Five network-attached storage units — Synology, QNAP, TerraMaster, TrueNAS — covering everything from "I want family photo backups" to "I'm running a Proxmox lab in the closet." Chosen from the boxes I install for customers, not the boxes vendors mail to reviewers.
FTC DISCLOSURE. Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. We may earn a commission from purchases made through links on this page at no extra cost to you. Our recommendations are based on independent research and real-world reliability data — not on commission rates.
A NAS — network-attached storage — is the local half of the 3-2-1 backup rule. The cloud-backup picks from Issue 07 handle the offsite copy; a NAS handles the local copy. The combination is what survives both a drive failure (NAS catches you) AND a flooded house (cloud catches you).
This guide picks five NAS units across five use cases — from "first NAS, just want it to work" to "I want to run Plex, Home Assistant, and a Minecraft server on the same box." Use the decision tree to skip to the section that fits.
One thing about Synology: their 2023+ models started enforcing a "Synology verified drives only" list. The DS224+ doesn't enforce this strictly yet (warning only, drives still work); the DS923+ does (warning + some features restricted). Bypassable, but worth knowing before you buy. Caveats on each pick.
Section A · Home + mainstream
Three picks for first-NAS through prosumer.
Pick 1 is the simplest path to a working NAS — two bays, polished software, set-it-and-forget-it. Pick 2 is the workhorse — four bays, more flexibility, the answer if you're buying one NAS and don't want to think about replacement for a decade. Pick 3 is the value alternative — beefier hardware, rougher software, half the price.
Pick 01 · First NAS / Household backups (Home + mainstream)
Synology DS224+ (2-bay, ~$300 diskless)
4.7 / 5·DX·08A
Bays2 × 3.5" SATA
CPUIntel Celeron J4125 (4-core)
RAM2 GB (non-upgradable)
Network2 × 1 GbE (Link Aggregation)
Max raw2 × 20 TB = 40 TB
Typical price~$300 diskless
The simplest path to a working home NAS. Synology DSM is the most polished NAS operating system on the market — initial setup runs in under 30 minutes if you have the drives ready, the mobile apps are mature (Drive, Photos, Note, Chat), and Time Machine + Windows File History both work out of the box.
Two bays in RAID-1 (mirror) gives you half your raw capacity but means a single drive failure doesn't lose data. For a household with a few computers, family photos, and the usual mix of documents and downloads, this is the right configuration — 2× 8 TB drives ≈ 8 TB usable, plenty for most homes for 5+ years.
⚠ Field note
The 2 GB RAM is non-upgradable on the DS224+. If you want to run Plex transcoding heavily, the DSM "Synology Photos" face-recognition feature, or multiple Docker containers, step up to the DS923+ (Pick 2) — its RAM IS upgradable to 32 GB. For pure file storage + Time Machine + Photos, 2 GB is fine.
Strong points
DSM is the most polished NAS OS — easy for non-technical users
Mature mobile apps (Photos, Drive, Note, Chat)
Time Machine + Windows File History work out of the box
Quiet operation (one big rear fan, runs cool)
5-year warranty available with Synology drives
Real-world drawbacks
Only 2 GB RAM, non-upgradable
1 GbE network — caps at ~110 MB/s (no 2.5 GbE on this model)
No M.2 NVMe cache slots
Synology pushing toward 'verified drives only' policy on newer models
Pick 02 · Best Overall Mainstream (Home + mainstream)
Synology DS923+ (4-bay, ~$600 diskless)
4.5 / 5·DX·08B
Bays4 × 3.5" SATA + 2 × M.2 NVMe cache
CPUAMD Ryzen R1600 (2-core, 4-thread)
RAM4 GB DDR4 ECC (upgradable to 32 GB)
Network2 × 1 GbE (10 GbE optional via expansion)
Max raw4 × 20 TB = 80 TB
Typical price~$600 diskless
The "one NAS for the next decade" default. Four-bay flexibility means you can grow from 2 drives to 4 over time; ECC memory option means data corruption from bad RAM is caught and corrected; M.2 NVMe cache slots speed up frequently-accessed files; and the 10 GbE upgrade card (~$130) future-proofs the network when you eventually upgrade your switch.
This is what I install for customers who tell me "I want a NAS and I don't want to think about it for ten years." Plex transcoding works for most codecs; Docker containers run reliably; Synology's active-active failover (with two units) is available if you ever scale up. For a prosumer / small-home-office workload, this is the answer.
⚠ Field note
Synology started enforcing a "verified drives only" policy on the DS923+. Non-Synology HDDs will produce warnings and lose some features (drive health monitoring, deduplication on certain volumes). The restrictions are bypassable but it's extra friction. Buy Synology drives (HAT3300 or HAT5300) to avoid the hassle, or accept the warning and use any CMR drive.
Strong points
Four bays + 2 × M.2 NVMe cache
ECC RAM, upgradable to 32 GB
10 GbE upgrade path via expansion slot
AMD R1600 CPU is solid for VMs, containers, transcoding
The value pick. For ~$200 less than the Synology DS923+, you get a more powerful Intel N5105 CPU, faster 2.5 GbE networking standard (Synology requires the upgrade card), and 4 bays. The trade is TerraMaster's TOS software — functional, improving, but rougher than DSM. Mobile apps are basic, third-party app catalog is smaller, documentation is hit-or-miss.
For users who'll spend the savings on bigger drives (TerraMaster doesn't care which drives you put in — no "verified drives" restrictions), this is the right call. It's also the right call for users planning to run TrueNAS Scale, Unraid, or Proxmox on it instead of TOS — the hardware is solid and the manufacturer is permissive about alternative OSes.
⚠ Field note
TOS software is the trade. If you're a non-technical user expecting Synology-grade polish, this will frustrate you. Plex works fine; Time Machine works fine; the file-sharing basics work fine. But the photo-organization, mobile-sync, and "look what we did" feature catalog is much smaller than DSM. If software polish matters more than $200, get the DS923+.
Strong points
More powerful CPU than DS923+ at lower price
2.5 GbE networking standard (no upgrade card needed)
No verified-drives restriction — any CMR drive works
QNAP if you want the hardware advantages — HDMI out, included NVMe cache, 2.5 GbE on the base model. TrueNAS Mini X if you want a real homelab with ZFS, virtualization, and the freedom to run anything that fits in 32 GB of RAM. Both pick up where Synology's polished-but-locked-down approach leaves off.
Pick 04 · Alternative Ecosystem (Alternative + homelab)
QNAP TS-464 (4-bay, ~$580 diskless)
4.3 / 5·DX·08D
Bays4 × 3.5" SATA + 2 × M.2 NVMe
CPUIntel Celeron N5105 (4-core)
RAM4 GB DDR4 (upgradable to 16 GB)
Network2 × 2.5 GbE + HDMI 2.0 4K out
Max raw4 × 20 TB = 80 TB
Typical price~$580 diskless
QNAP's answer to the DS923+. Hardware advantages over Synology: 2.5 GbE standard (no extra card), HDMI 2.0 4K out (run the NAS as a Plex/Kodi player if you want), included M.2 NVMe slots, beefier graphics for hardware transcoding. The OS — QTS — has a bigger feature surface than DSM, including stronger virtualization (QVR Pro, Container Station) and an outright App Center with more third-party apps.
The downside: QNAP's security track record. They've had multiple ransomware waves (DeadBolt, Qlocker, ech0raix) hit unpatched units, where Synology has had... none of comparable scale. The vulnerabilities have been promptly patched in each case, but the lesson is: if you install a QNAP, enable auto-update for security patches, disable any services you don't actively use (the default install enables many), and never expose the admin port to the internet.
⚠ Field note
Patch promptly and harden the install. Specifically: disable myQNAPcloud / cloud Link unless you're using it, disable SSH if not needed, run the Security Counselor scan after setup and fix anything red. QNAP's default install assumes the user wants every feature on; you don't.
Strong points
HDMI 2.0 4K out (rare on NAS — useful for Plex/Kodi)
2.5 GbE standard, no upgrade card
2 × M.2 NVMe cache slots included
Bigger feature surface than DSM (virtualization, App Center)
Hardware H.265 transcoding on the integrated GPU
Real-world drawbacks
Security track record — multiple ransomware waves since 2020
Must disable unused services post-install (default is too permissive)
QTS UX is less polished than DSM
RAM ceiling of 16 GB (half what the DS923+ supports)
Pick 05 · Power User / Homelab (Alternative + homelab)
TrueNAS Mini X (4-bay, ~$1,300 diskless)
4.1 / 5·DX·08E
Bays4 × 3.5" SATA + 1 × 2.5" SATA boot
CPUIntel Atom C3338R (2-core, ECC)
RAM16 GB DDR4 ECC (upgradable to 64 GB)
Network2 × 10 GbE SFP+ + 1 × 1 GbE
FilesystemZFS (TrueNAS Core)
Typical price~$1,300 diskless
The homelab pick. Pre-built TrueNAS appliance with ECC memory standard, dual 10 GbE SFP+ on the base model, and TrueNAS Core (FreeBSD-based ZFS) pre-installed and supported by the manufacturer. Run VMs via bhyve, Linux jails for self-hosted apps, full ZFS snapshots and replication, the works.
TrueNAS Core (or its Linux-based sibling TrueNAS SCALE, also free) is the closest a homelabber gets to enterprise-grade storage without enterprise pricing. ZFS handles silent data corruption (bit rot) automatically — something none of the consumer NASes above do without explicit setup. For users running Proxmox, hosting their own Nextcloud, or backing up an actual lab full of VMs, this is the right tier.
⚠ Field note
Not for first-time NAS buyers. TrueNAS's learning curve is real — pool design, dataset organization, VM setup, replication scheduling, and the FreeBSD-vs-Linux question (Core vs SCALE) are all things you have to engage with. The 4.1 rating reflects this — fantastic hardware, fantastic software, but only for users willing to climb the curve. If you want "set it and forget it," buy a Synology.
Strong points
ZFS-native — bit rot detection + correction built in
ECC RAM standard, 64 GB ceiling
Dual 10 GbE SFP+ on the base model
TrueNAS Core (or SCALE) is free + open-source + actively developed
iXsystems provides paid support if you want it
Real-world drawbacks
Steep learning curve — not for first-time NAS buyers
~$1,300 base price (vs. ~$600 for the DS923+)
Smaller mobile-app ecosystem than Synology/QNAP
SFP+ networking requires SFP+ switch (most homes have RJ45)
This guide weights long-term reliability and ease-of-recovery over benchmark numbers. The calibrated top of the scale is 4.7 (Synology DS224+ — for the specific job of "first NAS that doesn't make you regret it"). 4.1 (TrueNAS Mini X) reflects the learning-curve ding, not the hardware — for the right user, the Mini X is the best pick in the guide.
Sources cross-referenced: my own customer installs and service records over the past 5 years (Synology dominates that mix, QNAP is second, TerraMaster + TrueNAS appear in homelab-customer installs), long-term ownership threads on Reddit's r/HomeServer + r/Synology + r/QNAP + r/homelab + r/TrueNAS, ServeTheHome benchmarks for raw performance comparisons, and the always-illuminating ransomware-incident postmortems for the security caveat on QNAP. Manufacturer comparison tables were the lowest-weight signal.
If a future firmware or hardware revision materially changes my assessment of any of these products, I'll update the guide and note the date.
DX·08 — Issue 08 — NAS Units — Computer Medic Repair & Service LLC, Clearwater FL — Published May 2026