACKUP

NAS Level HA AI Google Microsoft encryption
TS-264 folder face HDD/volume /folder
TS-453E folder face HDD/volume /folder
DS423 folder face /folder
AS6604T folder /folder
AS6602T folder /folder
AS5304T folder /folder

BEST FOR VIDEO EDITING

NAS MAX LAN speed Ports transcoding PCIe NVMe
TS-264 2.5Gbit Slot 1: PCIe Gen 3 x2 2 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x1
TS-453E 2.5Gbit 2 x M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 3 x2
DS423 1Gbit
AS6604T 2.5Gbit 2 x NVME
AS6602T 2.5Gbit 2 x NVME
AS5304T 2.5Gbit

BEST FOR SURVEILLANCE (CCTV)

NAS HDMI QVM transcoding AI
TS-264 1, HDMI™ 2.1 (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz)
TS-453E 2 x HDMI 1.4b ( up to 3840 x 2160 @ 30Hz )
DS423
AS6604T 1x HDMI 2.0a
AS6602T 1x HDMI 2.0a
AS5304T 1x HDMI 2.0a

BEST FOR SMART HOME/ AI

NAS Virtual switch Docker/VM HDMI S/PDIF / AUX
TS-264 Docker/VM 1, HDMI™ 2.1 (up to 4096 x 2160 @ 60Hz)
TS-453E Docker/VM 2 x HDMI 1.4b ( up to 3840 x 2160 @ 30Hz )
DS423 Docker
AS6604T Docker/VM 1x HDMI 2.0a
AS6602T Docker/VM 1x HDMI 2.0a
AS5304T Docker/VM 1x HDMI 2.0a

LATEST VIDEOS RELATED


AVAILABILITY / RELEASE DATE

Brand Model TW USA UK Released
Qnap TS-264 2022-09
Qnap TS-453E 2022-06
Synology DS423 2023-03
Asustor AS6604T 2020-09
Asustor AS6602T 2020-09
Asustor AS5304T 2020-09

LATEST POSTS RELATED


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How to install PLEX on DS223, DS423 and other Realtek RTD1619B based NAS
Synology DS423 vs DS423+
Synology DS423 released (4-bay value series NAS)
Best DS423 price
QNAP TS-264 NAS Drive Review - Ultimate 2-Bay NAS?
QNAP TS-264 NAS Review
Synology DS423 NAS Revealed


RELATED REVIEWS

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


8.4
PROS
👍🏻Very compact chassis design, despite large storage potential
👍🏻A BIG jump in hardware and scale from the TS-253Be and TS-253D
👍🏻Easily one of the most hardware-packed SMB/Mid-range 2-Bay on the market
👍🏻8GB Memory in the base model will certainly appeal to some users looking at pimping this system out fully in terms of hardware upgrades and storage
👍🏻m.2 NVMe SSD Bays AND a PCIe Upgrade Slot (no need to choose one upgrade path)
👍🏻8x Included Camera Licenses
👍🏻Includes Anti-virus, Firewall Tool, VPN client tools, Malware Remover, network manager and Security Councilor Tool
👍🏻3 Different Container/VM tools that also feature image download centers
👍🏻10Gb/s (1,000MB/s) USB Ports will be incredibly useful
👍🏻Large range of expansion options in the TR/TL series in 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 Bays
👍🏻HDMI 2.1 Support in the 2-Bay, whereas the 4/6-Bay still runs HDMI 2.0 (released in Spring \'22)
CONS
👎🏻The PCIe Slot is PCIe 3x2 and the M.2 SSD Bays are PCIe 3x1 (likely limitations of all this H/W on a Celeron+chipset
👎🏻Default 8GB of memory (again, down to global memory shortages) does increase the base price and is non-upgradable too
👎🏻The software can be a little inconsistent under excessive use and features a steeper learning curve than Synology

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


8.8
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

ASUSTOR provides their own ADM server software platform with all of their solutions and although it is not quite as advanced as offerings from most expensive NAS solutions in the market, it still arrives with a huge range of applications, services and is accessible via a web browser, mobile applications and desktop client tools. Their latest revision of this software is remarkably responsive and this alongside a number of their solutions also arriving with HDMI support means that you have a wide range of ways in which to access the data on your Asustor NAS in a tailored and appropriate way. The majority of their NAS solutions also arrive with BTRFS support too, as well as possibly the widest support in the market for 3rd party tools available in their application center. They are a little less polishing in the design of some of their tools compared with their biggest competitors Synology and QNAP, but they also provide a better value for money in their hardware with many solution such as the Locksterstor series featuring some genuinely game changing hardware for the price point. Here are some of the highlights of the ADM software catalogue:

Plex - Hardware Transcoding (with a Plex Pass) is likely and with 1080p handled very well indeed, as well as some Plex 4K transcoding in H.265 - lower tier stuff though

Virtual Machines - A graphical embedded CPU like the Gemini Lake in this Nimbustor NAS will run Windows 10 and Android VMs very well. With the added support for Ubuntu and Hackintosh with VirtualBox

Storage Management - BTRFS Support, as well as EXT4 for the traditionalist, Multiple Snapshot storage and browsing for recovery, a large number of ISCSI and LUN target creation, fast-acting SSD caching use

Network Management - Support of LAG, Load Balancing and virtual switches, as well as maintaining top transmission over 2.5/5Gbe for editing or gaming over the network. As well as Jumbo Frame control, DDNS automation, Wake on LAN support and internet/external NAS access with EZ Connect

Backups - Supporting a wide range of multi-tiered backup options that can be carried out simultaneously thanks to the powerful CPU in the Nimbustor NAS, such as network RSync, USB Backups, NAS-2-NAS migration, Cloud Backups with Google Drive, Dropbox and Backblaze and numerous RAID levels internally for redundancy.

Content Management - Numerous Content Management Systems (CMS) and Customer Relationship Managers (CRMs) available in 1st and 3rd party forms, with simultaneous operations supported by the Asustor Nimbustor 4 NAS

User Account Control - Supporting over 4,000 accounts, each with their own bespoke privileges and access levels, as well as grouping methods to automate the process easily

Security - AES 256bit hardware encryption on data in/out of the device, as well as over backup methods, with the J4105 CPU in the AS5304T maintaining high R/W speeds throughout, as well as Windows ACL permission and configuration, auto blacklisting and multiple VPN provider support

Antivirus (ClamAV) – Scheduled Scans, Automatic Virus Definition Updates, Quarantine Infected Files

Download Center – Supports BT(Torrent & Magnet Link), HTTP and FTP Downloads, Torrent Search, Bandwidth Control, RSS Subscription and Automatic Downloading (Broadcatching), ASUSTOR Download Assistant for Windows & Mac

DropBox, OneDrive and Google Drive Sync – Each ADM Account is Able to Individually Log into one cloud Account, supporting Sync, Directly Upload Files to cloud from the NAS, or from cloud to NAS

LooksGood Media App –Built-in three main video library categories; movies, TV shows, home movies and smart video sorting management

    • The efficient global search function allows for searches by keywords followed by the execution of more detailed searches for the purpose of finding categories of movies, TV shows, home movies and parameters such as actors, director, year, genre, writer and title

    • Attractive poster wall and thumbnail display

    • Automatic production of video poster thumbnails

    • Centralized management and ability to configure the order of favourites and playlist history

    • The system administrator is able to configure video library and editing permissions according to user preferences

    • Can configure access permissions to share with

    • Multimedia conversion feature

    • Self-defined smart folder for video conversions

    • Supports digital TV recordings via digital

    • Easy streaming with Chromecast and DLNA

    • Supports playback of videos in Apple TV via AiVideos tvOS version

Mail Server – Each ADM Account can Become an Independent Email Account, Provides SMTP, IMAP and POP3 Mail Protocols, Spam Filter and Black List Settings, Antivirus Scanning for Emails, Exclusive Email Backup Mechanism, Auto-Forwarding and Auto-Response Protocols

Photo Gallary – “Album” and “Browse” Viewing Modes, Manage Photo Album Access Rights: Public Access, Restricted to Certain Accounts, Album Password, Multi-level Folder Structure Support, Supports Tagging of Photos, One-click Sharing to Social Media (Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Plurk, email), Intuitive Drag and Drop Management, Slideshow Viewing Mode, Supports a Wide Range of Image Formats: JPG/JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, RAW and Supports Video Playback

Surveillance Center – Up to 64 channels in 720p on single live view display, On-screen camera controls including camera PTZ, manual recordings, take snapshots, configure camera settings and open Maps, Up to 4 channels of synchronous and non-synchronous playback with audio, Intelligent video analytics including motion detection and foreign object detection, Supported Browsers: Windows Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, Firefox, Mac Safari, Mac Firefox ESR, Event notification supports SMS, E-mail, and mobile push notification, AiSecure mobile app for iOS and Android with Push notification, Maximum IP Cam (4 Free Licenses; Additional Licenses to be Purchased)

Takeasy – Download from YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch and More, Selectable Video Type and Quality, Automatic Downloads with YouTube or Twitch Subscriptions, Preview Downloads in Progress and Online Playback

SoundsGood Audio App – Import Personal/Public Music Collection, Personal/Public Music Collection Permission Control, Playlist Editor, ID3 Tag Editor, Local Speaker Support: HDMI, USB, Audio Jack, Supported Audio Formats for Browser: MP3, WAV, Ogg, Supported Audio Formats for Transcoding Through Browser: AIFF, Flac, Supported Audio Formats for Local Speaker: MP3, WAV, Ogg, AIFF, Flac

Backup Tools – Rsync (Remote Sync) Backup, Cloud Backup, FTP Backup, External Backup, One-Touch Backup, EZ Sync, Btrfs Snapshots

How many of these tools are supported on any particular Asustor NAS and the frequency of applications your can run at once will still depend on the hardware of the solution you are looking at in their portfolio, but the bulk of them are available on ALL solutions from the brand. Find out more below in my reviews of ADM:

Asustor ADM Video Review

In terms of these two brands, there is been a long-running theme all the way through that Synology has focused on FIRST-PARTY (i.e. Synology-brand) software and hardware priority, then supporting THIRD-PARTY services/hardware when they haven’t got a viable alternative in-house – to mixed degrees of popularity. Whereas QNAP has been a much more level playing field where they have released their own innovative hardware/software (occasionally a little too quickly) and singing its praises, but also tried to keep customization and flexibility for 3rd parties as open as possible and shouting loud-and-proud about that too – which can be a tad overwhelming for the less tech-savvy. Both brands have done an incredible job evolve their platforms as much as they have to date, especially when Microsoft, Google and Amazon are pouring BILLIONS into the SaaS (and PaaS and IaaS – Platform and Infrastructure as a Service) in order to create entirely streamable ecosystems for businesses, with NAS brands like Synology and QNAP not only integrating with them but also thriving alongside them as a local/bare-metal failsafe. These are all very lofty ideas and ones that most home or small business users will likely have little time for right now (aside from where NAS fits in with their Google/Office 365 office tools like documents, email and spreadsheets at a pinch) and for those users, who the NAS stands on its own two feet is what is going to matter most. Synology is earning its position in the market as the complete 1st party software and hardware package, with a genuinely groundbreaking range of available services, but still managing to make NAS accessible for all in DSM 6.2/7.0/7.1. That said, the trends we are seeing in those sub-enterprise services that are slowly receding in support of popular 3rd party hardware, software and services, making using a Synology NAS alongside your own existing setup in a frictionless way cannot be ignored and leading some to think Synology is shifting their industry position towards something higher.

QNAP NAS on the other hand, although maybe trying to cover too many bases at once, is still trying to cover as much as it can to appear to their audience. Their support of considerably more 3rd party platforms/software/services, even when they have their own software available, is certainly admirable and aside from rather aggressive pricing on their QVR Pro surveillance platform, are still the better choice for those who want a much more adaptable and customizable platform. Its a pretty understandable fact that most people who buy a NAS will be arriving with an existing collection of software in their daily workflow (Office 365 for docs, Gmail for their email, Plex for their media, Chromebook for their commute, Skype/Whatsapp for their communication, TB3 for their editing, etc) and it has to be said that QNAP keeps a more open platform to adapt a NAS into this mix than Synology – occasionally less intuitively and not without a little setup-friction, but certainly to more customizable results. Unsurprisingly, I am going to tell you that both Synology and QNAP NAS are good NAS brands and have earned their place at the top of the industry (whilst both making their own respective moves to integrate into the next tier – ie SaaS providers, Hyperscale environments and Boundless cloud storage), but there is no denying that no one brand has managed to do EVERYTHING to perfection. So, if in double, below is how I would recommend QNAP and Synology NAS to you, for each user case scenario and I hope this guide and my recommendations help you with your next big data storage purchase.

Why Choose Synology NAS?

Better Surveillance Software

More Intuative and User-Friendly Design

EXCELLENT 1st Party Alternative Apps to Existing 3rd Party Tools

(including Synology Chat, Mail, Office, Drive, Calendar and more)

Greater Support/Migration with VMware & Hyper-V

Better Redundant System Options (SHA)

Greater Support on Amazon Home Hardware

Synology Hybrid RAID for flexibility in Media Upgrades

BTRFS on Most systems

Longer Warranty Available on More Systems

First Party SSD and HDDs Available

Typically Quieter Operation

Why Choose QNAP NAS?

Better 1st Party/Hosting Virtual Machines

Better Plex Media Server NAS

More Adaptable and Customizable

Wider Support of Surveillance using AI Recognition

EXCELLENT KVM Support

More Camera Licenses

ZFS or EXT4 File System Choice on many systems now

2.5Gbe Network Interfaces at 1Gbe Cost

Allows NVMe SSD Storage Pools and Volumes

Support of QTier for intelligent Data storage for Access

Greater 1st and 3rd Party Hardware Upgrade Compatibility

(including Graphics Cards, WiFi 6 and Thunderbolt)


LATEST PRICE LIST

TS-264425.32 GBP74.64 USD
TS-453E683.13 GBP639 USD
DS423414.99 GBP965.95 USD
AS6604T
AS6602T390 GBP
AS5304T461.98 GBP494.8 USD
DEAL WATCH - Is It On Offer Right Now?

Synology DiskStation DS423 4-Bay 3.5 Diskless 2xGbE NAS, Realtek RTD1619B 4-core Amazon usa USA 7.89 OFF (WAS 459) [LINK]
QNAP TS-264-8G | 2-Bay, Intel Quad-core CPU, 2 x M.2 Slots, 2.5GbE Desktop NAS, Amazon UK UK 4.3 OFF (WAS 430) [LINK]

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