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.
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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: in 2025 they tried to lock their new Plus models to Synology-branded hard drives, and NAS sales dropped. They backed off in October 2025 — on the 2025 models, DSM 7.3 accepts ordinary WD Red and Seagate IronWolf drives again for storage pools. The M.2 slots are still picky about Synology's own SSDs, and Synology hasn't promised the same openness on every 2026 model, so check before you buy. Updated October 2026: both Synology picks in this guide moved to their 2025 replacements. Caveats on each pick.
⚠ Market realityThe boxes below cost a little more than they did — the drives you put in them cost a lot more.Updated October 2026: data-center demand has soaked up most of the hard-drive and flash supply, NAS-class drives cost noticeably more per terabyte than they did a year ago, and most forecasts don't see real relief before late 2027. Every price here is diskless and marked * — an October-2026 snapshot that's still moving, so verify before you buy. Budget the drives separately and expect them to cost well more than they did a year ago. That changes the maths on a first NAS: a 4-bay enclosure you fill today can easily cost more in drives than in hardware. If you're building for capacity rather than redundancy, price the drives first and let that decide the bay count.
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, roughly $90 less than Pick 2.
Pick 01 · First NAS / Household backups (Home + mainstream)
Synology DS225+ (2-bay, ~$345* diskless)
4.5 / 5·DX·08A
Bays2 × 3.5" SATA
CPUIntel Celeron J4125 (4-core)
RAM2 GB DDR4 (6 GB max)
Network1 × 2.5 GbE + 1 × 1 GbE
M.2 slotsNone
Typical price~$345* 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. The one real hardware change from the DS224+ it replaced is a 2.5 GbE port, which roughly doubles file-copy speed if your router or switch has a 2.5 GbE port too.
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 noteWhy this replaced the DS224+ in October 2026. Synology replaced the DS224+ with the DS225+ in mid-2025; the old model is now mostly leftover stock. It's the same Celeron J4125 inside (a 2019-era chip) with 2 GB of RAM and one slot to reach 6 GB, and it costs about $40–50 more than the DS224+ did — which is why it sits at 4.5 instead of the old 4.7. If you want heavy Plex transcoding, Synology Photos face recognition, or several Docker containers, step up to the DS925+ (Pick 2), which goes to 32 GB. For 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)
2.5 GbE port standard; ordinary NAS hard drives accepted again (DSM 7.3)
Real-world drawbacks
Only 2 GB RAM to start, 6 GB ceiling
Same 2019-era Celeron CPU as the model it replaced
Pick 02 · Best Overall Mainstream (Home + mainstream)
Synology DS925+ (4-bay, ~$640* diskless)
4.4 / 5·DX·08B
Bays4 × 3.5" SATA + 2 × M.2 NVMe cache
CPUAMD Ryzen V1500B (4-core, 8-thread)
RAM4 GB DDR4 ECC (upgradable to 32 GB)
Network2 × 2.5 GbE (no 10 GbE slot)
ExpansionDX525 5-bay unit via USB-C
Typical price~$640* 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 means data corruption from bad RAM is caught and corrected; M.2 NVMe slots speed up frequently-accessed files; and dual 2.5 GbE ports come standard, so it's fast out of the box on a modern router or switch. The quad-core, eight-thread CPU is a real step up from the dual-core in the DS923+ it replaced.
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 works for most codecs (there's no integrated graphics, so heavy 4K transcoding is better on the QNAP or TerraMaster); Docker containers run reliably; Synology's high-availability failover (with two units) is available if you ever scale up. For a prosumer / small-home-office workload, this is still the answer.
⚠ Field noteWhy this replaced the DS923+ in October 2026. Synology superseded the DS923+ with the DS925+ in 2025, and new DS923+ stock is drying up. The trade: the DS925+ is faster out of the box, but it dropped the PCIe slot, so there's no 10 GbE upgrade path — that's why it rates 4.4 against the DS923+'s 4.5. On drives, the 2025 launch shipped with a Synology-drives-only lock; DSM 7.3 (October 2025) lifted it for regular hard drives, so any CMR NAS drive (WD Red Plus, Seagate IronWolf) works for storage pools. The M.2 slots still expect Synology-branded SSDs. Make sure it's on DSM 7.3 or later before you build the pool.
Strong points
Four bays + 2 × M.2 NVMe
ECC RAM, upgradable to 32 GB
Dual 2.5 GbE standard — no add-on card needed
4-core / 8-thread Ryzen V1500B is solid for VMs and containers
The value pick. For roughly $90 less than the Synology DS925+, you get a newer Intel N150 CPU with built-in graphics for video transcoding, four times the RAM out of the box (16 GB DDR5), dual 5 GbE networking, three M.2 slots, and 4 bays. The trade is TerraMaster's TOS software — functional, improving, but rougher than DSM. Mobile apps are basic and dated, the third-party app catalog is smaller, documentation is hit-or-miss. One buying tip: TerraMaster also sells a cheaper N95 version, so make sure the listing says N150.
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 noteWhy this replaced the F4-423 in October 2026. The F4-423 is discontinued; the F4-425 Plus is TerraMaster's current four-bay in the same slot, with better hardware across the board but a higher price than the old ~$400. It earns 4.3 to the F4-423's 4.2 on that hardware. The trade hasn't changed: TOS software is still the weak spot. If you're a non-technical user expecting Synology-grade polish, this will frustrate you. Plex, Time Machine, and the file-sharing basics all work fine, but the photo-organization and mobile-sync features are much thinner than DSM. If software polish matters more than about $90, get the DS925+.
Strong points
16 GB DDR5 and dual 5 GbE standard, for less than the DS925+
Three M.2 NVMe slots + built-in graphics for transcoding
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 64 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, ~$640* diskless)
4.3 / 5·DX·08D
Bays4 × 3.5" SATA + 2 × M.2 NVMe
CPUIntel Celeron N5105 (4-core)
RAM8 GB DDR4 on the US model (16 GB max)
Network2 × 2.5 GbE + HDMI 2.0 4K out
Max raw4 × 20 TB = 80 TB
Typical price~$640* diskless
QNAP's answer to the Synology DS925+. 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. That advice still stands in 2026: QNAP's June 2026 advisory patched 14 more flaws across QTS and QuTS hero.
October 2026 check: the TS-464 is still sold new in the US (the 8 GB TS-464-8G is the version you'll find). QNAP showed its successor, the TS-h465, at Computex 2026 with a newer Intel N150 and DDR5, but it isn't on US shelves yet. Until it is, the TS-464 stays the pick.
⚠ 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 DS925+ supports)
Pick 05 · Power User / Homelab (Alternative + homelab)
TrueNAS Mini X+ (5+2-bay, ~$1,900* diskless)
3.8 / 5·DX·08E
Bays5 × 3.5" + 2 × 2.5" hot-swap
CPUIntel Atom C3758 (8-core, ECC)
RAM32 GB DDR4 ECC (upgradable to 64 GB)
Network2 × 10 GbE
FilesystemZFS (TrueNAS Community Edition)
Typical price~$1,900* diskless
The homelab pick. Pre-built TrueNAS appliance with ECC memory standard, dual 10 GbE, seven drive bays, and TrueNAS pre-installed and supported by the company that writes it. Run VMs, Docker apps for self-hosting, full ZFS snapshots and replication, the works.
TrueNAS Community Edition (the free, Linux-based version that used to be called SCALE; the older FreeBSD-based TrueNAS Core is now winding down) 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 noteWhy this replaced the Mini X in October 2026. iXsystems stopped taking orders for the Mini X at the end of 2024 and points buyers to the Mini X+. It's the better box — eight cores, 32 GB ECC, seven bays — but configured prices in the US have climbed to around $1,900 diskless for a platform whose Atom CPU dates to 2017. That price, on top of the learning curve, is why it sits at 3.8 where the Mini X sat at 4.1. Not for first-time NAS buyers: pool design, dataset organization, VM setup, and replication scheduling are all things you have to engage with. If you want "set it and forget it," buy a Synology.
Strong points
ZFS-native — bit rot detection + correction built in
32 GB ECC RAM standard, 64 GB ceiling
Dual 10 GbE and seven drive bays
TrueNAS Community Edition 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
~$1,900 configured (vs. ~$640 for the DS925+)
Smaller mobile-app ecosystem than Synology/QNAP
Older Atom platform for the money; 10 GbE needs a 10 GbE switch to pay off
This guide weights long-term reliability and ease-of-recovery over benchmark numbers. The top of the scale is 4.5 (Synology DS225+ — for the specific job of "first NAS that doesn't make you regret it"). 3.8 (TrueNAS Mini X+) reflects the learning curve and the price, not the build quality — for the right user, the Mini X+ is still the most capable box in the guide.
October 2026 update: four of the five picks moved to their current replacements (DS224+ → DS225+, DS923+ → DS925+, F4-423 → F4-425 Plus, Mini X → Mini X+), every rating and price was re-checked, and the Synology drive-compatibility section was rewritten after Synology lifted its hard-drive lock in DSM 7.3. The QNAP TS-464 and its 4.3 stay as they were.
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 · Updated October 2026