01-08-2026, 04:29 PM
Given what you’re looking for, the three easiest and most reliable upgrades right now would be the Synology DS425 Plus, the Synology DS925 Plus, or the QNAP TS 464. All three will feel like a massive step up from the old Zyxel, especially in terms of the interface and day to day usability.
The DS425 Plus is the simplest and most polished option. Synology really does the best job at making everything straightforward, from setting up storage to sharing files and doing backups. It is also quiet, efficient, and very beginner friendly. If you mainly want something that is easy to manage and stable for years, this is the safest pick.
The DS925 Plus gives you more power and expansion options if you want to grow into things like heavier indexing or virtual machines later. Still very easy to use, just a bit more headroom under the hood. If you want a long term solution with room to scale, this is the one to look at.
The QNAP TS 464 is great if you want stronger hardware for the money. It has two point five gig networking built in and NVMe bays for caching, so it feels incredibly snappy. The interface is still friendly but slightly more technical than Synology. If you want more performance without spending a lot more, this is the value pick.
The DS425 Plus is the simplest and most polished option. Synology really does the best job at making everything straightforward, from setting up storage to sharing files and doing backups. It is also quiet, efficient, and very beginner friendly. If you mainly want something that is easy to manage and stable for years, this is the safest pick.
The DS925 Plus gives you more power and expansion options if you want to grow into things like heavier indexing or virtual machines later. Still very easy to use, just a bit more headroom under the hood. If you want a long term solution with room to scale, this is the one to look at.
The QNAP TS 464 is great if you want stronger hardware for the money. It has two point five gig networking built in and NVMe bays for caching, so it feels incredibly snappy. The interface is still friendly but slightly more technical than Synology. If you want more performance without spending a lot more, this is the value pick.