07-18-2025, 03:55 PM
Thanks for getting in touch and explaining your situation clearly. For a small non-profit office setup like yours, you really don’t need a full-blown server. A simple NAS is ideal and will give you shared storage for files, photos, videos, and application data, with much less maintenance than a traditional server.
For your $600 budget and 10TB target, I’d recommend one of these options:
• Synology DS224+ (2-bay): Compact, easy to use, very reliable, and runs the DSM operating system which is simple even for non-technical users. You can start with two 8TB or 10TB WD Red Plus drives in RAID 1 (mirrored) for about 8–10TB of usable space. Very quiet and fits in any office environment.
• QNAP TS-262 (2-bay): Similar to the Synology but with slightly more hardware power. A little more technical to set up, but also a solid choice.
• UGREEN DH2300 (4-bay): This is a newer and cheaper option, and while the software isn’t as polished as Synology’s, it does the job if budget is tight. You could populate it with two or three drives to start and expand later.
For your use case I would lean toward Synology if you prefer “set it and forget it” with good support and easy remote access. QNAP if you don’t mind a little more tinkering and want better specs. UGREEN only if you really need to save money.
Whichever you choose, pair it with NAS-grade drives like WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf. In a 2-bay you can do RAID 1 to protect against a single drive failure.
For your $600 budget and 10TB target, I’d recommend one of these options:
• Synology DS224+ (2-bay): Compact, easy to use, very reliable, and runs the DSM operating system which is simple even for non-technical users. You can start with two 8TB or 10TB WD Red Plus drives in RAID 1 (mirrored) for about 8–10TB of usable space. Very quiet and fits in any office environment.
• QNAP TS-262 (2-bay): Similar to the Synology but with slightly more hardware power. A little more technical to set up, but also a solid choice.
• UGREEN DH2300 (4-bay): This is a newer and cheaper option, and while the software isn’t as polished as Synology’s, it does the job if budget is tight. You could populate it with two or three drives to start and expand later.
For your use case I would lean toward Synology if you prefer “set it and forget it” with good support and easy remote access. QNAP if you don’t mind a little more tinkering and want better specs. UGREEN only if you really need to save money.
Whichever you choose, pair it with NAS-grade drives like WD Red Plus or Seagate IronWolf. In a 2-bay you can do RAID 1 to protect against a single drive failure.