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But it’s not just the CPU as this NAS comes rocking two 2.5Gb LAN ports, as well as 4GB DDR4 RAM . Unfortunately, like other TerraMaster NAS, the F2-221 is let down by the OS, which just isn’t as good as QNAP, ASUSTOR, and Synology. What makes this NAS particularly brilliant (and how it managed to replace the Synology DiskStation DS220+ as my top recommendation) is the specifications sheet and price tag. It’s not too much more, but ASUSTOR managed to cram a lot of tech inside this compact server.
The Synology DS920+ ticks all of those boxes and does it at a reasonable price. Had a couple of TerraMaster units for performing workstation and small server backups. One of them cratered within 6 months and turned one of the drives into a paperweight. The right NAS, of course, is a fluid choice that can change extensively with each passing year, and prices that can fluctuate by the day or even the hour. Security problems crop up, software improves or degrades, and new products come out.
The Best NAS (Network Attached Storage) Devices of 2022
Generally, drives built for NAS are much more robust, have better internal components, and should be able to handle heavier workloads. Desktop-class drives you’d install inside a desktop or laptop PC likely won’t last as long, requiring you to replace them sooner — and potentially lose data. Top-leading brands include Synology, QNAP, ASUSTOR, and TerraMaster, to name a few.
Iomega also supports media services with a screen to manage Torrent downloads and support for photo dumping from cameras , DLNA AV Media Center, and iTunes streaming . Video surveillance support includes the ability to connect up to five Axis network security cameras and use the Iomega box to store video without needing a PC in the loop. We've outlined the NAS picks we presented above in a handy spec breakout below. For more storage options, take a look at our lists of the best external hard drives and the top external SSDs, as well as our top-rated cloud storage services. If you’re just starting out and need a NAS for file storage or running a small media server for your family, an enclosure with two to four bays would be sufficient. It’s not worth choosing a single-bay NAS unless you only need one for storing unimportant files that you either don’t mind losing in the event of a drive failure or have it backed up elsewhere.
Best NAS 2022: For home, Plex, work, and budget
The other complaint we have is the lower RAM expansion limit of 6GB when compared to the QNAP TS-253D and the Asustor AS5304T, both of which can support up to 8GB of RAM officially. One of the biggest benefits offered by many Synology NAS systems is the company’s own Synology Hybrid RAID . It’s is a proprietary RAID designed to be easily expandable, and allows users to take advantage of the total capacity of their drives, rather than limiting storage to the size of the smallest drive, as in RAID 5 configuration. Synology considers SHR to be most useful to those new to RAID storage, thanks to its flexibility.
The most impressive performance feature, however, is the two M.2 NVME slots. NVME drives you insert into these slots are not used for file storage. So if everyone in the office is working on the same project files, there will be no access contention once that data is cached to the NVME SSDs. While the average computer geek will not be phased by buying and installing drives into a NAS device, most home users looking for network storage solutions typically lack the know-how or time to build a custom unit. The WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra is the perfect solution for those folks to hit the ground running. With two drive bays, you get the most important minimum level of redundancy with RAID 1 support.
Our pick: Synology DiskStation DS218+
On-the-fly transcoding is dependent on the file format, the various codecs, and the device you're watching the transcoding file on, so your mileage will vary here. Apart from Plex, there are individual apps allowing users to sync with Dropbox, Google Drive, and others, but no single backup app that hits all of these services at once. The NAS supports USB device backup, but has no one-touch backup button, so you’ll need to do this from within TOS.
Note, however, that unless you are very comfortable with network security, it’s a good idea to restrict your NAS system’s access to the internet, as they are common targets for hackers and data thieves. As NAS first-party media applications go, Audio Station and DS Audio are both top tier, coming as close to the experience you can expect from the likes of iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, or Apple Music as you can get. But they still have a long way to go to reach those levels of quality, thoughtful, and attractive design. With that said, for 40TB of storage capacity, the IoSafe 1517 requires an investment.
Software: what can my NAS do?
The default shares on the single large volume are Public and Backup. Private user folders, created with new users, appear in the root of the folder, but only the user in question can see their folder. It may look a little messy with all those private folders to the administrator, but users won't see that. RAID 5 and RAID 10 are supported, as is JBOD giving maximum storage space but no protection against drive failure.
Synology DiskStation Manager is excellent and allows one to run multiple processes without issue. Just don’t try to do too much on the enclosure as the CPU and RAM will act as bottlenecks. Network-attached storage can get really expensive, especially if you want more premium features. You don’t need to spend much to buy something truly special, however. We’ve rounded up some excellent enclosures with the most affordable costing less than $200. I’ve provided a few examples of a NAS that can handle Plex transcoding and then some in this very collection, but not all NAS are created equally.
You should consider a NAS if you have more than one computer at home, since you can back them all up to the NAS rather than connect an external backup drive to each computer. And if you want to protect your data and backups from theft and natural disasters, a good NAS is capable of uploading files directly to a cloud backup service, too. If you are looking at Seagate drives, for example, the NAS-class drives are called the IronWolf, IronWolf Pro, IronWolf SSD, and IronWolf SSD and HDD lines.
Seagate includes 10 licenses of their BlackArmor Backup software for Windows clients, as well as SafetyDrill+ software to support Bare Metal Restore for Windows clients, the only unit to offer such a feature. Time Machine support wasn't included on the unit we tested, but a firmware upgrade will add that feature, along with VMware certification. With a name like BlackArmor, one expects a no-nonsense device, and the Seagate box certainly delivers. The black metal case, slightly larger than average, has an overhang on the front that reminds us of the lip of a helmet. Yet to cover all bases, this box also includes a media server and iTunes support. Configured with RAID 5 by default, the box also supports levels 0 and 1 .
The 2-bay DS220+, like the other two contenders here, uses an Intel Celeron Gemini Lake processor—in this case, the J4025 variant, with a 2.0GHz base frequency and burst to 2.9GHz. This is a dual-core processor is capable of pushing 4K @ 60Hz, as are the J4105 and J4125 that power the Asustor and the QNAP systems, respectively. In fact, comparing these chips, apart from clock speeds and core count, there isn’t much difference at all between the CPUs in any of the power players in our test set. And in practical application, you don’t see a huge difference in performance between them in everyday use either. Once signed in to Plex (and your paid-for Plex Pass account), granting the appropriate permissions to Plex to be able to access your media is an unintuitive process.
Logging in to DSM, we found another notification as well as instructions for how to rebuild the drive array in the Storage Manager once we replaced it. The Samsung 830 NAS is a 2-bay NAS that can handle 4K video playback, transcoding, and an excellent first-party software experience. Access, share, and sync your data easily across different operating systems and devices. It helps you earn more cryptocurrency faster than you can waste time doing any other activity. At a competitive price, they offer the very best UI in the business, a wide range of apps, and great features. All the offerings we're presenting are good, but Synology does itallright.
If the AS6702T doesn’t quite tick all the right boxes, I’ve listed the excellent TerraMaster F4-423 as a runner-up choice. For those who want to set up a Plex Media Server , the QNAP TVS-672N-i3 is what you’ll need with an even better processor and more than enough drive bays. Network-attached storage is a server that can be used for storing data and running apps and services. You can think of them as small computers that allow you to run your very own media center, file storage platform, or even a surveillance system. It’s possible to spend very little on an affordable NAS or drop a few thousand on a leading enclosure. I’ve rounded up the best NAS from Synology, ASUSTOR, QNAP, and other brands.
A good NAS has drive trays or slots that make the drives easy to remove but are sturdy enough to ensure that the drives fit tightly and securely, with no chance of getting disconnected by a random bump. Thorin Klosowski wrote about consumer electronics for more than six years at Lifehacker and has extensive experience with Linux and DIY NAS devices. He has set up more backup systems, from NAS to cloud storage, for family members and friends than he cares to count. The QNAP TS-251B is a good choice if the DS218+ is out of stock, or if you want to display media on a TV.
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