NVMe SSD NAS options & requirements

[Enquiries]

I've read your entire review of the QNAP TBS-464 and am pretty impressed with the product. Great review also! I've been wanting to build a NVMe SSD NAS for many years but haven't really found the time to do the research. Seeing that the QNAP TBS-464 now exists (which would definitely meet my storage requirements) and was the first of its kind, I was wondering if you know and can recommend any other NVMe SSD NASs that have been introduced to the market since. Any with improved CPUs, upgradeable memory, etc?

Here are my "requirements":

1. The compactness of the TBS-464 is great, but NOT a requirement. I'm OK with the typical enclosure for a NAS, including having bays and status lights and all, as long as the it supports M.2 PCIe SSDs and not the SATA ones.

2. Im thinking of starting off with two 4GB SSDs with the ability to add more SSDs later. So looking for support of 4+ M.2 connectors.

3. The purpose for my NAS is to store photo, movie, music , and document files. But I also want it to act as a Plex media server (not sure if that means Plex would be installed on the NAS or would it need to be installed on the separate server machine). But basically it would serve the specific media files I allow it two. So I'm not sure if I would need partition
the storage space into two separate parts where one part would store the content (movies/music) for Plex and the other part would just be basic file storage (documents/photos) that my family members can access.

4. Ideally, I would like to set access control to the NAS files based on user. For example, I would be able to access all files in the system, but my kids would only be able to access files in their own named folders.

[TribalHound]

Yes the TBS-464 is a great compact unit and outperforms both the HS-264 & HS-453DX, but these appear to be the only 3 NVMe only NAS on the market so far.
I think with the price of NVMe's coming down we could expect to see other brands producing similar models in the retail / prosumer market, but for now the only other options are rack mounted 'hyper servers' for data centers. Add the read/write sped capability of multiple NVMe's in Raid 0, or Raid 10 and you're already outperforming most domestic switches, routers and in some cases cabling. I think we're probably a few years off the kind of NAS you really want right now.

So addressing your questions:
1. The TBS-464 & HS-453DX are your only NVMe options right now.
2. 4 TB NVMe's are going to add some serious cost to your system - possible better to go for a SATA based NAS with dual PCIe slots and add your NVMe's there. Suggest using the highest rated slot for smaller NVMe's as SSD cache and the lower rated slot for your 4 TB ones for NAS OS and crucial data. The drawback, you have no spare slot to up your NAS Ethernet ports, so avoid models with standard 1GBe and possibly even 2.5GBe. Use regular NAS SATA SSDs / HDDs in the drive bays (depending on how many bays you go for). QNAP has the QTier function that can auto arrange your data across different disk type (most used on fastest --> least used on slowest), so worth a read up on that before making a purchase.
3. Running as a media server (plex or otherwise) is going to increase your total data requirement. Depending on your needs (and double at least what you think you need) this could push the two choices in answer 1. out of the equation. Couple that with the OS / Ram requirements for your NAS / Applications / Plex / Transcoding and the fact that neither have expandable RAM will bring forwards how soon you might need to replace the unit as well.
4. This is a fundamental requirement for all NAS and you'd struggle to find a manufacturer that doesn't have this option. QNAP has the 'Home' folder where you can assign specific limits in data usage for each user. With QSync as well, each user can sync data across all their devices. I'd suggest setting up a family group as well, add everyone to it and then allow shared access to the group for data in a given folder / set of folders. Afterall - that 5th birthday party video or those holiday photos are for everyone to see - As likely is your Disney movies collection.

Hope this helps, but whatever you decide to go for / if you have any questions - drop a note as Robbie has referral links for most things NAS - so you might save some money towards that all NVMe box that will be released around the time you want to upgrade. Start saving soon, because it probably won't be cheap.