Note: This section is about smaller, stand-alone pre-built NAS appliances; rack-mounted appliances will be covered in the Server section in a couple of pages time.
Gomez: I say, I say, I say… What is the easiest way to build a NAS server?
Wednesday (playing along): I don't know, Dad. What is the easiest way?
Gomez: Buy a prebuilt NAS box and just-add-disks.
Wednesday groans.
Dad jokes aside, if you:
and
then this might well be the best solution for you.
You can either buy new, or look to eBay (other similar sites are available) for a significantly cheaper 2nd user box.
Some of the major brands to look for:
(See here and here for a bigger list of NAS brands.)
Some key points to look for:
In order to give you a flavour of this type of NAS appliance, the following table shows some example NAS appliances from the brands above, both older and newer models, with a variety of different drive slots, CPUs, maximum memory etc. and both new and eBay US prices (all as at April 2024, all without any disks).
Because you need at least 1 disk for boot, and we are absolutely recommending the use of redundant disk configurations, we are only going to show NAS with at least 3 disk slots of some form. Some manufacturers offer 2-slot NAS and these are not included for this reason.
This is NOT intended to be a definitive or even extensive list. Ordinary users (who do not have a conflict of interest) are welcome to contribute by adding new examples or by updating the entire table if it is too out of date. Manufacturers are welcome to add their products to this list providing they follow the existing format, stick strictly to the existing data formats and stick strictly to facts.
| Brand | Model | CPU | Cores | ECC Memory |
Memory (Std/Max) |
SATA Bays |
Hot Swap |
Other Slots |
Ethernet Ports |
Watts empty |
PCIe | IPMI | New $ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ixSystems | TrueNAS Mini E+ | Intel C3558 | 4 | Yes | 16GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | Yes | 2x2.5" | 4x1Gb | 24W | - | Yes | |
| ixSystems | TrueNAS Mini X | Intel C3558 | 4 | Yes | 16GB/32GB | 5x3.5" 2x2.5" |
Yes | 4x1Gb | 24W | - | Yes | $1,148 | |
| ixSystems | TrueNAS Mini X+ | Intel C3558 | 8 | Yes | 32GB/64GB | 5x3.5" 2x2.5" |
Yes | 2x10Gb | 40W | - | Yes | $1,448 | |
| ixSystems | TrueNAS Mini XL+ | Intel C3558 | 8 | Yes | 32GB/64GB | 8x3.5" 1x2.5" |
Yes | 1x2.5" | 2x10Gb | 40W | - | Yes | $1,648 |
| QNAP | TS-453E | Intel Celeron J6412 | 4 | ? (likely No) | 8GB/8GB | 4x3.5" | No? | 2xM.2 | 2x2.5Gb | 22W? | No | $639 | |
| QNAP | TS-473A | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 4x3.5" | No? | 2xM.2 | 2x2.5Gb | 15W? | 2x4-wide | No | $779 |
| QNAP | TS-673A | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 6x3.5" | No? | 2xM.2 | 2x2.5Gb | 15W? | 2x4-wide | No | $899 |
| QNAP | TS-873A | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 8x3.5" | No? | 2xM.2 | 2x2.5Gb | 15W? | 2x4-wide | No | $1,049 |
| QNAP | TS-h973AX | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 5x3.5" 4x2.5" |
No? | 2x2.5Gb 1x10Gb |
20W? | No | $989 | ||
| Synology | DS923+ | AMD Ryzen R1600 | 2 | Yes | 4GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | Yes | 2xNVME | 2x1Gb | 11W | 1x2-wide | No | |
| Synology | DS1522+ | AMD Ryzen R1600 | 2 | Yes | 8GB/32GB | 5x3.5" | Yes | 2xNVME | 4x1Gb | 16W | 1x2-wide | No | |
| Synology | DS1621+ | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 4GB/32GB | 6x3.5" | Yes | 2xNVME | 4x1Gb | 25W | 1x4-wide | No | |
| Synology | DS1821+ | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 4GB/32GB | 8x3.5" | Yes | 2xNVME | 4x1Gb | 26W | 1x4-wide | No | |
| Synology | DS2422+ | AMD Ryzen V1500B | 4 | Yes | 4GB/32GB | 12x3.5" | Yes | 2xNVME | 4x1Gb | 28W | 1x4-wide | No | $1,800 |
| TerraMaster | F2-223 | Intel Celeron N4505 | 2 | No | 4GB/32GB | 2x3.5" | No | - | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $300 |
| TerraMaster | F2-423 | Intel Celeron N5095 | 4 | No | 4GB/32GB | 2x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $380 |
| TerraMaster | F2-424 | Intel Celeron N95 | 4 | No | 8GB/32GB | 2x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $380 |
| TerraMaster | F4-223 | Intel Celeron N4505 | 2 | No | 4GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $440 |
| TerraMaster | F4-423 | Intel Celeron N5095 | 4 | No | 4GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $500 |
| TerraMaster | F4-424 | Intel Celeron N95 | 4 | No | 8GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $500 |
| TerraMaster | F4-424 Pro | Intel Core i3 | 8 | No | 32GB/32GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $700 |
| uGreen | DXP2800 | Intel N100 12Gen | 4 | Yes | 8GB/16GB | 2x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $400 |
| uGreen | DXP4800 | Intel N100 12Gen | 4 | Yes | 8GB/16GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | - | No | $600 |
| uGreen | DXP4800 Plus | Intel 8505 12Gen | 6 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 4x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 1x2.5Gb 1x10Gb |
? | - | No | $700 |
| uGreen | DXP6800 Pro | Intel 1235u 12Gen | 10 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 6x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x10Gb | ? | 1x4-wide | No | $1,000 |
| uGreen | DXP8800 Plus | Intel 1235u 12Gen | 10 | Yes | 8GB/64GB | 8x3.5" | No | 2xNVME | 2x10Gb | ? | 1x4-wide | No | $1,500 |
| IceWhale | ZimaBlade 3760 + 2-bay HDD rack |
Intel Celeron N3350 | 2 | No | 0GB/16GB | 2x3.5" + 32GB eMMC |
No | - | 1x1Gb | ? | 1x4-wide | No | $180 |
| IceWhale | ZimaBlade 7700 + 2-bay HDD rack |
Intel Celeron N3450/J3455/J3950 |
4 | No | 0GB/16GB | 2x3.5" + 32GB eMMC |
No | - | 1x1Gb | ? | 1x4-wide | No | $160 |
| IceWhale | ZimaCube | Intel N100 12Gen | 4 | Yes | 8GB/16GB | 6x3.5" | No | 6xNVME | 2x2.5Gb | ? | 1x4-wide 1x2-wide |
No | $699 |
| IceWhale | ZimaCube Pro | Intel 1235u 12Gen | 10 | Yes | 16GB/32GB | 6x3.5" | No | 5xNVME | 2x2.5Gb 1x10Gb |
? | 1x8-wide 1x4-wide |
No | $1,199 |
Search Youtube for videos specific to any of the above appliances.
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