The QNAP TS0251a, Seagate Personal Cloud, and Synology DS216play did not. The WD My Cloud EX2 Ultra, Netgear ReadyNAS 212, ZyXel NAS520, and TerraMaster F2-220 all topped 100MBps writing data sequentially. Jacobiįast write performance is best for backups, while read performance determines how quickly the box can serve client devices.Īdequately fast backup and synchronization was another baseline that each of the boxes met, though some were considerably faster than others. That means that streaming performance was basically a non-issue for these drives, though we’ve noted where a particular box was outstanding.
A box that can do that, can easily stream 720p and 1080p video to multiple devices. A DLNA media server was used whenever possible when it wasn’t, we used Plex Media server and the relevant client app.Įach of the boxes reviewed here proved capable of delivering data fast enough to stream 10-bit color, 2160p (4K UHD) video at 60 frames per second.
We streamed 1080p-and where possible, 2160p-video files to multiple client devices, including two second-generation iPads, the test PC, two Android phones, and a Windows Phone. Additionally, backups of 40GB of data aare performed to check real-life throughput against the benchmark.
Each box was mapped under Windows 10 on a faster Core i7-5820 system with NVMe SSDs and then benchmarked with CrystalDiskMark 6. Speaking of testing, here’s how we benchmarked them. Selling for just $299 at the time of our review, it boasts dual 2.5GbE ports that support link aggregation, a fast Intel Celeron CPU, 2GB of DDR4 memory, and an HDMI 2.0a port, so you can connect it directly to a 4K TV and stream all your favorite archived movies. The two-bay Asustor Nimbustor 2 (model number AS5202T) knocked our socks off with its price-to-performance ratio.
Speed, speed, and a few neat streaming tricks highlight Asustor's excellent NAS box. On top of all that, the chassis is passively cooled (no fans) for near-silent running.
If you have the network infrastructure to take full advantage of it, you’ll be able to transfer files in a flash thanks to its support for 10Gbps ethernet (10GbE). This box will also make an ideal Roon server, thanks to its capacity to support an SSD for the Roon Core in addition to hosting a pair of 3.5-inch hard drives for your media files. The price tag is intimidating, but there is no better solution for streaming media, including 4K UHD video directly to a smart TV via HDMI 2.0. It's also not particularly easy to set up or use. Fanless operation means less noise but more heat buildup on the heat sync/cover.
But the price of admission is steep, and the box is overkill for the average user. A Windowed browser interface, and a multitude of apps including video surveillance and Web serving spice up the deal. This is a killer two-bay NAS box with 10GbE, HDMI direct video output, and two M.2 SATA slots for high-speed caching.
If you’re not familiar with formatting a hard drive or setting up an array of drives, you might find it more convenient to buy a NAS box that’s populated and ready to go right out of the box.
When you’re comparing prices, make sure you know whether or not the drivers are included. Ī word on pricing: Outside of Seagate and WD, NAS box vendors don’t manufacture hard drives, and sell their boxes “unpopulated ” i.e., without any hard drives installed. If you experience a disaster at home-a flood, fire, or earthquake-you’ll at least have the peace of mind that comes with knowing your data is safely backed up at another physical location. To get the best of both worlds, most boxes will sync with cloud storage services, providing another layer of data redundancy and disaster-recovery options. There’s a lot to like about this two-bay NAS box, starting with its support for 10-gigabit ethernet, but you can say the same for several other new boxes in this space, which is to say the competition is stiff. Updated November 18, 2020 to add our TerraMaster F2-422 review. In fact, NAS box builders have taken to calling their products “private clouds” in an effort to make the concept more familiar to consumers. It’s also easy to set up a NAS box to function just like those cloud services, enabling access from anywhere in the world. Backing up to local storage is much faster than relying on a cloud service such as DropBox or OneDrive, and the same goes for restoring an accidentally deleted file or recovering from a crashed system. NAS is also immensely handy for backing up and synchronizing the data on your computers and mobile devices. It can be just like Spotify, YouTube, or Netflix, except with your own media. Network-attached storage (NAS) is just the ticket for storing and streaming your own videos, music, and digital photos around the house and even across the world.