The 4 Best NAS Devices for Most Home Users in 2023

Jun 16, 2023

We’ve added a few NAS boxes on our radar to What to look forward to. We’ll be evaluating them when they are available.

After testing six new two- and four-bay network-attached storage (NAS) devices and comparing them against our previous picks, we found that the Synology DiskStation DS220+ is the best home NAS for most people. The fastest NAS we tested, it offers powerful hardware for the price, includes AES-NI hardware encryption acceleration for added security, has upgradable RAM, and comes with software that's easy to use.

Easy to set up and manage, this two-bay NAS features hardware encryption, media streaming, remote access, useful apps, and solid data protection.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $300.

In addition to speed, the Synology DiskStation DS220+ offers a variety of backup and syncing options, plus it has mobile apps for media streaming, file management, and more. It also supports a wide range of third-party apps, such as Plex, Resilio Sync, and GitLab. The DS220+ can act as a home backup device, a media streamer, a mail server, a website-hosting device, a BitTorrent box, or a video-surveillance recorder—nearly anything a Linux computer can do—while consuming about as much electricity as a couple of LED bulbs.

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The TS-251D-4G-US is about as fast as the DS220+ and adds an HDMI port and a few more USB ports for extra connectivity.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $389.

The QNAP TS-251D-4G-US is a good choice if the DS220+ is out of stock or if you want to display media on a TV. It was about as fast as the DS220+ during file transfers in our tests, and it adds an HDMI-out port so you can hook it up directly to a TV for media playback without using a media streaming box. It uses the same QTS management interface as QNAP's other NAS devices—we like Synology's DiskStation Manager software a little more, but it's largely a matter of preference.

The four-bay QNAP TS-451D2-4G has hardware similar to that of the two-bay NAS boxes we like but adds two drive bays for additional storage, redundant backup, and a bit more speed when storing files.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $509.

For video and photo professionals who need expandable storage space or business owners who need a NAS with multiple backups, it's worth upgrading to the QNAP TS-451D2-4G. This model's two additional bays allow you to add data storage as you need while offering an extra layer of protection for sensitive files you can't afford to lose. The extra bays permit different storage configurations that offer better data protection and performance, and thanks to the extra memory, this model can write large files, such as security footage, faster than the competition while running server-side apps. You can use the second Gigabit Ethernet port for link aggregation to increase performance if you have a compatible router and multiple people use your NAS at once.

The DS420+ is a little slower than the comparably priced QNAP model, but if you prefer Synology software and need a NAS for basic tasks at home, this model offers similar features and overall performance.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $552.

If you prefer the Synology administrator interface and need four drive bays, opt for the Synology DiskStation DS420+ over the four-bay model from QNAP we recommend as our upgrade pick. Although this model was just as fast at reading files, it was a bit slower at writing them. For people archiving years’ worth of home video or personal photographs, or film buffs with large collections, the performance shouldn't be a problem. But anyone who has professional demands or who expects to be working on NAS-based files would be sacrificing useful speed just for the interface.

Easy to set up and manage, this two-bay NAS features hardware encryption, media streaming, remote access, useful apps, and solid data protection.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $300.

The TS-251D-4G-US is about as fast as the DS220+ and adds an HDMI port and a few more USB ports for extra connectivity.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $389.

The four-bay QNAP TS-451D2-4G has hardware similar to that of the two-bay NAS boxes we like but adds two drive bays for additional storage, redundant backup, and a bit more speed when storing files.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $509.

The DS420+ is a little slower than the comparably priced QNAP model, but if you prefer Synology software and need a NAS for basic tasks at home, this model offers similar features and overall performance.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $552.

Before joining Wirecutter, Joel Santo Domingo tested and wrote about PCs, networking products, storage, and personal tech at PCMag and PC Magazine for more than 17 years. Prior to writing for a living, Joel was an IT tech and sysadmin for small, medium, and large companies. He has professionally backed up data as diverse as news stories on plane crashes and Mariah Carey album art.

A network-attached storage device, or NAS, is a small always-on computer generally used for backing up computers and serving files to devices on your local network. It includes at least one but usually two (or more) hard-drive bays, a (usually) Linux-based operating system optimized for network storage, and enough CPU power and RAM to do everything it needs to do while using far less power than a repurposed old computer. Unlike a USB drive or an external hard drive, a NAS with two or more hard drives can provide data redundancy, copying the contents of one drive over to the other automatically.

A NAS is great if you have a large media library, because you can store your files in one place and stream them locally to computers, phones, tablets, speakers, or media centers throughout your house (or even outside it). The same goes for photographers storing photos, music producers archiving music files, designers stockpiling massive Photoshop files, and anyone else who needs to access large amounts of data from multiple computers. Most people don't need to store thousands of raw photo files, terabytes of raw video, gigabytes of lossless digital music, or backups of their Blu-ray collection, but a NAS is a useful tool for the people who do.

You should consider a NAS if you have more than one computer at home, since you can back them all up to the NAS rather than connect an external backup drive to each computer. And if you want to protect your data and backups from theft and natural disasters, a good NAS is capable of uploading files directly to a cloud backup service, too.

A NAS is also useful if you have too much data to store in Dropbox or Google Drive, or if you don't trust your data to cloud storage providers. When you use a NAS, your data remains in your home and does not go to the cloud unless you tell it to do so. Many NAS devices have even added photo-management tools and file-syncing services that attempt to replicate various cloud storage offerings. While those NAS tools aren't as rich with features as commercial storage services from Google, Apple, and others, they can at least provide an adequate alternative to pricey subscriptions.

Most NAS devices can also act as email, database, and virtual private network (VPN) servers. You can use them for BitTorrent, to host CMS, CRM, and e-commerce software, or as DVRs for networked security cameras. A NAS is a computer, so it can do almost anything a Linux computer can do. Although that flexibility is great, it can also make some NAS devices confusing to use. Each NAS has its own manufacturer-specific version of Linux, and some are more approachable than others.

You should consider a NAS if you have more than one computer at home, since you can back them all up to the NAS rather than connect an external drive to each computer.

If you want to share and store data on your network, you may not need a NAS. Many routers have a USB port for connecting an external drive, but because routers have slower processors than our NAS picks and because their software isn't purpose-built for file sharing, this setup is slow and suitable only for the most basic file sharing and backups. It also lacks data redundancy because you’re backing up to only one drive, so you’re taking your chances in case of a drive failure. Windows, macOS, and Linux also have built-in file-sharing features that make using your computer as a file server easy—but that approach takes up disk space on your computer and is more difficult to manage securely, and your computer has to be on all the time, an arrangement that consumes more power than a NAS and might make the data inaccessible when your computer goes to sleep.

If you’re an IT professional looking for a business-level NAS, this guide is not for you. Nor does this guide cover more-advanced uses of NAS such as iSCSI targeting, SANs (storage area networks), or RAID configurations such as RAID 5, 6, or 10 for multidrive NAS devices. Websites focused on enterprise network storage, such as Computer Weekly and StorageReview.com, can help in those cases.

This guide also doesn't cover NAS devices that can support 1080p on-the-fly video transcoding via Plex Media Server. Every NAS we recommend supports Plex, which works great if your box is connected directly to your display via HDMI or if your videos don't need transcoding to stream to your devices. Many NAS devices can also manage decent on-the-fly transcoding with their own apps, but Plex transcoding currently requires a lot of CPU power, and none of the NAS models we tested were able to handle transcoding in Plex reliably. NAS boxes that can manage 1080p on-the-fly transcoding through Plex are too expensive for most people—you’re better off running Plex Media Server on a computer or on an Nvidia Shield TV and using the NAS for media storage.

You could make your own NAS with old computer hardware and free software such as TrueNAS Core (formerly FreeNAS) or XigmaNAS, but a dedicated NAS device can use far less power (usually about as much as a couple of LED light bulbs), has a better interface and more apps, and comes with a manufacturer warranty and technical support. The benefit of a DIY NAS is customization; you can choose where you spend money and upgrade things basically forever. You can even keep the price pretty low with something like a Raspberry Pi–powered NAS for around $250 (including drives), though even with a Raspberry Pi 4, a NAS like that isn't very quick. If you’re curious about installing TrueNAS Core, this YouTube guide walks you through the process, and this forum post includes a list of hardware recommendations.

Since this guide's original publication in 2011, we’ve assembled a list of every two-bay NAS from a reputable vendor. Right now, that includes models from Asustor, Drobo, Netgear, Noontec, QNAP, Seagate, Synology, Thecus, WD, and Zyxel. We’ve read professional NAS reviews on CNET, PCMag, PCWorld, SmallNetBuilder, and StorageReview.com, and we’ve also looked at customer reviews on Amazon and Newegg.

Back in 2015, we surveyed 1,094 Wirecutter readers on what they wanted in a home NAS, and most of those requirements still hold true. When deciding which models to test, we paid attention to a number of key features that most home NAS buyers needed:

We also found a few features that were nice to have (it wasn't a dealbreaker if they were missing):

First we set up each NAS following its included install guide, if it had one. Next we looked at the web interface's organization and features. We tested ease of use by configuring user and group accounts, as well as file and folder access permissions. We checked to see if the NAS offered a secure cloud service for remote access, which would help us avoid having to mess with port forwarding and static IP addresses. We also looked at Android and iOS mobile apps for accessing and administering the NAS.

The easiest way to measure real-world NAS performance, at least for how a home NAS is typically used, is to copy files to and from the NAS and calculate the data rate. Since 2015, we’ve run read-and-write tests the simplest way we can: by copying files over Gigabit Ethernet and measuring the elapsed time. This round, we installed 16 TB Seagate IronWolf Pro drives in each NAS, connected each model via Gigabit Ethernet to an Asus ROG GT-AC2900 router, and connected a desktop PC with Gigabit Ethernet to another port. If the NAS had dual Ethernet ports, we connected both to the router and enabled link aggregation. We used Windows 10's built-in Robocopy file-copying tool to read and write three datasets to each NAS: a 32 GB music folder with 6,154 MP3 files, as well as a folder with two large files, an 8.1 GB MKV file and a 7.07 GB Linux ISO file. We ran each test nine times in each direction: three times with encryption turned off, three times with disk or folder encryption turned on, and three times with in-flight SMB encryption turned on.

To simulate drive failure, we pulled a drive from the NAS while it was running. A NAS should beep or flash an LED to alert you that something is wrong, and the interface should show a drive-failure notification. If the NAS allows you to set up SMS or email alerts, that's even better. If a drive fails and the NAS doesn't produce a notification, you’re at risk of data loss if the second drive also fails.

Next we replaced the pulled drive with one of equal or greater capacity. A NAS should detect a new drive and automatically re-create the mirrored array. With each NAS, as it rebuilt the RAID 1 mirror or RAID 5 array, we confirmed that all data stored on the NAS was intact and accessible.

This process also allowed us to test the quality of each NAS device's drive bays. A good NAS has drive trays or slots that make the drives easy to remove but are sturdy enough to ensure that the drives fit tightly and securely, with no chance of getting disconnected by a random bump.

We also connected a flash drive to one of the USB ports. A NAS interface should recognize a connected drive and display its make, model, and file system. It should allow transfers between the USB drive and the NAS.

All our NAS picks have some sort of energy-saving feature. We used a Kill A Watt EZ to test the power consumption on each NAS when it was performing a task (such as a file copy), when it was idle, and when it had its energy-saving options enabled.

Easy to set up and manage, this two-bay NAS features hardware encryption, media streaming, remote access, useful apps, and solid data protection.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $300.

The Synology DiskStation DS220+ is the best two-bay home NAS for most people. It typically sells for less than $350 (diskless) as of this writing, its read and write speeds are among the fastest of any NAS we’ve tested, and it includes a modern Intel Celeron processor, hardware-level encryption, and a flexible and easy-to-understand interface with a wide variety of third-party apps. The DS220+ supports media playback through its own apps or Plex Media Server, supports RAID 1 drive mirroring, alerts you to drive failure, has three USB ports (including one on the front), and supports all the features Wirecutter readers have asked about, such as the FTP protocol, VPN server capabilities, IP cameras, UPS compatibility, and SSDs.

Some NAS devices below this price range use slower ARM-based processors from Realtek, Alpine, or Marvell, or older-generation Intel Celeron processors. Some still ship with 1 GB of RAM or less. The DS220+ has a modern dual-core 2.0 GHz Intel Celeron processor and 2 GB of RAM, which you can expand to 6 GB. (Our runner-up, the QNAP TS-251D, uses a similar Celeron processor running at the same base speed and either 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM.) You’ll welcome that processor's speed when copying lots of files, streaming videos, or performing multiple backups simultaneously. The Linux-based DiskStation Manager software isn't complicated; if you’ve used a Windows or Mac computer, you’ll be able to find your way around DiskStation Manager and figure out how it works pretty quickly.

The DS220+ eked out a slim victory in three of our four speed tests, with transfer speeds between 62 and 110 megabytes per second. However, the results were close all around. For example, the QNAP TS-251D and Asustor AS5202T use similar Intel Celeron j4xxx-class dual-core processors running at the same base speed (2.0 GHz), so even though the TS-251D was the fastest of the group while reading 15 GB of large files, its margin of victory was under 1%.

The gap was a bit wider when we transferred lots of small music files (mainly MP3s). The DS220+ outpaced the TS-251D by about 7%, though you probably wouldn't notice a difference of 20 seconds when the total transfer takes six minutes.

Speed differences aside, the DS220+ (as well as all other current Synology and Asustor NAS devices) uses a different default file system than other models, called Btrfs (most other NAS models, including offerings from QNAP, use the ext4 file system). The file system shouldn't have a huge effect on the file-transfer speeds, but it does introduce some features, such as snapshots, which can protect folders from accidental deletion by making copies of shared folders periodically. Btrfs also features near-instant server-side copying, data integrity checks, and metadata mirroring, which supposedly helps with data recovery in the case of hard-drive damage. Most NAS owners wouldn't notice the differences between the two. If you do prefer ext4 for any reason, you can set up the DS220+ to use that file system instead of Btrfs when you create a volume.

The DS220+'s interface, DiskStation Manager, is one of the most user-friendly operating systems on any NAS device. DiskStation Manager has a toolbar on the top where you can access the main menu, notifications, and login options, as well as search for files and check on system health. Below that toolbar, you have a desktop where you can access Package Center (a store of sorts filled with add-on software), the file browser, the control panel (which includes all your settings), and a support area offering video tutorials, FAQs, and more. Synology has a demo version of the operating system available online; it's worth checking out before you make your purchase.

As with most of the NAS operating systems we tested, the DiskStation Manager interface includes a pop-out dashboard widget that gives you an overview of the NAS's drive health, as well as its processor and memory usage. You can customize the dashboard to include storage, connected users, and more. DiskStation Manager also includes handy features for novices. For example, if you click on the File Services tab in the DiskStation Manager control panel, it displays the key command you need to access the file share on your PC ("DS220plus") or Mac ("smb://DS220plus"). While these commands may be familiar to veteran systems administrators, new users or anyone who has forgotten the server name will welcome the embedded tip.

DiskStation Manager has an optional cloud service called Cloud Station Server that allows you to access your files remotely. If you don't want to connect to any cloud service, you can still access your NAS remotely through a virtual private network hosted on the NAS itself or Dynamic DNS with port forwarding, but for most people Cloud Station Server is much simpler. In addition, DiskStation Manager includes Cloud Station ShareSync, which allows you to use your NAS to sync files across devices, similar to a service like Dropbox.

There's also the confusingly named Cloud Sync package, which allows you to sync or back up specific folders or your entire NAS to various cloud platforms, such as Amazon Drive, Amazon Web Services, Backblaze, Dropbox, Microsoft Azure, and Openstack, which makes creating redundant off-site backups very easy. You can set those backups to happen on a schedule and optionally encrypt them before you upload them to another service.

DiskStation Manager packs in numerous security measures, too. In the main menu you’ll find a security adviser that alerts you to malware, improper network configurations, out-of-date applications, weak passwords, and any systemwide configuration issues, though you do have to log in to the DiskStation Manager interface regularly to see its advice. It supports HTTPS for remote access, TLS or SSL secure connections, and two-factor authentication.

For better or worse, instead of having one big app with tons of features, Synology takes a piecemeal approach to its mobile apps. DS Audio, DS File, DS Photo, DS Cloud, and DS Video are for accessing media. DS Finder is for monitoring the stats on your NAS, DS Get is for managing downloads, and DS Cam is for managing IP cameras. There's also VPNPlus if you’re using the VPN server functions, DS Note if you use Synology's notes app, and MailPlus if you use your NAS as an email server. Newer apps like Synology Moments and Synology Drive integrate many of the functions in the apps listed above. All of Synology's apps are available for Android and iOS, and they’re on a par with those of Synology's biggest competitor, QNAP. Both companies’ mobile apps are best in class among NAS devices—no other NAS provider comes close.

Like most NAS boxes, the DS220+ supports multimedia streaming through Synology's own apps, DLNA/UPnP, Plex, and iTunes. In our tests, the DS220+ didn't take long to scan a music and video library and to make the files available across a Wi-Fi network on various computers, TVs, game consoles, and phones.

The DS220+ supports on-the-fly hardware transcoding, supposedly all the way to 4K video. It accomplishes this using its own Video Station and DS File apps. If you prefer to use Plex, you will not have access to the hardware transcoding features, since Plex's transcoding is CPU-bound and NAS devices in this price range just don't have the horsepower to do that. With Synology's apps, we were able to play several 1080p MKV files on various devices over 802.11ac Wi-Fi without issue, but when we tried the same with three different 4K movie trailers, they were all unwatchable due to stuttering. We also had issues with any 4K video using the DTS audio codec, as no sound would play. Some formats, such as M4V, wouldn't play at all. Files that didn't require any transcoding, like MP4 files, played flawlessly on all devices. The success of on-the-fly transcoding is dependent on the file format, the various codecs, and the device you’re watching the transcoding file on, so your mileage will vary here.

Still, even though Synology advertises the DS220+ as being capable of all kinds of transcoding, you should use a more powerful computer than the DS220+ (or any other NAS in this price range) if you’re serious about on-the-fly media transcoding. We recommend transcoding your video files ahead of time if you plan on using your NAS as a media server. You can do this with the Offline Transcoding feature in Video Station, though unfortunately you need to manually choose individual videos to convert. If you’re looking for an automated option, QNAP's software allows you to set up a specific folder that the NAS monitors; the NAS then transcodes any files you drop in.

If you enable any media server functions, power-saving features won't work because the NAS needs to be available all the time.

In our tests, the DS220+'s data-protection features worked as advertised. With the NAS running, we pulled the drive out of the second bay, and the NAS beeped at us until we acknowledged a drive-failure notification. We also received an email notification at the address we’d set up previously. Logging in to DiskStation Manager, we found another notification, as well as instructions for how to rebuild the drive array in the Storage Manager once we had replaced it.

The front of the DS220+ features a removable plate that hides the drive bays, as well as LED indicators for general status, network connectivity, and the status of each drive. You can adjust the LED brightness or set it up on a schedule so the lights dim at night. The DS220+ has two USB 3.0 ports. A second Gigabit Ethernet port in the back allows the DS220+ to use link aggregation, if your router supports that function. Like every NAS we considered for this guide, the DS220+ has two drive bays; the drive bays offer tool-less access, so you don't need a screwdriver to install a drive.

A USB Copy button sits on the front of the DS220+, but before you can use it you need to tell the NAS what the button should do when you press it. For example, you can set it up so that when you connect a thumb drive you’ve stored photos on, pressing the button copies the entire contents of that drive over to a specific folder. Or you can set it to export, say, only video files from a specific folder. Getting the button working how you want takes a little effort, but Synology's guide should help you configure the feature. While QNAP models often have a front USB port, most other NAS boxes do not, so it's nice to see on this Synology unit.

As for power consumption, the DS220+ consumed about 23 watts during file copy, about the same as the QNAP TS-251D-4G-US and the Asustor AS5202T. This Synology NAS used about 3 watts while in power-saving mode, compared with the QNAP's 7 watts and the Asustor's 6 watts. Note that if you enable any media server functions, power-saving features won't work because the NAS needs to be available all the time; you have to disable media servers and a handful of other similar services, such as cloud access and the mail server, if you want the power-saving mode to work. You can also turn the DS220+ on and off according to a schedule, and it supports Wake-on-LAN and multiple fan-speed modes, the latter of which can help reduce the overall noise of the DS220+.

The DS220+ also supports more than 5,000 different IP cameras and has special configuration settings for uninterruptible power supplies. The DS220+ comes with a two-year warranty, and Synology offers various support options, including tutorials, email support, and browser-based text chat.

Synology's DiskStation Manager software is easier to use than other NAS software, but it's still not as intuitive as an operating system like Windows or macOS; even if you’re technically inclined, fully understanding how to do anything beyond basic backups will take a couple of hours. And as with most NAS makers, Synology's customer support can be slow: We’ve seen a couple of complaints in Amazon reviews that Synology doesn't offer truly live chat and is slow to respond to support tickets. If you have problems, you’ll likely need to comb through forum posts to answer your own questions instead of contacting support.

The DS220+ doesn't support volume encryption to securely lock your entire drive, unlike the QNAP TS-251D, though you can encrypt individual shared folders. Even with the DS220+'s hardware encryption acceleration, you’ll see a slight ding to read and write performance with encryption turned on; in our tests, small-file transfer in encrypted folders was slowed by about 30% compared with the speed for non-encrypted folders.

If you plan to use the DS220+ to store video footage from an IP camera, you have to license each camera on your home surveillance system. You get two of those licenses for free, but beyond that you have to pay $50 per camera. QNAP, along with most other NAS makers, has a similar licensing system.

The TS-251D-4G-US is about as fast as the DS220+ and adds an HDMI port and a few more USB ports for extra connectivity.

*At the time of publishing, the price was $389.

If the Synology DS220+ is out of stock or if its price jumps significantly higher, the QNAP TS-251D-4G-US is an excellent alternative. It also includes an HDMI-out port, which is handy for monitoring surveillance systems or if you want to view media directly from your NAS connected to a TV.

Like the DS220+, the TS-251D uses a recent Intel Celeron processor and 2 GB or 4 GB of RAM (we tested the TS-251D-4G-US, which has 4 GB), and that processor is significantly faster than the aging Celeron and ARM-based processors in the older NAS devices we’ve looked at. Although we found the DS220+ to be a bit faster when transferring lots of smaller files, such as during our music-folder transfer tests, the two models are so close in performance that you’d be unlikely to notice the difference unless you were monitoring both with a stopwatch. Like the DS220+, the TS-251D-4G-US posted speeds of 109 to 110 MB/s for large multi-gigabyte files and transfer rates around 89 to 96 MB/s for folders filled with thousands of music files. Unlike our main pick, the TS-251D-4G-US can encrypt whole volumes, not just folders. Both the DS220+ and the TS-251D-4G-US are fast for home file-storage and background tasks such as backing up your family's laptops, downloading torrents, and automatically transcoding videos from a queue.

The TS-251D-4G-US is easy to upgrade thanks to its PCIe-card expansion slot. QNAP offers SSD caching, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi, and USB 3.1 Gen 2 expansion cards. We don't think most people need these features for home NAS use—or even need to know why they’d be helpful—but they’re nice additions for those who do. Whereas the Synology and Asustor NAS boxes come with dual Ethernet ports for link aggregation, you’ll have to add an Ethernet card to the TS-251D-4G-US's PCIe-card expansion slot to get the same functionality here. In our tests, we didn't see a lot of improvement when copying to our single client connected to Gigabit Ethernet; you need multiple clients accessing the network simultaneously to take advantage of link aggregation, or a router, switch, and clients that support 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet or faster.

QNAP's excellent user interface, called QTS, is similar to Synology's DiskStation Manager and offers the same features, including media streaming capabilities, a file manager, photo and video apps, video-surveillance functions, backup options, and the App Center, from which you can install many more apps such as Plex Media Server. Design-wise, QTS takes at least some of its inspiration from iOS, loading up all your add-on packages as icons on a desktop. As with DiskStation Manager, it's a good idea to check out the live demo of QTS before you buy so you can see how it works.

Like the DS220+, the two-bay TS-251D-4G-US uses RAID 1 to mirror data across disks, and in our tests, when we pulled out a drive, it adequately reported drive failure by beeping several times and sending a notification to the email address we’d set up ahead of time. When we inserted a fresh drive to simulate replacing a failed drive, it rebuilt its array without trouble.

QNAP provides a two-year warranty and excellent support both over the phone and via an online forum, plus a knowledge base and tutorials.

The four-bay QNAP TS-451D2-4G has hardware similar to that of the two-bay NAS boxes we like but adds two drive bays for additional storage, redundant backup, and a bit more speed when storing files.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $509.

A two-bay NAS is the best option for most people who want to use theirs for home backup, but if you need a more professional setup with additional file protection for your business records or you’re going to be actively working on files stored on the NAS, get the four-bay QNAP TS-451D2-4G. It has the same processor as the Synology DS220+, but with two more drive bays and 2 GB more RAM, it's much faster than the competition at writing large files, such as security-camera footage from multiple cameras. That extra memory, expandable to 8 GB, also allows the TS-451D2-4G to run server-side apps while reading and writing files. In addition, the TS-451D2-4G has dual Gigabit Ethernet ports for link aggregation, which doubles the network bandwidth available to your NAS, though some older or less expensive routers don't support that function.

A NAS with four or more bays gives you more storage options than a two-bay NAS does. For starters, you can opt for RAID 5, 6, or 10; those data-storage configurations require three or more disks but provide better data protection and (depending on which RAID configuration you choose) can offer better performance. A four-bay NAS also lets you expand your storage capacity more easily since you can start with two drives and add more as needed, whereas the only way to expand the storage space on a two-bay NAS is to replace first one drive and then the other with higher-capacity drives.

QNAP models like the TS-451D2-4G come with more memory (4 GB) out of the box and can be upgraded further (to 8 GB) than similar Synology models (2 GB stock, 6 GB max). The extra system memory will come in handy if you’re looking to run more server-side apps on the NAS, such as if you’re a heavy downloader and you need to simultaneously run a Plex media server or record video and sound from multiple security cameras.

The extra RAM helped the TS-451D2-4G transfer data faster than our previous upgrade pick, the Synology DS420+ (see below). Large file transfers were 65% faster, while lots of smaller music files copied from the laptop to the NAS 33% faster. Read operations were about the same speed on both NAS boxes, so pick either if you’re using the NAS as a file repository, media library, or cold storage.

The "network-attached" part of "network-attached storage" means that most people leave their NAS connected to the router to access it from other devices, but the TS-451D2-4G does have an HDMI port that allows you to play video files directly from the NAS to a connected display, or if you want to work on the NAS directly with a keyboard and mouse. This is one feature that the Synology DS420+ omits. However, because this QNAP model's Celeron processor is slower than those of most mainstream laptops, we think most people would rather administer their NAS from the web browser on their connected laptop.

The DS420+ is a little slower than the comparably priced QNAP model, but if you prefer Synology software and need a NAS for basic tasks at home, this model offers similar features and overall performance.

May be out of stock

*At the time of publishing, the price was $552.

If your NAS plans are more about storing a lot of data or a huge media library than working on mission-critical files or tasks, if our upgrade pick is out of stock, or even if you simply prefer the Synology administrator interface over QNAP's, the Synology DiskStation DS420+ is another solid choice in the four-bay NAS category. It's not as fast at writing files as the QNAP TS-451D2-4G, but it still has the storage potential and performance for storing and viewing thousands of hours of video or a similarly massive photo library.

The Synology DS420+ was our upgrade pick in the last iteration of this guide, but after a new round of testing, the QNAP TS-451D2-4G took that spot because of its improved write speed, higher stock, expandable memory, and sometimes lower price. If all you’re looking to do is write a large number of files to your NAS once in a while and access them later over time, the DS420+ and the TS-451D2-4G would serve you equally well. At that point, it's a matter of whichever model is less expensive when you need to buy one, or if you prefer Synology's or QNAP's web administrator tools. If you’re considering either four-bay NAS for casual home use and don't have a software preference, choose the less expensive one.

When you first set up a NAS, it prompts you to log in to its interface via a browser, typically with the "admin" account and no password. Very few NAS devices prompt you to change or reset the admin password—doing so, however, is a crucial security step, because the NAS connects to the internet and is thus a ripe target for threats. So the first thing to do with any new NAS is to change the password on the admin account (both Synology and QNAP prompt you to do this during the initial setup).

Always check the update notifications on your NAS. Updates from the manufacturer (see these pages from Synology and QNAP for instructions on how to update) will ensure that you are protected from malware threats such as QLocker or QSnatch. Current QNAP NAS operating systems include a malware remover that is updated automatically, but firmware updates for both producers have been hardened against known threats.

Creating a unique user account for each person who accesses your NAS is a good idea. You can do so on any of the NAS devices we tested by going into the user settings in the interface. Be sure to give each user the appropriate permissions—you don't want everyone to have god-level admin access to your NAS. If you want to give someone the ability to upload files to the NAS, give that user account write permissions as well as read permissions. If someone should only download files, make them a read-only user.

Maintaining a NAS doesn't take much effort, but you should keep a few things in mind. Because a NAS is almost always on, place it in a location that doesn't get too hot, and ensure that it gets sufficient airflow—confirm that the back panel has a few inches of clearance so as not to obstruct the exhaust fan. When something goes wrong with a NAS, the culprit is usually drive failure, and according to this infographic from Seagate (JPG), temperature extremes are one of the top five causes of hard-drive failure.

Data corruption is another big issue with hard drives. Because most NAS devices ship diskless, you have to provide and install your own drives. Be sure to check the compatibility list of hard drives on the NAS vendor's website so that you install supported drives. Otherwise, if something goes wrong with the NAS, you may have problems getting customer support—or worse, you may discover that you voided the warranty.

The same rule applies to memory: If you buy a NAS that allows you to add RAM, check with the vendor to make sure that you purchase supported memory.

As with Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, NAS manufacturers are promoting the latest fast technology, in the form of 2.5, 5, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (aka 2.5 GbE and so on). The Asustor AS5202T and AS5304T we tested each have 2.5 GbE ports, but our testing was limited to Ethernet connections of 1 gigabit, which is much more prevalent in homes. We are starting to see 2.5 GbE and faster ports on some high-end routers and switches, but we don't anticipate 2.5 GbE or faster standards becoming common for a few years.

QNAP's TS-464T4 NAS, with two 10 GbE ports (also compatible with 2.5 GbE) and two Thunderbolt 4 ports, showcases these new technologies for early adopters, like the folks who are interested in Apple's new Mac Studio desktop. Closer to the living room, the QNAP HS-264 is on our radar as a NAS that can backup your laptops and phones, while serving movies and pictures to your streaming boxes. We’ll be watching out for both when they are available.

Other NAS makers have been playing catch-up behind Synology and QNAP on the operating system front, and while those other competitors are still nowhere near achieving the usability of either front-runner in that regard—and most still have terrible customer support—they’re at least getting closer with their operating systems. If you’re curious, nearly every NAS maker, including Asustor and Zyxel, offers a live web-based demo of its operating system that's worth checking out.

As we mentioned above, both Synology and QNAP sell many, many NAS devices, all of which run the same software but vary in processor type and speed, RAM, number of drive bays, and features. Our picks offer the best combination of performance, features, and price for most home uses, and Synology's and QNAP's respective software offerings are more powerful and polished than those of other NAS makers. Our testing over the years has reinforced this conclusion, as has AnandTech's two-part dive into NAS operating systems and features.

Since 2015, we’ve tested a lot of NAS devices, including many that are now discontinued, such as the Asustor AS-202TE, Asustor AS-5002T, QNAP TS-231P2, QNAP TS-251, QNAP TS-251A, Seagate Personal Cloud 2-Bay Home Media Storage Device, Synology BeyondCloud Mirror, Synology DiskStation DS214, Synology DiskStation DS216, Synology DiskStation DS216play, Synology DiskStation DS216+II, and WD My Cloud EX2. Some are still available but use older CPUs, are priced too high, or fail to meet our memory requirements.

The WD My Cloud Home Duo is WD's take on a beginner NAS, but the simplified design of the operating system introduces more problems than it solves. The My Cloud Home Duo needs to be connected to the internet if you want to use all its features, even within your home network. You’re also required to use the WD Discovery software to mount a user directory on the My Cloud Home Duo, and it needs an internet connection to do so, for some reason. You can mount the Public folder directly to skip past WD's software, but in that case you lose access to any files stored in the user directory, which for most people is everything. And in our tests, reading and writing to a user folder was far slower than using the Public one: When we mounted the Public folder on the My Cloud Home Duo, we saw write speeds at a little less than 80 MB/s, but when we ran the same write tests on the user folder—the method most people use—the speeds dropped to 15.62 MB/s. WD's support page doesn't offer any explanations or solutions.

We also looked at the Promise Apollo Cloud 2 Duo. Like the WD My Cloud Home Duo, the Apollo Cloud 2 Duo is a simplified NAS and comes with hard drives already installed. Unfortunately, it lacks basic features and third-party app support, omitting stuff like Plex, which even the WD model has. Its read and write tests were also extremely slow compared with the results from other NAS boxes we tested. When we contacted the company for clarification on these results, representatives replied that the Cloud 2 Duo uses in-flight encryption by default and that the user cannot disable it. Although that isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially since the WD My Cloud Home Duo doesn't support encryption of any kind, it is unfortunate that you can't adjust those settings in exchange for a speed boost when you’re in a secure environment.

The Buffalo LinkStation SoHo is a NAS with two 4 TB or 8 TB drives already installed. It's sold as a quick option for home-office workers who need to keep all their data in one place. But the LinkStation SoHo fails to meet most of our must-have criteria: It has an underpowered ARM processor, carries a scant 256 MB of RAM, lacks hardware encryption, and offers only a single USB 2.0 port, and its drive bays are not hot-swappable.

Synology's DS419slim interested us because it is one of the few compact NAS boxes that support only 2.5-inch (laptop-style) hard drives and SSDs. It seemed like a possible choice for a small home office or as a NAS that you can stash out of the way next to your wireless router. However, 2.5-inch NAS drives are usually more expensive than 3.5-inch drives, 2.5-inch drives already work in all of our picks, and the DS419slim's 512 MB of non-expandable RAM is a bit thin for the price.

We looked at the QNAP TS-230 as a budget-priced two-bay NAS, but its ARM-based processor is not recommended for Plex media service beyond H.264-encoded videos. So although it may be fine for a single stream of highly compressed videos, a NAS array with an Intel or AMD x86 processor is better for home use.

We tested the Asustor AS5202T two-bay NAS and the Asustor AS5304T four-bay NAS and compared them with the latest from Synology and QNAP. Although both of them were competitive on our performance tests, included dual 2.5 GbE ports, and had longer, three-year warranties, the Asustor models’ ADM administration interface wasn't quite as polished. The admin interface features a red motif and a dragon logo that feels more at home on a gaming PC than on a home-office NAS. Also, we dislike that Asustor buries security-fix info in its ADM update notes. In contrast, Synology and QNAP have centralized security-update pages that are, to us, more transparent when you’re trying to stay ahead of specific public threats like the new versions of the QSnatch malware and QLocker ransomware. Centralized access to updates makes it easier to react to malware threats as they are discovered.

5 Top Causes of Hard Drive Failure (JPG), Seagate, January 17, 2014

Joel Santo Domingo

Joel Santo Domingo is a senior staff writer covering networking and storage at Wirecutter. Previously he tested and reviewed more than a thousand PCs and tech devices for PCMag and other sites over 17 years. Joel became attracted to service journalism after answering many "What's good?" questions while working as an IT manager and technician.

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