NAS

We’re not sure what the advantage of having a LLM (AI) built into your NAS, since the hadware will limit that LLM’s capabilities.  But hey, why not, right?

UGREEN has become yet another company to throw their hat into the NAS ring.  And while these new companies may be able to undercut competitors on price the real question becomes how well does their software perform.  A NAS with bad software is a very big problem.  It’s worth paying for better software, or even using lesser hardware, if the software is stable and efficient.

We were suprised to see the processor used as per UGREEN’s website:

The NASync iDX6011 is powered by the Intel^® Core™ Ultra 5 Processor 125H, featuring 14 cores, 18 threads, and a turbo frequency of 4.5GHz. It delivers exceptional AI performance with three major AI engines: CPU, GPU, and NPU, providing a combined computing power of up to 34 TOPS. This ensures high efficiency across a wide range of AI applications.

The 6011 Pro will be equipped with the “latest” Intel Core Ultra Processor, whatever that means exactly.

There will be six HDD bays and two M.2 NVMe slots.

We don’t have any prices yet.  An interesting offering though.

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Synology is well established as a NAS maker and they’re frequently recommended as a solution that while not the cheapest “just works”.  And sometimes “just works” is worth paying for.

This device caught our eye as it’s not using Synology’s standard DSM operating system but instead is using their ActiveProtect system.  What this really means is that your NAS is now limited to the purpose of backing-up your data.  That may sound like a strange statement to focus on, since that is a primary function of a NAS.  But do not underestimate the other purposes and functions a NAS gets used for.  A NAS is a computer, after all, and can be used for an infinite number of other purposes, even when the processor and other specs are relatively weak.

The Synology DP320 NAS features:

• 2 HDD bays
• AMD R1600 (2 cores)
• 8GB of RAM
• 1 x 1GbE RJ-45 Port (Management)
• 1 x 1GbE RJ-45 Port (Data transfer)
• 3-Year warranty

The benefits of limiting the functionality of the device is that it should be able to do the job it’s assigned better, and more simply.  This does seem to be what Synology accomplished, to at least some extent.  So we cannot totally disagree with this approach but we do prefer the flexibility that the DSM operating provides.

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Don’t confuse the Lincstation’s with the Buffalo LinkStation.  That is a bit of unfortunate naming.  This is from a newer company who crowdfunded initially and successfully which has led to this second generation of devices.  The hardware appears decent for its purpose and the price reasonable, so we actually hope that companies like this success with their offerings.

Key specifications:

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The Minisforum N5 Pro NAS has specifications far more advanced than we’re used to see in a NAS.  It will feature AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX PRO 370 Strix Point processor, it can be equipped with up to 96GB of ECC RAM, a 10 GbE LAN port, and it has PCIe 4.0 x4 connections (internal and OCuLink port for external connections).  This could be not only your NAS but your home server as well.  It’s nice to have companies challenging QNAP and Synology as their products sometimes feel a bit overpriced.

However, competing with the likes of Synology on the software side is a whole other matter and no easy task.  Many of the less established NAS companies fall far short when trying to provide a total NAS experience because they don’t have the years of experience nor funding that the larger companies have.  And this truly matters in the NAS experience because if the software isn’t flawless it can create major problems including data loss.

We’re very happy to see the competition heating up.

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