If you’ve got a NAS at home already, the chances are that it’s made by Synology, the class leader for consumer and enthusiast storage devices. That’s no light praise, as there are plenty of other companies in the space that would love to save some of that market share for their own. And you know what, they might get the chance, because Synology has been making some strange moves lately that are turning heads (in the wrong direction).
The company has introduced more beginner-level NAS units with the Bee range, but these aren’t as powerful because they run a different, cut-down operating system. Moving away from 1GbE networking has been slow, and the competition has leapfrogged in this regard. But the worst move is yet to come, as the enthusiast-level NAS units will only work with Synology-branded HDDs and SSDs, a huge blow to the enthusiasts they claim to be designing for.
I’m one of those enthusiasts, currently using a powerful Synology DS1621xs+, but I won’t be upgrading to another Synology if these policies stay in force. I’ll probably build my own NAS or server, and have already been testing alternative operating systems, but there are other options if you don’t want to do that.
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5
Asustor
Plenty of choices including all-flash devices to give your storage a boost
Asustor is one of the market’s best-known names. It occupies a more premium price band and offers well-built and powerful NAS devices. The ADM operating system is solid, with a simple setup that includes an app-based installation option for mobile-first users. Many of its units have a small display on the front for critical data or setup purposes, and they’re all designed to do more than just store your data in a centralized location.
We’ve reviewed several Asustor units and have always been impressed by the overall package, which says a lot in a space where the hardware often gets prioritized over the software experience. They’re powerful enough to stack them full of self-hosted services without a hitch, have high-speed networking, and premium CPUs that can handle any task you might want to set them to.
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4
QNAP
Powerful specifications and a user-friendly operating system
QNAP is one of our favorite NAS manufacturers for running Plex or other media servers. Most devices ship with Intel CPUs that feature QuickSync, which helps speed up media file transcoding for playback on lower-powered streaming sticks. But even if you don’t need that feature, they come with other neat things like an IR sensor for remote control, HDMI output for direct playback on your TV, and speedy networking for streaming to other devices over your home network.
A word of warning, QNAP are often the more expensive NAS enclosures when you browse, but that’s because they use powerful CPUs, sometimes even desktop-class ones, PCIe expansion slots for faster networking or low-profile graphics cards, and expandable RAM slots. They’re a worthwhile investment for building centralized storage or smart home automation around, and they can be used for plenty of other tasks by hosting containerized services.
3
Terramaster
Hardware that’s hard to beat for the price but the software is slightly rough around the edges
Terramaster is the new kid on the block in the NAS market, and they’ve got a reputation for solidly built, well-designed NAS enclosures that will fit your needs. You can get slim, all-flash versions, more traditional multi-bay units, or even monstrous NAS enclosures with nine or more bays for rackmount use. Many of the models come with 10GbE networking, have upgradeable RAM that doesn’t have to be of a specific brand, and ports to add SSD cache. The operating system is still a little rough, but it’s constantly improving and isn’t that much behind the competition.
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2
Build your own NAS
Bring your drives and build a NAS out of old PC parts
You’re not limited to off-the-shelf NAS options, as almost any PC hardware can be turned into a NAS. It’s exciting to build the entire thing from scratch, but can be a tricky time as well, since you have many sets of requirements to fill. You don’t need ECC RAM, so you can use any consumer motherboard, but you might run into a lack of SATA ports as they’re slowly being reduced on new hardware. If you use an ATX-sized motherboard, you can add more hard drive connectors with a PCIe backplane, and I recommend you do this anyway, as it makes things easier overall.
You’ll also want to consider your PC case choice carefully, as most modern cases are built for looks and not for stuffing with storage drives. Some manufacturers are better than others in this regards, with Phanteks and Fractal Design having the best range of chassis that have plenty of drive sleds for 3.5″ hard drives. You’ll also need to choose an operating system, with TrueNAS Scale being one of our favorites, but you can also try Rockstor, or OpenMediaVault, or Unraid, among others.
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1
Time for a bigger server?
Maybe you’re ready for the next level of home storage
Depending on how many drives you already have in your NAS, you might find it makes more sense to level up to a full home server. While the line between NAS and server hardware has blurred over the years, the larger form factor of servers means you can use more powerful CPUs, add GPUs or other components for more utility, and fit more storage drives in.
You can also choose from various server operating systems, such as multiple variants of Linux, Windows, or Proxmox. If your hardware is up to the task, you can use Harvester, learn about professional server environments, and learn how to set up clustering if you outgrow your server.
You have plenty of choice with other NAS options, if you think Synology has gone too far
Synology has long been the forerunner for prebuilt NAS enclosures, with a great operating system, plenty of integrations, and solid hardware. Still, lately, they’ve lost their way, and future enthusiast-level NAS from them will have to use their own branded HDDs and SSDs. That’s a problem, not just because of the bloated price of the drives, but they’re also not on par with the highest capacity drives available, so if you need more storage space, you’re out of luck.
But there are other NAS manufacturers if you don’t want to build your own, and there are plenty of operating system choices if you do. You could use this to upgrade to a home server and run even more services.
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source: https://www.xda-developers.com/alternatives-to-synology-that-let-you-use-whatever-drives-you-want/
