NAS choice

[Enquiries]

I have a DAS setup on an old gaming laptop, non-RAID environment. I lost a drive, so I want a NAS with RAID.

[ed]

Thanks for reaching out. Since you’re moving from a DAS on a laptop to a proper NAS, RAID will definitely give you the redundancy you were missing before. With a budget of around $800–1000 and a goal of 40TB usable space, here’s what I’d recommend:
• 4–6 Bay NAS:
For 40TB, you’ll likely be looking at 4 x 14TB or 4 x 16TB drives in RAID 5 (one drive redundancy) or 5–6 drives in RAID 6 (two drive redundancy). RAID 6 is safer if you want peace of mind.
• Synology DS1522+ or DS1621+:
Great for home use, excellent backup software, snapshots, and support for expansion later. The DS1522+ is 5-bay, while the DS1621+ is 6-bay if you want RAID 6 right away.
• QNAP TS-664 or TS-673A:
These give you HDMI out, faster processors, and more multimedia features. They also support a wide range of drive types and upgrades, including 10GbE networking if you want faster editing or transfers.
• Drives:
I’d suggest NAS-rated drives such as Seagate IronWolf Pro or WD Red Plus/Pro in the 14–16TB range. They’re tuned for RAID workloads and have longer warranties.

So in short: if your priority is simplicity and backups, Synology is usually the easiest to use. If you want more hardware flexibility and multimedia features, QNAP is stronger. Either way, going for RAID 6 across 5–6 bays will give you the best balance of safety and usable capacity.