Hello Robbie, I hope you’re doing well!

I’m looking to purchase a 4-bay NAS and am deciding between the Synology DS923+ and DS423+. I am a medium-advanced home user, and my primary use cases are file storage/backup and running a PLEX server for movies. Most of the data will be accessed locally, with occasional remote access. Movies will mainly be streamed via PLEX via Apple TV at home, occasionally remotely.

What I’m unclear about is whether e.g. MKV video files played by PLEX in Apple TV require on-device decoding, in which case I’d lean towards the DS423+ for its CPU, or if they don’t, making the DS923+ (or DS925+ !) a better choice for overall performance.

I’d really appreciate your insights on this. Thanks in advance for your help!

Kind regards,
Jan

Before I buy this system, I need to know for sure that other LLMs will run fully compatible - and your article says: - ""Only Features Microsoft Co-Pilot out the box – Hard/impossible to easily switch to ChatGPT or DeepSeek etc"" - if you do not know about this, please give me a contact to find out for sure... thank you

Hello,

I am a home user looking for advice on a new NAS to purchase in 2025.

I currently have an old 8 Bay Synology DS1813+ that I simply use as a storage box as it can't do any heavy processing and I have a newer yet still old 14 bay QNAP TVS-1282-T3 (8x Mechanical, 4x SSDs, 2x M.2 drives).

My goal is to ultimately phase out my Synology DS1813+ or give it to a friend, Set my QNAP TVS-1282-T3 as a secondary NAS and setup a NEW NAS that can do some heavy computing and transcoding as a replacement to my 24/7 Plex server.

I've just ordered 8x Seagate Exos 24TB from ServerPartDeals and would love to hear what you would suggest as a transcoding monster that would have the same 8+ mechanical drives, SSD drives and M.2 drives.

The NAS does not have to be out yet, but it DOES have to be a Desk solution and not a rack solution as I cannot user a rack in my home. A CPU with integrated graphics or a NAS with a GPU slot would be a must. 2.5g, 5g and 10g would be great.

Thank you

I am planning to upgrade my Synology 1019+ and had been hoping that Synology would introduce something that might induce me to stick with their platform.  But with the most recent announcements, I am pretty convinced that it is time to move on.  I use my NAS primarily for Plex, for storing a huge volume of photos and videos, and general file backup.  My primary needs are (1) a reliable Plex server with hardware transcoding, (2) a robust photo management app, and (3) an overall system that is not so complicated that I need to be an IT expert to install and maintain it.

With my Plex focus and the need for hardware transcoding, I just don't feel like Synology is the home for me.  I have decent, but limited, technical skills, which is the main reason I was hoping to stay with Synology.  I'm used to the software, and the migration process likely would have been smoother.  

Right now, I have about 24TB of data, but am hoping to significantly future-proof myself, particularly since I plan to do a lot of overseas travel the next decade and want something that will grow with me and not require another upgrade any time soon. 

I think I have settled on moving to QNAP and, specifically, the TVS-874, connecting to it using Tailscale, but I wondered if I should be seriously considering something else.  

I already purchased 8 16TB Exos drives, and plan to set it up with a fair amount of redundancy (again, focusing on being overseas and needing things to just "work"), so I was considering a Raid 6 setup, with a hot spare, which I think would give me a starting capacity of around 80TB (2 disks of redundancy and a hot spare).  This should be plenty, and I could also go with a setup that yields only 64TB (half my total capacity) if that makes more sense.

Assuming this path makes sense, is there any real advantage to the i7 version for my use case, or is the i5 going to provide plenty of power?  Also, I was thinking about Quts as opposed to QTS, but could easily be convinced otherwise.  And what raid/hot spare configuration do you recommend?  

Thanks in advance.  Your channel has been a huge help to me over the past year, and I really appreciate the thought and effort you put in to your videos.

Hello there, i love your youtube channel. it helped me a lot in choosing my NAS. i did not find a video on how to secure data against ransomware attacks. (that might be an interesting toppic?) Could i get your advice on how to setup a backup system that ist safe against ransomware attacks? how much can i send you via paypal in return for your help? i have a Qnap TS-410E NAS with 2x 2TB SSD. My idea was to setup 2 volumes on one drive for my wifes and my time machine backup and then use the other drive to do a qudedupe backup of the time machine files. That way our data should be safe, even if a ransom ware attack deletes the time machine backup and encrypts our files. right? i also have a few other questions concerning the encryption and the volume sizes
i hope you can help me with that.

cheers simon

Hi, I am looking for advice for my first NAS purchase.

I have three use cases for this device: (1) Plex Server (2) Homebridge Host (3) Data Backups. From looking at videos/reviews from your channel and elsewhere, it seems like synology have the best OS and are the most reputable, but their hardware seems weaker compared to the competition.

My plex library has a mix of 1080p and 4k media, and I am unlikely to ever have more than 2 users at the same time, usually just 1. Cost efficiency, reliability, and low power draw are key focuses of mine in my search.

Thanks,
Armaan

I want to replace an old NAS where I currently have stored just under 2tb of family documents and photos. I want to be able to get these files online.
Would the Ugreen dxp4800 be suitable or should I opt for the plus model? Or maybe you would recommend something better.
Thanks

Hi,

I just bought a new QNap 8 Bay, TVS-H874 i5. I have it set up with 2 data pools, 1 for NVME and the other for the 8 Bays. This seems to be all good.

I have watched your setup videos for Plex and the NAS multiple times and they are a great resource, thank you! I am confused about permissions with Plex, that is creating a restricted User on the NAS for Plex type content. I have tried this, mucked around but I am really not joining the dots.

- When you create a specific Plex account with restrictions, do you then login with that account and setup Plex? Should you not setup Plex on the Admin account?

- You the bind the Plex Pass account to the Plex user account?

I am also having issues with folder permissions, I can see the root Media folder but not the sub folders when creating a Library in Plex. Do I need to go to Advanced Folder Permissions to enable sub folders?

Cheers!

Can you confirm that QVR Pro 2.6.1.1029 is supported on QUTS 5.2.x? QNAP's QVR Pro release notes and application centre suggest that is now the case. Does that mean that we can now get 8 camera support (without additional licences) on QUTS?

When you installed true nas on your jonsbo build how did you get the NIC to work. I copied your bulid and i am getting no either netfound because the NIc is not intel based.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jason