Hello everyone, I am planning to buy a NAS with a slot that supports NVMe SSD for cache or primary storage. The manufacturer offers very high read/write speeds (e.g.,3,500 MB/s), but I want to ask from practical experience:

With popular NVMe SSDs like Samsung 970 Evo Plus or WD Black SN750, what percentage of the actual speed when running on the NAS will be compared to the manufacturer's advertised specifications?

What factors have the strongest influence on speed reduction (e.g., NAS motherboard type, network protocol, RAID configuration, firmware)

Are there any NAS that support NVMe SSDs well to maximize their performance? If so, give me some examples to compare.

Thanks, everyone, for sharing in advance!

Hi,

I have requested an activation email about 5 times in the last 2 days and not received any email so have to make this new thread to reply to you, Ed. Can you merge this to that thread?

I'm going towards the DS923+ more. Is this still a good shout at the below deal price? Or should I be looking at a completely different NAS altogether?

• DS923+ (£536.60)
  
• DS925+ (£582.97) - I believe Synology branded HDDs only downside here(?)
  
• DS423+ (£589.10)
  

• Backups: Mainly for 3 PCs, 2 Macs, and 1 iPhone
  
• Media Storage: Photo library and 2K/4K videos from my iPhone 16 Pro Max (I believe it's 4K 120fps?)
  
• Plex: I'd like to try Plex for films, but it’ll be 2-3 films at a time, once a week—nothing too intense.
  

Quote:Thanks for getting in touch. If you’re looking to upgrade from the DS215j and stick within the £600 range (excluding drives), both the DS423+ and DS923+ are solid options, but they have slightly different strengths.

The DS423+ is the better pick if you’re after something more multimedia-friendly out of the box. It includes integrated graphics, so it’ll handle light Plex use better (like occasional 1080p or basic 4K playback) without relying on the client device to do the heavy lifting.

The DS923+, on the other hand, has more expandability – like upgradable RAM, NVMe bays for storage pools, and 10GbE support (with an optional upgrade). However, it doesn’t include integrated graphics, so Plex hardware transcoding isn’t available. If media playback is minimal and more about raw storage and backups, this is still a strong choice.

Regarding your current drives: yes, you can reuse them if they’re compatible (ideally CMR/WD Red Plus/IronWolf types), but you won’t be able to simply drop the existing RAID or SHR volume from the DS215j into a new NAS. You’ll need to back up the data first, wipe the drives, and set them up fresh in the new unit.

If you want something a bit more flexible or cost-effective, you could also look at QNAP’s TS-464, which often goes for a similar price and gives you HDMI, built-in graphics for Plex, and good app support. Just bear in mind the software is a bit more involved than Synology’s DSM.


ed, 07-25-2025, 08:56 AM

Hello, I'm building a NAS server for personal use- I've started collecting my own movie/show/music so I'm not relying on streaming- and am looking to use as much of my own leftover tech as possible. Here's what I have:

1TB Toshiba HDD
1TB Western Digital Blue HDD
500GB Seagate HDD
500GB Samsung 500GB SSD
1 Dell Optiplex 3070 Micro with an i3 8100T, 128GB M2 SSD, Intel UHD 630 integrated graphics, Intel Wireless-AC 9560, and an external PSU
(https://dl.dell.com/topicspdf/optiplex-3070-desktop_owners-manual5_en-us.pdf)

Ideally, I'd like to use as much as possible from the Optiplex as possible. I'm willing to get a new case obviously, likely a Jonsbo, but if I'm able to keep the motherboard that'd be ideal. The problem is, it only accommodates 1 SATA 3.0. I've watched some of your videos on DIY NAS, but I was wondering what advice you have for someone in my specific situation.

Let me know if you need any more info/pictures! Thanks!

i am using jellyfin on my Synology DS925+ but apparently Synology does not support Jellyfin, with its quick connect feature is there a easy fix for this ?

Hi NAS Compares Team

I was trying to figure out how I will start with my first nass im dpi g photography and graphic design at the moment I only have 2Tb of data but it’s growing fast I was thinking of future proof mx business and get a 8 Bay
ds1825+ But I wasn’t sure with how many drives to start is it better to start with 4x16tb drives in SHR2 this ist mostly for archiving and maybe for editing photos not sure yet. But I wasn’t sure if it’s better to start with a SHR1 or SHR2 for the start also not sure if it’s a good idea to fill all bays at the start or only scale as I use up more space as I think filling all bays and not using the actual space will just wear down drives I’m mostly not even using. It really be great to hear your guys feedback on this topic and what you recommend. Not sure if I should go save with SHR2 where I can have two drive failures. I also will backup my archive to Backblaze.

Thanks guys looking forward to your response.

Hi! I have a QNAP TS-451+ NAS with four 8TB disks. The person that set it up was not very helpful. They set up Apple Time Machine to keep taking space forever and I don't want that. I have copied all of the actual data (not Time Machine) onto a separate external drive and either want to wipe the Time Machine data so I have space again (if I need to wipe it completely and start over that's OK). Then I want to set up a back up of my laptop as well as redundancies for the actual data on the NAS.

Please help! I know this is a powerful device and I hope if someone helps me set it up correctly I can use it to its full power.

Thanks!

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed by all of the options for a NAS.

I'm a freelance video editor. I've used G RAID drives in the past, but one just failed. Currently it's a RAID 10 setup at 18TB and I've been using smaller SSDs since. I am considering getting more SSDs and just backing up projects to dropbox when finished with them, or getting a NAS setup, but unsure which route to take. Any advice is much appreciated on which setup would work good for my situation.

I don't love the clunkyness of a big NAS station taking up space in my office, and for when I need to go on the road. But I'm open to options. I edit on a macbook pro, and have a caldigit hub to connect everything to.

I've seen SSD NAS setups, but don't know if that's a better option than spinning drives. I just need a solid solution moving forward.

Nic

Hi,

I hope you’re doing well! I’m looking into setting up a 4-bay NAS for my home lab and creative workflows, and I’d really value your advice. My main goals are:

Backing up multiple devices (Proxmox server, MacBook, PC, iPhone, SD cards/flash drives)

Editing video and producing music with fast, reliable storage

Maintaining a scalable and flexible setup for the long term

I’ve been considering the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus and Asustor Drivestor 4, and I’m also curious about running TrueNAS on such hardware for more flexibility.

Since you have experience with NAS systems, I’d love to hear your thoughts on:

Hardware choices (UGREEN vs. Asustor vs. others)

Recommended RAID setup and drives for this use case

How to optimize a NAS for video/music workflows

Any lessons learned or pitfalls to avoid

I really appreciate any guidance or suggestions you could share. Thanks so much for your time!

Best regards,
Athina

have you reviewed any DIY NAS motherboards that have an SFP+ adapter built in? I thought you held one up when you were reviewing a N100 DIY NAS, but I haven't seen a review on it, or I just cant find it.

I do fiber optic cabling and having a SFP+ port is just more flexible for me.

Hi Huys -

I have little out of the norm question for me and I'm just looking for the best direction here. With the latest plex issue that came down this week I have now decided to explore jellyfish. I have it set up and running locally on my Unraid set up on my MeMini (Thank you Robbie, you sold me the second I got done watching the video). It's working insanely well locally.

I would love to get my parents who are using plex right now onto this remotely. I've searched tons of videos so far when it comes to the set up using unraid and registered for a free domain.

My question is if I have Tailscale (which I do) can I just use that and have my parents connect via that if I set them up as a user in jellyfin and then they affectively connect up in a similar way as they do with plex now? I know I have to use the infuse app since they use an Apple TV but am I over simplifying this or could it possibly be that simple?

Thanks as always for your help on this.

Rob