A single-bay NAS or even a simple external hard drive is fine for users who only want to stream media, create basic backups, or have fast local shared storage. However, with just one bay, all data is lost should the drive fail. A two-bay model allows for disk mirroring and is a better choice ensuring your data stays intact. Going beyond two drive bays comes down to your desired mix of maximum capacity, speed, and redundancy.
Performance specifications on NAS devices are as important as those of a personal computer when choosing a product. For example, if you need a NAS to transcode 4K video or edit video files directly over the network, it needs the hardware horsepower to make that possible.
Upgradability is also an important factor to consider. If your needs are going to grow over time, then having a NAS that can be expanded makes for a better purchase. RAM is a common upgradeable component, but some NAS devices also allow you to install an SSD to act as a high-speed cache, dramatically improving data transfer performance.
Finally, application support can be crucial. NAS devices use different operating systems than a standard computer, usually. Some of these OSes can be customized, while others could be a little more than a standard Linux installation. Support for specific applications such as web servers or media streaming software can vary wildly, so check whether a given NAS device supports the specific applications you need it to run.
It looks attractive and works in a home or business setting. With two drive bays, you get the most important minimum level of redundancy with RAID 1 support. The dual gigabit Ethernet ports give you the option of either aggregating them for maximum performance or using a failover setup to ensure your data is always available. It's good for archiving data, can be used with Plex, and is relatively inexpensive. Some might argue that a NAS with only one drive bay defeats the point of having such a device.
However, not everyone who wants a NAS is looking for speed or additional reliability. While it may only have a single drive bay, the DSj can accept a drive up to 16TB in size.
Most users would find a storage amount more than acceptable. You get the same versatile Synology software as the best overall pick and based on user reviews, most have no trouble setting up and using this NAS. If all you want is flexible, shared local network storage, the DSj will get the job done for as budget-friendly as possible. That seems too cheap, but the DSj is anything but.
Provided you're not doing any media transcoding, this is a solid NAS choice. 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.
But, that simplicity comes at a cost. While NAS devices from companies like Synology offer you a long list of applications and powerful, finely-grained control over your device, Western Digital does not. While power users might see this as a downside, home users who want to get the job done without a course in network engineering will appreciate this ease of use. You even get a three-month Plex trial included in your purchase, so home users looking for a solid Plex solution should definitely have the EX2 on their shortlist.
This one includes storage right out of the box and is compatible with Plex servers. There are many important considerations when buying computer equipment for business use. Typically, you want something reliable, durable, and can handle more complex workloads than home users require. Most importantly, perhaps, is the ability for it to grow with your business over time. If you can start with a smaller initial investment and then upgrade a NAS as you go, that would be ideal from a cost-benefit perspective.
The most impressive performance feature, however, is the two M. NVME drives you insert into these slots are not used for file storage. Instead, they act as a high-speed cache for frequently used data. 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. QNAP provides a two-year warranty and excellent support both over the phone and via an online forum, plus a knowledge base and tutorials.
For starters, you can opt for RAID 5, 6, or 10; those data storage configurations require three or more disks but provide better data protection and depending on which RAID configuration you choose can offer better performance. A four-bay NAS also lets you expand your storage capacity more easily since you can start with two drives and add more as needed, whereas the only way to expand the storage space on a two-bay NAS is to replace first one drive and then the other with higher-capacity drives.
Four-drive NAS devices are typically more suited to professional settings—and if you want to use one, having a good understanding of RAID storage management will help. Very few NAS devices prompt you to change or reset the admin password—doing so, however, is a crucial security step, because the NAS connects to the Internet and is thus a ripe target for threats.
So the first thing to do with any new NAS is to change the password on the admin account both Synology and QNAP prompt you to do this during the initial setup. Creating a unique user account for each person who accesses your NAS is a good idea. You can do so on any of the NAS devices we tested by going into the user settings in the interface.
If you want to give someone the ability to upload files to the NAS, give that user write permissions as well as read permissions. If someone should only download files, make them a read-only user. When something goes wrong with a NAS, the culprit is usually drive failure, and according to this infographic from Seagate , temperature extremes are one of the top five causes of hard-drive failure.
Data corruption is another big issue with hard drives. Otherwise, if something goes wrong with the NAS, you may have problems getting customer support—or worse, you may discover that you voided the warranty.
The same rule applies to memory: If you buy a NAS that allows you to add RAM, check with the vendor to make sure that you purchase supported memory. We are starting to see 2.
It was released after our recent test period, but we will consider it next time we update this guide. Some are still available but use older CPUs, are priced too high, or fail to meet our memory requirements. The My Cloud Home Duo needs to be connected to the Internet if you want to use all its features, even within your home network.
We also looked at the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo. Unfortunately, it lacks basic features and third-party app support, including stuff like Plex, which even the WD model has. Its read and write tests were also extremely slow compared with the results from other NAS boxes we tested. When we reached out to Apollo for clarification on these results, representatives replied that the Cloud 2 Duo uses in-flight encryption by default and the user cannot disable it.
It seemed a possible fit for folks with small home offices or as a NAS you can stash out of the way, next to your wireless router. However, 2. So while it may be fine for a single stream of highly compressed videos, a NAS array with an Intel or AMD x86 processor is better for home use. While both were competitive on our performance tests, included dual 2. The admin interface features a red motif and a dragon logo that feels more at home on a gaming PC than on a home office NAS.
Also, we disliked that Asustor buries security fix info in their ADM update notes. Centralized access to updates makes it easier to react to malware threats as they are discovered. Jon L. Thorin Klosowski is the editor of privacy and security topics at Wirecutter. He has been writing about technology for over a decade, with an emphasis on learning by doing—which is to say, breaking things as often as possible to see how they work.
For better or worse, he applies that same DIY approach to his reporting. Joel Santo Domingo is a senior staff writer covering networking and storage at Wirecutter. Previously he tested and reviewed more than a thousand PCs and tech devices for PCMag and other sites over 17 years.
Our pick. Upgrade pick. Everything we recommend. Why you should trust us. Who this is for. How we picked. Two drive bays: Hundreds of NAS devices are available, and you can find models with one, two, four, eight, or more drive bays. For most home users, a two-drive NAS is just right, because it protects your data by mirroring the contents of one drive to the other a configuration known as RAID 1, or a mirrored array. As a result, your data remains safe and accessible even if a drive fails.
If you opt for a cheaper model, you usually sacrifice read and write speeds or end up with a less-polished operating system.
Add in support for Emby and Plex media servers, and this is a perfect NAS drive for beginners or for those who won't be placing too many demands on their hardware while it's in operation.
If someone tells you that getting started with a NAS drive is expensive, then show them this. If you've already done a bit of dabbling in the world of NAS drives — maybe you're looking for a second one, or you want to replace and upgrade your current one — then may we suggest the QNAP TSX? A 4-bay, high-performance NAS enclosure that's going to be able to take care of a multitude of tasks at the centre of your home or office network.
Of course there's a premium price attached too — and for a lot of users this is going to be way more than they actually need — but we'd recommend it as one of the best NAS drives for those who need a substantial upgrade. If you're in the market for a reasonably priced NAS drive then Synology is absolutely one of the brands you should be checking out, and the DS is a model suitable for those with more modest needs and a more modest budget. If you need an affordable 2-bay device that's one of the best NAS drives around, it's worth a long look.
You can fit drives up to a total capacity of 16TB in capacity with the Synology DiskStation DS, so there's a huge amount of flexibility in that regard too.
As always with a Synology product, it's simple and straightforward to set up, and comes with a selection of useful software tools for managing files, streaming video files, and so on. Western Digital has been in the hard drive game a long time, and its NAS drives are polished, reliable, and user-friendly especially in the case of the EX2 Ultra. In fact, user-friendliness is one of the unit's key strengths, so it's worth a look if you're just getting started with networked storage.
You get two 3. Around the back are two USB 3. Allowing access to different users is a breeze, transfer speeds are quick, and it looks quite nice too, which helps. Whatever your budget, there are going to be quite a few top-notch NAS drives to pick from. If you go for a NAS drive with just a single bay, there are no options for data redundancy: you've essentially just got an external hard drive that also offers network connectivity so all of your devices can access it.
Make sure the data on the drive is backed up somewhere else for safe keeping. All the usual Synology benefits apply here, from solid construction and durability to the quality of the associated software, but as RAM and CPU speed are more limited, this isn't a NAS drive you can rely on for high-end tasks like encoding video on the fly. If you need an all singing and all dancing NAS, you'll need to look elsewhere. Still, not everyone needs high-end performance from their NAS, or multiple drive bays, and if the DSj suits you then you can get it for a very respectable price.
There's an Ethernet port and two USB ports around the back for extra connectivity options. Here's a stylish, compact, powerful NAS from QNAP that would suit someone who needs a drive that's comfortably above the budget end of the market without getting into the heavy duty, business models that can cost a significant amount of money. This is quite a pricey drive, but it's not that pricey in the grand scheme of NAS drives.
Add all of those specs up together, throw in looks that are better than the average NAS, and you can see how the TSD more than justifies its price. Being from QNAP, you also know the drive is going to be well put together and well supported with software updates in the future.
If you want a premium NAS drive enclosure and are happy with a 2-bay arrangement then this stylish unit from Asustor is well worth scoping out. It costs more than a lot of rival 2-bay enclosures but you get plenty of performance for you money.
This model comes with compatibility for both 2. The first thing to consider when picking the best NAS drive of is capacity: that's how much data your drive can hold, set by the number of bays and the maximum drive sizes you can afford, so check these details carefully. Go for a NAS that offers as much room as you need — some units come with hard drives fitted, some don't, but all will have a maximum capacity in their specs, so make sure you check.
When comparing prices, make sure you're including the cost of the drives. Several RAID configurations offer some kind of data redundancy, so if one disk fails, another can step up — all of this happens automatically, once you've configured it.
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