Prime Day Bargains on Synology, QNAP, Seagate, WD, Sabrent and More to Watch For

That’s right, it is that time once again when the biggest e-retail company in the world hosts Its very own mega sale – Amazon Prime Day 2022. No doubt many of us with a prime subscription burning a hole in our account every month will be keen to take advantage and perhaps save a few quid. Both home and business users alike often take this opportunity to upgrade or improve upon their existing data storage setup, and it should come as no surprise that several of the top-tier data storage and network tech providers in the world get involved with this annual mega sale. Unlike the likes of Black Friday, which is a longer and more widely spread bargain extravaganza, Amazon Prime Day is a shorter affair and therefore the time afforded to most buyers to make a decision on whether to buy or not can be criminally short. Today I want to highlight as many Amazon Prime Day deals that I can find below as possible. Alongside the deals that we (me and Eddie, working double time) find on network and data storage products during the event, I have also included a list of recommended hardware that you should keep an eye out for during this short sale event that is likely to spring up on lightning deals. 

Important – Me and Eddie (the chaps that run NASCompares) have been running these deal-hunting pages every Prime Day and Back Friday, searching and sharing the deals we find that WE would 100% personally buy! If it’s not something we consider a deal/bargain, we won’t add it. Additionally, users can add their own deals to the list (using the gadget below). Ultimately, we do this for a mixture of reasons. We want to help people get the best storage and/or network solution for their needs, but also because by choosing to visit Amazon via the links to the deals below, any purchase you make results in a small commission fee being sent right back to us at NASCompares (which goes directly back into making great content every day). We see Prime Day and Black Friday as a means of fundraising for the site and still helping people get the best possible deal they can. If you need help choosing the right solution for your needs (and want to be 100% sure before you pull the trigger and spend anything), you can use our Free Advice service right here.

————–  Useful Links  —————

US Amazon – Amazon USA Prime Day Official Page – Amazon UK Prime Day Official Page

Amazon Warehouse (20% Off Everything on Prime Day)

USA – UK – Germany

Synology NAS to Watch this Prime Day – Here

QNAP NAS to Watch this Prime Day – Here

Recommended PS5 SSDs to Buy this Prime Day – Here

Still unsure of what you need – use the Free Advice Section here on NASCompares.

Will Synology NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

Synology of currently midway through their latest generation of hardware releases and because of this we think during Prime Day there will be a good mix of the familiar hardware that has featured in previous sales over the last 12 months, as many of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 generation of NAS in the brand’s portfolio (such as the DS218/DS218play/DS418) is still available yet also starting to look a tad dated. These big sale events always tend to result in the lowest end of the Synology range (the cost-effective J series, DS220j and DS420j) appearing on limited offers. Finally, with new releases appearing gradually in the 2022 and 2023 generation, I think we will see Prime Day deals on their home and prosumer 2/4 bay solutions. Last year’s Prime Day AND Balck Friday saw the DS920+ appear on a limited offer of £55/$75 off the RRP of this device and now the device is 2 years old, it will almost certainly reappear during the Prime Day Sale again. Here are the solutions I recommend you check on intermittently if you are looking for a Synology bargain:

Synology DS220j Budget-Friendly NAS Realtek CPU + 512MB + 2-Bay	Synology DS418 Cost-Effective NAS Realtek CPU + 2GB + 4-Bay	Synology DS920+ Media & Business NAS Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 4-Bay

Will QNAP NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

QNAP has revealed noticeably more of their latest generation hardware than their big competitor Synology, however, the brand is still periodically offering promotions online for their 2020 generation of hardware at a large number of retailers for its TS-x53D and TVS-X72 series, almost certainly in efforts to reduce stock levels in the run-up to newer and better premium solutions soon. Now that the QNAP TS-464 system has been revealed (although availability is still quite regionally limited) and with the summer holiday just around the corner, there will be an inevitable new product push that these products tend to receive in the last quarter of the year (starting typically around September/October), I can definitely see QNAP listing their more affordable desktop ranges in Amazon’s Prime Day sale. QNAP’s range of NAS solutions is easily one of the most diverse of any NAS brand and although it is highly unlikely that any of the TS-x64 series will be on sale this Prime Day, I DO think we will see the likes of the QNAP TS-453D, TS-233 and TS-251D appear on sale. These solutions are a good mix of old but solid, as well as new but ‘value’ series. QNAP tend to be more engaged with Black Friday than Prime Day typically, but this event is arriving at an important crossroads in the release of new hardware, so it would be a good opportunity for them to clear old generation devices that still run their QTS/QuTS 5 software.

QNAP TS-233 Cost-Effective NAS ARM v8 + 2GB + 2-Bay	QNAP TS-453D Prosumer 4K NAS Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 4-Bay + 2.5G	QNAP TS-364 2022 Gen NAS New Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 3/5-Bay + 2.5G

NAS Upgrades to look for this Amazon Prime Day

Perhaps you already own a NAS Drive from Synology or QNAP, but are considering using the promotional available this Amazon Prime Day to upgrade your existing server network. Most NAS drives released in the last 10 years that arrive built on x86 64bit architecture (i.e Intel Celeron, Pentium, Xeon or AMD Ryzen, Embedded Ryzen or Radeon Powered onboard) have the facility to upgrade several internal components, or even simply add further network or storage modules to the device in order to improve performance and allow it to be more future proof. Not every NAS owner takes advantage of this, as it more often than not requires a little bit of opening the NAS up, but more modern NAS releases have SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the necessity of this (often with upgrade slots/bays being accessible externally or via the main storage bays). The improvements of increasing your memory, adding SSD caching support, improving your network connectivity and/or adding an expansion are pretty huge and particularly business users with higher frequency ad volume of connections 24×7 will see AND feel the benefits. There are ALOT of 1st and 3rd party upgrades available, so it is important to check that 1) you are opting for an upgrade that is compatible with your system and 2) that you are remaining in the warranty/support area of your NAS manufacturer. If in doubt, you can ask me and Eddie HERE about an upgrade and it’s suitability in the free advice section, but otherwise here are the four upgrades that I recommend you look for this Amazon Prime Day.

CRUCIAL DDR4 Module Value Memory Upgrade	Sabrent 3200Mhz Heatshield Memory Highest Performance & Design	Startech 10GbE Upgrade VERY Affordable 10G	Seagate Ironwolf 510 SSD Best Price vs Durability Cache Drive

Will Terramaster NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

Terramaster NAS, frankly, ALWAYS appears on sale during Prime Day and Black Friday events on Amazon with exclusive deals for their more cost-effective value series of NAS devices. They are a brand that more often than not will provide a NAS solution that is comparable in hardware to Synology and QNAP, but significantly more affordable. Much like their competitors, Terramaster is in the process of rolling out their x43 2022 generation of hardware and we have already started seeing reductions in price on the 2020/2021 generation of devices in the FX-421 and FX-422 range of solutions. Of course, the brand also provides a range of thunderbolt raid solutions, and even though I anticipate some of the NAS hardware to pop up briefly in the sales, I think it is more likely that we will see their thunderbolt RAID solutions appear more prominently. Terramaster were one of the first to show off their 2022 series of devices and will be less keen for this hardware to appear in the Prime Day sale, however, thunderbolt 4 has begun to gain traction in the post-production world and therefore TerraMaster’s thunderbolt 3 hardware is in danger of looking a little outdated and is almost certainly due an upgrade in the near future. Therefore, keep an eye out for this brand’s Thunderbolt RAID hardware this Prime Day.

Terramaster F2-210 Low Price NAS 4-Core ARM v8 + 1GB + 2-Bay	Terramaster F5-221 Budget Media NAS Intel CPU + 2/8GB + 5-Bay + 1G	Terramaster F5-422 Affordable 10G NAS Intel 4-Core CPU + 4/8GB + 5-Bay + 10G

Will we see many NAS Hard Drive Deals this Prime Day from Seagate and WD?

Every Amazon Prime Day we see the two big hard drive manufacturers, Seagate and WD, throw all manner of storage media deals out to the general public. More often than not, these are external hard drives and USB storage for the most part, but they always include a few hard drive offerings too. Continued hardware shortages that date back all the way to early 2020 caused by everything from the pandemic to cryptocurrency and the impact of international conflict, likely mean that much larger capacity hard drives above 10TB will either not be featured in the sale at all or be in such low quantities that you will almost certainly miss them. However, deals on WD Red and Seagate Ironwolf drives at these big promo events do still appear and more often than not at the 4TB, 6TB and 8TB levels. If you are looking at populating your brand new NAS Drive or look into upgrade your existing storage, these may well be the ones for you.

NAS Hard Drives & SSD to Look for this Amazon Prime Day

WD Red HDD 5400RPM / 1-14TB	Seagate Ironwolf HDD 5900RPM / 1-14TB / Data Recov	WD Red SSD SATA, M.2 SATA & PCIe3 NVMe	Seagate Ironwolf SSD SATA, M.2 SATA & PCIe3/4 NVMe

Recommended IP Cameras, Web Cameras, PoE NVR and Surveillance Equipment the Prime Day

Not a single Prime Day goes by without a huge range of IP cameras from hundreds of different surveillance brands flooding the special offers page. Thanks to efficient software controllers and much more affordable lenses being developed, you generally cannot move for IP cameras arriving on Amazon. If you are looking at starting your own surveillance setup (such as with a Synology or QNAP NAS Drive or without using a complete NVR Solution) or simply looking to expand across an existing NVR or CCTV operation you have in place, be sure to look out for Riolink and D-Link this Prime Day as these two brands provide an extensive range of very well built cameras that tend to regularly appear on Amazon’s lightning deals and occasional promotional events. Otherwise, be sure to look for any camera that supports ONVIF, to ensure that you are not locked in to any first party, cloud or subscription storage.

Surveillance/Camera Brands to watch this Amazon Prime Day

Reolink Surveillance Smart Cameras, Value Cameras, Dual Lense	D-Link Surveillance Cost-Effective, Wide Range, AI Services	Annke Surveillance Excellent Nightvision Cameras – Affordable	ONVIF CAMERAS for NAS Cameras for Synology/QNAP

Recommended Network Switches to keep an eye on this Amazon Prime Day

It has taken a while, but the affordability of 2.5GbE and even 10GbE has finally reached a point where not only are they accessible to the average John Doe/Joe Blogs, but they regularly appear on seasonal promotions. During Prime Day there will be significant savings to be made on managed and unmanaged switches from the likes of Netgear, D-Link and QNAP, who have been bolstering their portfolio to rise to the demand of remote/home works and evolved networks during the difficult first year of the pandemic as office workers evolved. Even if you are not interested in these greater than gigabit network solutions, Netgear regularly reduce the price point of their 5/8 Ports 1 GbE switches during Prime Day to just a few quid (last year there was one for a frankly comedic £6) and you will really not find a better time to start improving upon your network environment and wired land than during this event.

Switches to Look for this Amazon Prime Day

QNAP Network Switches Smart Cameras, Value Cameras, Dual Lense	D-Link Network Switches Cost-Effective, Wide Range, AI Services	Netgear Network Switches Excellent Nightvision Cameras – Affordable

PS5 SSD Upgrades to Look for the Amazon Prime Day

It is almost a year now since Sony enabled the storage upgrade capabilities of the PlayStation. 5 and in that time we have seen a huge number of SSD manufacturers, big and small, release countless SSDs that all promise to be the perfect storage upgrade for your new next-gen console. In the past year or so I have conducted and published hundreds of SSD PS5 tests and during that time identified what I believe to be the very best drives for your PS5 that you should consider buying this Prime Day. Much as I mentioned earlier with larger capacity hard drives, SSDs are also suffering something of a hardware shortage and it is the bigger companies such as WD and Seagate that appear to be suffering the most as they are the ones held in the highest demand. Therefore, during Prime Day, it presents a fantastic opportunity for less high-profile brands to provide much more flexible promotional pricing and during Prime Day, you can bet your bum that there will be a wide variety of PCIe 4 NVMe M2 SSDs on offer. Remember – Resist the marketing of any brand that is not prepared to publish its performance figures and also factor in that you are going to need a heat sink for this super-fast but also high-temperature SSD for your PlayStation upgrade. Here are the SSDs I recommend that you look out for this Prime Day for your PS5.

WD Black SN850 – For Value 500GB – 2TB, Heatsink Option	Seagate Firecuda 530 – For Speed/Durability 500B – 4TB, Heatsink Option. Data Recov	Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Best All-Round 1TB-8TB, PS5 Design H/S, 176L NAND	GAMMIX XPG X70 – Price + Design INNOGRIT CONT, 2 H/S Options Inc

DON’T FORGET YOUR HEATSINK!!!

Sabrent PS5 Design H/S	ElecGear PS5 Designed H/S	Generic M.2 Heatsink ($10-12)

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Drobo, the pioneering data storage company, has had an interesting and noteworthy journey since its inception in 2005. Known for developing user-friendly, advanced storage solutions that emphasize simplicity and reliability, the company has encountered various highs and lows in the market. Let’s dive into the history of Drobo, tracing its evolution through the years.

Drobo, How it Began (2005-2010)

Data Robotics, known today as Drobo, was founded by Geoff Barrall in December 2004 in California. Geoff had the vision of creating a new kind of storage technology, a product that was easy to use, flexible, and above all, highly secure. He aspired to make technology that was a “data robot” – automated, intelligent, and adaptable – hence the name Drobo, a portmanteau of “data” and “robot.” The company officially launched its first product, the original Drobo, in June 2007. The device was a 4-bay external storage device known for its simplicity and ease of use. What set it apart was its ability to hot-swap drives of nearly any size without requiring data migration. It was designed to manage resources without the need for human intervention, and it offered flexible data protection schemes. It was a breakthrough product at the time because it introduced an entirely new concept in storage – automated storage that didn’t require extensive knowledge or configuration to manage.

The original Drobo was marketed as a “storage robot” that simplified the task of data storage, making RAID, a system typically used by large companies and IT professionals, accessible to everyday consumers and small businesses. This was a significant step in democratising storage technology. With the help of Drobo, users did not need to worry about the intricate details of traditional RAID setups. Moreover, the original Drobo was hailed for its design as well. It was sleek, quiet, and attractive, unusual for storage hardware usually relegated to the unseen corners of a desk or a data center. Drobo was bringing style to the world of storage, making their devices something people were happy to have visible in their workspace.

Despite being a relatively young company, Data Robotics managed to create a lot of buzz in the tech world with the Drobo. The concept was unique, and the implementation was effective. Drobo became the buzzword for simplified and automated data storage. Drobo’s launch was so successful that it set the tone for the brand for years to come. In conclusion, the early years of Drobo from 2005 to 2007 marked the inception and launch of a pioneering data storage product. The company successfully carved out a niche for itself in the competitive storage market, and its innovative approach to storage garnered attention and praise. This period laid the foundation for the Drobo brand and its mission to simplify storage for all. Over the next three years, Drobo’s unique, self-managing storage solutions attracted attention in the market. They offered an appealing mix of data protection, expandability, and ease of use. The successful launch of Drobo FS, a network-attached storage (NAS) device, in 2010 further cemented Drobo’s reputation as a customer-centric innovator in the industry.

Drobo Entering the Business Market (2010-2013)

In the wake of its initial success with consumers, Drobo began to set its sights on the lucrative business market. Recognizing the burgeoning data storage needs of businesses, Drobo embarked on a strategic journey to capture a significant share of this market. In 2010, Drobo made a bold move with the launch of DroboPro FS, a network-attached storage device specifically designed for small to medium businesses (SMBs). This model included a dual-drive redundancy feature, which provided extra protection for data, a feature highly valued by businesses. Additionally, it supported iSCSI, a network protocol that allows the sending and receiving of SCSI commands over IP networks, making data transfers faster and more efficient. Recognizing the importance of support and reliability for business customers, Drobo also launched DroboCare for the DroboPro FS. This service provided enhanced support features, such as 24/7 technical support and advanced hardware replacement. These additions were significant, demonstrating Drobo’s understanding of business customer needs and its willingness to meet them.

In 2011, Drobo continued its foray into the business market with the launch of the Drobo B800i and B800fs models, targeting larger businesses. These models featured 8 drive bays, significantly increasing storage capacity. The B800i model also offered iSCSI connectivity, making it an attractive choice for businesses requiring large amounts of storage. This expansion into the iSCSI SAN market underscored Drobo’s intent to serve the data storage needs of businesses. The following year, in 2012, Drobo took another leap forward with the release of the Drobo B1200i. This model was a significant upgrade from its predecessors, offering 12 bays for increased capacity. It also featured automated data-tiering, a mechanism that moves data between high-cost and low-cost storage media—typically fast SSDs and slower hard drives—depending on its usage and value. This feature was particularly beneficial for businesses, as it allowed for optimized storage performance and cost-effectiveness.

Throughout this period, Drobo was consistently recognized for its efforts. The company received numerous awards for its products, including several “Editor’s Choice” awards, further cementing its reputation as a leading provider of business storage solutions. By the end of 2013, Drobo had successfully established itself in the business market, offering a range of products to suit various business needs. The company had skillfully adapted its initial consumer-focused strategy to serve businesses, leveraging its unique value proposition of simplicity and user-friendly design, combined with powerful business-oriented features. The success of Drobo in the business market was indicative of its versatility and adaptability, traits that would continue to shape its journey in the years to come.

A Reminder of Key Innovations by Drobo over the Years!

Drobo has been a pioneering force in the world of network-attached storage (NAS) systems. Several key innovations have become synonymous with the brand over the years, enhancing their products’ usability, efficiency, and aesthetics. Let’s delve into some of these game-changing features.

Drobo Innovation #1. BeyondRAID – Flexibility Over Traditional RAID

Traditional RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) systems have long been the standard for data protection and performance. However, they require careful planning, the same sized drives, and can be difficult to manage. In contrast, Drobo introduced its proprietary BeyondRAID technology, fundamentally transforming the way RAID is perceived and utilized.

BeyondRAID retains the fundamental principles of RAID, but it introduces a level of flexibility unheard of with conventional systems. BeyondRAID is unique because it automates the traditional management tasks associated with RAID, including the configuration of RAID levels, provisioning of storage, and array expansion. It also supports the mixing of different drive sizes, which simplifies drive upgrades and expansion.

Drobo Innovation #2. Internal Battery in a Desktop NAS

Uninterrupted power supply (UPS) systems are common in data centers and server rooms, but less so in desktop storage systems. Drobo broke the mold by incorporating an internal battery in their desktop NAS devices.

This innovative feature ensured that the device would complete any ongoing data transactions even in the event of a sudden power loss, preventing data corruption and loss. This was an industry first and showcased Drobo’s commitment to data safety and security in their devices.

Drobo Innovation #3. Optional SSD for Caching

To improve the performance of their NAS systems, Drobo was one of the first companies to introduce an optional solid-state drive (SSD) for caching. This feature significantly improved the overall speed and efficiency of the system by storing frequently accessed data on the SSD, reducing latency and improving access times. This innovation reflected Drobo’s forward-thinking approach to enhancing user experience.

Drobo Innovation #4. Unique LED System

Drobo also introduced a unique LED system for system indicators and storage usage. Rather than requiring users to decipher complex codes or log into a software dashboard, Drobo’s front panel presented a simple, easy-to-understand light system. Coloured lights indicated overall system status, hard drive health, and capacity, enabling users to understand their system’s status at a glance. This user-friendly system was another example of Drobo’s focus on simplicity and accessibility.

Drobo Innovation #5. Modern Design and Low Noise

In an industry where many products are often visually unappealing and noisy, Drobo took a different approach. The company invested in sleek, modern designs that were quiet and low-noise. The innovative design philosophy resulted in products that users were comfortable displaying in their workspace, rather than hiding them away. This commitment to aesthetics was rare in the storage industry and it helped set Drobo apart.

Drobo’s numerous innovations in their products have greatly contributed to the evolution of NAS systems. From BeyondRAID’s flexibility to the incorporation of an internal battery, an optional SSD for caching, a unique LED system, and a commitment to modern, low-noise design, Drobo had continuously pushed the boundaries of what’s possible in desktop storage solutions. Unsurprisingly, they quickly gained high industry praise and would end up gaining the attention of bigger companies and buyers soon!

Drobo Transition and Reinvention (2013-2015)

In a turn of events that seemed both surprising and familiar, Drobo was acquired by Connected Data in 2013. This was a company founded by Geoff Barrall, the original creator of Drobo, after he had left Drobo in 2009. Connected Data, recognized for its Transporter product line, had carved out a niche for itself in the market for private cloud services. The union seemed fitting as both companies were driven by the same ethos of making data management simple and efficient. Following the acquisition, the companies merged their strengths, bringing together Drobo’s user-friendly storage solutions with Connected Data’s private cloud products. The strategy behind this merger was to provide a more comprehensive and seamless data storage solution for both individual users and businesses. The combined entity continued operating under the Drobo name, symbolizing the strength and market recognition of the brand.

The years following the merger saw Drobo refocusing its efforts on its foundational principle of simplicity. The company updated its product line to include features of private cloud storage, emphasizing user convenience. The move was seen as a response to the changing trends in data storage, with more businesses and individuals seeking the flexibility of cloud storage. However, in 2015, a significant change occurred. Drobo and Connected Data parted ways. Drobo was acquired by an investment group led by seasoned technology veterans who saw potential in Drobo’s simplified storage solutions. Despite this transition, Drobo maintained its brand identity and continued to operate independently, signaling a new phase in the company’s journey.

During these years, Drobo also updated its offerings to adapt to emerging technologies and user preferences. This included the integration of SSDs into their storage devices, as well as the introduction of devices compatible with newer data transfer protocols, like Thunderbolt. The move demonstrated Drobo’s commitment to innovation and reinforced its status as a competitive player in the evolving data storage market. This period of transition and reinvention was a pivotal one for Drobo. Not only did it reflect the company’s adaptability to changes in ownership and market trends, but it also reaffirmed its unwavering focus on delivering user-friendly, advanced storage solutions. Despite the changes, Drobo’s core principle of making data storage ‘self-managing, trouble-free, and affordable’ remained steadfast.

Drobo / Stoltz Capital Acquisition (2015)

As Drobo moved further into the mid-2010s, the company faced a turning point. Despite the success of its previous strategic shifts and product launches, it was clear that the rapidly evolving tech landscape was calling for another transformation. This transformation came in the form of an acquisition. In 2015, Drobo was acquired by an investment group led by seasoned tech investor, Stoltz Capital. The investment group saw significant potential in Drobo’s unique approach to data storage, and they were determined to help the company achieve its full potential. This acquisition was not merely a change in ownership. It signalled a new era for Drobo, one that was marked by a renewed focus on innovation and an aggressive drive to push the boundaries of what was possible in the data storage space.

Stoltz Capital’s deep pockets and commitment to Drobo’s vision provided the company with the resources it needed to invest heavily in research and development. This new financial backing was instrumental in enabling Drobo to continue developing its innovative data storage solutions, and to move forward with its plans for future expansion. Moreover, the acquisition brought new strategic guidance and management expertise to Drobo. This included a greater focus on strengthening Drobo’s competitive position in the market, and an increased emphasis on targeting high-growth sectors, such as cloud storage and other emerging technologies. The change in ownership also meant a shift in business strategy. With Stoltz Capital’s backing, Drobo started to venture into the Enterprise market, developing higher-end models designed to cater to large corporations with vast amounts of data. This move allowed Drobo to tap into a more lucrative market segment, further enhancing its growth prospects. The acquisition by Stoltz Capital was a defining moment in Drobo’s history. It marked a period of rejuvenation and expansion for the company, and set the stage for the next phase of Drobo’s evolution. The years following the acquisition saw Drobo ramping up its efforts to innovate and adapt in the face of an increasingly competitive and demanding market, efforts that would continue to shape the company’s trajectory in the years to come.

Drobo Facing Challenges and Changes (2016-2019)

In the years following the Stoltz Capital acquisition, Drobo faced a period of turbulence marked by a series of significant challenges and changes. Despite the acquisition’s promise and the infusion of new resources, the company had to navigate a highly competitive data storage market and adapt to the rapid technological advancements that were reshaping the industry. One of the most significant challenges that Drobo faced during this period was the pressure to stay ahead of technological changes. The rise of cloud computing and services like Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud fundamentally shifted the way businesses and individuals stored and accessed their data. Companies started to prefer these cloud storage solutions due to their scalability, ease of use, and lower upfront costs compared to traditional data storage methods. This rapid shift posed a threat to Drobo, whose products were primarily focused on on-site data storage. To stay relevant, the company had to innovate rapidly and find ways to integrate its offerings with these new technologies. This meant investing in new product development, adapting their existing products, and exploring partnerships with cloud providers to offer hybrid storage solutions.

The changing market dynamics also brought a surge of new competitors. Tech giants like Dell EMC and NetApp, as well as start-ups like Pure Storage and Nutanix, were all vying for a piece of the data storage market. These competitors, with their vast resources and advanced technologies, posed a significant threat to Drobo’s position in the market. In response to these challenges, Drobo underwent a series of changes. There was a major restructuring of the company’s operations and strategy to reduce costs, improve efficiency, and enhance the company’s competitiveness. This included scaling back certain areas of the business, focusing on core competencies, and ramping up investment in research and development. During this period, Drobo also unveiled new products designed to cater to the changing market needs. This included the release of more advanced NAS devices and the introduction of new cloud-compatible storage solutions. Drobo’s effort was focused on providing flexible, scalable, and cost-effective storage solutions that could cater to the needs of both small businesses and large corporations.

Despite the considerable challenges, this period also saw moments of success and innovation for Drobo. The company managed to weather the storm and laid the groundwork for its future in the rapidly evolving data storage market. This period, characterized by both adversity and adaptation, would ultimately prove critical in shaping Drobo’s future trajectory.

Drobo Closes Doors. The Recent Developments (2020-Present Day)

Though the years between 2016 and 2019 were pivotal for Drobo, marking a turning point as the company grappled with numerous challenges and embarked on significant changes. With technological advancements and shifting market dynamics reshaping the data storage industry, Drobo found itself in a tough position. The rise of cloud computing and its adoption by businesses and individuals posed a significant challenge for Drobo. Tech giants like Amazon and Google were offering scalable and user-friendly cloud storage services at lower upfront costs. In contrast, Drobo’s core offerings were primarily focused on on-premises data storage. This market shift required Drobo to innovate rapidly, and the company was under pressure to adapt its offerings to remain relevant.

Moreover, the data storage market also witnessed a surge in competition. Major tech companies and emerging startups were all vying for a piece of the market, threatening Drobo’s position. In response, Drobo undertook a significant restructuring of its operations and strategy. This involved scaling back certain areas of the business, concentrating on core competencies, and increasing investment in research and development. Despite these challenges, Drobo managed to introduce new products, including advanced NAS devices and cloud-compatible storage solutions, geared towards meeting changing market needs. These offerings were aimed at providing flexible, scalable, and cost-effective storage solutions for small businesses and large corporations alike.

However, the significant shift in the industry, combined with increased competition, eventually began to take its toll. Drobo’s parent company, StorCentric, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 2022, indicating significant financial distress. As time progressed, and StorCentric failed to find a buyer or restructure its assets, it became apparent that full liquidation was inevitable.

In April 2023, StorCentric shifted its bankruptcy status to Chapter 7, indicating a move towards liquidation and sale of assets. At this point, Drobo’s website announced that as of January 27, 2023, Drobo products and support were no longer available. It wasn’t immediately clear what would become of Drobo and its assets in the liquidation process. This period was undoubtedly challenging for Drobo. While the company had innovated and adapted in response to the changing industry landscape, it was clear that they were unable to keep up with the pace of change and the market’s demands. As Drobo’s story unfolded, it served as a poignant reminder of the rapid pace of technological change and the importance of staying agile and responsive in a fiercely competitive market.

Drobo Alternatives in 2023/2024?

With Drobo no longer in the running, there are several notable alternatives for Thunderbolt RAID storage and NAS systems available in the market. Here are some that might be of interest.

Why Choose Synology NAS to Replace Your Drobo?

Synology is often considered the ‘Software Choice’, as DSM (Diskstation Manager) is by far the most user-friendly, secure, responsive and ‘OS-like’ platform available in the whole of NAS. It may seem one of the most expensive, but with it, you get some genuine boundary-breaking software with your purchase.  You still get a great level of hardware in the majority of Synology NAS solutions, but the real draw of Synology is that software. Not only does it support your own hardware environment of PCs, Macs, entertainment devices and mobiles in their own respective software, but DSM also includes MANY applications designed around keeping all your data IN-HOUSE. So, replace Skype/Whatsapp with Synology Chat, Replace Google Docs and Office365 with Synology Office. Use Synology Drive to make your storage visible and accessible the way YOU want it, and export your entire cloud/data network over to a Synology NAS and remove all the external access as and when you need! They aren’t the cheapest and they want you to do it ‘there way’, but it’s a pretty decent way. Additionally, their recent DSM 7.0 software has left many users impressed, with enhanced support of those 3rd party cloud storage and business services, AI photo recognition, their surveillance platform continuing to win awards and even an in-house cloud service in Synology C2. Stylizing themselves very much as the ‘Apple’ of this industry, they really do focus on keeping things straightforward and intuitive.

PROS of Synology NAS

• Easily the most intuitive and Usage browser-based GUI (award-winning DSM 6.2/7.0/7.1) – FULL Review HERE
• One of the best Surveillance NAS software solutions
• Most popular vendor for Mac users for it’s UI
• Incredibly feature-rich NVR software included, in Surveillance Station
• Includes Active Backup Suite – Enterprise level and fully featured Backup Co-ordination software
• Lowest Power Consumption vs other brands
• A large # of their systems arrive with m.2 NVMe SSD caching upgrade bays
• Quiet chassis compared with other brands
• Task specialised Ranges like ‘PLAY’, ‘PLUS’ and ‘J’ make buying easier
• The best range of first-party software, with Synology Office, Chat, Mail, Drive and more
• SHR and SHR-2 – also BTRFS available in most solutions
• Cloud Services and Hybrid Storage Tools available in Synology C2
• Desktop and Rack-mount options are available
• Best software for Home and SMB

CONS of Synology NAS

• Often the most expensive
• Recent Enterprise NAS Hardware has changed Compatibility in favour of Synology HDDs and SSDs
• Generally, Synology NAS has the lowest hardware power in their systems
• NVMe SSD Bays are for caching ONLY, they cannot be used for super-fast storage pools (Note – Changed in DSM 7.2 for SOME devices)
• More technically minded folk will need to dig a little to get to the nitty-gritty
• SHR is not available on Enterprise NAS Systems
• Network ONLY – no HDMI, Audio in/out, Thunderbolt, etc

Why Choose QNAP NAS to Replace Your Drobo?

Often considered the choice for the more hardware-aware buyer, if you are looking for a much more traditionally computer associated hardware – QNAP NAS is certainly the one that springs to mind. Generally considered the ‘innovators’ of the NAS industry, they have the largest range of solutions available Notwithstanding the fact that their hardware is by FAR the most evolved platform in NAS (thunderbolt 3, multiple HDMI, 10Gbe standard solutions, Silent NAS, AI solutions and advanced SSD caching), the platform is fantastically diverse, providing great NAS options alongside network switches, network adapters and generally reshaping your hardware environment for the better. The software has also evolved dramatically into its own beast, moving away from trying to imitate and carving its own path. It is a little more technically (and I really do mean a little) but it is far more rewarding for it. They do not feature some popular items on their portfolio, such as BTRFS or a fluid RAID system like SHR/BeyondRAID, but make up for this with their own range of alternatives and in most cases succeed. Get your reading glasses on though, as their range is quite vast and might overwhelm you a tad. In recent years the brand has shifted focus a great deal more towards software in efforts to meet the gap with their rival Synology to pretty good success. This is often achieved by releasing software that does the previously impossible before anyone else, but lacking a little of the polish of their biggest rival. Recent achievements with HybridMount, vJBOD, HyperVisor Protector, QuMagie and Multimedia Console have been received remarkably well, arriving onto the scene 1-2 years before anyone else. Alongside this, QNAP still has easily the best virtual machine and backup software for home and SMB in Virtualization Station and Hybrid Backup Sync.

PROS of QNAP NAS

• Best Solutions for Plex Media Server in NAS
• Enterprise/Business Solutions feature ZFS
• 2.5Gbe, 5Gbe and 10Gbe Options
• Best Virtual Machine and Container Solutions in NAS
• NVMe SSD Bays can be used for Caching, Storage Pools or Tiered Storage Configurations
• Almost all range is metal in design, or a plastic but unique chassis
• HDMI and remote control included in most Media NAS devices
• Thunderbolt NAS options covering TB2, TB3 and even TB4 (TS-464)
• Two Surveillance Solutions (with 4/8 Camera Licenses included)
• The Best Backup/Synchronization solution in ‘Hybrid Backup Sync 3’
• Technical information far more readily available
• Lower price compared with Synology in terms of hardware
• Regularly updated software and Detailed GUI/APPs – FULL Review HERE
• Desktop and Rackmount options are available
• Much better business options and definitely the best for virtual machines

CONS of QNAP NAS

• A more android feel towards apps and stability means some users will be put off
• Lacking the BTRFS and SHR support of Synology
• Higher typical Power consumption
• Often a fraction noisier due to chiefly metal chassis
• Much larger range of devices can lead to confusion
• Most units arrive with 2-3 Years warranty, but longer will cost you more
• Have been targetted by Ransomware attacks in the last 2 years

Recommended Synology Replacement for the Drobo 5N2 NAS – The DS920+ and DS1522+ NAS

Choosing to replace the Drobo 5N2 5-Bay NAS with a Synology is actually a surprisingly easy choice. Right now at the time of writing, there are two very clear Diskstaiton devices that you can choose (if you want to stay at this kind of storage sale). The Synology DS920+ 4-Bay NAS (originally released in 2020) and the Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS (released in June 2022). The former has been in the market for long enough that multiple deals are available and if/when the DS923+ arrives on the scene, it will likely become increasingly affordable – in spite of this, the hardware inside is great and it’s a solid fully featured NAS. The latter choice, the DS1522+, is the latest 2022 generation release from the brand, has great default system hardware and plenty of scalabilities and upgrade options to add to the system’s utility in years to come. Find out more about them both below:

Synology DS923+ 4-Bay NAS $500+

AMD Emb.Ryzen R1600 2-Core, 4/32GB Memory, 1GbE, Optional 10GbE, NVMe SSD Caching+Pools, Expandable, SHR, 4x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 21/05/20

Synology has clearly made something of a gamble in the release of the Synology DS923+ NAS. There is no avoiding that making the switch from the Intel Celeron that has historically been the build choice of this product family and opting for the AMD Emb.Ryzen has ruffled some feathers! On the face of it, the R1600 here has a heck of alot of going for it over the previous generation! Higher clock speed, greater PCIe Gen 3 Support throughout, that 4-32GB of DDR4 memory in such a compact system and just generally giving you a lot more horsepower to play with, as well as better bandwidth potential inside and out! But at what cost? The 1GbE standard connectivity in the base model leaves alot to be desired, the proprietary 10Gb upgrade (though incredibly handy) limits the upgradability a tad and the lack of an integrated graphics processor is likely going to result in many long-term Synology advocates to skip this generation. Synology Diskstation Manager (DSM 7.1 at the time of writing) still continues to impress and although the brand still continues to heavily push their 1st party priorities, they have left a little more wriggle room in DSM 7.1 than DSM 7 before it in terms of media compatibility. In terms of design, I cannot fault Synology on this as the DS923+ chassis still arrives as one of the best-looking and still exceptionally well-structured devices at this physical scale and storage level. As always, a Synology NAS is more about the software than the hardware (and the DS923+ delivers in spades on the software side!) and with DSM 7.2 around the corner improving things. Just always keep in mind that the Synology DS923+ NAS is a system that arrives with the slight emphasis on having to do many things ‘their way’. If you are less technically versed, then you will definitely appreciate this level of user-friendly design and assistance, but more technically minded admins’ main strain a pinch! In short, the DS923+ IS a good NAS drive, but its focus has certainly ebbed more towards the business user this generation than the home.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS $750+

Ryzen R1600 Dual Core, 8/32GB ECC Memory,4x1GbE, Optional 10GbE for $150, NVMe SSD Caching, Expandable, SHR, 5x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 29/06/22

The Synology DS1522+ is a good NAS drive and most business-focused users are going to appreciate what this newer configuration of hardware is able to provide. There was never any doubt in the extent to which this new NAS would support DSM7, and given its architecture, there is virtually nothing in the popular NAS software that this system cannot do. Likewise, having the option of 10GbE on a Diskstation of this scale will be hugely attractive to some, though the proprietary means with which you need to upgrade is arguably less desirable. The R1600 CPU is a good choice of processor for file handling and simultaneous tasks, as is the 8GB of memory that this system arrives with, plus the potential to ramp it up to 32GB. After that though, the desirability of this system to home users and multimedia users is a little less compelling and with such a large audience of users who look at NAS for their media streaming, the DS1522+ not featuring a more graphically enabled chip will leave them somewhat underwhelmed. Bottom line, the DS1522+ is a solid and full DSM7 supporting system here and you cannot fault the design, internal/external performance and ease of use of this Synology NAS. However, there will always be users wondering why this NAS never arrived with an Intel chip.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended QNAP Replacement for the Drobo 5N2 NAS – The QNAP TS-464 and TS-h973ax

If you decide to move away from the Drobo 5-Bay 5N22 and towards a QNAP, then I recommend opting for either the 2022 generation TS-464 NAS (as it is really is the best hardware vs scale vs price point the brand has ever released) or the incredibly mutli-facited QNAP TS-h973ax, which as 10GbE, 3 kinds of storage media supported across 9-Bays and the choice of file system at initialization of ZFS or EXT4. Here is more information on these two NAS and what we said about them when reviewed:

QNAP TS-464 4-Bay NAS $599+

Intel Celeron 4-Core N5105, 4/16GB Memory, 2×2.5GbE, NVMe SSD Caching or for Storage, HDMI 2.0 4K 60PFS, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb), USB RAID Expandable, PCIe Gen 3×2 Upgrade Slot, 4x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 18/04/22

The TS-464 comfortably arrives with the best hardware in its tier of the NAS market and that is something that QNAP has always been quite good at. Even if you rewind just 5 years, the level of hardware scalability and ease of upgradability that the TS-464 provides is frankly incredible and, fast forward to 2022, is still pretty unmatched. A Desktop 4-Bay NAS (eg Prosumer RAID 5 storage) has always been the next confident step for users who are tired of their hands being tied by subscription cloud services from Google, OneDrive and DropBox, who are looking for their own competent, flexible and fully-featured private server. In the TS-464 NAS, you find a system that is unquestionable the best hardware for your money you can possibly get right now. In software, things are a little less straightforward. QTS 5, although massively software and service-rich, arrives as a complete operating system in your web browser with multiple mobile/desktop clients and hundreds of applications and apps that can be installed at the touch of a button – which can all too often be something of a steep learning curve for many. Lacking the chewable, user-friendly nature of many of their rivals, QNAP and its software/service still have a tendency to be a bit of an information overload that can quickly intimidate the novice. However, for those that are looking for a system that is completely customizable in how/when/where you want data presented to you, as well as a wide degree of 3rd party support, QNAP and QTS 5 still manages to provide a huge degree of brand-unique service that are simply not available elsewhere. Just be prepared to invest your time wisely in its setup and more time ensuring the system is perfect for your needs.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

QNAP TS-h973ax 5/9-Bay NAS $999+

AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad Core, 8/32GB Memory, 1x 10GbE, 2×2.5GbE, 5x SATA HDD, 2x SATA SSD, 2x U.2 NVMe SSD, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb), USB RAID Expandable, ZFS or EXT4 File System Choice, 2yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 13/11/20

I have seen a lot of network-attached storage over the years and the TS-h973AX brings a lot of colour to what was fast becoming a somewhat grey landscape. In short, QNAP has gone and done it again by proving they are the hardware innovators of this industry and have managed to provide a genuinely unique solution here. When they first revealed their new Hero ZFS operating system last year, you could not help but get the impression that only top-end enterprise businesses with £10K starting budgets were ever going to benefit. The TS-h973AX desktop NAS is solid evidence that QNAP will share the wealth and that this is the start of a whole new series of affordable ZFS solution from the brand. That isn’t to say that this system is perfect and pernickety points about a lack of HDMI or LCD may put off some users, and the compact 9 bay chassis that will attract some will no doubt deter others. Ultimately though QNAP has succeeded in creating what they sought out here and what we find is one of the best examples of hardware and software meeting in the middle, while still arriving with a price tag in 3 figures. In the current absence of a straight forward QuTS license purchase option for existing QNAP NAS systems right now, this is a solution that serves as a good alternative to a number of 4 and 6 Bay solutions in their portfolio. Though, make sure you upgrade that memory on day one! 

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended Synology Replacement for the Drobo B810n NAS – The DS1821+ NAS

Replacing or deciding against the Drobo B810n 8-Bay NAS system and opting for a Synology is, if anything, considerably easier than moving away from the 5N. Synology has a great history of 8-Bay NAS devices and the 2021 generation DS1821+ is a fantastic choice of NAS system. It supports the full range of DSM applications, has scalable storage, can be expanded by ten more drives, has in-built m.2 NVMe slots, a high bandwidth PCIe Upgrade slot and still manages to be very petite. Here is more information on the Synology DS1821+ and what we thought of it at review:

Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay NAS $1,100+

AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad Core, 4/32GB Memory, 4x1GbE, 8x SATA HDD, 2x NVMe SSD for Caching, PCIe Gen 3×8 Upgrade Slot, SHR or Traditional RAID, BTRFS or EXT4 File System Choice, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 15/12/20

What you have here is a solid piece of hardware that very much lives up to everything Synology promises, even if some of those promises aren’t to everyone’s taste. With a hardware architecture that we have already tested to notable success in the DS1621+ previously, we already knew that this NAS would be able to do everything it promised. Many users looking to spend their annual business budgets on an improved or extended data storage solution will find the balanced position of hardware vs software found by the Synology DS1821+ to be quite desirable, as well as the scaled potential to upgrade external performance via PCIe and storage via eSATA. However, there is no ignoring that despite the fact this 2020 release excels in many things, it also arrives with a little bottlenecking in a number of others. The continued default utilisation of 1Gbe on the newest generation by Synology is somewhat perplexing and although I have continued admiration for Synology’s engagement with intelligent M2 NVMe cache utilisation and providing a solution that allows more flexible upgrade paths, I know that there are still users who just wish they could use that super fast NAND for raw storage pools and have better than gigabit connections out by default. It has never been a secret that buying a Synology NAS solution was always a largely ‘software over hardware’ purchase, and the DS1821+ is still a fine example of that balance. However, with other brands closing the gap in what they can offer the SMB (Small/Medium Business) user, while still providing superior hardware and similar warranty coverage, there is the tiniest feeling that the DS1821+ is a NAS that sits on its laurels a bit. Hugely upgradable and still with that award-winning and fantastically intuative DSM software, the DS1821+ is about buying a solution you can adapt within its lifespan and not one that will knock your socks off on day one. A solid and dependable data storage solution, if a little safe, at the end of 2020.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended QNAP Replacement for the Drobo B810n NAS – The TVS-872X NAS

0-176TB, 8-Bays, 2x PCIe 4 M.2 NVMe 2280, PCIe Gen 4×16 Upgrade Slot, Intel Core 12th Gen i5/i7/i9 CPU, 16-64GB DDR4 Memory, 2.5Gbe Port, 10Gb x2 Prots (Intel i9 Version), KVM, ZFS or EXT4 Setup, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $2000-2500-3000

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Dec ’22:

The QNAP TVS-h874 NAS is easily one of the most hardware-capable desktop NAS systems that I have ever seen (as you would expect for £2500+) and has clearly been designed with phenomenal future proofing in mind! If you are concerned about the longevity of this NAS, this hardware architecture will still be top tier 5 years from now, with the added support of PCIe 4 meaning that high capacity and performing micro upgrades throughout its life also ensuring it remains relevant long after. It’s price tag clearly moves this purchase out of the home and squarely into the business market (though likely those that take their media seriously will add it to the cart) and the TVS-h874 will function as a solid solution for Video editing (even at 8K), high frequency and performing VMs, large scale AI powered Surveillance setup, hybrid cloud/on-prem alternative to Office 365/Google Workspace services and as the center point for all your data storage operations. Crucially though, it is that the hardware on offer here will be able to do ALL of these at the same time, therefore maximising the investment for most businesses that want to move aware from their cloud dependant ops. In terms of software,t things are a little less absolute, with QTS and QuTS still getting a little busy at times, with a steeper learning curve than its big rival DSM from Synology. That said, die-hard fans of ZFS (Zettabyte File System) will adore the inclusion of benefits in RAID handling, management and recovery that are exclusive to that platform, whilst enjoying the wide range of applications and service benefits in QuTS that are often restricted to Linux platforms.  The slightly conveluded approach to release hardware that does complicate the selection process (different CPUs in the Intel 12th Gen family changing the rest of the system architecture) is something that I hoped this brand would graduate from (for the sake of simplicity), but for many, this level of choice in hardware and budget will be welcome. As is QNAP’s position on the support of 3rd party hardware (drives, PCIe upgrades, etc) and software, something that we have seen a worrying trend in the last few years against elsewhere in the industry but some other brands, to err towards 1st party/proprietary compatibility more and more. There are still lingering doubts by some on the security of NAS, with ransomware attacks on the rise and ALL brands and ALL platforms being targetted (NAS, Cloud ,etc), finding a middle ground between ease of use and depth of security being a tricky tie rope walk indeed. The TVS-h874 arrives with a wide range of Day 1 tools, further rigid defaults in QTS/QuTS in 2022/2023, considerable security settings to configure and multiple system scan tools for recommendations & preventative measures available. The QNAP TVS-h874 is probably the most powerful desktop/tower NAS drive I have ever reviewed and if you are looking for a system that can legitimately do anything server-side, but you are also willing to put in the time to configure it correctly – you will genuinely be hard pushed to find a better system in 2022, 2023 and likely 2024 at this price point and scale.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Why Not Use Cloud Services like Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox instead of a NAS?

Do not think that 3rd party cloud services are bad, they really aren’t! In fact, you should always consider adding a 2nd or 3rd tier into your backup strategy at home/work, and synchronization of files/folders on your NAS with the cloud is a good means to ensure you have another backup in place. Additionally, most NAS feature a variety of 256bit encryption options, password protection, 2 step verification and more to allow secure access is ensured to the NAS and the content, even via the cloud. Additionally, bg NAS brands like Synology and QNAP have been supporting Hybrid Cloud services that not only allow cloud storage to be bolted onto your NAS storage for shared usage and access, but also both brand support backup and synchronization with cloud collaborate services, such as Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365. So there is DEFINITELY still a valid and useful place for 3rd party cloud services in 2022, however, I rarely advocate the use of these cloud services as a PRIMARY storage location. They ARE convenient and you can get a limited amount of space included for free, but I generally have three core reasons that I do not recommend cloud as a first-tier storage.

COST – The cost of most 2-year subscriptions costs about the same as if you just purchased even a small-scale NAS on day 1. It might seem like just 5 or 10 bucks a month, but over 2 or 3 years, it all adds up and moreover, after that time you either need to keep on paying every month or still buy a NAS or DAS system for the data to live on. Might as well buy the NAS sooner rather than later as it will be inevitable eventually.

ACCESS – NAS provides more apps, file-level tailored use and can be better adapted into popular 3^rd Party applications like PLEX, KODI, APPLE TIME MACHINE and DLNA supported devices. A cloud provider severely limits the kind of access you have on a regular basis.

PRIVACY – NAS provides full individual user control and access, as well as admin controls. Plus the NAS can be fully disconnected from the Internet/Network at your discretion. A cloud provider has a relative pre-set safety protocol that, when cracked on one or two occasions, opens up mass hacking

This is not to say that data on your NAS is completely inaccessible. Any NAS brand can only really stay 1 step ahead of the hackers, patching exploits as they are found (no different than any online service really), but a NAS is a means to create a secure, customizable and ultimately bespoke data storage solution.

What About Moving from Drobo to Asustor or Terramaster NAS?

Obviously, as NAS is such a popular and highly evolved area of the tech industry (despite it still also remaining quite niche compared with traditional computers and laptops), Synology and QNAP are not the ONLY brands in the market! Indeed, if you have been looking at moving away from Drobo and saw some affordably devices from Asustor or Terramaster, you will likely wonder why I have not covered them as much in this article (though I DO cover them and their solutions in the video embedded in this article above). Although both brands have been providing some great hardware (both for the price AND just generally) in 2022, these brands do not provide the full range of software and services (especially 1st party developed) that QNAP and Synology do. Their respective software in ADM and TOS aren’t bad, indeed they are very good and very responsive with many apps, they just are not on the same level as Synology DSM and QNAP QTS/QuTS right now. You can find out more about their software in the software review videos of each below:

Should I Move From Drobo to TrueNAS Core?

Many Drobo users, after using their systems for many years and (after becoming increasingly proficient) started to feel its limitations, might have heard about the free and DiY NAS server platform ‘TrueNAS’ (aka FreeNAS) and considering making the switch towards it after Drobo. It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that when it comes to TrueNAS is a fantastically capable software for managing your storage. It even manages to swerve the downfall of being ‘too enterprise’ but arriving as an open source free software platform to be enjoyed by businesses and storage enthusiasts. There is no avoiding that it IS quite a technical mountainous learning curve if you are arriving at it from a position of zero storage or network experience, but the last few big TrueNAS system updates have gone a long way to update some UI elements to be more intuitive, software wide help notes available at all times and the community support is as on-point at it has ever been. If you are a home users looking for a hurdles setup or a day-1 deployable system for your small business, then TrueNAS may be too big a jump for you and you would be better off with a traditional off-the-shelf NAS system. However, if you have the know-how, you have the willingness to get your hands dirty and already have the hardware in mind/in-house, then TrueNAS stands in a class of it’s own and thanks to some very unique architecture choices that are almost utterly unique to this platform, it’s pretty unparalleled in its scope. Just please, PLEASE remember that a Drobo NAS is a ‘turnkey’ solution (aka, ready to go out of the box) and TrueNAS Core and TrueNAS Scale involve ALOT more setup and a much higher learning curve. You can buy TrueNAS-ready systems, such as the iXsystems series of devices, but these are still rather expensive compared with the modest Drobo and still require ALOT of tech knowledge to make the most of. You can find out more about the TrueNAS software platform in my written and video review below:

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For a long time, I championed the Drobo Brand of network attached storage (NAS) as a great option for users looking to have their very own no-fuss, easy to set up and content-creator-friendly system. However, I think it would be fair to say that in the last 5-6 years, whilst many of the more ambitious NAS brands such as QNAP and Synology were pushing the boundaries of what people can do with their NAS systems in software and hardware, Drobo had made little or no innovation in their either department. Indeed, although we saw the impressive and surprisingly affordable Thunderbolt RAID device, the Drobo 5D3, in the world of NAS we really saw things start to stagnate. Fast forward to 2022, and we recently found out that Drobo (and its parent company StorCentric) had sadly filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, citing impacts on their business from the pandemic. Although the company has stated in several interviews that they intend to carry on later, with a smaller product line perhaps, I think the brand had been in trouble long before the pandemic and for a while, many users on the brink of buying their latest NAS or were in the process of upgrading an existing Drobo populated network storage environment, started considering making the switch to the bigger and more established NAS brands, Synology and QNAP. These two brands have 22 and 18 years of experience respectively in network attached storage and in that time have continued to release new and exciting innovations that challenge alot of the rather unexciting and rudimentary storage services that Drobo NAS systems arrive with.

What Do Synology and QNAP Provide that Drobo Doesn’t?

NAS has a technology that anyone (home or business) can buy has been around for around two decades now and in that time, ALOT has changed. The days of a NAS being just a simple blob of storage (1+ HDDs) that are connected to the network/internet and accessible remotely are long gone. Now modern NAS systems arrive with a full range of tailored applications (i.e. interfaces that allow you to access file types such as Photos, Music, Video, Docs, etc in a manner better suited to their output), a full graphical user interface accessible via your web browser that is more akin to a complete operating system, many client tools and apps, huge variety of business tools and all of this whilst still providing configurable storage to you, your family or your business. Below is just a handful of the thing that a Synology or QNAP NAS can do, that a Drobo either cannot do or does in a very limited capacity:

• Bigger Range of solutions in 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 12-Bay and bigger desktop NAS solutions
• Many, many Mobile Applications
• Incredibly user-friendly GUIs via the web browser (DSM and QTS) that give NAS devices an operating system comparable to Windows or MacOS
• AI-Powered Photo Recognition
• Huge variety of NAS Apps
• Highly configurable and customizable iSCSI and Remote Targetted storage tools and Protocols supported
• Multi-tiered and comprehensive backup tools covering NAS-to-NAS, USB, Cloud and VM Backups
• Wide Variety of Desktop/Client Apps
• Diverse RAID configurations and Storage Expansion Options
• 10GbE by Default or as an Optional Extra
• A large number of security tools and configuration tools (starting with
• NVMe SSD Bays for caching and/or storage
• Dedicated Premium Surveillance, Virtual Machine, Multimedia, Containers and Cloud Sync Software
• Fully featured Plex and Emby Media Server Support
• SaaS Sync Tools (Active Backup on Synology and BoXafe on QNAP)
• A large variety of email hosting, web hosting and database creation tools
• Not just supporting EXT4, but also supporting ZFS or BTRFS’ file systems

Now, it is worth remembering that Drobo DID release some innovations over the years in their NAS and DAS systems. They were the first to introduce a much more innovative LED system on the front of their system’s to denote system storage use, particular activity and more detailed warning patterns. They were one of the first to integrate m.2 SSD caching upgrade bays into their desktop systems (though using mSATA or M.2 NVMe), and they were one of the first to introduce internal battery systems in their desktop NAS that allowed the system to safely close read/write activities in the event of the system suffering a critical power failure. Then of course there was BeyondRAID, their flexible RAID configuration that allowed easy RAID expansions and mixed drive use. These innovations were all good, it’s just a shame that they all came around many years ago and the brand has not moved forward in hardware or software technology since.

Why Choose Synology NAS to Replace Your Drobo?

Synology is often considered the ‘Software Choice’, as DSM (Diskstation Manager) is by far the most user-friendly, secure, responsive and ‘OS-like’ platform available in the whole of NAS. It may seem one of the most expensive, but with it, you get some genuine boundary-breaking software with your purchase.  You still get a great level of hardware in the majority of Synology NAS solutions, but the real draw of Synology is that software. Not only does it support your own hardware environment of PCs, Macs, entertainment devices and mobiles in their own respective software, but DSM also includes MANY applications designed around keeping all your data IN-HOUSE. So, replace Skype/Whatsapp with Synology Chat, Replace Google Docs and Office365 with Synology Office. Use Synology Drive to make your storage visible and accessible the way YOU want it, and export your entire cloud/data network over to a Synology NAS and remove all the external access as and when you need! They aren’t the cheapest and they want you to do it ‘there way’, but it’s a pretty decent way. Additionally, their recent DSM 7.0 software has left many users impressed, with enhanced support of those 3rd party cloud storage and business services, AI photo recognition, their surveillance platform continuing to win awards and even an in-house cloud service in Synology C2. Stylizing themselves very much as the ‘Apple’ of this industry, they really do focus on keeping things straightforward and intuitive.

PROS of Synology NAS

• Easily the most intuitive and Usage browser-based GUI (award-winning DSM 6.2/7.0/7.1) – FULL Review HERE
• One of the best Surveillance NAS software solutions
• Most popular vendor for Mac users for it’s UI
• Incredibly feature-rich NVR software included, in Surveillance Station
• Includes Active Backup Suite – Enterprise level and fully featured Backup Co-ordination software
• Lowest Power Consumption vs other brands
• A large # of their systems arrive with m.2 NVMe SSD caching upgrade bays
• Quiet chassis compared with other brands
• Task specialised Ranges like ‘PLAY’, ‘PLUS’ and ‘J’ make buying easier
• The best range of first-party software, with Synology Office, Chat, Mail, Drive and more
• SHR and SHR-2 – also BTRFS available in most solutions
• Cloud Services and Hybrid Storage Tools available in Synology C2
• Desktop and Rack-mount options are available
• Best software for Home and SMB

CONS of Synology NAS

• Often the most expensive
• Recent Enterprise NAS Hardware has changed Compatibility in favour of Synology HDDs and SSDs
• Generally, Synology NAS has the lowest hardware power in their systems
• NVMe SSD Bays are for caching ONLY, they cannot be used for super-fast storage pools
• More technically minded folk will need to dig a little to get to the nitty-gritty
• SHR is not available on Enterprise NAS Systems
• Network ONLY – no HDMI, Audio in/out, Thunderbolt, etc

Why Choose QNAP NAS to Replace Your Drobo?

Often considered the choice for the more hardware-aware buyer, if you are looking for a much more traditionally computer associated hardware – QNAP NAS is certainly the one that springs to mind. Generally considered the ‘innovators’ of the NAS industry, they have the largest range of solutions available Notwithstanding the fact that their hardware is by FAR the most evolved platform in NAS (thunderbolt 3, multiple HDMI, 10Gbe standard solutions, Silent NAS, AI solutions and advanced SSD caching), the platform is fantastically diverse, providing great NAS options alongside network switches, network adapters and generally reshaping your hardware environment for the better. The software has also evolved dramatically into its own beast, moving away from trying to imitate and carving its own path. It is a little more technically (and I really do mean a little) but it is far more rewarding for it. They do not feature some popular items on their portfolio, such as BTRFS or a fluid RAID system like SHR/BeyondRAID, but make up for this with their own range of alternatives and in most cases succeed. Get your reading glasses on though, as their range is quite vast and might overwhelm you a tad. In recent years the brand has shifted focus a great deal more towards software in efforts to meet the gap with their rival Synology to pretty good success. This is often achieved by releasing software that does the previously impossible before anyone else, but lacking a little of the polish of their biggest rival. Recent achievements with HybridMount, vJBOD, HyperVisor Protector, QuMagie and Multimedia Console have been received remarkably well, arriving onto the scene 1-2 years before anyone else. Alongside this, QNAP still has easily the best virtual machine and backup software for home and SMB in Virtualization Station and Hybrid Backup Sync.

PROS of QNAP NAS

• Best Solutions for Plex Media Server in NAS
• Enterprise/Business Solutions feature ZFS
• 2.5Gbe, 5Gbe and 10Gbe Options
• Best Virtual Machine and Container Solutions in NAS
• NVMe SSD Bays can be used for Caching, Storage Pools or Tiered Storage Configurations
• Almost all range is metal in design, or a plastic but unique chassis
• HDMI and remote control included in most Media NAS devices
• Thunderbolt NAS options covering TB2, TB3 and even TB4 (TS-464)
• Two Surveillance Solutions (with 4/8 Camera Licenses included)
• The Best Backup/Synchronization solution in ‘Hybrid Backup Sync 3’
• Technical information far more readily available
• Lower price compared with Synology in terms of hardware
• Regularly updated software and Detailed GUI/APPs – FULL Review HERE
• Desktop and Rackmount options are available
• Much better business options and definitely the best for virtual machines

CONS of QNAP NAS

• A more android feel towards apps and stability means some users will be put off
• Lacking the BTRFS and SHR support of Synology
• Higher typical Power consumption
• Often a fraction noisier due to chiefly metal chassis
• Much larger range of devices can lead to confusion
• Most units arrive with 2-3 Years warranty, but longer will cost you more
• Have been targetted by Ransomware attacks in the last 2 years

Recommended Synology Replacement for the Drobo 5N2 NAS – The DS920+ and DS1522+ NAS

Choosing to replace the Drobo 5N2 5-Bay NAS with a Synology is actually a surprisingly easy choice. Right now at the time of writing, there are two very clear Diskstaiton devices that you can choose (if you want to stay at this kind of storage sale). The Synology DS920+ 4-Bay NAS (originally released in 2020) and the Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS (released in June 2022). The former has been in the market for long enough that multiple deals are available and if/when the DS923+ arrives on the scene, it will likely become increasingly affordable – in spite of this, the hardware inside is great and it’s a solid fully featured NAS. The latter choice, the DS1522+, is the latest 2022 generation release from the brand, has great default system hardware and plenty of scalabilities and upgrade options to add to the system’s utility in years to come. Find out more about them both below:

Synology DS923+ 4-Bay NAS $550+

AMD Emb.Ryzen R1600 2-Core, 4/32GB Memory, 1GbE, Optional 10GbE, NVMe SSD Caching+Pools, Expandable, SHR, 4x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 21/05/20

Synology has clearly made something of a gamble in the release of the Synology DS923+ NAS. There is no avoiding that making the switch from the Intel Celeron that has historically been the build choice of this product family and opting for the AMD Emb.Ryzen has ruffled some feathers! On the face of it, the R1600 here has a heck of alot of going for it over the previous generation! Higher clock speed, greater PCIe Gen 3 Support throughout, that 4-32GB of DDR4 memory in such a compact system and just generally giving you a lot more horsepower to play with, as well as better bandwidth potential inside and out! But at what cost? The 1GbE standard connectivity in the base model leaves alot to be desired, the proprietary 10Gb upgrade (though incredibly handy) limits the upgradability a tad and the lack of an integrated graphics processor is likely going to result in many long-term Synology advocates to skip this generation. Synology Diskstation Manager (DSM 7.1 at the time of writing) still continues to impress and although the brand still continues to heavily push their 1st party priorities, they have left a little more wriggle room in DSM 7.1 than DSM 7 before it in terms of media compatibility. In terms of design, I cannot fault Synology on this as the DS923+ chassis still arrives as one of the best-looking and still exceptionally well-structured devices at this physical scale and storage level. As always, a Synology NAS is more about the software than the hardware (and the DS923+ delivers in spades on the software side!) and with DSM 7.2 around the corner improving things. Just always keep in mind that the Synology DS923+ NAS is a system that arrives with the slight emphasis on having to do many things ‘their way’. If you are less technically versed, then you will definitely appreciate this level of user-friendly design and assistance, but more technically minded admins’ main strain a pinch! In short, the DS923+ IS a good NAS drive, but its focus has certainly ebbed more towards the business user this generation than the home.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS $750+

Ryzen R1600 Dual Core, 8/32GB ECC Memory,4x1GbE, Optional 10GbE for $150, NVMe SSD Caching, Expandable, SHR, 5x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 29/06/22

The Synology DS1522+ is a good NAS drive and most business-focused users are going to appreciate what this newer configuration of hardware is able to provide. There was never any doubt in the extent to which this new NAS would support DSM7, and given its architecture, there is virtually nothing in the popular NAS software that this system cannot do. Likewise, having the option of 10GbE on a Diskstation of this scale will be hugely attractive to some, though the proprietary means with which you need to upgrade is arguably less desirable. The R1600 CPU is a good choice of processor for file handling and simultaneous tasks, as is the 8GB of memory that this system arrives with, plus the potential to ramp it up to 32GB. After that though, the desirability of this system to home users and multimedia users is a little less compelling and with such a large audience of users who look at NAS for their media streaming, the DS1522+ not featuring a more graphically enabled chip will leave them somewhat underwhelmed. Bottom line, the DS1522+ is a solid and full DSM7 supporting system here and you cannot fault the design, internal/external performance and ease of use of this Synology NAS. However, there will always be users wondering why this NAS never arrived with an Intel chip.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended QNAP Replacement for the Drobo 5N2 NAS – The QNAP TS-464 and TS-h973ax

If you decide to move away from the Drobo 5-Bay 5N22 and towards a QNAP, then I recommend opting for either the 2022 generation TS-464 NAS (as it is really is the best hardware vs scale vs price point the brand has ever released) or the incredibly mutli-facited QNAP TS-h973ax, which as 10GbE, 3 kinds of storage media supported across 9-Bays and the choice of file system at initialization of ZFS or EXT4. Here is more information on these two NAS and what we said about them when reviewed:

QNAP TS-464 4-Bay NAS $599+

Intel Celeron 4-Core N5105, 4/16GB Memory, 2×2.5GbE, NVMe SSD Caching or for Storage, HDMI 2.0 4K 60PFS, USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb), USB RAID Expandable, PCIe Gen 3×2 Upgrade Slot, 4x SATA Bays, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 18/04/22

The TS-464 comfortably arrives with the best hardware in its tier of the NAS market and that is something that QNAP has always been quite good at. Even if you rewind just 5 years, the level of hardware scalability and ease of upgradability that the TS-464 provides is frankly incredible and, fast forward to 2022, is still pretty unmatched. A Desktop 4-Bay NAS (eg Prosumer RAID 5 storage) has always been the next confident step for users who are tired of their hands being tied by subscription cloud services from Google, OneDrive and DropBox, who are looking for their own competent, flexible and fully-featured private server. In the TS-464 NAS, you find a system that is unquestionable the best hardware for your money you can possibly get right now. In software, things are a little less straightforward. QTS 5, although massively software and service-rich, arrives as a complete operating system in your web browser with multiple mobile/desktop clients and hundreds of applications and apps that can be installed at the touch of a button – which can all too often be something of a steep learning curve for many. Lacking the chewable, user-friendly nature of many of their rivals, QNAP and its software/service still have a tendency to be a bit of an information overload that can quickly intimidate the novice. However, for those that are looking for a system that is completely customizable in how/when/where you want data presented to you, as well as a wide degree of 3rd party support, QNAP and QTS 5 still manages to provide a huge degree of brand-unique service that are simply not available elsewhere. Just be prepared to invest your time wisely in its setup and more time ensuring the system is perfect for your needs.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

QNAP TS-h973ax 5/9-Bay NAS $999+

AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad Core, 8/32GB Memory, 1x 10GbE, 2×2.5GbE, 5x SATA HDD, 2x SATA SSD, 2x U.2 NVMe SSD, 2x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (10Gb), USB RAID Expandable, ZFS or EXT4 File System Choice, 2yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 13/11/20

I have seen a lot of network-attached storage over the years and the TS-h973AX brings a lot of colour to what was fast becoming a somewhat grey landscape. In short, QNAP has gone and done it again by proving they are the hardware innovators of this industry and have managed to provide a genuinely unique solution here. When they first revealed their new Hero ZFS operating system last year, you could not help but get the impression that only top-end enterprise businesses with £10K starting budgets were ever going to benefit. The TS-h973AX desktop NAS is solid evidence that QNAP will share the wealth and that this is the start of a whole new series of affordable ZFS solution from the brand. That isn’t to say that this system is perfect and pernickety points about a lack of HDMI or LCD may put off some users, and the compact 9 bay chassis that will attract some will no doubt deter others. Ultimately though QNAP has succeeded in creating what they sought out here and what we find is one of the best examples of hardware and software meeting in the middle, while still arriving with a price tag in 3 figures. In the current absence of a straight forward QuTS license purchase option for existing QNAP NAS systems right now, this is a solution that serves as a good alternative to a number of 4 and 6 Bay solutions in their portfolio. Though, make sure you upgrade that memory on day one! 

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended Synology Replacement for the Drobo B810n NAS – The DS1821+ NAS

Replacing or deciding against the Drobo B810n 8-Bay NAS system and opting for a Synology is, if anything, considerably easier than moving away from the 5N. Synology has a great history of 8-Bay NAS devices and the 2021 generation DS1821+ is a fantastic choice of NAS system. It supports the full range of DSM applications, has scalable storage, can be expanded by ten more drives, has in-built m.2 NVMe slots, a high bandwidth PCIe Upgrade slot and still manages to be very petite. Here is more information on the Synology DS1821+ and what we thought of it at review:

Synology DS1821+ 8-Bay NAS $1,100+

AMD Ryzen V1500B Quad Core, 4/32GB Memory, 4x1GbE, 8x SATA HDD, 2x NVMe SSD for Caching, PCIe Gen 3×8 Upgrade Slot, SHR or Traditional RAID, BTRFS or EXT4 File System Choice, 3yr Warranty

NASCompares Written Review – HERE

NASCompares YouTube Review – HERE

What we said on 15/12/20

What you have here is a solid piece of hardware that very much lives up to everything Synology promises, even if some of those promises aren’t to everyone’s taste. With a hardware architecture that we have already tested to notable success in the DS1621+ previously, we already knew that this NAS would be able to do everything it promised. Many users looking to spend their annual business budgets on an improved or extended data storage solution will find the balanced position of hardware vs software found by the Synology DS1821+ to be quite desirable, as well as the scaled potential to upgrade external performance via PCIe and storage via eSATA. However, there is no ignoring that despite the fact this 2020 release excels in many things, it also arrives with a little bottlenecking in a number of others. The continued default utilisation of 1Gbe on the newest generation by Synology is somewhat perplexing and although I have continued admiration for Synology’s engagement with intelligent M2 NVMe cache utilisation and providing a solution that allows more flexible upgrade paths, I know that there are still users who just wish they could use that super fast NAND for raw storage pools and have better than gigabit connections out by default. It has never been a secret that buying a Synology NAS solution was always a largely ‘software over hardware’ purchase, and the DS1821+ is still a fine example of that balance. However, with other brands closing the gap in what they can offer the SMB (Small/Medium Business) user, while still providing superior hardware and similar warranty coverage, there is the tiniest feeling that the DS1821+ is a NAS that sits on its laurels a bit. Hugely upgradable and still with that award-winning and fantastically intuative DSM software, the DS1821+ is about buying a solution you can adapt within its lifespan and not one that will knock your socks off on day one. A solid and dependable data storage solution, if a little safe, at the end of 2020.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Recommended QNAP Replacement for the Drobo B810n NAS – The TVS-872X NAS

Unlike the previous QNAP suggestions I have made when moving away from a Drobo, when it comes to choosing a QNAP alternative to the Drobo B810n, I would currently recommend the 2020 released TVS-872X (a modified version of the also still available Thunderbolt 3 NAS, the TVS-872XT). Although this NAS has been around a while (and likely due an upgrade to a new version very soon), the QNAP TVS-872X is a 10GbE equipped 8 bay, with NVMe SSD slots, two very high bandwidth PCIe slots, USB 3.2 Gen 2, 4K HDMI, optional ZFS or EXT4 and after all of that – it has an Intel Core i3 or i5 Highly powerful CPU than can also be accompanied by up to 64GB of DDR4 memory. This is a beast of a system that arrives with a surprisingly modest price point when compared to most other NAS of the same scale or hardware – and the fact it is a little older means that the price is improved further in many shops. Again, QNAP are very likely to release a newer, more powerful and ultimately more expensive version of this product family soon, but it is STILL a great NAS that holds it’s own in 2022. Here is what we thought of it at the review:

QNAP TVS-h874 8-Bay NAS $1,999+

0-176TB, 8-Bays, 2x PCIe 4 M.2 NVMe 2280, PCIe Gen 4×16 Upgrade Slot, Intel Core 12th Gen i5/i7/i9 CPU, 16-64GB DDR4 Memory, 2.5Gbe Port, 10Gb x2 Prots (Intel i9 Version), KVM, ZFS or EXT4 Setup, 3-5yr Warranty

Current Price/Availability on Amazon – $2000-2500-3000

Hardware Review – LINK

YouTube Video Review – Watch

What I said in my review Dec ’22:

The QNAP TVS-h874 NAS is easily one of the most hardware-capable desktop NAS systems that I have ever seen (as you would expect for £2500+) and has clearly been designed with phenomenal future proofing in mind! If you are concerned about the longevity of this NAS, this hardware architecture will still be top tier 5 years from now, with the added support of PCIe 4 meaning that high capacity and performing micro upgrades throughout its life also ensuring it remains relevant long after. It’s price tag clearly moves this purchase out of the home and squarely into the business market (though likely those that take their media seriously will add it to the cart) and the TVS-h874 will function as a solid solution for Video editing (even at 8K), high frequency and performing VMs, large scale AI powered Surveillance setup, hybrid cloud/on-prem alternative to Office 365/Google Workspace services and as the center point for all your data storage operations. Crucially though, it is that the hardware on offer here will be able to do ALL of these at the same time, therefore maximising the investment for most businesses that want to move aware from their cloud dependant ops. In terms of software,t things are a little less absolute, with QTS and QuTS still getting a little busy at times, with a steeper learning curve than its big rival DSM from Synology. That said, die-hard fans of ZFS (Zettabyte File System) will adore the inclusion of benefits in RAID handling, management and recovery that are exclusive to that platform, whilst enjoying the wide range of applications and service benefits in QuTS that are often restricted to Linux platforms.  The slightly conveluded approach to release hardware that does complicate the selection process (different CPUs in the Intel 12th Gen family changing the rest of the system architecture) is something that I hoped this brand would graduate from (for the sake of simplicity), but for many, this level of choice in hardware and budget will be welcome. As is QNAP’s position on the support of 3rd party hardware (drives, PCIe upgrades, etc) and software, something that we have seen a worrying trend in the last few years against elsewhere in the industry but some other brands, to err towards 1st party/proprietary compatibility more and more. There are still lingering doubts by some on the security of NAS, with ransomware attacks on the rise and ALL brands and ALL platforms being targetted (NAS, Cloud ,etc), finding a middle ground between ease of use and depth of security being a tricky tie rope walk indeed. The TVS-h874 arrives with a wide range of Day 1 tools, further rigid defaults in QTS/QuTS in 2022/2023, considerable security settings to configure and multiple system scan tools for recommendations & preventative measures available. The QNAP TVS-h874 is probably the most powerful desktop/tower NAS drive I have ever reviewed and if you are looking for a system that can legitimately do anything server-side, but you are also willing to put in the time to configure it correctly – you will genuinely be hard pushed to find a better system in 2022, 2023 and likely 2024 at this price point and scale.

Check Amazon for this NAS via the link below in your region (results in a % going back to the site and supports us):

Why Not Use Cloud Services like Google Drive, OneDrive or Dropbox instead of a NAS?

Do not think that 3rd party cloud services are bad, they really aren’t! In fact, you should always consider adding a 2nd or 3rd tier into your backup strategy at home/work, and synchronization of files/folders on your NAS with the cloud is a good means to ensure you have another backup in place. Additionally, most NAS feature a variety of 256bit encryption options, password protection, 2 step verification and more to allow secure access is ensured to the NAS and the content, even via the cloud. Additionally, bg NAS brands like Synology and QNAP have been supporting Hybrid Cloud services that not only allow cloud storage to be bolted onto your NAS storage for shared usage and access, but also both brand support backup and synchronization with cloud collaborate services, such as Google’s G Suite and Microsoft’s Office 365. So there is DEFINITELY still a valid and useful place for 3rd party cloud services in 2022, however, I rarely advocate the use of these cloud services as a PRIMARY storage location. They ARE convenient and you can get a limited amount of space included for free, but I generally have three core reasons that I do not recommend cloud as a first-tier storage.

COST – The cost of most 2-year subscriptions costs about the same as if you just purchased even a small-scale NAS on day 1. It might seem like just 5 or 10 bucks a month, but over 2 or 3 years, it all adds up and moreover, after that time you either need to keep on paying every month or still buy a NAS or DAS system for the data to live on. Might as well buy the NAS sooner rather than later as it will be inevitable eventually.

ACCESS – NAS provides more apps, file-level tailored use and can be better adapted into popular 3^rd Party applications like PLEX, KODI, APPLE TIME MACHINE and DLNA supported devices. A cloud provider severely limits the kind of access you have on a regular basis.

PRIVACY – NAS provides full individual user control and access, as well as admin controls. Plus the NAS can be fully disconnected from the Internet/Network at your discretion. A cloud provider has a relative pre-set safety protocol that, when cracked on one or two occasions, opens up mass hacking

This is not to say that data on your NAS is completely inaccessible. Any NAS brand can only really stay 1 step ahead of the hackers, patching exploits as they are found (no different than any online service really), but a NAS is a means to create a secure, customizable and ultimately bespoke data storage solution.

What About Moving from Drobo to Asustor or Terramaster NAS?

Obviously, as NAS is such a popular and highly evolved area of the tech industry (despite it still also remaining quite niche compared with traditional computers and laptops), Synology and QNAP are not the ONLY brands in the market! Indeed, if you have been looking at moving away from Drobo and saw some affordably devices from Asustor or Terramaster, you will likely wonder why I have not covered them as much in this article (though I DO cover them and their solutions in the video embedded in this article above). Although both brands have been providing some great hardware (both for the price AND just generally) in 2022, these brands do not provide the full range of software and services (especially 1st party developed) that QNAP and Synology do. Their respective software in ADM and TOS aren’t bad, indeed they are very good and very responsive with many apps, they just are not on the same level as Synology DSM and QNAP QTS/QuTS right now. You can find out more about their software in the software review videos of each below:

Should I Move From Drobo to TrueNAS Core?

Many Drobo users, after using their systems for many years and (after becoming increasingly proficient) started to feel its limitations, might have heard about the free and DiY NAS server platform ‘TrueNAS’ (aka FreeNAS) and considering making the switch towards it after Drobo. It will come as absolutely no surprise to anyone that when it comes to TrueNAS is a fantastically capable software for managing your storage. It even manages to swerve the downfall of being ‘too enterprise’ but arriving as an open source free software platform to be enjoyed by businesses and storage enthusiasts. There is no avoiding that it IS quite a technical mountainous learning curve if you are arriving at it from a position of zero storage or network experience, but the last few big TrueNAS system updates have gone a long way to update some UI elements to be more intuitive, software wide help notes available at all times and the community support is as on-point at it has ever been. If you are a home users looking for a hurdles setup or a day-1 deployable system for your small business, then TrueNAS may be too big a jump for you and you would be better off with a traditional off-the-shelf NAS system. However, if you have the know-how, you have the willingness to get your hands dirty and already have the hardware in mind/in-house, then TrueNAS stands in a class of it’s own and thanks to some very unique architecture choices that are almost utterly unique to this platform, it’s pretty unparalleled in its scope. Just please, PLEASE remember that a Drobo NAS is a ‘turnkey’ solution (aka, ready to go out of the box) and TrueNAS Core and TrueNAS Scale involve ALOT more setup and a much higher learning curve. You can buy TrueNAS-ready systems, such as the iXsystems series of devices, but these are still rather expensive compared with the modest Drobo and still require ALOT of tech knowledge to make the most of. You can find out more about the TrueNAS software platform in my written and video review below:

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WE LOVE COFFEE

Not all Linux servers are built equally! If you are new to the world of private server storage, you might have heard about how “everything runs on Linux”. Now, that is not exactly true (with many other platforms out there with their own building blocks), but Linux still continues to be the dominant platform that most software we regularly use is built from. Network Attached Storage (NAS) is no exception and most new or relatively inexperienced NAS users can be separated into two clear categories. There are those that want to get their hands dirty, spend sensibly on a DiY system in order to take advantage of community built platforms such as TrueNAS Scale (the Linux version of the popular TrueNAS Scale FreeBSD platform), and then there are those that are happy to pay extra for the system to arrive prebuilt, but also know that the software that it comes with can be a little more restrictive. However, it is NOT impossible to have the best of both! Today, I want to show you how to turn the remarkably affordable NAS solutions from Asustor (easily the best Value NAS in the market right now, even when the 2022 range is pretty well hardware equipped with NVMe, 2.5G, Embedded Graphics CPUs and more) into a linux based TrueNAS Scale, ZFS Powered, NAS system. It is considerably easier than you might think, is very easy to reverse and allows you to have the full customization and freedom of TrueNAS Scale, a prebuilt 24×7 designed server system and all whilst still getting exceptional value for money for the hardware. Cool right? Let’s begin the step-by-step guide.

Note – a FULL 30-Minute Installation Guide for TrueNAS Scale on an NAS is available HERE on the NASCompares YouTube Channel

Important – It’s important to note that TrueNAS Scale is NOWHERE NEAR as user-friendly as Asustor ADM and before making any switch to a new NAS OS, it is important that you understand the process, risks and differences in the platforms. This guide is designed to help you use your Asustor NAS to run TrueNAS Scale as it’s primary OS. If you go ahead with this and use the same HDD/SSDs in the system that you are currently using in the Asustor ADM Setup, it will likely format them, so IF you want to reverse your Asustor NAS back to its ADM set up with all your data/drives the same, you will need to remove them before using the TrueNAS setup, put them to one side safely and use new HDD/SSDs for your TrueNAS installation. Lastly, although this whole process is reversible, you are technically using the Asustor in a means that the brand does not state as ‘intended use’ and this MIGHT lead to support/warranty problems down the line if a fault appears in the Asustor or the software installation that was the result of the TrueNAS Scale installation (the bios records everything!). This is HIGHLY UNLIKELY but not impossible (eg you work a TrueNAS Scale server so hard and/or push the CPU to breaking point running particularly aggressive TrueNAS jails and/or use the inline compression/deduplication expensively in TrueNAS and it burns out the CPU – this would not be covered by your Asustor NAS support, as they did not certify that the system can handle this.

TrueNAS Scale Software on Asustor NAS Hardware – What You Need?

It is worth highlighting that having just an Asustor NAS is not quite enough and in order to get TrueNAS Scale up and running on an Asustor NAS requires a few extra checks and use of a few items you might have already in the home/office, or a quick $10 shop online at most. In order to upgrade your system to TrueNAS Scale, you will need to consider/have the following:

• an Asustor NAS Drive with (minimum) an Intel 64bit x86 CPU and a minimum 4GB of Memory (recommended 8GB+)
• Download the latest stable release of TrueNAS Scale here as a system image (you will be converting this to USB later on) – DOWNLOAD
• Any Data that is currently on the Asustor NAS RAID that is mission critical to be backed up or moved (as it will be completely formatted)
• A USB drive to use as the TrueNAS installation drive ( I recommend THIS ONE here from Sandisk, as it is low price and incredibly small, even at 32GB)

• I recommend not using a USB larger than 32GB, due to the constraints of 1st party software to format larger than this in FAT32. Don’t be tempted to spend like $2 more for a 64GB, as the TrueNAS Scale installation will occupy the full USB space (as you will create a system-image-USB) and space is utterly irrelevant when the TrueNAS Scale installation is so small
• A Disk Image to USB conversion too. I recommend ‘Rufus’, currently in ver 3.19 and can be run in a portable .exe form that doesn’t require installation – DOWNLOAD
• A basic USB Keyboard (example HERE but really, any will do) and an HDMI Monitor (or simply any device that has an HDMI input – NOT output) such as a TV or Capture card
• Hard Drive and/or SSD media (you should already have these, but just in case) for your storage Pool / RAID
• Optional M.2 NVMe SSD of at least 120GB, but highly recommended – Installing TrueNAS Scale is not unlike installing a Windows OS on a new PC, as you are connecting a USB to run the installer, but you need to target a drive in the Asustor NAS to install TrueNAS onto. Whichever drive you use, it will make that drive largely inaccessible for anything but the TrueNAS operating system. Therefore IF you are running an Asustor NAS that has internal m.2 NVMe SSD bays OR one with dedicated 2.5″ SSD bays, I highly recommend getting a low-capacity drive of between 60-120GB (these will be very cheap compared with larger HDDs that start in the Terabyte scales) and then use this for the TrueNAS software. This means that ALL of the main SATA storage bays of the Asustor are then used for your storage pool(s) (aka the RAID). Do NOT install TrueNAS on another USB drive during installation, as this is less stable.
• Optional – Download Advanced IP Scanner HERE, as it is a really useful tool for analyzing your network and finding your new TrueNAS Scale NAS for remote access

That is about it. Most of these are devices are that you will almost certainly already have to hand.

Can I Reverse the TrueNAS Scale Installation and go back to Asustor ADM?

Almost certainly YES! I say ‘almost certainly’, as there is one small caveat. When you make the change from Asustor ADM to TrueNAS Scale on the NAS hardware, the drives (HDD and/or SSD) inside used in TrueNAS pools used in the new system software architecture. This works both ways if you want to revert back to ADM on the NAS too. You CANNOT use the Storage Pool, Volume structure, Folders etc of drives from an Asustor NAS in a TrueNAS setup (you will need to format these in TrueNAS). So, although the act of reinitializing the NAS to its original software is very easy (you just need to go into the BIOS of the Asustor using the same method in the guide below, then change the boot drive order BACK to the Asustor OS internal SSD), it will mean that any data that resides on the disks inside will be formatted. So, if you are choosing to make a change from one NAS OS to another, make sure you have your data appropriately backed up elsewhere OR move the drives that were in your Asustor (with their ADM Storage structure) to one side safely and install new 3.5″ storage media for the TrueNAS pools etc. So, let’s begin the installation of TrueNAS Scale on the Asustor NAS.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 1, Download TrueNAS Scale

Head to the TrueNAS Scale website HERE and download the latest stable release of the software to your local PC, Linux or Mac system. Make sure to remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 2, Download Rufus USB Image Tool

Head to the Rufus website and download the latest version of that tool – I recommend downloading the standalone executable file here, as then it will immediately run when you double-click the file, without installation etc. It may redirect you to Github, but it will be the same executable file. Once again, remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 3, Preparing the USB

Connect the small form factor USB Drive to your system (again, this is the one I used from Sandisk) and after a few seconds, it should appear as an available USB Drive. The drive MAY need formatting (you will be prompted to do so), if that is the case, then you can format it via the system prompts and by default, it will format it to FAT32 (as long as your USB is less than 32GB). If you are not presented with a system prompt to format your USB, then you can head into My PC, or My Computer via a windows computer and right-click the drive, select ‘format’ and format it that way.

If you have used the USB for other things previously, there is a chance that the drive has existing partitions in place. For that, the quickest way to completely remove any partitions is to open up the bottom-left windows system menu as normal, and then just type diskpart and open the command-line GUI tool. From there, use the command list disk to show the available drives that are connected, you will see your USB (normally disk 1 or 2, but can differ depending on your system layout and can be spotted by the storage amount). From there, type select disk # (where # is the drive number that your USB is shown as) and then type clean, which will then remove any index structure for the drive (i.e the partitions and existing format) and then you can go back to the My Computer/My PC page and format the drive to FAT 32 as normal.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 4, Creating a USB Installer Image of TrueNAS Scale

Open the Rufus application and from there you will see the USB Drive (listed as NO NAME, or ‘UNTITLED’, ETC) at the top. From there, look to the select image/find image option (depending on the ver. of Rufus or your USB Image Creator tool of choice) and find the TrueNAS Scale disk image you downloaded earlier). If the drive is not listed, it may have downloaded as a compressed/archive file. If that is the case, head to the location of where you downloaded TrueNAS Scale (in your file explorer, not in Rufus) and right-click the file you downloaded. If the option to ‘extract‘ is visible, then you can extract it (i.e unpack it to the original form) in that same download directory. From there, head back into RUFUS and then the TrueNAS Scale system image should be visible. Select it, then run the Rufus System image creator tool and create your USB bootable TrueNAS Scale disk image.

REMEMBER! This will completely format your USB drive and any files that are on that USB will be destroyed. The system image creator tool will turn the USB into a pure boot image tool – the USB will not be usable for traditional storage again unless you completely format it again.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 5, REMOVE THE USB FROM YOUR PC!!!!!!!!!

Really, really important and sometimes overlooked. Once the USB creation is completed, you need to remove the USB (using the eject hardware safely option at the bottom right of your windows machine taskbar as normal). DO NOT accidentally leave the USB in your USB Ports for any longer than necessary. If you leave it in and your system reboots at any point (eg in a normal ‘end of day shut down, go home, reboot tomorrow’ scenario), then the system might boot directly into the TrueNAS Scale installation and although it is easy to exit from, it can change your system default boot preferences, maybe even remove your primary boot drive as the OS drive – requiring a little messing with a windows installation disk to change it back. The odds of this are very small, but not zero, so make sure to safely remove your USB drive when the TrueNAS Scale system image creator tool is completed.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 6, (OPTIONAL) – Install an NVMe SSD

This is an optional step, but one I would certainly recommend for newer-generation Asustor NAS devices. TrueNAS is a lot like a traditional computer operating system (eg Windows or macOS) in it’s architecture and will run at its best when the necessary boot files are located on a separate, smaller and faster area of SSD/flash storage away from the general bulk storage. So, if possible/available in your Asustor NAS, I would recommend installing a smaller m.2 NVMe SSD drive and then using that as the target/location for your TrueNAS Scale installation. This is not compulsory and you can also use a single HDD or SSD in one of the main storage bays of your Asustor, however, it means that this drive will unusable for general storage (i.e in any RAID configuration or storage pool). This CAN be negated with some creative portion creation, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Additionally, do NOT try to install TrueNAS Scale on another USB drive that is connected to the system – this isn’t particularly stable and tends to result in a poorer TrueNAS Scale experience. M.2 NVMe bays and their location in the Asustor NAS changes depending on the system. Some allow you to access these bays via the main HDD 3.5″ bays, whilst others (the majority) require you to remove the external chassis casing to access these bays (eg the Lockerstor 2 and 4).

Reminder – TrueNAS is NOT a big program and you can use an SSD as small as 32GB and still have a tonne of provision for future storage space. However, M.2 NVMe SSDs are not available in smaller sizes than 120GB. Lower size than this and you will generally only find 2240 SSDs and/or SATA M.2 SSDs. These are still perfectly fine to use, but the performance difference between SATA and NVMe (PCIe) is HUGE! You can find many SSD options here on amazon for as little as $30  – Find Low Capacitiy and Low Price M.2 NVMe SSDs HERE on Amazon (already filtered the results)

NOTE – If you plan on upgrading the memory of your NAS to 4GB-8GB-16GB or higher (in order to use ALL of the features of TrueNAS Scale to their fullest extent), I would recommend doing so at this point before rebuilding the physical chassis again, as many Asustor NAS have the 2nd SODIMM memory slot in really tight locations.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 7, Connecting the USB, Keyboard and HDMI Monitor

Next, we need to connect the external means to install TrueNAS Scale on the Asustor NAS. Unlike when you set up your Asustor NAS for the first time, TrueNAS cannot typically be installed via the network like ADM. TrueNAS requires you to use a KVM (keyboard, Video Mouse – though you won’t need a mouse!) and go through the installation using a low-res graphical user interface. Now you will ONLY need this setup/items for the installation and initialization of your TrueNAS Scale server and after that, you will be able to use the server over the network/internet as normal.

You are going to need a basic USB Keyboard (not a Bluetooth or wireless one, as these may need drivers to run and you cannot install drivers at this point) and an HDMI Monitor/TV. You CAN use a mouse, but it is not hugely necessary and 99% of the choices in the setup of TrueNAS Scale can/will be via keyboard input. Also, I would also recommend connecting the NAS to the network during setup as this will allow the system to assume certain network values during setup that will save a tonne of time later. Once that is all connected, do NOT turn the NAS on yet – there is one small and slightly time-sensitive thing to do.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 8, Accessing the BIOS Menu of your Asustor NAS

Now that your Asustor NAS is all connected and you are ready at your keyboard/Monitor, turn the NAS on and wait till you hear a beep and you should see the boot screen of the motherboard splash on screen

As soon as you hear that noise (and likely see a flashing character or undersScale on the monitor screen), you need to continuously hit the ESCAPE key.

Doing this will (eventually!) result in the system displaying the blue BIOS menu (it changes between motherboards and Asustor uses a mixture of mobos in their Intel and AMD-powered systems). You need to be quick, as you only have about 3 seconds to do this before the Asustor will automatically boot from the small internal flash OS module that boots into Asustor. Once you see the page shown below, you need to select the ‘Boot Manager’ option:

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 9, Booting from the New TrueNAS Installer USB

Tap ‘DOWN‘ until you are highlighting the USB and then tap ‘Enter‘ or ‘Return‘ on your keyboard, as this will push the Asustor to boot from that USB and begin the TrueNAS Scale installation. Later on, I will show you how to force the system to ALWAYS boot into TrueNAS Scale, but for now, we just need it to read from this USB this one time.

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 10, Rebooting and Starting the TrueNAS Installer

This next step is a bit of a quick one. Around 5-15 seconds after you selected the USB Drive in BIOS, the screen will display the TrueNAS Installer option page. Tap ‘Enter’ as soon as you see it, as the page is on a countdown and when it reaches zero it will (possibly, depending on the version) reboot and then you will have to repeat the last few steps again!), So, in order to avoid this, tap ‘ENTER‘ as soon as this page appears.

After a few minutes, the TrueNAS Scale GUI/Command will appear on your monitor and all you need to do is navigate the config choices to set up your TrueNAS Scale NAS the first time.

Important – TrueNAS Scale runs at its best when it is run on a separate drive from your storage. Much like an Operating System, you can install TrueNAS Scale on an available SSD in a SATA or NVMe SSD slot in the Asustor NAS, then (after initialization) you can go into the TrueNAS Scale > Storage area and create a pool of storage using the available storage media bays,

It is NOT recommended that you install it on a USB drive, for reasons of speed and power-connections.

After you have completed the setup and are back at the initial TrueNAS Scale boot menu, select the ‘SHUTDOWN‘ option (not reboot/restart, for reasons I will explain in a moment).

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 8, Remove the Boot USB Drive AND CHANGE BIOS!!!

Once your Asustor NAS has fully powered down, you need to disconnect the USB drive you installed earlier with TrueNAS Scale boot loader on it. You need to do this otherwise, when you reboot the Asustor NAS, it can potentially reboot into the bootloader again. You can skip past this and/or it will not action a reinitialization without your input, but better to remove the USB and therefore allow the system to always immediately boot into the TrueNAS Scale system you just created.

Next, you need to head back into the BIOS from earlier. Keep the Keyboard and HDMI Monitor connected and use the same method you used earlier during the initial boot of the Asustor (pressing ESC / ESCAPE repeatedly when you hear the first Asustor beep after about 10-15 secs) and as soon as you are greeted with the familiar blue BIOS screen. At the initial screen, tap Down and select the ‘Setup Utility’ Option:

On the next screen, tap Right until you have highlighted the ‘Boot’ Menu. Then tap Down until you have highlighted the ‘SD Card / eMMC’ option, then press Enter / Return:

The next screen should show you the internal SSD/FLASH drive that the Asustor NAS arrives with (that contains the ADM software, accessed for initializing the NAS the first time, as well as assisting with any issues/repairs in the ADM software down the line). You need to highlight the drive (the name will differ, depending on the Asustor NAS model) and then press Space / Enter to REMOVE the X from the box. This means that the NAS will no longer attempt to access this drive and from this moment, the drive you installed TrueNAS Scale onto will be booted from first.

After this, you can click right again in the BIOS menu to select the option to Save and restart. The system will then boot into the TrueNAS initialization (first-time setup).

TrueNAS Scale on an Asustor NAS – Step 9, Reboot the NAS

Upon rebooting the Asustor into TrueNAS Scale (can take up to 5 mins, but usually much quicker). You have two options with how to access the configuration and controls. You can use the HDMI+Keyboard if you choose for console/command level access.

Alternatively (much more recommended), use a program such as Advanced IP Scanner, which is free and VERY useful anyway, or even network command prompt) to scan your local area network and find where the Asustor with TrueNAS Scale is located (i.e it’s IP). This IP (eg 192.168.1.111) is what you put into the URL bar ofay web browser and it will load into the login GUI for TrueNAS Scale. From here you will need to use the username ‘root’ in combination with the password that you created during initialization.

And that is about it. You now have TrueNAS Scale installed as the default OS of your Asustor NAS. From here you can do anything and everything that his highly regarded ZFS powered server software offers. Head into the Storage area and start creating pools, as well as areas for caching and lots more features.

TrueNAS was recently updated to ver.13 in a stable release of the FreeBSD format, as well as new improvements in the Linux-based version ‘TrueNAS Scale’. The first thing you are going to need to do when setting up your TrueNAS Scale > Asustor NAS server is set up your storage. Do this by heading into the storage tab and following the handy steps on screen. After that, you can pretty much do anything on your new ZFS NAS!

EXTRA – How to Reverse Your Asustor NAS from TrueNAS Scale to Asustor ADM / ADM Software Again

Now, it is worth remembering that switching your Asustor NAS to run TrueNAS Scale instead of ADM is not a one-way street and you can reverse this relatively easily. Do remember first though that:

• Any data on the HDD/SSDs inside the Asustor that were used in TrueNAS Scale server setup will not be accessible/usable with the Asustor NAS system and will likely be flashed/formatted during the Asustor ADM reinitialization
• You will need your Keyboard and HDMI Monitor again in order to get back into BIOS
• If you kept your original Asustor RAID Pool on HDDs etc to one side (i.e you removed the already configured storage media in their RAID from the Asustor when you changed to TrueNAS and put these drives safely to one side), you should be able to migrate this data back into the Asustor NAS during re-initialization with ease. That said, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP FOR THIS DATA REGARDLESS

In order to reverse the Asustor NAS from TrueNAS Scale back to Asustor ADM Software, you need to (from a cold boot) access the BIOS menu again (so, at boot, with your Keyboard and monitor connected, press the ESCAPE over and over when the Asustor beeps, like before) and when you reach the BIOS menu. Then repeat the steps from earlier in this guide to get back to the ‘SD Card / eMMC’ option. Then you just need to use the Space/Enter key to put a cross back in the confirmation box. Doing this will restart the Asustor NAS and it will automatically boot into the Asustor ADM boot sequence. From here your NAS will either automatically boot into the Asustor Setup page OR (if you have your original Asustor NAS RAID drives, with their Pools, Volumes, etc) it will just boot into the Asustor NAS software as normal.

You can find out more about TrueNAS in my full review below that covers everything I like and dislike about the platform:

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this helpful and that it really helped you to make the most of your storage. Want to help me continue to make more guides, reviews and tutorials on the subject of NAS? Then you can do so in a few different ways (any of which I will be eternally grateful for if you choose to!). You can visit the ‘Support NAS Passion’ page HERE and see a few different ways that you can help us keep the lights on. Alternatively, you can use one of the links below to shop for your hardware today or in future (visiting those sites via the link below ensures that we get a mall commission on absolutely anything you purchase – and doesn’t cost you anything extra). Finally, if you want to support us in spirit rather than financially, recommend our blog to a friend or professional colleague or share a link on your social media site of choice. Thank you for reading and have a fantastic week!

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If you are reading this guide on making the switch inside your QNAP NAS from QTS/QuTS to TrueNAS Scale, then chances are that you are well aware of what exactly this impressive piece of open-source software is capable of! TrueNAS Scale is the newest version of TrueNAS (based on FreeBSD and OpenZFS developed by iXsystems, formally known as FreeNAS). Managing to maintain the ZFS and structure that Core has (Jails, layered security and inline/on-the-fly deduplication & compression) BUT running on Linux. This means a much wider degree of application support and integration with other linux built client software/services. QNAP NAS devices arrive with their own included software, QTS (EXT4) and/or QuTS Hero (ZFS) that also allows you to make the most of your NAS hardware and data, whilst managing to keep things tremendously user friendly. Nevertheless, some ex-TrueNAS users or owners of older QNAP NAS devices that are long-outside of warranty do wonder about running TrueNAS Core on their ‘turn-key’ QNAP hardware – is it possible? Does it work well? Should they bother? Luckily, the answer to all three of those questions is YES. You can install TrueNAS Scale very easily on a QNAP NAS in as little as 15-20mins, the process is reversible and aside from perhaps considering new storage media (as you might want to keep your QNAP QTS/QuTS Installation and Storage), it’s largely free. So, let’s go through the steps to setup your TrueNAS Scale QNAP NAS!

Note – a FULL 38-Minute Installation Guide for TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS is available HERE on the NASCompares YouTube Channel

Important – It’s important to note that TrueNAS Scale is NOWHERE NEAR as user-friendly as QNAP QTS/QuTS and before making any switch to a new NAS OS, it is important that you understand the process, risks and differences in the platforms. I made a HUGE QNAP QTS vs TrueNAS Scale comparison video HERE that you can use to see how each software compares before making any changes to your NAS. This guide is designed to help you use your QNAP NAS to run TrueNAS Scale as it’s primary OS. If you go ahead with this and use the same HDD/SSDs in the system that you are currently using in the QNAP QTS/QuTS Setup, it will likely format them, so IF you want to reverse your QNAP NAS back to its QTS/QuTS set up with all your data/drives the same, you will need to remove them before using the TrueNAS setup, put them to one side safely and use new HDD/SSDs for your TrueNAS installation. Lastly, although this whole process is reversible, you are technically using the QNAP in a means that the brand does not state as ‘intended use’ and this MIGHT lead to support/warranty problems down the line if a fault appears in the QNAP or the software installation that was the result of the TrueNAS Scale installation (the bios records everything!). This is HIGHLY UNLIKELY but not impossible (eg you work a TrueNAS Scale server so hard and/or push the CPU to breaking point running particularly aggressive TrueNAS jails and/or use the inline compression/deduplication expensively in TrueNAS and it burns out the CPU – this would not be covered by your QNAP NAS support, as they did not certify that the system can handle this.

TrueNAS Scale Software on QNAP NAS Hardware – What You Need?

It is worth highlighting that having just a QNAP NAS is not quite enough and in order to get TrueNAS Scale up and running on a QNAP NAS requires a few extra checks and use of a few items you might have already in the home/office, or a quick $10 shop online at most. In order to upgrade your system to TrueNAS Scale, you will need to consider/have the following:

• A QNAP NAS Drive with (minimum) an Intel 64bit x86 CPU and a minimum 4GB of Memory (recommended 8GB+)
• Download the latest stable release of TrueNAS Scale here as a system image (you will be converting this to USB later on) – DOWNLOAD
• Any Data that is currently on the QNAP NAS RAID that is mission critical to be backed up or moved (as it will be completely formatted)
• A USB drive to use as the TrueNAS installation drive ( I recommend THIS ONE here from Sandisk, as it is low price and incredibly small, even at 32GB)

• I recommend not using a USB larger than 32GB, due to the constraints of 1st party software to format larger than this in FAT32. Don’t be tempted to spend like $2 more for a 64GB, as the TrueNAS Scale installation will occupy the full USB space (as you will create a system-image-USB) and space is utterly irrelevant when the TrueNAS Scale installation is so small
• A Disk Image to USB conversion too. I recommend ‘Rufus’, currently in ver 3.19 and can be run in a portable .exe form that doesn’t require installation – DOWNLOAD
• A basic USB Keyboard (example HERE but really, any will do) and an HDMI Monitor (or simply any device that has an HDMI input – NOT output) such as a TV or Capture card
• Hard Drive and/or SSD media (you should already have these, but just in case) for your storage Pool / RAID
• Optional M.2 NVMe SSD of at least 120GB, but highly recommended – Installing TrueNAS Scale is not unlike installing a Windows OS on a new PC, as you are connecting a USB to run the installer, but you need to target a drive in the QNAP NAS to install TrueNAS onto. Whichever drive you use, it will make that drive largely inaccessible for anything but the TrueNAS operating system. Therefore IF you are running a QNAP NAS that has internal m.2 NVMe SSD bays OR one with dedicated 2.5″ SSD bays, I highly recommend getting a low-capacity drive of between 60-120GB (these will be very cheap compared with larger HDDs that start in the Terabyte scales) and then use this for the TrueNAS software. This means that ALL of the main SATA storage bays of the QNAP are then used for your storage pool(s) (aka the RAID). Do NOT install TrueNAS on another USB drive during installation, as this is less stable.
• Optional – Download Advanced IP Scanner HERE, as it is a really useful tool for analyzing your network and finding your new TrueNAS Scale NAS for remote access

That is about it. Most of these are devices are that you will almost certainly already have to hand.

Can I Reverse the TrueNAS Scale Installation and go back to QNAP QTS?

Almost certainly YES! I say ‘almost certainly’, as there is one small caveat. When you make the change from QNAP QTS to TrueNAS Scale on the NAS hardware, the drives (HDD and/or SSD) inside used in TrueNAS pools used in the new system software architecture. This works both ways if you want to revert back to QTS on the NAS too. You CANNOT use the Storage Pool, Volume structure, Folders etc of drives from a QNAP NAS in a TrueNAS setup (you will need to format these in TrueNAS). So, although the act of reinitializing the NAS to its original software is very easy (you just need to go into the BIOS of the QNAP using the same method in the guide below, then change the boot drive order BACK to the QNAP OS internal SSD), it will mean that any data that resides on the disks inside will be formatted. So, if you are choosing to make a change from one NAS OS to another, make sure you have your data appropriately backed up elsewhere OR move the drives that were in your QNAP (with their QTS/QuTS Storage structure) to one side safely and install new 3.5″ storage media for the TrueNAS pools etc. So, let’s begin the installation of TrueNAS Scale on the QNAP NAS.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 1, Download TrueNAS Scale

Head to the TrueNAS Scale website HERE and download the latest stable release of the software to your local PC, Linux or Mac system. Make sure to remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 2, Download Rufus USB Image Tool

Head to the Rufus website and download the latest version of that tool – I recommend downloading the standalone executable file here, as then it will immediately run when you double-click the file, without installation etc. It may redirect you to Github, but it will be the same executable file. Once again, remember where you downloaded it.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 3, Preparing the USB

Connect the small form factor USB Drive to your system (again, this is the one I used from Sandisk) and after a few seconds, it should appear as an available USB Drive. The drive MAY need formatting (you will be prompted to do so), if that is the case, then you can format it via the system prompts and by default, it will format it to FAT32 (as long as your USB is less than 32GB). If you are not presented with a system prompt to format your USB, then you can head into My PC, or My Computer via a windows computer and right-click the drive, select ‘format’ and format it that way.

If you have used the USB for other things previously, there is a chance that the drive has existing partitions in place. For that, the quickest way to completely remove any partitions is to open up the bottom-left windows system menu as normal, and then just type diskpart and open the command-line GUI tool. From there, use the command list disk to show the available drives that are connected, you will see your USB (normally disk 1 or 2, but can differ depending on your system layout and can be spotted by the storage amount). From there, type select disk # (where # is the drive number that your USB is shown as) and then type clean, which will then remove any index structure for the drive (i.e the partitions and existing format) and then you can go back to the My Computer/My PC page and format the drive to FAT 32 as normal.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 4, Creating a USB Installer Image of TrueNAS Scale

Open the Rufus application and from there you will see the USB Drive (listed as NO NAME, or ‘UNTITLED’, ETC) at the top. From there, look to the select image/find image option (depending on the ver. of Rufus or your USB Image Creator tool of choice) and find the TrueNAS Scale disk image you downloaded earlier). If the drive is not listed, it may have downloaded as a compressed/archive file. If that is the case, head to the location of where you downloaded TrueNAS Scale (in your file explorer, not in Rufus) and right-click the file you downloaded. If the option to ‘extract‘ is visible, then you can extract it (i.e unpack it to the original form) in that same download directory. From there, head back into RUFUS and then the TrueNAS Scale system image should be visible. Select it, then run the Rufus System image creator tool and create your USB bootable TrueNAS Scale disk image.

REMEMBER! This will completely format your USB drive and any files that are on that USB will be destroyed. The system image creator tool will turn the USB into a pure boot image tool – the USB will not be usable for traditional storage again unless you completely format it again.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 5, REMOVE THE USB FROM YOUR PC!!!!!!!!!

Really, really important and sometimes overlooked. Once the USB creation is completed, you need to remove the USB (using the eject hardware safely option at the bottom right of your windows machine taskbar as normal). DO NOT accidentally leave the USB in your USB Ports for any longer than necessary. If you leave it in and your system reboots at any point (eg in a normal ‘end of day shut down, go home, reboot tomorrow’ scenario), then the system might boot directly into the TrueNAS Scale installation and although it is easy to exit from, it can change your system default boot preferences, maybe even remove your primary boot drive as the OS drive – requiring a little messing with a windows installation disk to change it back. The odds of this are very small, but not zero, so make sure to safely remove your USB drive when the TrueNAS Scale system image creator tool is completed.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 6, (OPTIONAL) – Install an NVMe SSD

This is an optional step, but one I would certainly recommend for newer-generation QNAP NAS devices. TrueNAS is a lot like a traditional computer operating system (eg Windows or macOS) in it’s architecture and will run at its best when the necessary boot files are located on a seperate, smaller and faster area of SSD/flash storage away from the general bulk storage. So, if possible/available in your QNAP NAS, I would recommend installing a smaller m.2 NVMe SSD drive and then using that as the target/location for your TrueNAS Scale installation. This is not compulsory and you can also use a single HDD or SSD in one of the main storage bays of your QNAP, however, it means that this drive will unusable for general storage (i.e in any RAID configuration or storage pool). This CAN be negated with some creative portion creation, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Additionally, do NOT try to install TrueNAS Scale on another USB drive that is connected to the system – this isn’t particularly stable and tends to result in a poorer TrueNAS Scale experience. M.2 NVMe bays and their location in the QNAP NAS changes depending on the system. Some allow you to access these bays via the main HDD 3.5″ bays (eg the TS-464), whilst others (the majority) require you to remove the external chassis casing to access these bays (eg the TS-453E, TVS-872X, TS-873A, etc).

Reminder – TrueNAS is NOT a big program and you can use an SSD as small as 32GB and still have a tonne of provision for future storage space. However, M.2 NVMe SSDs are not available in smaller sizes than 120GB. Lower size than this and you will generally only find 2240 SSDs and/or SATA M.2 SSDs. These are still perfectly fine to use, but the performance difference between SATA and NVMe (PCIe) is HUGE! You can find many SSD options here on amazon for as little as $30  – Find Low Capacitiy and Low Price M.2 NVMe SSDs HERE on Amazon (already filtered the results)

NOTE – If you plan on upgrading the memory of your NAS to 4GB-8GB-16GB or higher (in order to use ALL of the features of TrueNAS Scale to their fullest extent), I would recommend doing so at this point before rebuilding the physical chassis again, as many QNAP NAS have the 2nd SODIMM memory slot in really tight locations.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 7, Connecting the USB, Keyboard and HDMI Monitor

Next, we need to connect the external means to install TrueNAS Scale on the QNAP NAS. Unlike when you set up your QNAP NAS for the first time, TrueNAS cannot typically be installed via the network like QTS. TrueNAS requires you to use a KVM (keyboard, Video Mouse – though you won’t need a mouse!) and go through the installation using a low-res graphical user interface. Now you will ONLY need this setup/items for the installation and initialization of your TrueNAS Scale server and after that, you will be able to use the server over the network/internet as normal. You are going to need a basic USB Keyboard (not a Bluetooth or wireless one, as these may need drivers to run and you cannot install drivers at this point) and an HDMI Monitor/TV. You CAN use a mouse, but it is not hugely necessary and 99% of the choices in the setup of TrueNAS Scale can/will be via keyboard input. Also, I would also recommend connecting the NAS to the network during setup as this will allow the system to assume certain network values during setup that will save a tonne of time later. Once that is all connected, do NOT turn the NAS on yet – there is one small and slightly time-sensitive thing to do.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 8, Accessing the BIOS Menu of your QNAP NAS

Now that your QNAP NAS is all connected and you are ready at your keyboard/Monitor, turn the NAS on and wait till you hear a beep (should take between 5-15secs depending on the QNAP NAS). As soon as your hear that noise (and likely see a flashing character or undersScale on the monitor screen), you need to continuously hit the F12 and/or DEL keys (not at the same time, just back and forth). One of these will result in the system displaying the blue BIOS menu (it changes between motherboards and QNAP uses a mixture of mobos in their Intel and AMD-powered systems). You need to be quick, as you only have about 3 seconds to do this before the QNAP will automatically boot from the small internal 5GB flash OS module that boots into QNAP.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 9, Booting from the New TrueNAS Installer USB

Next you need to tap ‘RIGHT‘ on the keyboard and head to the ‘Save & Exit’ option. At the bottom, you should see, under the ‘boot override‘ option, your USB Drive. Tap ‘DOWN‘ until you are highlighting the USB and then tap ‘Enter‘ or ‘Return‘ on your keyboard, as this will push the QNAP to boot from that USB and begin the TrueNAS Scale installation. Later on I will show you how to force the system to ALWAYS boot into TrueNAS Scale, but for now, we just need it to read from this USB this one time.

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 10, Rebooting and Starting the TrueNAS Installer

This next step is a bit of a quick one. Around 5-15 seconds after you selected the USB Drive in BIOS, the screen will display the TrueNAS Installer option page. Tap ‘Enter’ as soon as you see it, as the page is on a countdown and when it reaches zero it will (possibly, depending on the version) reboot and then you will have to repeat the last few steps again!), So, in order to avoid this, tap ‘ENTER‘ as soon as this page appears.

After a few minutes, the TrueNAS Scale GUI/Command will appear on your monitor and all you need to do is navigate the config choices to set up your TrueNAS Scale NAS the first time.

Important – TrueNAS Scale runs at its best when it is run on a separate drive from your storage. Much like an Operating System, you can install TrueNAS Scale on an available SSD in a SATA or NVMe SSD slot in the QNAP NAS, then (after initialization) you can go into the TrueNAS Scale > Storage area and create a pool of storage using the available storage media bays,

It is NOT recommended that you install it on a USB drive, for reasons of speed and power-connections.

After you have completed the setup and are back at the initial TrueNAS Scale boot menu, select the ‘SHUTDOWN‘ option (not reboot/restart, for reasons I will explain in a moment).

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 8, Remove the Boot USB Drive AND CHANGE BIOS!!!

Once your QNAP NAS has fully powered down, you need to disconnect the USB drive you installed earlier with TrueNAS Scale boot loader on it. You need to do this otherwise, when you reboot the QNAP NAS, it can potentially reboot into the bootloader again. You can skip past this and/or it will not action a reinitialization without your input, but better to remove the USB and therefore allow the system to always immediately boot into the TrueNAS Scale system you just created.

Next, you need to head back into the BIOS from earlier. Keep the Keyboard and HDMI Monitor connected and use the same method you used earlier during the initial boot of the QNAP (pressing F12 and/or Delete repeatedly when you hear the first QNAP beep after about 10-15 secs) and as soon as you are greeted with the familiar blue BIOS screen. From here, tap right a few times to highlight the ‘Boot’ option and change the option for Boot Priority #1. The default is QNAP OS, you need to change it to the drive you installed TrueNAS on (whether that is a SATA/NVMe SSD or one of the main storage bays).

This will change the boot order to allow the system when it is first powered on to always boot into TrueNAS. After this, you can click right again in the BIOS menu to select the option to Save and restart. The system will then boot into the TrueNAS initialization (first time setup).

TrueNAS Scale on a QNAP NAS – Step 9, Reboot the NAS

Upon rebooting the QNAP into TrueNAS Scale (can take up to 5 mins, but usually much quicker). You have two options with how to access the configuration and controls. You can use the HDMI+Keyboard if you choose for console/command level access (shown below), but it is not really recommended long term:

Alternatively (much more recommended), use a program such as Advanced IP Scanner, which is free and VERY useful anyway, or even network command prompt) to scan your local area network and find where the QNAP with TrueNAS Scale is located (i.e it’s IP). This IP (eg 192.168.1.111) is what you put into the URL bar ofay web browser and it will load into the login GUI for TrueNAS Scale. From here you will need to use the username ‘root’ in combination with the password that you created during initialization.

And that is about it. You now have TrueNAS Scale installed as the default OS of your QNAP NAS. From here you can do anything and everything that his highly regarded ZFS powered server software offers. Head into the Storage area and start creating pools, as well as areas for caching and lots more features.

TrueNAS was recently updated to ver.13 in a stable release of the FreeBSD format, as well as new improvements in the Linux-based version ‘TrueNAS Scale’. The first thing you are going to need to do when setting up your TrueNAS Scale > QNAP NAS server is set up your storage. Do this by heading into the storage tab and following the handy steps on screen. After that, you can pretty much do anything on your new ZFS NAS!

EXTRA – How to Reverse Your QNAP NAS from TrueNAS Scale to QNAP QTS / QuTS Software Again

Now, it is worth remembering that switching your QNAP NAS to run TrueNAS Scale instead of QTS/QuTS is not a one-way street and you can reverse this relatively easily. Do remember first though that:

• Any data on the HDD/SSDs inside the QNAP that were used in TrueNAS Scale server setup will not be accessible/usable with the QNAP NAS system and will likely be flashed/formatted during the QNAP QTS reinitialization
• You will need your Keyboard and HDMI Monitor again in order to get back into BIOS
• If you kept your original QNAP RAID Pool on HDDs etc to one side (i.e you removed the already configured storage media in their RAID from the QNAP when you changed to TrueNAS and put these drives safely to one side), you should be able to migrate this data back into the QNAP NAS during re-initialization with ease. That said, YOU SHOULD ALWAYS HAVE A BACKUP FOR THIS DATA REGARDLESS

In order to reverse the QNAP NAS from TrueNAS Scale back to QNAP QTS/QuTS Software, you need to (from a cold boot) access the BIOS menu again (so, at boot, with your Keyboard and monitor connected, press the DEL and/or F12 key over and over when the QNAP beeps, like before) and when you reach the BIOS menu, tap RIGHT until you reach the ‘Boot page. Then change the ‘Boot Option #1’ option from the TrueNAS installation drive back to the QNAP OS (internal flash 5GB module). Once that is done, head into the ‘Save & Exit‘ and then select ‘Save Changes and Restart‘. Doing this will restart the QNAP NAS and it will automatically boot into the QNAP QTS/QuTS boot sequence. From here your NAS will either automatically boot into the QNAP Setup page OR (if you have your original QNAP NAS RAID drives, with their Pools, Volumes, etc) it will just boot into the QNAP NAS software as normal.

You can find out more about TrueNAS in my full review below that covers everything I like and dislike about the platform:

Thanks for reading! I hope you found this helpful and that it really helped you to make the most of your storage. Want to help me continue to make more guides, reviews and tutorials on the subject of NAS? Then you can do so in a few different ways (any of which I will be eternally grateful for if you choose to!). You can visit the ‘Support NAS Passion’ page HERE and see a few different ways that you can help us keep the lights on. Alternatively, you can use one of the links below to shop for your hardware today or in future (visiting those sites via the link below ensures that we get a mall commission on absolutely anything you purchase – and doesn’t cost you anything extra). Finally, if you want to support us in spirit rather than financially, recommend our blog to a friend or professional colleague or share a link on your social media site of choice. Thank you for reading and have a fantastic week!

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ANOTHER Amazon Prime Day in 2022? Yep, just a month before Black Friday kicks off and Amazon has decided to host an impromptu 2nd in-house sale event beginning on Tuesday 11th Oct until midnight on Wednesday 12th Oct (in 15 countries; Austria, Canada, China, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the U.S.). No doubt many of us with a prime subscription burning a hole in our account every month will be keen to take advantage and perhaps save a few quid. Both home and business users alike often take this opportunity to upgrade or improve upon their existing data storage setup, and it should come as no surprise that several of the top-tier data storage and network tech providers in the world get involved with this annual mega sale. Unlike the likes of Black Friday, which is a longer and more widely spread bargain extravaganza, Amazon Prime Day is a shorter affair and therefore the time afforded to most buyers to make a decision on whether to buy or not can be criminally short. Today I want to highlight as many Amazon Prime Day deals that I can find below as possible. Alongside the deals that we (me and Eddie, working double time) find on network and data storage products during the event, I have also included a list of recommended hardware that you should keep an eye out for during this short sale event that is likely to spring up on lightning deals. 

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Show All USA UK EU Other Category: All MIX NAS DAS HDD SSD CAM 10G RTR SWH PS5 MEM EXT

	MIX NAS DAS HDD SSD CAM 10G RTR SWH PS5 MEM EXT		USA UK EU Other			+ADD
Seagate 24TB Ironwolf PRO HDD (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	38% OFF - Now $399	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 86%
UnRAID License Now $34 and (BF) $94	NAS	UnRAID Store	USA	Price Drop & Multi-License Discount	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology 4TB Beestation NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	UK	11% OFF – £221.37 (was £249.89)	OPEN 25th Nov	▼ 90%
UGREEN DXP2800 2-Bay NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	$20% off – $319.99 (was $399)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
Terramaster F4-424 Pro i3 NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	20% OFF, £503.99 (was £629.99)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS723+ NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	$359.99 (20% OFF)	OPEN 29th Nov	▼ 82%
TERRAMASTER F8 SSD PLUS	NAS	Amazon	USA	$499.99 ($100 off)	OPEN 8th Oct	▲ 100%
Asustor FS6706T Flashstor 6 $419	NAS	AAAwave	USA	$419 ($30 OFF with code)	OPEN 18th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS124 1-Bay NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	UK	28% OFF – £132.97 (was £183.44)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
WD Red Plus 4TB NAS Hard Drive (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	29% OFF, Now $84.99 (was $119.99)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Western Digital 6TB WD Red Plus HDD (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	$99.99 (33% OFF)	OPEN 29th Nov	▲ 100%
QNAP TS-464 NAS $550	NAS	Amazon	USA	$550 (13% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
UGREEN DXP4800 PLUS 4-Bay (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	$20% off – $559.99 (was $699)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
QNAP TS-464 (8GB) (BF)	NAS	Amazon	UK	$469 (was $589) HERE	OPEN 25th Nov	▼ 78%
Seagate EXOS Enterprise Server 24TB Hard Drive (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	20% off – $479.99 (was $599.99)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS1621+ NAS (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	10% OFF – £854.36 (was £949.99)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
QNAP TS-464 NAS (BF)	NAS	B&H	USA	$120 OFF – $471.20 (was $591.20) HERE	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology WRX560 WiFi 6 Mesh Router (BF)	RTR	Amazon	UK	15% OFF – £196.50 (was £229.99)	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
6 Port 10GbE and 2.5GbE Switch (BF)	SWH	Amazon	USA	$36.78 (Cheapest it has ever been)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Seagate Ironwolf (non-Pro) 8TB NAS HDD (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	$149.99 (17% OFF, was $179.99)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
8 Port 10GbE Copper Unmanaged Switch (BF)	SWH	Amazon	USA	$223.98, was $279.98 (20% OFF)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Seagate 12TB NAS Hard Drive (BF)	HDD	Amazon	USA	$199.99, was $239.99 (17% OFF)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS124 NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£134.97 (26% Off)	OPEN 18th Nov	▲ 100%
Asustor Nimbustor 4 NAS	NAS	AAAwave	USA	$365 ($94 OFF)	OPEN 18th Nov	▲ 100%
QNAP 12TB /W RAID BACKUP BOX (BF)	DAS	Amazon	USA	$20% off – $519.20 (was $649) HERE	OPEN 25th Nov	▲ 100%
TERRAMASTER F4-424 Pro	NAS	AliExpress	USA	505.99	OPEN 27th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS223j NAS Drive (BF)	NAS	Amazon	USA	$161.99 (15% OFF, was $189.99)	OPEN 28th Nov	▼ 83%
Topton 10GbE N100 6-Bay NAS MITX Mobo (BF)	NAS	AliExpress	USA	$216 (was $250)	OPEN 28th Nov	▲ 100%
WD Red Plus Internal NAS HDD 3.5\" - 12TB	HDD	WesternDigital	USA	2 HDD for $399	OPEN 19th Oct	▲ 71%
Asustor AS5304T NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£439 (21% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
WD 4TB My Cloud Home NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£165 (14% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
Buffalo 2TB Linkstation 210 NAS	NAS	Amazon	USA	$129 (13% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
Silverstone CS382 NAS Case $209	EXT	Amazon	USA	$209 (16% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
UGREEN DXP4800 PLUS £629.99	NAS	B&H	USA	£629.99 ($70 off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▲ 100%
EARLY DEAL - QNAP TS-464-8G-US	NAS	Amazon	USA	$560 - 5% OFF	OPEN 18th Nov	▲ 100%
Synology DS224+ NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£299 (4% Off) HERE	OPEN 18th Nov	▼ 71%
Terramaster U4-423 1U Rack NAS	NAS	Amazon	USA	$499 (17% off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▼ 75%
Seagate 24TB Ironwolf Pro $439	HDD	B&H	USA	$439.99 ($210 off)	OPEN 6th Nov	▼ 75%
Synology DS423 NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£332 (15% OFF)	OPEN 6th Nov	▼ 57%
Synology DS223J NAS	NAS	Amazon	UK	£179.48 (6% Off)	OPEN 18th Nov	▼ 60%
TERRAMASTER F4-424	NAS	Amazon	USA	$399.99 (-20%)	OPEN 22nd Nov	▲ 100%
TERRAMASTER F4-424 Pro	NAS	AliExpress	USA	505.99	OPEN 27th Nov	▲ 100%
WD 8TB WD RED PLUS HDD	HDD	B&H	USA	£159.99 ($49 off)	OPEN 6th Nov
QNAP 5 Port 2.5Gbps auto Negotiation (2.5G/1G/100M), W125786480 (Negotiation (2.	MIX	Amazon	USA	180.88 OFF (WAS 283)	OPEN today
QNAP 1 Bay Home NAS with 4TB Storage Capacity, Preconfigured Seagate IronWolf Dr	MIX	Amazon	USA	13.19 OFF (WAS 155)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-233-US 2 Bay Affordable Desktop NAS with ARM Cortex-A55 Quad-core Proces	MIX	Amazon	USA	39.8 OFF (WAS 199)	OPEN today
[Amazon.co.jp Exclusive] QSW-2104-2S /AZ Unmanaged Switch with 2 QNAP 10GbE SFP+	MIX	Amazon	USA	9.14 OFF (WAS 202)	OPEN today
Asustor Drivestor 4 AS1104T - 4 Bay NAS, 1.4GHz Quad Core, Single 2.5GbE Port, 1	MIX	Amazon	USA	50 OFF (WAS 269)	OPEN today
Synology DS223 Diskstation NAS (Realtek RTD1619B Quad-Core 2GB Ram 1xRJ-45 1GbE	MIX	Amazon	USA	25.95 OFF (WAS 297)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-233-US 2 Bay Affordable Desktop NAS with ARM Cortex-A55 Quad-core Proces	MIX	Amazon	USA	5.59 OFF (WAS 280)	OPEN today
ASUSTOR Drivestor 4 AS1104T SAN/NAS Storage System - Realtek RTD1296 Quad-core (	MIX	Amazon	USA	36.09 OFF (WAS 327)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-433-4G-US 4 Bay NAS with Quad-core Processor, 4 GB DDR4 RAM and 2.5GbE N	MIX	Amazon	USA	56.8 OFF (WAS 360)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS1522+ 5-Bay NAS Enclosure - 5 x 3.5 or 2.5" SATA HDD/SSD,	MIX	Amazon	USA	20.6 OFF (WAS 358)	OPEN today
QNAP QXG-10G2SF-X710 Carte réseau Interne	MIX	Amazon	USA	18.95 OFF (WAS 375)	OPEN today
Asustor AS5304T 4 Bay NAS, 1.5GHz Quad-Core, 2 2.5GbE Port, 4GB RAM DDR4, Gaming	MIX	Amazon	USA	94 OFF (WAS 459)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-462-4G-US 4 Bay Multimedia Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Dual-core Proc	MIX	Amazon	USA	65.85 OFF (WAS 439)	OPEN today
QNAP QHora-301W Wi-Fi 6 IEEE 802.11ax Ethernet Wireless Router	MIX	Amazon	USA	20 OFF (WAS 430)	OPEN today
Asustor Lockerstor 2 Gen2 AS6702T - 2 Bay NAS, Quad-Core 2.0 GHz CPU, 4X M.2	MIX	Amazon	USA	23.81 OFF (WAS 459)	OPEN today
QNAP 12-Port Half-Width Rackmount 10GbE Managed Network Switch (QSW-M3212R-8S4T-	MIX	Amazon	USA	49.61 OFF (WAS 611)	OPEN today
Synology DS423+ 4 Bay Desktop NAS Storage Server	MIX	Amazon	USA	30.82 OFF (WAS 550)	OPEN today
Synology DS923+ 4-Bay Diskstation NAS (AMD Ryzen 4 Threads R1600 Dual-Core 4G	MIX	Amazon	USA	6.9 OFF (WAS 632)	OPEN today
Synology 16 Channel NVR Deep Learning Video Analytics DVA1622 with HDMI Video Ou	MIX	Amazon	USA	145 OFF (WAS 745)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-431XeU-2G 4-Bay 1U Short-Depth Rackmount NAS with 10Gbe SFP+ Port	MIX	Amazon	USA	6.56 OFF (WAS 661)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS923+ 4-Bay NAS Enclosure Server | AMD Ryzen R1600 Dual-Co	MIX	Amazon	USA	150.99 OFF (WAS 850)	OPEN today
Synology 4-Bay Rackmount NAS RackStation RS422+ (Diskless),Black	MIX	Amazon	USA	32.46 OFF (WAS 732)	OPEN today
Synology DS1522+ 5-Bay Desktop NAS Solution 5x3,5/2,5" SATA HDD/SSD, 2X M.2 2280	MIX	Amazon	USA	40.78 OFF (WAS 759)	OPEN today
QSW-M3216R-8S8T Half-width Rackmount 16-Port 10GbE Layer 2 Web Managed Switch fo	MIX	Amazon	USA	745.81 OFF (WAS 1511)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-410E-8G-US 4 Bay Professional fanless Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Qua	MIX	Amazon	USA	14.86 OFF (WAS 803)	OPEN today
CH ASUST|AS6706T R	MIX	Amazon	USA	145 OFF (WAS 1213)	OPEN today
Synology 4 Bay NAS 1.4Ghz Quadcore CPU - RS422+ Rack Station, Black	MIX	Amazon	USA	42.55 OFF (WAS 866)	OPEN today
Asustor 12-Bays FS6712X - Celeron N5105 2.0GHz (Quad-Core), 4GB DDR4, 12 x M.2 S	MIX	Amazon	USA	172.85 OFF (WAS 1191)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-432PXU-RP-2G 4 Bay High-Speed SMB Rackmount NAS with Two 10GbE and 2.5Gb	MIX	Amazon	USA	4.08 OFF (WAS 943)	OPEN today
Synology Diskstation DS1621+ DiskStation DS1621+, NAS, W125846548 (DiskStation D	MIX	Amazon	USA	243.8 OFF (WAS 1197)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-433eU 4-Bay NAS, 1U Rackmount Design, Short Depth, Edge Storage, File Ma	MIX	Amazon	USA	30 OFF (WAS 999)	OPEN today
Synology 4-Bay RackStation RS822+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	81.49 OFF (WAS 1081)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-431X-2G-USARM-based NAS with Hardware Encryption, Duad Core 1.7GHz, 2GB	MIX	Amazon	USA	10.3 OFF (WAS 1049)	OPEN today
NAS Server AS6510T 10 BAHIAS Atom C3538 Quad CORE DENVERTON 2.1 GHz 8 GB 2 x 2.5	MIX	Amazon	USA	10.85 OFF (WAS 1081)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Intel Celeron J4125 4-Core 2.0 GHz 2GB DD	MIX	Amazon	USA	59.01 OFF (WAS 1178)	OPEN today
QNAP QVP-21C Surveillance Camcorder	MIX	Amazon	USA	17 OFF (WAS 1144)	OPEN today
Serwer NAS TS-464eU-8G 4x0HDD 1U Intel Celeron N5105/N5095 8G	MIX	Amazon	USA	45.9 OFF (WAS 1371)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Intel Celeron J4125 4-Core 2.0 GHz 2GB DD	MIX	Amazon	USA	5.26 OFF (WAS 1144)	OPEN today
Synology DS423(Realtek RTD1619B 2GB RAM 2X RJ-45 1GbE LAN) 4-Bay 16TB Bundle wit	MIX	Amazon	USA	195.89 OFF (WAS 1345)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-473A NAS Tower Ethernet LAN Black V1500B TS-473A, W126324001 (LAN Black	MIX	Amazon	USA	71.93 OFF (WAS 1295)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-432PXU-2G	MIX	Amazon	USA	25 OFF (WAS 1272)	OPEN today
Synology 8 Bay RackStation RS1221+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	67.03 OFF (WAS 1367)	OPEN today
Synology 4-Bay RackStation RS822RP+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	91.98 OFF (WAS 1392)	OPEN today
Synology RX1217 Expansion for RackStation (Diskless) 88 mm x 482 mm x 696 mm	MIX	Amazon	USA	119.26 OFF (WAS 1456)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-3014-16PT: 14 1GbE RJ45 PoE Ports(IEEE 803.3at PoE ++, W125905474 (PoE	MIX	Amazon	USA	14 OFF (WAS 1641)	OPEN today
QNAP 4-Bay TS-464U-8G Storage - Intel Celeron N5095 2.9GHz (Quad-Core), 8GB DDR4	MIX	Amazon	USA	15 OFF (WAS 1684)	OPEN today
Synology 8 bay RackStation RS1221RP+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	84.23 OFF (WAS 1784)	OPEN today
Synology 8-Bay DiskStation DS1823xs+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	85.31 OFF (WAS 1885)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-1655-8G-US 16 Bay high Performance and high-Capacity Hybrid NAS with Int	MIX	Amazon	USA	138.31 OFF (WAS 1987)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-832PXU-4G Internal Ethernet 10000Mbit/s	MIX	Amazon	USA	19 OFF (WAS 1928)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-864eU-8G Nas Server	MIX	Amazon	USA	17 OFF (WAS 2034)	OPEN today
Synology 12-Bay RackStation RS2423+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	31.87 OFF (WAS 2063)	OPEN today
QNAP 12-Bay NAS Quad-core 1.7 GHz rackmount (TS-1232PXU-RP-4G)	MIX	Amazon	USA	31 OFF (WAS 2760)	OPEN today
TS-864eU-RP-8G | 8 Bays, Intel Celeron Quad-Core, 1x PCIe Gen3, Redundant Power,	MIX	Amazon	USA	7 OFF (WAS 2762)	OPEN today
Synology 12 Bay Rack Expansion RX1222sas (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	21.18 OFF (WAS 3156)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-h674-i3-16G Intel Core i3 Processor, 16 GB RAM, PCIe Gen 4 expandabilit	MIX	Amazon	USA	27 OFF (WAS 3190)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-1655-8G-US Storage NAS (Atom C5125 8-core processor, 2.8GHz/128GB(4×32G	MIX	Amazon	USA	1446 OFF (WAS 4805)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-h674 6-Bay Core i5-12400 32GB NAS Enclosure	MIX	Amazon	USA	124.38 OFF (WAS 3601)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-h874-i5-32G Intel Core i5 Processor, 32 GB RAM, PCIe Gen 4 expandabilit	MIX	Amazon	USA	18 OFF (WAS 3814)	OPEN today
Synology Disk Station DS3622XS+ - NAS Server - 12 Bays - SATA 6Gb/s - RAID RAID	MIX	Amazon	USA	2421.35 OFF (WAS 7031)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-1273AU-RP-8G	MIX	Amazon	USA	60 OFF (WAS 4028)	OPEN today
Synology 12 bay RackStation RS3621xs+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	395.45 OFF (WAS 5023)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-h874 NAS Tower Ethernet LAN Black	MIX	Amazon	USA	40 OFF (WAS 4669)	OPEN today
Qnap TVS-H874T-I7-32G	MIX	Amazon	USA	2554 OFF (WAS 7511)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-1673AU-RP-16G 3U 16BAY2.2GHZ	MIX	Amazon	USA	47 OFF (WAS 5543)	OPEN today
QNAP Systems TVS-H874T-I9-64G 8 Bay I9 16C	MIX	Amazon	USA	364 OFF (WAS 6434)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-h1887XU-RP-E2334-16G E-2334 18b TS-h1887XU-RP-E2334-16G Intel Xeon E-233	MIX	Amazon	USA	56 OFF (WAS 6564)	OPEN today
Synology 12-Bay Rackmount NAS SA3410 (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	127.07 OFF (WAS 6961)	OPEN today
Synology 24-Bay FlashStation FS3410 (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	USA	644.46 OFF (WAS 8297)	OPEN today
Qnap TS-h3077AFU-R5-32G | 30-Bay 2.5-inch SATA, All-Flash, Ryzen Pro CPU, 2 x 2.	MIX	Amazon	USA	66 OFF (WAS 7681)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-h1887XU-RP-E2336-32G E-2336 18b TS-h1887XU-RP-E2336-32G Intel Xeon E-233	MIX	Amazon	USA	66 OFF (WAS 7702)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-h1677AXU-RP-R7-32G | 16-Bay 3.5"/2.5"-inch SATA, Ryzen Pro CPU, 2 x 2.5	MIX	Amazon	USA	525 OFF (WAS 8263)	OPEN today
Serwer NAS TS-h2490FU-7232P-64G AMD EPYC 7232P 64GB RAM	MIX	Amazon	USA	756 OFF (WAS 14862)	OPEN today
Qnap TS-h2490FU-7302P-128G 24 Bay U.2 NVMe All-Flash High Performance Low Latenc	MIX	Amazon	USA	151 OFF (WAS 18983)	OPEN today
Synology RackStation SA3610, 12-Bay 3.5inch Diskless 4xGbE/2x10GbE, NAS (2U Rack	MIX	Amazon	USA	1762 OFF (WAS 20572)	OPEN today
Synology High Density HD6500	MIX	Amazon	USA	100.8 OFF (WAS 20101)	OPEN today
QNAP NAS TS-133 0/1HDD Tower	MIX	Amazon	UK	5.35 OFF (WAS 160)	OPEN today
Synology RT2600ac – 4x4 dual-band Gigabit Wi-Fi router, MU-MIMO, powerful pare	MIX	Amazon	UK	5.69 OFF (WAS 178)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS223J Network Storage Drive (White)	MIX	Amazon	UK	33.94 OFF (WAS 211)	OPEN today
Synology WRX560 WIFI 6 Mesh Router	MIX	Amazon	UK	7.77 OFF (WAS 228)	OPEN today
Asustor Drivestor 2 Pro Gen2 AS3302T v2, 2 Bay NAS Enclosure Network Storage, 1.	MIX	Amazon	UK	30.03 OFF (WAS 269)	OPEN today
QNAP QXG-10G2T carte réseau Interne Ethernet 10000 Mbit/s	MIX	Amazon	UK	9.42 OFF (WAS 266)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 2 Bay NAS Desktop: Efficient Storage Solution	MIX	Amazon	UK	20.99 OFF (WAS 320)	OPEN today
Synology RT6600ax - Tri-Band 4x4 160MHz Wi-Fi router, 2.5Gbps Ethernet, VLAN seg	MIX	Amazon	UK	30.2 OFF (WAS 331)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-433-4G-US 4 Bay NAS with Quad-core Processor, 4 GB DDR4 RAM and 2.5GbE N	MIX	Amazon	UK	12.68 OFF (WAS 379)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-264-8G | 2-Bay, Intel Quad-core CPU, 2 x M.2 Slots, 2.5GbE Desktop NAS,	MIX	Amazon	UK	4.78 OFF (WAS 399)	OPEN today
Synology Disk Station DS620slim - NAS server - 6 bays - SATA 6Gb/s - RAID 0, 1,	MIX	Amazon	UK	4.95 OFF (WAS 471)	OPEN today
Synology DS223j 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Realtek RTD1619B 4-Core 1.7 GHz 1GB DDR4	MIX	Amazon	UK	299.74 OFF (WAS 779)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-253E-8G 2-Bay Intel Quad-core CPU Multimedia NAS with Dual 2.5GbE, 8GB R	MIX	Amazon	UK	51.01 OFF (WAS 549)	OPEN today
QNAP Switch QSW-M2106R-2S2T | 10 Gigabit, Managed, Rackmount incl. Rack Kit	MIX	Amazon	UK	8.3 OFF (WAS 638)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-464 Series | TS-464-8G, 4-Bay, Intel Quad-core CPU, 2 x M.2 Slots, 2.5Gb	MIX	Amazon	UK	63.28 OFF (WAS 569)	OPEN today
Synology 4-Bay DiskStation DS923+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	UK	34.99 OFF (WAS 575)	OPEN today
Synology DS923+ 4 Bay NAS enclosure	MIX	Amazon	UK	34.99 OFF (WAS 575)	OPEN today
Synology 16 Channel NVR Deep Learning Video Analytics DVA1622 with HDMI Video Ou	MIX	Amazon	UK	139.76 OFF (WAS 731)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-233-US 2 Bay Affordable Desktop NAS with ARM Cortex-A55 Quad-core Proces	MIX	Amazon	UK	137.97 OFF (WAS 758)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 8TB 2 Bay NAS Solution installed with 2 x 4TB HAT3300 Drives	MIX	Amazon	UK	113.7 OFF (WAS 747)	OPEN today
Synology - DDR4 - module - 32 GB - DIMM 288-pin - 2666 MHz / PC4-21300 - 1.2 V -	MIX	Amazon	UK	18.78 OFF (WAS 699)	OPEN today
Synology 4 bay NAS 1.4Ghz Quadcore CPU - RS422+ Rack Station, Black	MIX	Amazon	UK	8.11 OFF (WAS 663)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-433eU 4-Bay NAS, 1U Rackmount Design, Short Depth, Edge Storage, File Ma	MIX	Amazon	UK	34.31 OFF (WAS 693)	OPEN today
Synology DS223 12TB 2 Bay Desktop NAS Solution installed with 2 x 6TB Seagate Ir	MIX	Amazon	UK	9.75 OFF (WAS 670)	OPEN today
QSW-3216R-8S8T Half-width Rackmount 16-Port 10GbE Unmanaged Switch for SMB/SOHO	MIX	Amazon	UK	16.74 OFF (WAS 774)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-464-8G-US 4 Bay High-Performance Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Quad-cor	MIX	Amazon	UK	21.68 OFF (WAS 711)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-432X-4G NAS/storage server Tower Alpine Alpine AL-524 4 GB DDR4 Qnap QTS	MIX	Amazon	UK	12.7 OFF (WAS 758)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-431X-2G 4 Bay Desktop High-performance NAS Enclosure - 2 GB RAM, 1.7 GHz	MIX	Amazon	UK	6.43 OFF (WAS 706)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-453E-8G 4-Bay Intel Quad-core CPU Multimedia NAS with Dual 2.5GbE, 8GB R	MIX	Amazon	UK	14.92 OFF (WAS 716)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-473A-8G 4 BAY 2.2 GHZ 4C/8T	MIX	Amazon	UK	5.96 OFF (WAS 753)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 2-Bay Diskstation NAS (Intel Celeron J4125 4-Core 2.0 GHz 2GB DD	MIX	Amazon	UK	96 OFF (WAS 896)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-1600 Géré Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) 1U Noir, Gris	MIX	Amazon	UK	14.79 OFF (WAS 863)	OPEN today
Synology DS224+ 32TB 2 Bay NAS Solution installed with 2 x 16 HAT3300 Drives	MIX	Amazon	UK	318.35 OFF (WAS 1224)	OPEN today
Synology DS1821+8bay NAS V1500B Quad-Core 2.2 GHz,Black	MIX	Amazon	UK	43.78 OFF (WAS 1091)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-1600 Géré Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) 1U Noir, Gris	MIX	Amazon	UK	12.47 OFF (WAS 987)	OPEN today
Synology RackStation RS822+ Reliable data management for remote and branch offic	MIX	Amazon	UK	48.49 OFF (WAS 1016)	OPEN today
QNAP QSW-M5216-1T Ultra-high-speed 25GbE fibre managed switch with 10GbE connect	MIX	Amazon	UK	12.45 OFF (WAS 1413)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS1621+ serveur de stockage NAS Bureau Ethernet/LAN Noir V1	MIX	Amazon	UK	17.64 OFF (WAS 1042)	OPEN today
Synology 4-Bay RackStation RS822+ (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	UK	188.55 OFF (WAS 1219)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-832PXU-4G Internal Ethernet 10000Mbit/s	MIX	Amazon	UK	9.48 OFF (WAS 1267)	OPEN today
Synology RX1217 - Storage enclosure - 12 bays (SATA-600) - rack-mountable - 2U	MIX	Amazon	UK	23.7 OFF (WAS 1252)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-3014-16PT-8G - Desktop Smart Edge PoE Switch - Cost-optimized intellige	MIX	Amazon	UK	17.54 OFF (WAS 1345)	OPEN today
QNAP 8-Bay NAS quad-core 1.7 GHz rackmount, TS-832PXU-RP-4G	MIX	Amazon	UK	43.43 OFF (WAS 1489)	OPEN today
QuCPE-3032-C3558R-8G	MIX	Amazon	UK	25.42 OFF (WAS 1544)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-1602 Managed L2 Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000) 1U Black, Grey	MIX	Amazon	UK	27.46 OFF (WAS 1566)	OPEN today
Synology DS1621+ 24TB 6 Bay Desktop NAS Solution installed with 6 x 4TB HAT3300	MIX	Amazon	UK	63.02 OFF (WAS 1662)	OPEN today
TS-864eU-8G | 8-Bay, Intel Celeron Quad-Core, 1x PCIe Gen3, 2.5 Gigabit, 2U Rack	MIX	Amazon	UK	964.33 OFF (WAS 2606)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-673A-8G 24TB 6 Bay Desktop NAS Solution | Installed with 6 x 4TB Seagate	MIX	Amazon	UK	69.5 OFF (WAS 1764)	OPEN today
Synology DS1823xs+ 8 Bay NAS Desktop: High-Performance Storage Solution	MIX	Amazon	UK	15.57 OFF (WAS 1731)	OPEN today
QNAP 12-Bay NAS quad-core 1.7 GHz rackmount (TS-1232PXU-RP-4G)	MIX	Amazon	UK	41.41 OFF (WAS 1792)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-472XT NAS Tower Ethernet LAN Black i3-8100T	MIX	Amazon	UK	31.11 OFF (WAS 1960)	OPEN today
QNAP QGD-1602-C3758-16G network switch Managed L2 2.5G Ethernet (100/1000/2500)	MIX	Amazon	UK	31.92 OFF (WAS 1984)	OPEN today
Synology RackStation RS1619xs+ - NAS server - 4 bays - rack-mountable - SATA 6Gb	MIX	Amazon	UK	203.83 OFF (WAS 2259)	OPEN today
QNAP QuCPE-3034-C3758R-16G Intel C3758R QuCPE-3034-C3758R-16G Intel Atom C3758R	MIX	Amazon	UK	32.99 OFF (WAS 2047)	OPEN today
Synology RS2423+ 12 Bay Rack NAS Storage Solution	MIX	Amazon	UK	14.03 OFF (WAS 2058)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-672XT-i3-8G, 6bay, 8GB RAM, Thunderbolt 3, 10GbE ready NAS (Network-att	MIX	Amazon	UK	203.7 OFF (WAS 2283)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-473A-8G/48TB-REDPLUS NAS/storage server Tower Ethernet LAN Black V150	MIX	Amazon	UK	263.73 OFF (WAS 2464)	OPEN today
Synology RX1222sas Expansion Unit - Storage enclosure - 12 bays (SATA-600 / SAS)	MIX	Amazon	UK	217.86 OFF (WAS 2773)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-1273AU-RP 12 Bay High-Performance Rackmount NAS with 2 x 2.5GbE Ports, R	MIX	Amazon	UK	4.17 OFF (WAS 2641)	OPEN today
Synology Deep Learning NVR DVA3221 - NVR - 32 channels - networked	MIX	Amazon	UK	10.34 OFF (WAS 2656)	OPEN today
QNAP TVS-h874-i5-32G Intel Core i5 Processor, 32 GB RAM, PCIe Gen 4 expandabilit	MIX	Amazon	UK	17.57 OFF (WAS 2687)	OPEN today
QNAP QuCPE-7012	MIX	Amazon	UK	37.75 OFF (WAS 2902)	OPEN today
Synology RackStation RS2821RP+ 3U 16-Bay Rackmount NAS for SMB	MIX	Amazon	UK	19.97 OFF (WAS 3403)	OPEN today
Serwer NAS TS-H987XU-RP-E2334-16G Xeon E-2334 4C 8T 16GB	MIX	Amazon	UK	180.81 OFF (WAS 4474)	OPEN today
QNAP QuCPE-7012	MIX	Amazon	UK	71.21 OFF (WAS 4453)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-H1277AXU-RP NAS Rack (2 U) Ethernet/LAN Noir E-2136	MIX	Amazon	UK	71.16 OFF (WAS 4774)	OPEN today
Synology DS1821+/128TB HAT5300 8 Bay	MIX	Amazon	UK	15.47 OFF (WAS 6657)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS3622XS+ 12 Bay Desktop NAS Solution, Installed with 12 x	MIX	Amazon	UK	212.46 OFF (WAS 7266)	OPEN today
Synology 12 Bay FlashStation FS2500 (Diskless)	MIX	Amazon	UK	23.7 OFF (WAS 7410)	OPEN today
Synology UC3400 12-bay 8 Core 8 GB Active-Active IP-SAN	MIX	Amazon	UK	47.6 OFF (WAS 8634)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-H3087XU-RP-E2378-64G 30 Bay Rackmount NAS Enclosure	MIX	Amazon	UK	83.84 OFF (WAS 10475)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-H1090FU-7302P-128G 10-Bay Rack TS-H1090FU-7302P-128G 10-Bay Rack Mount N	MIX	Amazon	UK	40.79 OFF (WAS 10412)	OPEN today
Synology DiskStation DS3622XS+ 12 Bay Desktop NAS Solution, Installed with 12 x	MIX	Amazon	UK	63.63 OFF (WAS 11161)	OPEN today
Synology FlashStation FS6400 - NAS server - 24 bays - rack-mountable - RAID 0, 1	MIX	Amazon	UK	290.61 OFF (WAS 15504)	OPEN today
QNAP TS-462-4G	NAS	NewEgg	USA	$366.75 (WAS 439)	OPEN 10th Oct	▼ 0%
QNAP TS-462-4G	NAS	NewEgg	USA	$366.75 (WAS 439)	OPEN 10th Oct	▼ 0%

Important – Me and Eddie (the chaps that run NASCompares) have been running these deal-hunting pages every Prime Day and Back Friday, searching and sharing the deals we find that WE would 100% personally buy! If it’s not something we consider a deal/bargain, we won’t add it. Additionally, users can add their own deals to the list (using the gadget below). Ultimately, we do this for a mixture of reasons. We want to help people get the best storage and/or network solution for their needs, but also because by choosing to visit Amazon via the links to the deals below, any purchase you make results in a small commission fee being sent right back to us at NASCompares (which goes directly back into making great content every day). We see Prime Day and Black Friday as a means of fundraising for the site and still helping people get the best possible deal they can. If you need help choosing the right solution for your needs (and want to be 100% sure before you pull the trigger and spend anything), you can use our Free Advice service right here.

————–  Useful Links  —————

US Amazon – Amazon USA Prime Day Official Page – Amazon UK Prime Day Official Page

Amazon Warehouse (20% Off Everything on Prime Day)

USA – UK – Germany

Synology NAS to Watch this Prime Day – Here

QNAP NAS to Watch this Prime Day – Here

Recommended PS5 SSDs to Buy this Prime Day – Here

Still unsure of what you need – use the Free Advice Section here on NASCompares.

Will Synology NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

Synology of currently midway through their latest generation of hardware releases and because of this we think during Prime Day there will be a good mix of the familiar hardware that has featured in previous sales over the last 12 months, as many of the 2018, 2019, and 2020 generation of NAS in the brand’s portfolio (such as the DS218/DS218play/DS418) is still available yet also starting to look a tad dated. These big sale events always tend to result in the lowest end of the Synology range (the cost-effective J series, DS220j and DS420j) appearing on limited offers. Finally, with new releases appearing gradually in the 2022 and 2023 generation, I think we will see Prime Day deals on their home and prosumer 2/4 bay solutions. Last year’s Prime Day AND Black Friday saw the DS920+ appear on a limited offer of £55/$75 off the RRP of this device and now the device is 2 years old, it will almost certainly reappear during the Prime Day Sale again. Here are the solutions I recommend you check on intermittently if you are looking for a Synology bargain:

Synology DS220j Budget-Friendly NAS Realtek CPU + 512MB + 2-Bay	Synology DS418 Cost-Effective NAS Realtek CPU + 2GB + 4-Bay	Synology DS920+ Media & Business NAS Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 4-Bay

Will QNAP NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

QNAP has revealed noticeably more of their latest generation hardware than their big competitor Synology, however, the brand is still periodically offering promotions online for their 2020 generation of hardware at a large number of retailers for its TS-x53D and TVS-X72 series, almost certainly in efforts to reduce stock levels in the run-up to newer and better premium solutions soon. Now that the QNAP TS-464 system has been revealed (although availability is still quite regionally limited) and with the summer holiday just around the corner, there will be an inevitable new product push that these products tend to receive in the last quarter of the year (starting typically around September/October), I can definitely see QNAP listing their more affordable desktop ranges in Amazon’s Prime Day sale. QNAP’s range of NAS solutions is easily one of the most diverse of any NAS brand and although it is highly unlikely that any of the TS-x64 series will be on sale this Prime Day, I DO think we will see the likes of the QNAP TS-453D, TS-233 and TS-251D appear on sale. These solutions are a good mix of old but solid, as well as new but ‘value’ series. QNAP tend to be more engaged with Black Friday than Prime Day typically, but this event is arriving at an important crossroads in the release of new hardware, so it would be a good opportunity for them to clear old generation devices that still run their QTS/QuTS 5 software.

QNAP TS-233 Cost-Effective NAS ARM v8 + 2GB + 2-Bay	QNAP TS-453D Prosumer 4K NAS Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 4-Bay + 2.5G	QNAP TS-364 2022 Gen NAS New Intel CPU + 4/8GB + 3/5-Bay + 2.5G

NAS Upgrades to look for this Amazon Prime Day

Perhaps you already own a NAS Drive from Synology or QNAP, but are considering using the promotional available this Amazon Prime Day to upgrade your existing server network. Most NAS drives released in the last 10 years that arrive built on x86 64bit architecture (i.e Intel Celeron, Pentium, Xeon or AMD Ryzen, Embedded Ryzen or Radeon Powered onboard) have the facility to upgrade several internal components, or even simply add further network or storage modules to the device in order to improve performance and allow it to be more future proof. Not every NAS owner takes advantage of this, as it more often than not requires a little bit of opening the NAS up, but more modern NAS releases have SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the necessity of this (often with upgrade slots/bays being accessible externally or via the main storage bays). The improvements of increasing your memory, adding SSD caching support, improving your network connectivity and/or adding an expansion are pretty huge and particularly business users with higher frequency ad volume of connections 24×7 will see AND feel the benefits. There are ALOT of 1st and 3rd party upgrades available, so it is important to check that 1) you are opting for an upgrade that is compatible with your system and 2) that you are remaining in the warranty/support area of your NAS manufacturer. If in doubt, you can ask me and Eddie HERE about an upgrade and it’s suitability in the free advice section, but otherwise here are the four upgrades that I recommend you look for this Amazon Prime Day.

CRUCIAL DDR4 Module Value Memory Upgrade	Sabrent 3200Mhz Heatshield Memory Highest Performance & Design	Startech 10GbE Upgrade VERY Affordable 10G	Seagate Ironwolf 510 SSD Best Price vs Durability Cache Drive

Will Terramaster NAS be in the Amazon Prime Day 2022 Sale and Which Solutions?

Terramaster NAS, frankly, ALWAYS appears on sale during Prime Day and Black Friday events on Amazon with exclusive deals for their more cost-effective value series of NAS devices. They are a brand that more often than not will provide a NAS solution that is comparable in hardware to Synology and QNAP, but significantly more affordable. Much like their competitors, Terramaster is in the process of rolling out their x43 2022 generation of hardware and we have already started seeing reductions in price on the 2020/2021 generation of devices in the FX-421 and FX-422 range of solutions. Of course, the brand also provides a range of thunderbolt raid solutions, and even though I anticipate some of the NAS hardware to pop up briefly in the sales, I think it is more likely that we will see their thunderbolt RAID solutions appear more prominently. Terramaster were one of the first to show off their 2022 series of devices and will be less keen for this hardware to appear in the Prime Day sale, however, thunderbolt 4 has begun to gain traction in the post-production world and therefore TerraMaster’s thunderbolt 3 hardware is in danger of looking a little outdated and is almost certainly due an upgrade in the near future. Therefore, keep an eye out for this brand’s Thunderbolt RAID hardware this Prime Day.

Terramaster F2-210 Low Price NAS 4-Core ARM v8 + 1GB + 2-Bay	Terramaster F5-221 Budget Media NAS Intel CPU + 2/8GB + 5-Bay + 1G	Terramaster F5-422 Affordable 10G NAS Intel 4-Core CPU + 4/8GB + 5-Bay + 10G

Will we see many NAS Hard Drive Deals this Prime Day from Seagate and WD?

Every Amazon Prime Day we see the two big hard drive manufacturers, Seagate and WD, throw all manner of storage media deals out to the general public. More often than not, these are external hard drives and USB storage for the most part, but they always include a few hard drive offerings too. Continued hardware shortages that date back all the way to early 2020 caused by everything from the pandemic to cryptocurrency and the impact of international conflict, likely mean that much larger capacity hard drives above 10TB will either not be featured in the sale at all or be in such low quantities that you will almost certainly miss them. However, deals on WD Red and Seagate Ironwolf drives at these big promo events do still appear and more often than not at the 4TB, 6TB and 8TB levels. If you are looking at populating your brand new NAS Drive or look into upgrade your existing storage, these may well be the ones for you.

NAS Hard Drives & SSD to Look for this Amazon Prime Day

WD Red HDD 5400RPM / 1-14TB	Seagate Ironwolf HDD 5900RPM / 1-14TB / Data Recov	WD Red SSD SATA, M.2 SATA & PCIe3 NVMe	Seagate Ironwolf SSD SATA, M.2 SATA & PCIe3/4 NVMe

Recommended IP Cameras, Web Cameras, PoE NVR and Surveillance Equipment the Prime Day

Not a single Prime Day goes by without a huge range of IP cameras from hundreds of different surveillance brands flooding the special offers page. Thanks to efficient software controllers and much more affordable lenses being developed, you generally cannot move for IP cameras arriving on Amazon. If you are looking at starting your own surveillance setup (such as with a Synology or QNAP NAS Drive or without using a complete NVR Solution) or simply looking to expand across an existing NVR or CCTV operation you have in place, be sure to look out for Riolink and D-Link this Prime Day as these two brands provide an extensive range of very well built cameras that tend to regularly appear on Amazon’s lightning deals and occasional promotional events. Otherwise, be sure to look for any camera that supports ONVIF, to ensure that you are not locked in to any first party, cloud or subscription storage.

Surveillance/Camera Brands to watch this Amazon Prime Day

Reolink Surveillance Smart Cameras, Value Cameras, Dual Lense	D-Link Surveillance Cost-Effective, Wide Range, AI Services	Annke Surveillance Excellent Nightvision Cameras – Affordable	ONVIF CAMERAS for NAS Cameras for Synology/QNAP

Recommended Network Switches to keep an eye on this Amazon Prime Day

It has taken a while, but the affordability of 2.5GbE and even 10GbE has finally reached a point where not only are they accessible to the average John Doe/Joe Blogs, but they regularly appear on seasonal promotions. During Prime Day there will be significant savings to be made on managed and unmanaged switches from the likes of Netgear, D-Link and QNAP, who have been bolstering their portfolio to rise to the demand of remote/home works and evolved networks during the difficult first year of the pandemic as office workers evolved. Even if you are not interested in these greater than gigabit network solutions, Netgear regularly reduce the price point of their 5/8 Ports 1 GbE switches during Prime Day to just a few quid (last year there was one for a frankly comedic £6) and you will really not find a better time to start improving upon your network environment and wired land than during this event.

Switches to Look for this Amazon Prime Day

QNAP Network Switches Smart Cameras, Value Cameras, Dual Lense	D-Link Network Switches Cost-Effective, Wide Range, AI Services	Netgear Network Switches Excellent Nightvision Cameras – Affordable

PS5 SSD Upgrades to Look for the Amazon Prime Day

It is almost a year now since Sony enabled the storage upgrade capabilities of the PlayStation. 5 and in that time we have seen a huge number of SSD manufacturers, big and small, release countless SSDs that all promise to be the perfect storage upgrade for your new next-gen console. In the past year or so I have conducted and published hundreds of SSD PS5 tests and during that time identified what I believe to be the very best drives for your PS5 that you should consider buying this Prime Day. Much as I mentioned earlier with larger capacity hard drives, SSDs are also suffering something of a hardware shortage and it is the bigger companies such as WD and Seagate that appear to be suffering the most as they are the ones held in the highest demand. Therefore, during Prime Day, it presents a fantastic opportunity for less high-profile brands to provide much more flexible promotional pricing and during Prime Day, you can bet your bum that there will be a wide variety of PCIe 4 NVMe M2 SSDs on offer. Remember – Resist the marketing of any brand that is not prepared to publish its performance figures and also factor in that you are going to need a heat sink for this super-fast but also high-temperature SSD for your PlayStation upgrade. Here are the SSDs I recommend that you look out for this Prime Day for your PS5.

WD Black SN850 – For Value 500GB – 2TB, Heatsink Option	Seagate Firecuda 530 – For Speed/Durability 500B – 4TB, Heatsink Option. Data Recov	Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus – Best All-Round 1TB-8TB, PS5 Design H/S, 176L NAND	GAMMIX XPG X70 – Price + Design INNOGRIT CONT, 2 H/S Options Inc

DON’T FORGET YOUR HEATSINK!!!

Sabrent PS5 Design H/S	ElecGear PS5 Designed H/S	Generic M.2 Heatsink ($10-12)

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