2-Bay budget - can't decide!

[Enquiries]

I can't decide between 3 of the 2-bay NAS options available. Help!!!

I will use the NAS primarily for storage only, with my Nvidia Shield acting as a Plex Server (so no need for the NAS to do transcoding).

i have 2 x existing WD red 6TB WD60EFRX drives to use in the NAS.

I am tossing up between the following:

* QNAP TS-233
* Synology DS-223 (or 223J - not sure what the difference is?)
* Asustor Drivestor 2

Which one would you go with for my use case?

[ed]

For your storage-focused use case with no transcoding needs, all three options, the QNAP TS-233, Synology DS-223 (or 223J), and Asustor Drivestor 2, will fulfill your requirements. The primary difference among them lies in the RAM size. If possible, it would be advisable to choose a NAS model with a larger RAM capacity, as it allows for smoother multitasking and the ability to run more apps simultaneously.

In terms of software, Synology offers highly polished mobile apps that provide a user-friendly experience. QNAP, on the other hand, offers more extensive configuration options, allowing for more customization and flexibility. Asustor stands out with its competitive pricing, offering a budget-friendly solution that still delivers reliable performance.

[meshkerila]

I can't decide between 3 of the 2-bay NAS options available. Help!!!

I will use the NAS primarily for storage only, with my Nvidia Shield acting as a Plex Server (so no need for the NAS to do transcoding).

i have 2 x existing WD red 6TB WD60EFRX drives to use in the NAS.

I am tossing up between the following:

* QNAP TS-233
* Synology DS-223 (or 223J - not sure what the difference is?)
* Asustor Drivestor 2

Which one would you go with for my use case?

This might not be the answer you're looking for, but it's my experience that I hope would help you decide on which model to choose.

I initially had a Zyxel NSA 310 which was a 1-bay NAS with eSATA expasion option and 256MB RAM.
Due to wannaCry and SMB1 being disabled constantly in Windows, I opted to go for a Qnap TS-230 2GB RAM (which is similar to QNAP TS-233 in some regard). 
Good NAS, but in less than 2 years since I got it, the limited 2GB RAM and no RAM Upgrade option, made me bite the bullet and go for a Qnap TS-462-2G (2GB RAM) option.

The reasons why I went for this model were:

• a 4-bay NAS, which allows me to add more drives to it without an external expansion / enclosure
  
• upgrade-able RAM (which was the first thing I did, using some 2X8GB DDR4 modules that I had lying around after a laptop RAM upgrade).
  
• as a bonus, it also has 2 M.2 slots (that I'll be using for the "system" volume and use the HDD bays just for data).
  

16GB of RAM might be overkill for my use case (Raid1 standard volume, LAN access via SMB, PLEX and occasional download direct to the NAS), but if there's any kind of future-proofing a NAS, I believe that RAM is part of it.

In case you're interested in this model, make sure that you get the 2GB version, as the 4GB one (TS-462-4G) does not have upgrade-able RAM. I am aware that the cost is higher than the QNAP TS-233 model you were asking about.
Also, in case you're not aware (yet) most NASes don't come pre-populated/bundled with HDDs/SSDs. You need to get them separately.

Happy NAS hunting!

---

As my previous post was RAM-oriented, below are your models and their RAM capacity:
* QNAP TS-233 - 2GB
* Synology DS-223 - 2GB
* Synology DS-223J - 1GB
* Asustor Drivestor 2 - 1GB

All 4 models don't have a RAM upgrade option.