How we test

We asked manufacturers to send two-bay and four-bay NAS units suitable for enthusiast home users or small to medium-sized enterprises. We then put the appliances through their paces, using the existing drives where the manufacturers sent a pre-filled unit or 2TB Seagate IronWolf drives when not. We configured each NAS device using the manufacturer’s default or recommended settings, picking a RAID1 or similar configuration where there was a choice.

For each NAS we then created a test folder and mapped it as a network drive before running CrystalDiskMark to give us an idea of performance, both with large file transfer jobs and challenging 4KB random reads and writes. We also ran real-world file transfer tests on 4K resolution video files and mixed backup jobs. Then, to simulate more demanding workloads, timed file transfers of 1GB of small Office document files while the NAS streamed 4K video. See graphs of results on p90.

Performance isn’t everything, however, so we also looked at how easy it was to configure key settings in the NAS firmware or OS, and at the selection of apps you could download and install. We downloaded and installed key applications to see how well they worked and how smoothly they ran on each NAS, paying particular attention to the default media server apps, where we tested streaming capabilities to a Windows 10 laptop, Android smartphone and Samsung Smart TV. We also tested cloud sync and remote access features, including mobile and desktop sync or sharing apps.