Looking to buy a two bay NAS for home use. Looking for as much of a future proofed solution as I can get.

[Enquiries]

I want to take control of my storage solutions and not have to subscribe to google since my phone is running out of storage and I have multiple hard drives at this point. I have a two individual household. All devices are Apple based. MacBook Air M1 is the primary device to set up the NAS. iPhones and iPads are where most of the data is that will be backed up. I primarily take a lot of Live Photos so I would like to be able to back them up where I can view them and restore them as Live Photos. I would also like to buy something that will last me a long long time and where I won’t need to upgrade often. Future proofed systems are worth it to me.
I am purchasing a NAS from Amazon India as it’s the only trustworthy retailer I have found so my options are limited to them. I would like to buy the UGREEN NASync series but it’s unavailable in India as yet.
Terramaster F2-423, QNAP TS-233-2G, Asustor Nimbustor 2 Gen 2, Synology DS224+ are available on Amazon India.

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out — it’s great to hear you’re ready to take control of your data. Given your Apple-based ecosystem, focus on Live Photos support, and desire for something long-term and prosumer-friendly, here’s a breakdown of your best choices among the NAS units available on Amazon India:

Top Recommendation: Synology DS224+
Why?

Runs Synology Photos, one of the only NAS apps that supports Apple Live Photos properly — viewing, organizing, and even restoring them as Live Photos.

Powered by an Intel Celeron processor, it's capable of running more apps, Docker containers, and even Plex for media streaming (with some limitations).

Long software support from Synology — typically 7+ years of DSM updates.

Excellent ecosystem, best-in-class UI/UX, seamless mobile apps for iOS.

Ideal for backing up iPhones, iPads, and your MacBook using Synology Drive and Active Backup.

Downsides:

Limited to 1GbE out of the box, but that’s fine for most home use.

RAM is upgradable unofficially, but only has one extra slot.

Other Options:
Terramaster F2-423
Much more powerful CPU (Intel N5105), supports 2.5GbE and more RAM.

Great for Plex, Docker, and VMs.

BUT: Software (TOS) is not as polished or reliable for Apple/iOS users.

Doesn’t support Live Photos natively like Synology Photos does.

Slight learning curve and weaker iOS apps.

Verdict: Very capable hardware for tinkering and performance, but weaker integration with your use case (Live Photos + Apple ecosystem).

Asustor Nimbustor 2 Gen 2 (AS5402T)
Great hardware (Intel N5105), 2.5GbE, 4GB RAM (upgradeable).

ADM OS is decent but lags behind Synology in app support and polish.

Can run Plex and Docker well.

iOS integration decent but not as seamless as Synology Photos for Live Photos.

Verdict: Great balance of hardware and performance, but second-best for Apple-specific needs.

QNAP TS-233-2G
ARM-based CPU, weak for multimedia or advanced apps.

1GbE, limited expansion.

Software more complex than Synology, and less suited to beginners.

No support for Live Photos in native apps.

Verdict: Budget option, not future-proof for prosumer use or Apple ecosystem.

Drive Recommendation:
Two 8TB NAS drives (e.g., Seagate IronWolf or WD Red Plus) in RAID 1 will give you 8TB of mirrored storage and fault tolerance.

Consider getting external USB drive or cloud backup (e.g., Backblaze B2) as a secondary backup.