Best overall
Synology DS216+II
Synology's DS216 ($299.99) is a pricey option that fails to come with any hard drives, but the product is a joy to use if you are planning on storage swapping frequently.
Bottom line: Our best pick as an overall solid NAS choice and super user-friendly.
One more thing: Tool-less bays to quickly install and remove hard drives.
Why the Synology DS216+II is the best NAS
Synology's NAS solution is an ideal option for those who don't have vast amounts of PC-building experience to fall back on.
Powered by a competent dual-core Intel Celeron N3060 and 1GB of DDR3 RAM, the DS216+II by Synology is not only a well-designed black box, but it is also a capable streaming machine for the home. The system supports H.264 (AVC), H.265 (HEVC), MPEG-2 and VC-1 at a maximum resolution of 4K (4096 x 2160, 30FPS). This device will certainly put that shiny new 50-inch 4K TV to good use.
Its hot-swappable drive tray design allows for easy installation & maintenance, destroying the requirement for a screwdriver to remove or install a hard drive. Simply pull out, swap, re-insert, and you're good to go!
Two hard drive bays are joined by USB 3.0 and eSATA ports. As touched on already, this product listing fails to come with any hard drives, but there are some great options available like the Western Digital RED NAS 3TB hard drive. Throw two of these beasts into the NAS to enjoy an instantaneous 6TB worth of storage.
As a bonus, the unit comes packed with advanced features to allow for secure cloud storage, and file synchronization. Popular services like Dropbox and Google Drive can be connected. Overall, this is a great, well-rounded package.
Best Value
ASUSTOR AS1004T
The AS1004T by ASUSTOR ($249.99) doesn't come with hard drives included, but you get a total of four bays at a great price, and the storage bays are tool-less for easier installation.
Bottom line: Among the most affordable four-bay NAS units you'll find for purchase.
One more thing: Isn't quite powerful enough for hardware transcoding.
Best for Media
QNAP TS-251+
The TS-251+ ($319.99) is an interesting NAS unit, sporting an Intel Celeron (quad-core at 2.0GHz), 2GB of DDR3L RAM, hardware transcoding, HDMI output (With Kodi), and can easily handle media consumption as well as basic file storage. Support is offered for external services and platforms, and QNAP also makes it possible for multiple isolated Linux systems to run.
Bottom line: A feature-rich NAS solution with hardware transcoding.
One more thing: Comes with a handy remote.
Best Capacity
WD 24TB My Cloud EX4100
Sometimes going all-out with an expensive product is the way to go if requirements and expectations are set in stone. The Western Digital EX4100 ($1,277.90) is overkill for most homeowners but is available as an option if included features and capacity will be put to good use.
Bottom line: If money isn't an issue and maximum storage is required, this 24TB solution is a great choice.
One more thing: Comes packing a 1.6 GHz Marvell ARMADA 388 dual-core processor and 2GB DDR3 RAM.
Best Affordable
WD 4TB My Cloud
Western Digital's more affordable My Cloud (second-gen — $120.74) NAS is a stylish solution for the home. The 4TB My Cloud NAS is tailored to file storage and cloud synchronization. The unit is also incredibly easy to use, making it a capable storage dump.
Bottom line: Has two drives pre-installed. Simply plug the unit in, and you're good to go.
One more thing: Easily configure RAID to have the second drive clone the first drive.
Best overall
Synology DS216+II
Synology's DS216 ($299.99) is a pricey option that sadly doesn't come with any hard drives, but the product is a joy to use if you're planning on swapping storage frequently.
Bottom line: Our best pick as an overall solid NAS choice and super user-friendly.
One more thing: Tool-less bays to quickly install and remove hard drives.
Updated August 19, 2017: We've gone through our list to ensure that the best NAS solutions for the home are included, adding the QNAP TS-251+ for media consumption.
Reader comments
Best NAS for the Home
Very happy with my synology ds212j 👍
Not the most powerful nas around but does the job and after 5 years of so still getting love from Synology with DSM updates... Highly recommend synology 👍👊💪🎉🎉
I have the Synology DS214J with 2 Western Digital Red 3TB HDDs for a few years now and I am very happy with this setup. The mobile synology apps are very good and I have never encountered any issues. If I were to choose a new NAS today, I would most likely go for a Synology one once again, but I would take a look at QNAP's latest offering that includes USB-C. Note that if you are just a casual home user, the cheaper and less featured Western Digital NAS may suit your needs and wallet much better.
I personally went with HP's Microserver, Gen 8. Can pick them up for less then £125 after cash back.
While it's not a standalone NAS, it's provided me with a super small foot print, low power and sound, as well as a lot of features the standalone NAS have.
Considering I have a Synology DS716+ and DS214 as well as an OLD Dlink DNS-323, network storage is important.
Things to also consider...Specifically for the Synology units (not sure about the others) Some may let you use a USB wi-fi adapter for networking and Bluetooth for audio stream. Also, if you have a dual ethernet unit AND a router/switch that supports it, you can use link aggrigation to make the 2 ports act as 1. For territories that use DVB as a video standard (so not the US, which SUCKS), plugging in a USB TV tuner will let you use the NAS as a DVR. There are also tons for 1st and 3rd party software add-ons available. The higher end units also support OS virtualization
The Qnap NAS' have apps as well, but since I don't own 1, I cannot really comment on their products.
Synology is amazing. Full on OS with more features than you can count. I ran a web server, ddns server, video surveillance system, etc off mine for years and still have the video surveillance using the two camera freebies. It has some stupid hangup on licenses for more cameras but it's great for a couple of hd cameras recording full time. Has lots of enterprise features too. Can't praise it enough. It seems underpowered cpu and memory but very energy efficient and it does the job every time. Also has smart shut down if you hook a ups to it thru usb at least my 2012 version does.
Not sure about other models, but it was a very simple(ish) process to upgrade my DS216+II memory.
Although I believe it does void any warranty :-)
True. I have a ds1812+ and it had a 2gb expansion slot which I could add a chip, without voiding. So it's like a 1ghz atom with 3gb of ram at 80watts standby. Running 8 3tb WD red drives. Plenty of power for all the stuff it offers and they are always providing updates to the latest stuff years later. 5 years in my case. Can't praise it enough. I don't know which is my favorite electronics toy, this, or my 4pc dual monitor kvm.
Not all versions allow upgrading... My DS716+ does, and has 8GB and runs sweet. My DS214 does not.
I would love to see an extended article on best practices for setting up a Synology server to back up, share files, serve media, etc, for a house full of Win10 machines.
The problem with "best practices" is that they vary from person to person... BUT, as someone that does work in IT, I'm actually curious on how people have their units/network setup....
According to Amazon, the WD My Cloud (Dual drive to allow RAID) is $279, not $120. Even the single drive vesion (no RAID capability) is $160.
RAID is an interesting concept now with SSD. Has anyone heard of an SSD failing or data being corrupted on the drive?
Yes. Had an SSD in a tablet (Dell Venue 11) just die. Easy to replace, and fortunately had backups of everything. Solid state stuff dies just like spinning platters, just in a different way.
Yep, what he said...