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Best 2.5GbE Switches for a Home Network and NAS in 2026

For years, Gigabit Ethernet was fast enough that most people never had to think about the network switch sitting in a closet.

That is changing.

2.5GbE ports are now showing up on NAS devices, desktop motherboards, mini PCs, Wi-Fi access points and routers. If you have bought relatively recent networking or home-lab hardware, there is a decent chance you already own equipment capable of running faster than 1Gbps.

The switch in the middle may be the thing holding everything back.

For many home networks, 2.5GbE is now the sensible upgrade. It can run over existing Cat5e cabling in many installations, is substantially cheaper and easier to deploy than an all-10GbE network, and is fast enough to make a noticeable difference when moving large files to and from a NAS. There are very few places within a home where you might need 10GbE right now.

I would not overcomplicate the switch purchase.

For most homes, I would choose among three basic configurations:

Five 2.5GbE ports: inexpensive and enough for a small multi-gig network.
Eight 2.5GbE ports: better if you know five ports will disappear quickly.
2.5GbE ports plus a 10GbE uplink: the more interesting architecture if your NAS or network backbone can run at 10Gbps.

My 2.5GbE Switch Picks

Switch	Ports	Best For
TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2	5 × 2.5GbE	Small, simple 2.5G upgrade
TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2	8 × 2.5GbE	Larger home networks
TRENDnet TEG-S5061	5 × 2.5GbE + 1 × 10G SFP+	2.5G clients with a 10G NAS or backbone

All three are unmanaged and fanless. If you simply want faster Ethernet without configuring VLANs, management interfaces or enterprise networking features, that is a feature rather than a deficiency.

Best Simple 2.5GbE Switch: TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2

If you only need a few multi-gigabit connections, I would start with the TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2.

It provides five RJ-45 Ethernet ports, each capable of negotiating at:

100Mbps;
1Gbps;
or 2.5Gbps.

TP-Link rates the switch for 25Gbps of switching capacity, which is enough to run all five 2.5GbE ports at full duplex without deliberately creating an internal switch bottleneck.

It is also fanless.

That is something I care about for home networking hardware. A switch that sits in an office, bedroom, basement rack or networking closet should not add another tiny fan that eventually becomes the loudest thing in the room.

Check the TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2 on Amazon

I would buy this one if: you have a 2.5GbE NAS, desktop and router and simply need to connect them without rebuilding the entire network.

The Problem With Five Ports

Five ports sounds like plenty until you start using them.

Imagine:

one port to the router;
one to the NAS;
one to your desktop;
one to a Wi-Fi access point;
one to a second desktop or server.

You are done.

If you are already wondering what will occupy port six, buy the eight-port model instead.

Best 8-Port 2.5GbE Switch: TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2

The TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2 follows the same basic idea but gives you eight 2.5GbE RJ-45 ports.

TP-Link specifies:

8 × 100Mbps/1Gbps/2.5Gbps Ethernet ports;
40Gbps switching capacity;
fanless operation;
support for jumbo frames;
and a compact unmanaged design.

Check the TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2 on Amazon

This is probably the better default purchase if the price difference from the five-port version is reasonable.

Network ports have a tendency to get used.

An eight-port switch gives you room for:

a router;
NAS;
two desktops;
home server;
Wi-Fi access point;
mini PC;
and another switch or device;

without immediately reaching for another switch.

I would buy this one if: you want a straightforward 2.5GbE network and expect to connect more than three or four multi-gig devices.

Best 2.5GbE Switch With a 10G Uplink: TRENDnet TEG-S5061

The TRENDnet TEG-S5061 is the most interesting of these three switches.

It has:

5 × 2.5GBASE-T RJ-45 ports;
1 × 10G SFP+ port;
45Gbps switching capacity;
fanless operation;
and support for Cat5e or better cabling on the 2.5GbE ports.

Check the TRENDnet TEG-S5061 on Amazon

The 10G SFP+ port changes what you can do with it.

You can run ordinary computers and other devices at 2.5Gbps while giving the switch a much faster connection to:

a 10GbE NAS;
a larger core switch;
a server;
or another part of the network.

This hybrid approach makes a lot of sense to me.

Why Have a 10G Port on a 2.5G Switch?

Suppose you have four computers connected at 2.5Gbps and all of them access the same NAS.

If the NAS is also connected at 2.5Gbps, those computers are all sharing one 2.5Gbps path to the storage.

The NAS connection becomes the bottleneck.

Give the NAS a 10Gbps connection instead, and several 2.5GbE clients can transfer data simultaneously without immediately saturating that single upstream link.

This is one of the reasons I like a mixed network:

2.5GbE where it is cheap and convenient, 10GbE where aggregated traffic actually justifies it.

You do not need a 10GbE port on every television, printer and desktop simply because your NAS can move data quickly.

The other place a 10GbE port can make sense is in between switches as the backbone of your home. Sometimes, spending a little more on the connections between switches, where the individual devices branch off, can have a benefit to the overall stability of the network.

Our 2.5GbE vs. 10GbE home-network guide goes into that tradeoff in more detail.

2.5GbE Is Much Faster Than Gigabit for a NAS

A 1Gbps Ethernet connection has a raw theoretical limit of 125 megabytes per second.

Real file transfers are somewhat lower after protocol overhead and other limitations.

A 2.5Gbps connection raises the raw theoretical ceiling to 312.5 megabytes per second.

That is enough to make a significant difference when:

backing up a computer;
moving video files;
working directly from NAS storage;
copying large disk images;
or transferring large collections of photos.

A modern NAS with multiple hard drives or SSD storage can often exceed Gigabit Ethernet speeds without much difficulty.

If you recently bought one of the newer 2.5GbE-equipped NAS systems, leaving it connected to a 1Gbps switch can mean you are using only part of the networking capability you paid for.

See our best NAS for home use guide if you are building the storage side of the network too.

Do You Need 10GbE Instead?

Maybe, but I would not assume so.

10GbE is wonderful when you actually have hardware capable of feeding it.

It makes sense for:

fast SSD-based storage;
large NAS arrays;
video-production workstations;
servers moving lots of data;
and network backbones carrying traffic from multiple clients.

But an all-10G network costs more.

10GbE equipment can also consume more power and generate more heat, and some 10G switches require fans.

For a desktop that browses the web, streams video and occasionally accesses a NAS, 2.5GbE is already considerable bandwidth.

I would put 10G where it removes a real bottleneck instead of chasing a larger number on every port.

Will 2.5GbE Work Over Existing Cat5e Cable?

Often, yes.

One of the main attractions of 2.5GBASE-T is that it was designed to provide multi-gigabit networking over existing copper cabling.

Both TP-Link and TRENDnet specify Cat5e or better for 2.5GbE operation on these switches.

That makes 2.5GbE particularly attractive in a house where Cat5e is already installed inside walls.

You may be able to upgrade:

the switch;
network adapters;
and perhaps the router;

without pulling new cable through the building.

Actual performance still depends on cable quality, termination, distance and the condition of the installation.

Do You Need Cat6 for 2.5GbE?

No, not necessarily.

Cat6 is certainly fine, but properly installed Cat5e is specified for 2.5GBASE-T.

I would not replace functioning in-wall Cat5e simply because you want to move from 1Gbps to 2.5Gbps.

Try the existing wiring first. However, if you are installing new wire, you do want to go for Cat 6 at minimum. Outside of the wall, you may want to identify older cables and replace them during other work.

What About 5GbE?

5GbE exists and can be useful, but the home-networking market has largely made 2.5GbE the more common inexpensive step above Gigabit.

A lot of current consumer hardware arrives with:

1GbE;
2.5GbE;
or 10GbE.

That makes a 2.5G-access/10G-backbone design particularly convenient.

Unmanaged vs. Managed 2.5GbE Switches

All three switches here are unmanaged.

You connect the cables and they switch Ethernet traffic.

There is no web management interface to configure.

For many homes, that is exactly what I want.

A managed switch becomes worthwhile if you need features such as:

VLANs;
more detailed traffic control;
link aggregation;
port monitoring;
more sophisticated QoS;
or a managed home-lab environment.

If none of those phrases describes something you were already planning to use, I would hesitate to pay extra simply because “managed” sounds more capable.

Do You Need PoE?

None of these three switches is a PoE switch.

That is perfectly fine for:

desktops;
NAS devices;
servers;
routers;
and other equipment with its own power supply.

PoE becomes important when the Ethernet cable also needs to power something such as:

a Wi-Fi access point;
security camera;
VoIP phone;
or another powered network device.

If you plan to deploy several Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 access points with 2.5GbE interfaces, a 2.5GbE PoE switch may be a better purchase than one of the switches on this list. Depending on what you are powering with it, you may wire a section of your network with less expensive Gigabit POE. For example, security cameras are commonly powered by POE, but rarely support more than gigabit ethernet. I have a newer access point that does have a 2.5GbE port, but older ones did not. Consider the benefits here as well. You have to assess what is best for your needs.

You can also use a separate PoE injector for an occasional device, closer to the end of the drop.

Fanless Matters More Than It Sounds

All three of these switches are fanless.

I strongly prefer that in a home environment when the hardware can operate reliably without active cooling.

A switch may stay powered on for years.

A small inexpensive fan can:

collect dust;
develop bearing noise;
become annoying in a quiet room;
and eventually fail.

A silent switch in the networking closet is easy to forget about.

Networking hardware should aspire to being forgotten.

What About Jumbo Frames?

Jumbo frames can reduce packet-processing overhead in some high-speed LAN workloads, particularly large sequential transfers to a NAS.

They are not required to get useful 2.5GbE performance.

If you decide to use jumbo frames, configure the network carefully. Every relevant device along the path needs compatible settings.

I would much rather have a stable network using standard Ethernet frames than spend an afternoon debugging one device that does not agree with everyone else’s MTU.

How I Would Build a Small 2.5GbE Home Network

For a simple setup:

2.5GbE router;
TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2;
2.5GbE NAS;
2.5GbE desktop;
2.5GbE access point;
and one spare port.

That gives you a substantial improvement over Gigabit Ethernet without turning networking into a hobby.

How I Would Build a Larger 2.5GbE Home Network

Once you have multiple wired rooms or several computers:

2.5GbE router;
TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2;
NAS;
multiple desktops;
server;
access point;
and spare capacity.

The eight-port switch simply gives you more breathing room.

How I Would Build a 2.5G Network Around a 10G NAS

This is where the TRENDnet becomes attractive.

I would connect:

ordinary workstations to the five 2.5GbE ports;
the NAS or core network through the 10G SFP+ port;
and allow multiple 2.5G clients to share the faster upstream connection.

The SFP+ port requires an appropriate SFP+ connection, such as a compatible DAC cable or transceiver setup.

For a rack, server or NAS that already has SFP+, this can be a very economical architecture.

Which 2.5GbE Switch Should You Buy?

Buy the TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2 if:

you need only a handful of 2.5G ports;
you want something simple;
your NAS is 2.5GbE;
and you do not need a 10G backbone.

See the TP-Link TL-SG105S-M2 on Amazon

Buy the TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2 if:

five ports already sounds limiting;
you have several wired rooms or computers;
you want eight 2.5GbE ports without management complexity;
and you do not need 10GbE on this switch.

See the TP-Link TL-SG108S-M2 on Amazon

Buy the TRENDnet TEG-S5061 if:

your clients mostly use 2.5GbE;
your NAS, server or backbone can use 10GbE;
you want to avoid bottlenecking several 2.5G clients behind a single 2.5G uplink;
and an SFP+ connection fits your network.

See the TRENDnet TEG-S5061 on Amazon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is a 2.5GbE switch worth it?

If you have multiple devices with 2.5GbE ports—especially a NAS and desktop—the upgrade can be very worthwhile. The theoretical bandwidth is 2.5 times that of Gigabit Ethernet, while 2.5GBASE-T can often use existing Cat5e cabling.

Will a Gigabit device work on a 2.5GbE switch?

Yes. These switches auto-negotiate with slower Ethernet devices. A Gigabit device will simply connect at 1Gbps.

Will 2.5GbE work with Cat5e?

Yes. 2.5GBASE-T was designed to operate over Cat5e cabling. Poor terminations, damaged cable or unusual installations can still cause problems.

Do I need a 2.5GbE router too?

Not necessarily for local transfers. A desktop and NAS connected to the same 2.5GbE switch can communicate at 2.5GbE even if your internet connection or router is slower. A multi-gig router becomes important if you also want internet traffic above 1Gbps. If you are buying a new router for other reasons, you may want to future proof it.

Can a 2.5GbE switch make my internet faster?

Only if some other part of the network was limiting your internet connection. If you have 500Mbps internet service, replacing a Gigabit switch with a 2.5GbE switch will not turn it into 2.5Gbps service.

Is 2.5GbE fast enough for a NAS?

For many home users, yes. It provides a raw theoretical bandwidth of 312.5 MB/s, substantially above Gigabit Ethernet. High-performance NAS systems, SSD arrays and multiple simultaneous users can justify 10GbE.

Why would I want a 10G SFP+ uplink?

A 10G uplink lets several 2.5GbE clients share a faster connection to a NAS, server or core switch. It can prevent one 2.5G uplink from becoming the choke point for the entire group.

Do I need a managed 2.5GbE switch?

Not for a basic home network. Buy managed hardware when you have a reason to use its management features, such as VLANs or more advanced traffic control.

2.5GbE Has Become the Sensible Middle Ground

Gigabit Ethernet is still perfectly adequate for an enormous number of devices.

10GbE is significantly faster and absolutely worthwhile in the right places.

But 2.5GbE occupies a useful middle ground.

It is fast enough to noticeably improve NAS transfers, increasingly common on consumer hardware and often able to use the Ethernet cable already installed in your walls.

For a small network, I would buy the five-port TP-Link.

If I expected the network to grow, I would spend a little more on the eight-port TP-Link.

And if the NAS or backbone is already capable of 10GbE, the TRENDnet TEG-S5061 is the configuration I find most interesting: cheap 2.5GbE at the edge with a faster 10GbE path where the traffic converges.

Published on September 6, 2026

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Best NAS for Home Use in 2026: Synology, UGREEN, TerraMaster or DIY?

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Product links may earn a commission at no additional cost to you.

I built my own NAS. That does not mean I think you should.

My current NAS runs TrueNAS on a low-power Intel N100-based system. I like having complete control over the hardware and software, and I like knowing that if I want to change something later, I am not waiting for a NAS manufacturer to decide whether I am allowed to do it.

But building a NAS also means owning the problems. You choose the hardware. You install the operating system. You troubleshoot it. You decide how backups work. When something breaks, there is no single company responsible for the whole box.

If a friend asked me what NAS to buy for a house today, I would probably send them toward a prebuilt NAS instead. Pre-built means all you do is install hard drives.

The interesting part in 2026 is that Synology is no longer the only obvious answer. UGREEN and TerraMaster now sell boxes with considerably more aggressive hardware, faster networking and surprisingly capable processors. For a while, I owned a QNAP. Meanwhile, building your own NAS remains attractive if you actually want the flexibility rather than simply wanting somewhere safe to store your files.

Quick Answer: The Best Home NAS in 2026

NAS	Best For	Why I Like It	My Take
Synology DS925+	Most homes	4 bays, DSM, dual 2.5GbE, expandable memory	Safest recommendation
UGREEN DXP4800 Plus	Best hardware value	10GbE, 2.5GbE, Intel CPU, 8GB DDR5, 2 NVMe slots	Very compelling alternative to Synology
TerraMaster F4-425 Pro	Power users and media	Intel N350, 16GB RAM, dual 5GbE, 3 NVMe slots	A lot of hardware in a 4-bay box
Synology DS225+	Simple 2-bay NAS	DSM, 2.5GbE, compact and easy to manage	Good first NAS
Build Your Own + TrueNAS	Maximum control	Choose your own CPU, RAM, networking, case and drives	What I use

If I wanted the easiest recommendation for most people:

Check the Synology DS925+ diskless on Amazon

If I cared more about getting the most hardware for my money, I would look very closely at the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus.

Best NAS for Most People: Synology DS925+

Synology remains the easiest NAS company for me to recommend to someone who wants storage to behave like an appliance.

That is what I always wanted from my NAS. I enjoy building computers, but once storage is running, I want it to sit quietly in a corner and serve files.

The Synology DS925+ is a four-bay NAS built around an AMD Ryzen V1500B processor with four cores and eight threads. It comes with 4GB of ECC memory and can be expanded to 32GB.

There are two 2.5GbE Ethernet ports and two M.2 NVMe slots that can be used for caching or storage pools with compatible SSDs.

Four drive bays are also a sweet spot for a home NAS.

Two bays work, but they limit your choices. With four drives you can build an array that provides redundancy while retaining substantially more capacity. Four bays also give you room to grow without jumping into a large, expensive box.

The reason I would buy Synology, however, is DSM. DSM is Synology’s software platform.

The hardware specifications are no longer particularly exciting compared with UGREEN and TerraMaster. You are buying a mature storage platform with integrated backup, snapshots, file sharing, photo management, remote access and a large application ecosystem.

I would buy the DS925+ for: someone who wants a NAS to be reliable infrastructure rather than another hobby.

I would skip it for: someone who wants the most CPU, RAM and network bandwidth possible for the money, or someone who enjoys replacing the manufacturer’s software with their own.

Check the Synology DS925+ on Amazon

Synology Backed Away From Its Worst Hard-Drive Restriction

There is an important update if you followed the controversy around Synology’s 2025 NAS models.

Synology initially became much more restrictive about which drives could be used with its newer DiskStation Plus systems. That was a serious strike against the platform for me. A NAS is a box whose main purpose is holding hard drives. I do not want the manufacturer unnecessarily narrowing my choices.

With DSM 7.3, Synology loosened that policy.

Current 2025-model DiskStation Plus systems including the DS925+ can create storage pools using non-validated third-party 3.5-inch hard drives and 2.5-inch SATA SSDs. Synology still recommends checking its compatibility list, and restrictions remain around some features such as M.2 storage pools.

You can read Synology’s current drive compatibility policy here.

I still prefer completely open hardware, but this makes the DS925+ considerably easier to recommend.

Best Hardware for the Money: UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus

The UGREEN NASync DXP4800 Plus is the NAS that makes the Synology hardware look conservative.

It has:

Four SATA drive bays
Intel Pentium Gold 8505 processor with five cores and six threads
8GB DDR5 RAM, expandable to 64GB
One 10GbE Ethernet port
One 2.5GbE Ethernet port
Two M.2 NVMe slots
HDMI output
Intel Quick Sync support for compatible hardware transcoding

That is a remarkable amount of hardware for a four-bay NAS.

The 10GbE port is especially interesting if you regularly move large files. I recently wrote about 2.5GbE versus 10GbE for a home network, and a NAS is one of the places where 10GbE can actually make sense. Large backups, video files and bulk transfers can use bandwidth that ordinary web browsing never will.

You still need the rest of the network to keep up. A 10GbE port on a NAS does not magically make a gigabit switch or a slow hard drive ten times faster.

UGREEN also officially supports third-party drives from manufacturers including Western Digital, Seagate and Toshiba.

The tradeoff is software.

UGREEN has put substantial development into UGOS Pro, but Synology has been building DSM for a long time. If I were buying a NAS primarily because I wanted the most polished turnkey storage experience, I would still lean Synology.

If I were looking at the specifications and thinking about Docker, media serving, 10GbE and other home-lab uses, the DXP4800 Plus becomes extremely appealing.

I would buy it for: a technically comfortable home user who wants stronger hardware and 10GbE without building an entire NAS.

I would skip it for: someone whose highest priority is having the longest-established NAS software ecosystem.

Check the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus on Amazon

Best Power-User 4-Bay NAS: TerraMaster F4-425 Pro

The TerraMaster F4-425 Pro may be the most interesting hardware configuration in this group.

The N350 version comes with:

Intel N350 eight-core processor
16GB RAM
Four SATA drive bays
Three M.2 NVMe slots
Two 5GbE Ethernet ports
Hardware 4K transcoding support
HDMI output

Three NVMe slots in a four-bay NAS is unusually generous. So is shipping it with 16GB of memory.

The dual 5GbE ports are also an interesting compromise. Most houses do not have 10GbE everywhere, and 5GbE can provide considerably more bandwidth than 2.5GbE without pushing every component toward 10GbE.

TerraMaster runs its TOS operating system. TOS 7 has continued to add backup, security and application features, and the hardware provides enough resources for Docker and media workloads.

Again, my hesitation compared with Synology is not the box. It is whether I value the extra hardware more than Synology’s software ecosystem.

I would buy it for: someone who wants a prebuilt enclosure but thinks like a home-lab user.

I would skip it for: someone who wants the simplest possible NAS experience and does not care about 5GbE, extra RAM or multiple NVMe slots.

Check the TerraMaster F4-425 Pro on Amazon

Best Simple 2-Bay NAS: Synology DS225+

Some people do not need four drives.

If the goal is a central place for photos, documents, computer backups and a modest media collection, the Synology DS225+ is much easier to justify.

It has two drive bays, an Intel Celeron J4125 processor, 2GB of memory, one 2.5GbE port and one 1GbE port.

For a two-drive NAS, the obvious configuration is usually a mirror: two drives containing the same data. If one fails, the other remains.

The downside is capacity efficiency. Two 4TB drives mirrored together give you approximately one drive’s worth of usable capacity rather than 8TB of protected storage.

That is the price of redundancy.

If you already think you will eventually need more than one mirrored pair, I would spend the money on four bays at the beginning. Replacing the entire NAS later is usually more annoying than buying a little extra room today.

I would buy it for: backups, photos, documents and ordinary home storage where two bays are enough.

I would skip it for: anyone who is already thinking about a large Plex library, several users, surveillance storage or substantial future expansion.

Check the Synology DS225+ diskless on Amazon

Should You Buy a NAS With the Drives Already Installed?

Amazon also sells some of these systems bundled with drives.

That can be appealing. If part of the reason you are buying a Synology is that you do not want to build your own NAS, having someone else choose the drives is consistent with that goal.

But I would compare the numbers before clicking Buy, especially now with the price of hard drives having gone up in recent years.

For example, we found a DS925+ bundle with four 12TB Seagate IronWolf drives. That gives you 48TB of raw disk capacity without separately shopping for four drives.

A four-drive RAID configuration will not give you all 48TB as usable protected storage. With one drive’s capacity devoted to parity, you are looking at roughly 36TB before filesystem and formatting overhead. Using two-drive fault tolerance reduces usable capacity further.

The alternative is straightforward:

Buy the DS925+ diskless.
Buy four NAS hard drives yourself.
Compare the combined price with the preloaded bundle.

Installing hard drives in a NAS is not much of a build. You slide the drives into the trays, install them and let the NAS initialize the array.

So I would happily buy a preloaded bundle if the premium were small. I would not pay a huge premium merely to avoid putting four drives into four trays.

There is also a DS225+ bundle with two 4TB IronWolf drives for someone who wants a smaller ready-to-go system.

Which Hard Drives Would I Buy?

I would use NAS-rated CMR hard drives for the main storage array.

Two current choices I would consider are WD Red Plus and Seagate IronWolf Pro.

WD Red Plus 12TB: My Home NAS Choice

The WD Red Plus 12TB is the drive I would start with for an ordinary home NAS.

WD Red Plus drives use CMR recording and are designed specifically for RAID-equipped NAS systems. The line carries a three-year limited warranty.

Check the WD Red Plus 12TB on Amazon

Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB: The Step-Up Drive

The Seagate IronWolf Pro 12TB is a higher-end option.

The ST12000NE0008 is a 7200RPM NAS drive with a five-year limited warranty. Seagate also includes its Rescue Data Recovery Services with the IronWolf Pro line.

For a normal household NAS, I would compare the current price against WD Red Plus before paying extra. For heavier workloads or where the longer warranty has value, the Pro is easier to justify.

Check the IronWolf Pro 12TB on Amazon

When Four Bays Aren’t Enough

Four bays are enough for a lot of households, including mine for many years.

If you already know you need more, buy the larger enclosure now. I went with 5 bays and am now looking to expand.

UGREEN’s DXP8800 Plus provides eight SATA bays, two M.2 NVMe slots, an Intel Core i5-1235U processor and dual 10GbE Ethernet ports.

That is the one I would look at for a serious home media archive, content-creation storage or a home lab where four drives already feel restrictive.

Check the UGREEN DXP8800 Plus on Amazon

And then there are systems like the TerraMaster T12-500 Pro.

This is a 12-bay NAS with an Intel Core i7-1255U, 16GB DDR5 memory, two 10GbE ports and two M.2 NVMe slots.

It is impressive hardware. It is also far beyond what I would recommend to someone who simply wants family backups and a photo library.

If you need twelve drives, you probably already know why.

Should You Build Your Own NAS?

I did.

I have built storage servers before, used commercial NAS products and eventually returned to a homebuilt system. My current machine runs TrueNAS on low-power Intel hardware.

I like the flexibility.

If the motherboard dies, I can replace it. If I want faster networking, I can change it. If I want more RAM, a different case or another operating system, I am not limited by what a NAS vendor decided to expose.

TrueNAS also gives me ZFS, snapshots and a storage-first operating system that fits how I want the machine to behave.

I wrote about that decision in TrueNAS vs. Unraid vs. OpenMediaVault.

There is a cost to all that freedom: your time.

If you enjoy choosing motherboards, SATA controllers, cases, power supplies and software, building a NAS can be rewarding.

If your real objective is to back up your family photos and stop worrying about storage, buying a Synology makes a great deal of sense.

Build your own if:

You enjoy maintaining hardware
You want complete control over the operating system
You need unusual drive or networking configurations
You want to reuse existing hardware
You care about avoiding vendor lock-in

Buy a prebuilt NAS if:

You want one company responsible for the hardware and operating system
You value simple updates and administration
You want storage to disappear into the background
You have better things to do than troubleshoot a storage server on Sunday afternoon

If you want to see how I got here, start with my Building My NAS series.

How Many NAS Bays Do You Need?

This may be the most important purchasing decision.

Two Bays

Best for simple household storage, backups and smaller photo or media collections.

A mirrored two-drive configuration is easy to understand, but expansion is limited. When you need more capacity, you usually replace the drives with larger ones.

Four Bays

This is where I would start for most serious home NAS purchases.

You get much better choices around redundancy, capacity and expansion without turning the NAS into a giant machine.

The DS925+, DXP4800 Plus and F4-425 Pro all live here for a reason.

Eight Bays

An eight-bay unit makes sense if you have a large media collection, video-production files, extensive backups or already know four drives will not be enough.

The DXP8800 Plus is the step-up option in this guide.

Twelve Bays

This is specialized territory for a home user. If you can explain exactly what you are going to put on twelve hard drives, great. Otherwise, I would rather buy fewer larger drives in a smaller NAS.

RAID Is Not a Backup

This is worth repeating every time I write about storage.

A RAID array can protect you from a hard-drive failure. It does not protect you from everything else.

If you accidentally delete a folder, ransomware encrypts your files, the NAS is stolen, the house floods or something destroys the entire machine, having another copy of the data matters much more than how clever your RAID configuration was.

I use redundant backups rather than trusting the primary NAS as the only copy.

I have even experimented with refurbished enterprise hard drives for secondary backup systems. I am more comfortable taking that risk on an additional redundant copy than on the primary storage array.

For anything you genuinely care about, I would aim for multiple copies with at least one copy physically separate from the NAS.

Don’t Forget the UPS

A NAS is one of the devices I care most about shutting down cleanly.

I have experienced an unsafe shutdown during a power outage, and I have also had a UPS battery fail when I expected it to protect my equipment.

That is why I would budget for a UPS as part of the NAS purchase rather than as an optional accessory sometime later.

If the NAS lives with your router, switches, PoE cameras and other network equipment, see my guide to the best UPS for a home network closet, NAS and PoE equipment.

If you are only protecting a smaller networking configuration, I also have a guide to the best UPS for a router and modem.

What NAS Would I Buy Today?

If I were buying for a family member who wanted a NAS and did not want a new hobby, I would buy the Synology DS925+.

Four bays provide enough flexibility for most homes, DSM is mature, 2.5GbE is appropriate for a modern home network, and Synology’s decision to restore broader third-party hard-drive support removed one of my biggest objections.

Check the DS925+ diskless on Amazon

If I were buying for myself and wanted a prebuilt unit, the decision becomes harder.

The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus gives me 10GbE, more RAM and an Intel processor with Quick Sync.

The TerraMaster F4-425 Pro goes further with 16GB of memory, dual 5GbE and three NVMe slots.

Both tempt me because I like hardware.

And then I remember why I built my own NAS in the first place.

For most people, though, that last sentence is probably a warning rather than a recommendation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best NAS for home use in 2026?

For most people, I would choose the Synology DS925+. It provides four drive bays, dual 2.5GbE networking and Synology’s mature DSM software. Buyers who prioritize hardware specifications should also consider the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus and TerraMaster F4-425 Pro.

Is a 2-bay or 4-bay NAS better?

A two-bay NAS is sufficient for basic backups and storage. A four-bay NAS gives you much more flexibility for redundancy, capacity and future expansion. If you expect your storage needs to grow, I would start with four bays.

Is Synology still worth buying?

Yes. Synology hardware is often less aggressive than competing systems from UGREEN and TerraMaster, but DSM remains a major reason to buy a Synology NAS. DSM 7.3 also restored support for creating storage pools with many non-validated third-party hard drives on 2025 DiskStation models.

Is UGREEN NAS better than Synology?

UGREEN currently offers stronger hardware specifications at several price points, particularly around processors, memory and networking. Synology’s advantage is its mature DSM software ecosystem. Which is better depends on whether you value hardware capability or a more established turnkey NAS platform.

Should I build a TrueNAS server instead of buying a NAS?

Build a TrueNAS server if you want control over the hardware and software and are comfortable maintaining it yourself. Buy a prebuilt NAS if you want a simpler appliance with one vendor responsible for the platform. Even people who are capable of building and maintaining a server may opt to let someone else handle those details.

How much storage do I need in a home NAS?

Estimate how much data you have today, include the devices you plan to back up, then leave substantial room for growth. Remember that RAID redundancy reduces usable capacity. Four 12TB drives do not normally provide 48TB of protected usable storage.

Do I need NAS-specific hard drives?

I prefer NAS-rated CMR drives for a primary NAS because they are designed for continuous operation in multi-drive enclosures. WD Red Plus and Seagate IronWolf Pro are two current examples.

Published on August 16, 2026

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Best UPS for a Home Network Closet: NAS, PoE, Cameras and Wi-Fi

Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Product links may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

A modem and Wi-Fi router are easy to protect with a UPS. A full home network closet is a different problem.

Once you add switches, wireless access points, PoE cameras, a NAS, a firewall, smart-home hubs and other equipment, you have more power draw, more devices that need to shut down cleanly and more reasons to care about what happens when the power stays out for longer than five minutes.

I use UPS units for both my networking gear and my NAS. My current NAS runs TrueNAS on a low-power Intel N100-based system, so it does not require a giant UPS by itself. But the NAS is only one part of the load. The router, switches, access points and other network equipment all need power too.

I have also had both sides of the UPS problem: an unsafe shutdown after losing power and a UPS battery that failed when I expected it to protect the equipment. Those experiences changed how I think about sizing a UPS. Capacity matters, but so do battery condition, monitoring, graceful shutdown and the reliability of the power where the equipment actually lives.

Quick answer: For a home network closet with a NAS, PoE switch and several other devices, a good starting point is looking at a 1500VA-class UPS with sine-wave output, USB or network monitoring and replaceable batteries. The CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD is the value choice I would consider first. For a NAS or server setup where management and expandability matter more, I would step up to the APC SMT1500C or Eaton 5P1500.

UPS	Capacity	Best For	My Take	Check Price
CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD	1500VA / 1000W	Most home network closets	Best value	Check price
APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500MS2	1500VA / 900W	Large home networks without server-class needs	Good bridge between consumer and network-closet UPS units	Check price
APC Smart-UPS SMT1500C	1440VA / 1000W	NAS, servers and serious network closets	My step-up APC choice	Check price
Eaton 5P1500	1440VA / 1100W	Premium network and server setups	Excellent management-oriented option	Check price
APC Smart-UPS SMT1500RM2UC	1440VA / 1000W	Rack-mounted network closets	Best fit if the rest of the equipment is already in a rack	Check price

When a Router UPS Is No Longer Enough

I have a separate guide to the best UPS for a router and modem. If your entire critical load is an ONT or cable modem, router and perhaps one small switch, start there. You probably do not need the equipment in this article.

A network closet becomes a different problem when it contains things like:

A modem or fiber ONT
A router or dedicated firewall
One or more Ethernet switches
A PoE switch
Multiple Wi-Fi access points
Security cameras
An NVR
A NAS
A small home server
Home Assistant or other automation hardware
Smart-home bridges

At that point I care less about finding the smallest UPS that can technically support the equipment and more about building enough margin into the system that it remains useful as the network changes. Also, remember not every device needs to have redundant power.

Start With Watts, Not VA

Measure the actual network load instead of guessing using a smart plug or similar device. Knowing whether the closet uses 90 watts or 350 watts completely changes your considerations.

UPS marketing leads with VA ratings, but the watt rating is just as important. A UPS can be rated at 1500VA and still support a different maximum number of watts than another 1500VA model.

That is visible in the products above. The APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500MS2 is rated for 900 watts, the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD and APC Smart-UPS models here are rated for 1000 watts, and the Eaton 5P1500 is rated for 1100 watts.

You do not want to add the wattage printed on every power adapter and assume that is your actual load. Those labels generally describe what the power supply can provide, not necessarily what the device consumes continuously.

Measure the whole network closet

If everything is already connected to one UPS, the UPS display may show current load. You can also use a plug-in power meter between the wall and the equipment while temporarily running it without the UPS.

Measure during normal operation and then consider what changes under load. A NAS may draw more power while its disks are active. A PoE switch may consume considerably more as additional cameras and access points draw power.

I would also leave room for the next device. Home networks have a habit of growing.

PoE Makes UPS Sizing More Interesting

A normal Ethernet switch has a relatively predictable load. A PoE switch is powering other equipment through the network cable, so the switch itself is only part of the calculation.

If the switch powers cameras, wireless access points, phones or other PoE devices, that downstream load is also being supplied by the UPS.

This is one reason backing up the switch can be so useful. One UPS connection may keep an entire group of cameras and access points online. It also means that adding another six PoE cameras later can materially change the amount of battery runtime you have.

When sizing the UPS, look at actual PoE consumption rather than simply the switch’s maximum advertised PoE budget. Then leave enough capacity for growth.

A NAS Changes What I Want From a UPS

A router reboot is annoying. An abrupt NAS shutdown is something I work harder to avoid.

A NAS may be writing data, updating filesystem metadata or running applications when utility power disappears. The goal of the UPS is therefore not necessarily to run the NAS for hours. It may be to keep the machine alive long enough for the outage to prove that it is not a momentary flicker and then shut the system down cleanly.

This is why I consider communications support essential when a NAS or server is part of the load.

TrueNAS and NUT

TrueNAS includes UPS support using Network UPS Tools, commonly called NUT. A compatible UPS can communicate with the NAS over USB, serial or, with suitable hardware, over the network.

TrueNAS can then react to UPS status and initiate a controlled shutdown rather than waiting for the battery to become completely exhausted.

The exact UPS and driver still matter. If automatic shutdown is important to you, check the current TrueNAS UPS documentation and the Network UPS Tools compatibility information before buying.

TrueNAS can also operate with one system acting as the UPS monitor while other systems receive status across the network. That is useful when several servers share one sufficiently large UPS.

If you are interested in the NAS side of my setup, I have an entire Building My NAS series covering the hardware and software decisions.

How Much Runtime Do You Actually Need?

This is where I think a lot of UPS recommendations go wrong. The correct size depends on the power where the equipment is located.

A network closet in a city apartment with an occasional one-second flicker has a very different problem from equipment sitting unattended at a vacation house where an outage might last six hours.

If your problem is brief flickers

Your main goal is continuity. You want the modem, router, switches and NAS to ignore a brief voltage drop that would otherwise reboot everything.

Runtime is secondary. Even a modest amount of battery capacity may be enough, although I still prefer reasonable headroom rather than running a UPS near its maximum load.

If you get occasional short outages

Now runtime becomes useful. If most outages last five or ten minutes, I want the network to stay up rather than immediately begin shutting things down.

A 1500VA-class unit becomes attractive because a network closet usually draws far less than the UPS’s maximum watt rating, allowing more runtime than it would provide to a heavily loaded desktop computer.

If outages are frequent

Battery wear and monitoring become more important. Every battery discharge uses part of the battery’s useful life.

This is also where Automatic Voltage Regulation is valuable. A line-interactive UPS with AVR can correct certain voltage variations without moving to battery every time the incoming voltage wanders outside its preferred range.

For a deeper look at AVR, waveform, communications and other UPS features, see How to Choose a UPS With the Right Features.

If long outages are common

A larger UPS may delay the shutdown, but eventually this stops being primarily a UPS-sizing problem.

If the power regularly disappears for hours, you may need a generator, a much larger battery system or another backup-power strategy. The UPS can bridge the gap, protect the equipment from short disturbances and give servers time to shut down properly.

If the network is at a remote or vacation property

This is the case where monitoring becomes especially valuable.

If nobody is there to hear the UPS beeping, I want some way to know that the property lost power and that the battery is being depleted.

There is another limitation: keeping your router alive does not guarantee that your internet service remains alive. Your cable company, fiber provider or other ISP has equipment upstream from your house. A neighborhood-wide outage may eventually take that infrastructure offline too.

If remote connectivity is important enough, consider cellular failover as a separate layer.

I discuss the rest of that problem in my guide to vacation-home remote monitoring.

Best Value: CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD

For many home network closets, the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD is where I would start.

It provides 1500VA/1000W capacity, sine-wave output, Automatic Voltage Regulation, 12 outlets and USB communications. CyberPower also supports optional network management for the model.

That is a lot of capability for a home network, NAS and PoE setup without moving all the way into enterprise UPS pricing.

I would buy it for: a serious home network closet where value matters and USB shutdown is sufficient.

Check the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD on Amazon

Best Consumer Step-Up: APC Back-UPS Pro BR1500MS2

The APC BR1500MS2 sits between the small consumer UPS and the more IT-oriented Smart-UPS line.

It is rated at 1500VA/900W, has 10 outlets, AVR, an LCD and a user-replaceable battery.

If your closet is mostly networking gear with perhaps a low-power NAS, this may be enough. If I were protecting a more substantial server or knew I wanted network-management options, I would move up to the Smart-UPS or Eaton choices below.

I would buy it for: a large home network that has outgrown a basic router UPS but does not need the management features of a higher-end unit.

Check the APC BR1500MS2 on Amazon

Best APC for a NAS or Server: APC Smart-UPS SMT1500C

The APC SMT1500C is where the product starts to feel more like network infrastructure.

It is a 1440VA/1000W line-interactive sine-wave UPS with eight outlets, AVR, a replaceable battery, USB/serial shutdown support, a SmartConnect Ethernet port and a SmartSlot for additional management options.

The difference is not simply another hundred watts. I am paying for a platform designed around servers, storage and network closets.

I would buy it for: a NAS or server I care about enough to justify spending more for management, monitoring and a more IT-oriented UPS platform.

Check the APC SMT1500C on Amazon

Premium Tower Choice: Eaton 5P1500

The Eaton 5P1500 is the premium tower option in this group.

It is rated at 1440VA/1100W, has eight outlets and true sine-wave output. Eaton includes USB and serial connectivity, with an optional network card for remote management.

The higher watt rating also gives a little more room for equipment growth, although runtime still depends on the actual load.

I would buy it for: a serious home lab or network closet where management, build quality and server-oriented features justify the higher cost.

Check the Eaton 5P1500 on Amazon

Best Rackmount Choice: APC SMT1500RM2UC

If the network already lives in a rack, the APC SMT1500RM2UC is the cleanest choice here.

It is a 2U rackmount Smart-UPS rated at 1440VA/1000W with six outlets, sine-wave output, AVR, SmartConnect, SmartSlot expansion and USB or serial shutdown support.

The advantage is organizational as much as electrical. Instead of putting a heavy tower on the floor or a shelf beside the rack, the UPS becomes part of the rack itself.

Remember that a rackmount UPS is heavy. Install it low in the rack and make sure the rack and mounting hardware are designed to support it.

I would buy it for: a permanent rack-mounted network installation where clean organization and IT-style management matter.

Check the APC SMT1500RM2UC on Amazon

Tower vs. Rackmount UPS

Choose a Tower UPS If…	Choose a Rackmount UPS If…
Your network equipment sits on shelves	You already have a standard equipment rack
You want the lowest cost for the capacity	You want the UPS integrated neatly into the rack
You may move the UPS between locations	The installation is relatively permanent
Rack space is limited	Floor and shelf space are limited
You do not need rack-oriented cable management	You want UPS and PDU wiring contained in the rack

Do not buy rackmount simply because it looks more professional. Tower units generally give a home user more flexibility and often better value.

Should You Use a Rack PDU?

A rack PDU can make sense when the UPS does not provide enough conveniently located receptacles for all the low-power equipment in a rack.

A proper PDU is a power-distribution device, not another UPS. Eaton specifically describes a UPS feeding a PDU as a normal basic network-closet architecture, and APC also distinguishes rack PDUs from ordinary surge strips.

Do not solve an outlet shortage by daisy-chaining UPS units. Do not casually add a household surge strip or extension cord to the output either. UPS manufacturers have specific requirements for what can be connected to their equipment.

If you need more outlets, check the UPS manufacturer’s guidance and use an appropriately rated PDU intended for the application.

Do You Need Pure Sine Wave?

For a simple modem and router, I would not make waveform the only buying criterion.

Once a NAS, server or other equipment with an active-PFC power supply is involved, I prefer a sine-wave UPS. It removes a compatibility question and is already standard on the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD, APC Smart-UPS models and Eaton 5P1500 covered here.

This is one of those features where I would rather buy it once than diagnose a strange shutdown later.

Battery Replacement Matters More Than the UPS Brand Name

A UPS is not a permanent appliance. Its battery is a consumable.

I learned this the irritating way when equipment protected by a UPS went down even though there had not been an obvious outage. The UPS was still sitting there doing its job in theory. The battery was no longer capable of doing its job in practice.

I wrote about that experience in UPS Batteries May Only Last 2–3 Years — And They Usually Fail Without Warning.

For a network closet, I would:

Buy a UPS with replaceable batteries
Write the battery installation date on the UPS
Enable battery and self-test alerts
Check reported battery condition periodically
Test whether the UPS can actually carry the network load
Replace a weak battery before an outage exposes the problem

A UPS showing a green light is not the same thing as a UPS with a healthy battery.

What Should Be on Battery Backup?

Prioritize the equipment that either keeps connectivity alive or needs an orderly shutdown.

For my network closet, the battery-backed side would include:

ONT or modem
Router or firewall
Core network switch
PoE switch if it powers critical cameras or access points
NAS
Essential Wi-Fi access points
Home-automation controller
Critical monitoring gateways

I would be much less interested in using battery capacity for:

Monitors that do not need to stay on
Printers
Speakers
Decorative lighting
Chargers that can wait
Nonessential lab equipment

What Should Never Be Connected to a Normal Network UPS?

A UPS designed for computers and networking equipment should not become a general emergency outlet.

High-draw heating and motor loads can quickly overload it. I would not connect things such as:

Laser printers
Space heaters
Vacuum cleaners
Refrigerators or freezers unless the UPS was specifically selected for that load
Air conditioners
Large pumps
Other appliances with substantial startup current

Keep the UPS focused on the network and computing equipment it was purchased to protect.

Ancillary Gear I Would Buy With the UPS

The UPS is the major purchase, but a few inexpensive additions make the installation better.

A plug-in watt meter

Measure the actual network load instead of guessing. Knowing whether the closet uses 90 watts or 350 watts completely changes the runtime discussion.\

A proper rack PDU if you need more outlets

For rack installations, use suitable power distribution rather than a pile of consumer power strips. Follow the UPS manufacturer’s recommendations for connected distribution equipment.

An optional network-management card where it adds value

This is most useful when the UPS sits in a remote location, supports several machines or needs to be monitored without depending on one USB-connected computer.

The Eaton 5P supports an optional network card. APC’s Smart-UPS models include SmartConnect and a SmartSlot for additional management options. CyberPower supports optional remote network management on the CP1500PFCLCD.

A replacement-battery reminder

Put a calendar reminder in place when the UPS is installed. Waiting until the battery fails defeats a large part of the reason you bought the UPS.

My Buying Decision

If I were building a normal home network closet today, I would buy the CyberPower CP1500PFCLCD first. It gives me the combination of capacity, sine-wave output, communications and price that makes sense for most home setups.

If the NAS or server were more important, or if I expected to invest in better UPS management, I would move to the APC SMT1500C or Eaton 5P1500.

If the entire installation were rack-mounted, I would strongly consider spending the extra money on the APC SMT1500RM2UC rather than finding somewhere to put a tower.

But I would make that decision only after measuring the actual load.

A 1500VA UPS is not automatically better because the number is larger. The goal is to buy enough capacity and runtime for the equipment, give the NAS time to shut down cleanly, and make sure the UPS can tell you when its battery is no longer ready to do the job.

Frequently Asked Questions

What size UPS do I need for a home network closet?

Measure the actual wattage of the modem or ONT, router, switches, PoE devices, NAS and other equipment you want to protect. For a larger network closet containing a NAS and PoE equipment, a 1500VA-class UPS is a useful starting point, but the correct size depends on both total watts and the runtime you need.

Is a 1500VA UPS overkill for a router and modem?

Usually. If you are only protecting a modem or ONT and Wi-Fi router, see our router and modem UPS guide. The larger units in this article make more sense when a NAS, PoE switch, cameras, access points or servers are part of the load.

Should my NAS be connected to a UPS?

Yes, if the NAS contains data you care about. A UPS can protect it from brief outages and, with compatible communications and software, provide enough warning for a controlled shutdown during a longer outage.

Can TrueNAS shut itself down when the UPS battery is low?

Yes. TrueNAS uses Network UPS Tools for UPS monitoring and shutdown functions. Verify that your exact UPS is supported and configure and test the shutdown behavior before depending on it.

Should a PoE switch be on the UPS?

If the PoE switch powers equipment you want available during an outage, such as cameras or Wi-Fi access points, putting it on battery backup can protect all those devices at once. Remember that their combined PoE consumption is part of the UPS load.

How long will a UPS run my network?

Runtime depends on UPS model, battery condition and actual load. Do not estimate it from the VA rating alone. Measure the network’s wattage and use the manufacturer’s current runtime chart or calculator for the specific UPS.

Should I buy a rackmount or tower UPS?

Buy a tower UPS if you want flexibility and value. Buy rackmount when the network already lives in a rack and the cleaner installation is worth the added cost and rack space.

Will a UPS keep my internet working during a blackout?

It can keep your equipment powered, but it cannot guarantee that the ISP’s upstream infrastructure stays online. For a remote property where connectivity is critical, consider cellular failover in addition to UPS backup.

Can I plug a surge protector into a UPS?

Do not assume that an ordinary surge strip or extension cord is acceptable. Manufacturers including APC and CyberPower warn against common surge-strip configurations with their UPS products. If you need more rack outlets, use an appropriately rated PDU and follow the UPS manufacturer’s instructions.

How often should I replace a UPS battery?

Battery life varies with battery chemistry, temperature, discharge frequency and UPS design. Instead of relying only on age, monitor the UPS, perform tests and make sure the battery can still support the actual load. Replace a weak battery before you need it during a real outage.

Published on August 9, 2026

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2.5G vs 10G Ethernet: Which Home Network Upgrade Makes Sense?

Technology marches on, and keeping up with the times always raises the same question: When is an upgrade worth the cost? I remember when I first moved to gigabit networking. Prices have dropped since then, but it still surprises me how many devices in 2025 are stuck on older, slower Fast Ethernet. For homelab hobbyists, choosing anything below gigabit today would be unusual. Above that, the choices are: 2.5G, 5G, and 10G Ethernet.

Quick Answer: Should You Choose 2.5G or 10G Ethernet?

For most home networks, 2.5G Ethernet is the practical upgrade. It is cheaper, works over existing Cat 5e or Cat 6 wiring in many homes, and is fast enough for faster internet plans, Wi-Fi access points, and everyday file transfers.

10G Ethernet makes more sense when you have a NAS, homelab servers, large media files, video editing workflows, or multiple high-speed devices moving data across the local network. The best answer for many homes is not 2.5G everywhere or 10G everywhere, but a hybrid setup: 2.5G to most rooms and 10G links between the router, main switch, and NAS.

Upgrade Path	Best For	Main Tradeoff
2.5G Ethernet	Most home users, faster internet, Wi-Fi access points, desktops	Not as fast for NAS or server-heavy workflows
10G Ethernet	NAS, homelab, large file transfers, video work, server links	Higher cost, more heat, more careful hardware choices
Hybrid 2.5G + 10G	Homes that want speed without rebuilding everything	Requires planning switch uplinks and key devices

Future Proofing with the Right Cabling

As part of my recent renovations, I’ve been looking at ways to future-proof my infrastructure. The wiring I had installed is Cat 6, which has been the recommended standard for years and while there are newer options, Cat 6 supports higher data rates and distances, including 10G Ethernet up to 55 meters (180 feet)—more than enough for a residence.

But do you really need 10G? The cost-benefit question for home setups is still up for debate, though prices are slowly coming down.

The Internet vs. Local Speed

The first question is: what’s the speed of your internet connection? Even if it’s slower, there are still reasons to benefit from faster networking inside your home. For years, gigabit outpaced typical internet connections. But now, 1G and 2G internet plans are becoming more common—whether or not they actually deliver those speeds is another debate.

Why Faster Networking Still Matters

So why upgrade beyond gigabit? One reason is Network Attached Storage (NAS). I’ve written before about building a NAS. At the end of the day, a NAS is just a giant storage box—and when you’re pulling data from it, you want those files to arrive as fast as possible.

Serious homelab enthusiasts argue that now is the time to skip straight to *10G networking*. And there’s a solid case for that.

The Cost of 10G Hardware

A quick Amazon search shows this $33 PCI-E network card that uses a single SFP+ port. Dual SFP+ ports are only a few dollars more. I have an empty slot in my NAS, I could have this in there tomorrow. Switches with 10G ports used to be out of reach, but today I’m seeing options with 2.5G ports plus one or two SFP+ ports rated for 10G.

For those unfamiliar: SFP+ is a modular port that supports fiber optic or copper Ethernet modules, making it flexible for future upgrades.

A Hybrid Approach: 2.5G + 10G

My plan is to run a router with both SFP+ and 2.5G ports, with one of the 10G uplinks feeding a downstream 2.5G switch. That gives me:

A noticeable speed increase now
Flexibility to add faster devices later
The option to interconnect switches at 10G speeds

It’s not the full leap to 10G everywhere, but it’s a balanced, future-ready upgrade path for my homelab.

Published on October 9, 2025

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Best Self-Hosted Photo Solution: Why I Chose Immich

I am a big believer in the concept of multiple redundant backups. And few things are more important than memories and the family photos. I have built a NAS and have been keeping my important files on it, with the files backed up in two other locations. However, I had not done that for my photos. I have them in multiple locations, but I am paying for hosting.

One of my solutions is free…in a way. I back up to Amazon Photos, as it is included with Amazon Prime. However, so was Prime Video until they added ads, so it is not a guarantee this will continue and I never use it to retrieve photos, just as an extra location. The most popular photo sharing and storage site is probably Google Photos right now, though there are plenty of alternatives. I have stuff there as well.

I needed a place under my control to organize and share my photos, not just a disorganized archive. It was time to migrate to a less expensive self hosted solution, backed by my NAS for storage. Then I could incorporate my existing multi location backup system to keep the files safe.

Quick Answer: Is Immich the Best Self-Hosted Photo Solution?

For my needs, Immich is the best self-hosted photo solution because it feels closer to a modern Google Photos replacement than a simple file browser. It offers mobile app uploads, photo organization, map views, face and object recognition, sharing links, and a familiar interface while letting me keep the storage under my own control.

But Immich should not be treated as your only backup. It is a photo-management system, not a complete backup strategy by itself. If you self-host your photos, you still need multiple copies of the original files, ideally in more than one location.

Option	Best For	Big Caveat
Immich	A modern self-hosted Google Photos-style experience	Still requires a separate backup strategy
PhotoPrism	Self-hosted photo browsing and organization	Different feel and workflow than Google Photos
Google Photos	Convenience, sharing, and cloud access	Storage costs, privacy tradeoffs, and less control
Amazon Photos	Extra photo storage for Prime members	Useful as another copy, but not the system I want to depend on
NAS folder structure	Long-term file control and backups	Not a polished photo-browsing experience by itself

Immich

I had heard a lot about different self hosted solutions, but the most popular one I keep hearing about of late is Immich. Immich is in beta, but it is meant to reach stable this year. It already seems to be extremely stable, but it warns that you should have a backup strategy outside of it, as it is not meant to be a backup strategy by itself. I already have one, once I include this in the pipeline.

immich screenshot Immich is a full fledged system for photo sharing and organization. It supports showing photos on a map, face and object recognition, and more. I can easily share photos with expiring links or ones that will last forever. There is an API I can use to integrate with other systems.

While there are alternatives, such as Photoprism, Immich has a familiar design language, modern features, and offers a mobile app which can automatically backup your photos into Immich.

Immich Is Not a Backup Strategy By Itself

This is the part that matters most. Immich can organize, display, and sync photos, but that does not mean the photos are safe if Immich is the only place they exist.

For me, Immich makes sense because it fits into a broader system. The photos live on storage I control, and that storage can then be backed up to multiple other locations. That is very different from uploading everything to one service and deleting the originals.

A good photo setup should survive:

a failed hard drive
a mistaken deletion
a bad software update
a server migration
a cloud account problem
the slow realization that a “free” storage plan is not guaranteed forever

If you are self-hosting photos, the goal should not be fewer backups. It should be better control over how those backups happen.

Please remember, if you simply upload to Immich, or any service, and purge all other copies, that isn’t a backup.

Published on August 25, 2025

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A New 4 Bay Network Attached Storage(NAS) Option: The Aoostar Mini PCs

In a previous post, I had mentioned how tempting the Aoostar Mini PC was if I’d needed a 2 bay NAS. I’d wanted a 4 bay NAS. Of course, the 2 bay would be perfect for a remote backup receiving location, over my primary location, where I would want more redundancy. I’ve already ended up with 2 4 bay NAS options, but I’d looked at Aoostar, and they’d promised a 4 bay version at the time. But now, apparently they have it.

It hasn’t made its way to Amazon, where I often link because I don’t like having to wait for things to be drop shipped from the factory, but it is on the manufacturer’s website. If this had been available a few months ago, this would have probably been my purchase. It has the N100 processor I like as a budget low power processor, a good SATA chipset, decent looking ventilation…supports an NVME slot for the drive, 2.5 gigabit LAN…

It is just a lesson, there is always something new around the corner. You can either wait, or get the best available and not sweat the small stuff.

Published on July 5, 2024

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Best NAS Software for Home Use in 2026: TrueNAS vs Unraid vs OpenMediaVault

I originally wrote this article in 2024 while deciding what software to use for a home-built NAS. The basic question has not changed, but the software has.

TrueNAS has consolidated its Linux-based platform under the name TrueNAS Community Edition. Unraid has added much more ZFS support and changed its licensing. OpenMediaVault has moved to Debian 13 with OpenMediaVault 8.

My own answer has not changed very much.

My current NAS runs TrueNAS on a low-power Intel N100 system. I chose it because I wanted the NAS to behave primarily like a storage appliance. I have other computers for applications, containers and general home-server work. I want the box containing my files to be boring.

But that does not mean TrueNAS is automatically the best NAS software for everyone.

If I were building a home server around a collection of mismatched hard drives and wanted Plex, Docker containers and virtual machines on the same machine, I would look very seriously at Unraid. If I wanted a lightweight, completely free NAS operating system for modest hardware, OpenMediaVault would be hard to ignore.

Here is how I would choose between them in 2026.

Quick Answer: Best NAS Software for Home Use in 2026

NAS Software	Best For	Biggest Advantage	Main Tradeoff
TrueNAS Community Edition	Storage-first NAS, ZFS, snapshots and data integrity	Excellent integrated ZFS storage platform	Storage layout requires more planning
Unraid	Home servers, mixed drive sizes, Plex, Docker and easy expansion	Very flexible storage and application platform	Costs money and its classic array works differently from traditional RAID
OpenMediaVault	Free lightweight NAS, older hardware and Linux users	Simple Debian-based foundation with low overhead	More dependent on plugins and manual configuration for advanced features

If you want my short recommendation:

Choose TrueNAS if protecting and managing storage is the primary purpose of the machine.
Choose Unraid if you want one box to be both your NAS and your home server.
Choose OpenMediaVault if you want a free, lighter-weight NAS platform and are comfortable doing a little more yourself.

The Most Important Question: Is This a NAS or a Home Server?

A lot of NAS software comparisons start with features.

I would start somewhere else.

Decide what job you want the computer to have.

A dedicated NAS has a relatively simple job:

Store files
Share files over the network
Protect those files against a drive failure
Create snapshots
Monitor drive health
Replicate or back up important data
Stay running quietly for years

A home server may also run:

Plex or Jellyfin
Home Assistant
Immich
Nextcloud
Docker containers
Virtual machines
Game servers
Download clients
Web services
Dozens of other self-hosted applications

TrueNAS, Unraid and OpenMediaVault can all stretch beyond simple file storage.

But they approach the problem from different directions.

TrueNAS feels like storage software that learned how to run applications.

Unraid feels like a home-server platform that is also very good at storing files.

OpenMediaVault feels like Debian turned into a manageable NAS appliance.

That is a more useful way to think about the choice than counting checkboxes.

TrueNAS Community Edition: Best for a Storage-First NAS

TrueNAS is still my choice for my primary home NAS.

The main reason is ZFS.

ZFS combines the filesystem and volume-management layers and provides features that are particularly attractive for storage:

End-to-end checksums
Snapshots
Data scrubbing
Replication
Compression
RAIDZ redundancy
Mirrored pools
Dataset-level management

For a box whose main job is protecting a large collection of files, those are exactly the features I want.

TrueNAS CORE vs. SCALE Is No Longer the Decision

This was one of the biggest areas of confusion when I first wrote this article.

TrueNAS used to have two major community platforms:

TrueNAS CORE, based on FreeBSD
TrueNAS SCALE, based on Linux

That is no longer the way I would approach a new installation.

TrueNAS SCALE was renamed TrueNAS Community Edition in 2025 and is now the company’s primary free community platform.

TrueNAS CORE entered sustaining engineering, and TrueNAS says 13.3-U1.2 was the final release in that train. New development is happening on Community Edition.

If I were installing TrueNAS from scratch in 2026, I would use Community Edition rather than begin a new CORE system.

At the time of this update, TrueNAS 25.10 is the current stable release family, while TrueNAS 26 is still moving through beta development. You can check the current TrueNAS software status before installing.

TrueNAS Is More Flexible to Expand Than It Used to Be

One of the longstanding criticisms of ZFS was that you needed to plan your storage layout carefully before filling the pool.

That criticism is less severe than it once was.

TrueNAS now supports RAIDZ expansion, which allows an existing RAIDZ vdev to be expanded by adding drives one at a time.

That is a significant improvement for home NAS builders who do not want to buy every drive on day one.

There are still reasons to plan carefully. The capacity of drives inside a vdev, parity level and layout all affect usable capacity and performance. Adding a drive to RAIDZ also does not make every historical block magically identical to a freshly created larger vdev.

But the old advice that a RAIDZ configuration is essentially frozen forever is outdated.

TrueNAS Hardware Requirements

TrueNAS is not particularly demanding by modern computer standards, but it is heavier than a bare-bones Linux NAS.

The current minimum recommendations include:

64-bit x86 processor
At least 8GB of RAM
A dedicated boot device
Separate drives for the storage pool

More RAM becomes useful as storage, applications, virtual machines and client workloads increase.

My N100-based NAS is a good example of why I like building rather than automatically buying a commercial appliance. Modern low-power CPUs can provide plenty of performance for ordinary home file serving while using very little electricity.

If you would rather buy the whole box instead of building one, see our guide to the best NAS systems for home use in 2026.

You Can Run Apps on TrueNAS

TrueNAS is no longer merely a file server.

Community Edition can run applications and virtual machines, and the platform continues to expand its container capabilities.

You can absolutely use one TrueNAS machine as both your storage system and a broader home server.

I simply prefer not to.

Every extra service I put on the storage machine creates another dependency, another update and another thing that can break.

I would rather reboot a home-server machine without thinking about every computer in the house suddenly losing its file shares.

That is a preference, not a requirement.

What I Like About TrueNAS

Excellent ZFS integration
Strong snapshot and replication tools
Free and open source Community Edition
Good storage monitoring
RAIDZ and mirrored storage layouts
RAIDZ can now be expanded incrementally
Apps and virtual machines are available if you want them
Large user and documentation base

What I Don’t Like About TrueNAS

You should understand ZFS and vdev layout before creating the pool.
It is heavier than a minimal NAS operating system.
Mixing random drive sizes is less elegant than it is with Unraid’s classic array.
The number of storage options can be intimidating for a first-time builder.
It can tempt you to turn a storage appliance into an everything-server simply because the features are available.

Unraid: Best for Flexible Home Servers and Mixed Drives

Unraid solves a different problem extremely well.

Suppose you already own:

One 16TB hard drive
Two 12TB drives
An 8TB drive
A couple of SSDs

And you would like to turn all of that into one useful server without replacing the drives simply to make everything match.

That is exactly the kind of situation where Unraid becomes attractive.

How the Unraid Array Works

Unraid’s traditional array does not stripe every file across all of the disks in the way conventional RAID does.

Files live on individual data disks, while one or two parity disks can protect the array against drive failures.

The parity drive must be at least as large as the largest data drive, but the data disks themselves can differ in size.

That makes expansion unusually convenient.

If you need more capacity, you can often add another disk rather than rebuilding the entire storage layout around a matching set.

For a home user accumulating storage over many years, that flexibility has real value.

Unraid Also Supports ZFS

The old shorthand that “TrueNAS is ZFS and Unraid isn’t” is no longer accurate.

Modern Unraid supports ZFS storage pools in addition to its classic parity-protected array and other storage pools.

That gives you choices.

You might use:

The Unraid array for large-capacity media storage
An SSD pool for applications and fast data
A ZFS pool for data where you specifically want ZFS features

That combination is one of the reasons Unraid has become such an interesting all-purpose home-server platform.

Unraid Is Especially Good at Applications

This is where I think Unraid has its clearest advantage for many homelab users.

Docker containers, virtual machines and the Community Apps ecosystem are central to the experience rather than feeling like features added around a storage appliance.

If you want one machine running:

Plex
Jellyfin
Immich
Nextcloud
Home Assistant
Download applications
Game servers
Windows or Linux virtual machines

while also holding a large collection of files, Unraid makes a lot of sense.

Unraid Pricing in 2026

Unlike TrueNAS Community Edition and OpenMediaVault, Unraid is commercial software.

Current pricing is:

License	Price	Storage Devices	Updates Included
Starter	$49	Up to 6	1 year
Unleashed	$109	Unlimited	1 year
Lifetime	$249	Unlimited	Lifetime

The licenses themselves are perpetual. Starter and Unleashed include a year of updates; you can continue using the version you have after that or pay to extend update access.

Check Unraid’s current pricing before buying in case the structure changes.

For a server that may contain thousands of dollars of drives and years of your data, I do not consider $49 or $109 an inherently unreasonable software expense.

The question is whether Unraid’s flexibility provides enough value for your particular build.

What About Unraid 8?

Unraid announced Unraid 8 in August 2026, with planned changes including a new distribution base, Docker Compose integration and integrated backup features.

That is interesting, but I would not delay a NAS build or choose a platform based primarily on unreleased software.

Buy or install the platform based on what it does today.

What I Like About Unraid

Excellent support for mismatched drive sizes
Easy incremental expansion
Very good Docker and application experience
Strong community ecosystem
Virtual machines are well integrated
ZFS pools are now available alongside the classic Unraid array
Works particularly well as a combined NAS and home server

What I Don’t Like About Unraid

It is not free.
The classic Unraid array is a different storage model from RAIDZ or conventional RAID and should be understood before use.
Running every service on one machine can make that machine increasingly important and complicated.
Users who only want a storage appliance may never use much of what makes Unraid attractive.

OpenMediaVault: Best Free Lightweight NAS Software

OpenMediaVault is the option I think gets overlooked most often.

OpenMediaVault 8 is based on Debian 13 and provides a web interface for managing a NAS without requiring you to configure every service manually from the command line.

It supports ordinary NAS functions including:

SMB/CIFS file sharing
FTP
SSH
rsync
Drive health monitoring
Volume management
Network configuration
Notifications
Plugins

The result is something much closer to a conventional Linux server than TrueNAS, but much easier to administer as a NAS than installing Debian and building everything manually.

OpenMediaVault’s Biggest Advantage Is Simplicity

OpenMediaVault does not impose as much of a storage philosophy on you.

You have Debian underneath. You have a web interface on top. You can add the services you actually need.

That makes it useful for:

An old PC being repurposed as a NAS
A low-power small computer
A simple two-drive or four-drive file server
Users who already understand Linux
People who want free NAS software without adopting the full TrueNAS ecosystem

OpenMediaVault also has a large plugin ecosystem that can add functionality beyond the base installation.

The Tradeoff Is Integration

TrueNAS is built around ZFS.

Unraid is built around its storage array and home-server ecosystem.

OpenMediaVault is more modular.

That flexibility is useful, but it also means that some configurations depend on plugins, additional packages or more manual decisions.

If you want a carefully integrated ZFS appliance, I would choose TrueNAS.

If you want a deeply integrated Docker-heavy home server, I would lean toward Unraid.

If you want Debian with a good NAS management interface and the freedom to shape the machine yourself, OpenMediaVault becomes very appealing.

What I Like About OpenMediaVault

Free and open source
Based on standard Debian Linux
Lower hardware overhead
Web-based administration
Good choice for repurposed hardware
Modular plugin architecture
Easy to understand if you already know Linux

What I Don’t Like About OpenMediaVault

Advanced setups can rely heavily on plugins.
The storage experience is less unified than TrueNAS.
The application ecosystem is less central to the platform than it is with Unraid.
You may end up doing more Linux administration yourself.

TrueNAS vs. Unraid vs. OpenMediaVault: Feature Comparison

Feature	TrueNAS	Unraid	OpenMediaVault
Software cost	Free	$49-$249	Free
Best storage model	ZFS pools	Parity array plus storage pools	Flexible Linux storage
ZFS	Core feature	Supported	Possible with additional configuration/plugins
Mixed-size drives	Possible, but planning matters and each vdev is constrained by its smallest member	Excellent in classic array	Depends on chosen storage configuration
Easy drive-by-drive expansion	Improved with RAIDZ expansion	Excellent	Depends on configuration
Snapshots	Excellent with ZFS	Available depending on storage pool/filesystem	Depends on filesystem/plugin setup
Docker/apps	Yes	Excellent	Available through additional components/plugins
Virtual machines	Yes	Excellent	Not a primary strength
Minimum hardware	Moderate	Moderate	Light
Best personality	Storage appliance	All-in-one home server	Lightweight Linux NAS

Which NAS Software Is Best for Data Integrity?

I would choose TrueNAS.

ZFS is central to the platform rather than one filesystem option among many.

Checksums, scrubs, snapshots and replication are all integrated into how TrueNAS expects storage to be managed.

You can absolutely build safe storage with the other platforms. But if storage integrity is the reason the machine exists, TrueNAS is the easiest answer for me.

Which NAS Software Is Best for Plex?

I would probably choose Unraid if I were building a combined Plex server and NAS.

The combination of flexible drive expansion, Docker applications and hardware passthrough makes it particularly well suited to a large media server.

You can run Plex on TrueNAS too.

But if Plex and other self-hosted applications are central to the server rather than secondary functions, I think Unraid’s priorities line up better with the job.

Which NAS Software Is Best for Old Hardware?

I would look first at OpenMediaVault.

It is lighter and closer to ordinary Debian Linux.

TrueNAS officially recommends at least 8GB of RAM, while a simple OpenMediaVault system can be useful on much more modest hardware.

That does not mean every old PC is a good NAS.

Power consumption matters. A free twelve-year-old tower that idles at 80 watts can cost more to own than buying newer low-power hardware.

Which NAS Software Is Best If Your Drives Are Different Sizes?

Unraid has the clearest advantage.

The classic Unraid array was designed around exactly this problem.

You can add different-capacity data drives as long as the parity drive is large enough for the largest data disk.

If you have accumulated a pile of usable drives over the years and want to turn them into one system, Unraid can save a lot of money.

Which NAS Software Is Best If You Want to Add Drives Later?

Unraid remains the easiest answer, but TrueNAS is much more competitive than it was when I first wrote this article.

RAIDZ expansion now lets TrueNAS users add drives to an existing RAIDZ vdev one at a time.

That removes one of the biggest historical advantages Unraid had over ZFS for small home systems.

Unraid is still more forgiving if your future drives are likely to be whatever capacity happens to be cheap when you need more storage.

Should You Run Your NAS Inside Proxmox?

You can.

That does not necessarily mean you should.

Proxmox is primarily a virtualization platform rather than NAS software. A common homelab design is to run TrueNAS or another NAS operating system as a virtual machine under Proxmox.

If you do this, the storage controller or physical disks should be presented to the NAS in a way that gives the storage operating system appropriate direct access.

This can be an excellent design when you understand the virtualization and storage layers.

For my primary storage, I prefer fewer layers.

I want the NAS operating system running directly on the hardware because the ability to run another virtual machine on the same box is not worth making recovery more complicated for me.

Why Not Just Install Debian or Ubuntu?

You certainly can.

That is effectively what I did with some of my older home-server systems.

Install Linux, configure Samba, configure NFS, set up SMART monitoring, create filesystems, configure snapshots, configure notifications and maintain everything yourself.

It works.

It also made me appreciate NAS software.

The point of TrueNAS, Unraid or OpenMediaVault is not that Linux cannot share a directory.

The point is that I want storage management to behave like an appliance instead of becoming another custom Linux project I have to remember how I configured three years later.

What About Synology DSM, UGREEN UGOS and TerraMaster TOS?

Those are important NAS operating systems, but they are primarily part of buying their manufacturers’ NAS hardware rather than software I would normally install on a DIY server.

If you want the simplest home NAS experience, that may actually be the better route.

I would still recommend a prebuilt NAS to many friends before recommending that they build a server and install any of the software in this article.

Our 2026 home NAS buying guide compares Synology, UGREEN, TerraMaster and building your own.

Your Network Can Become the Bottleneck

Once you build a decent NAS, storage software is often no longer the thing limiting performance.

A single hard drive can already saturate a 1Gb Ethernet connection during large sequential transfers.

Modern SSD pools can go dramatically faster.

If you are building or upgrading a NAS, consider whether your network should move to 2.5GbE or 10GbE as well.

Our guide to 2.5GbE vs. 10GbE for a home network covers that decision.

Redundancy Is Still Not a Backup

Whichever NAS software you choose, RAID, RAIDZ and parity do not replace backups.

Redundancy can protect you when a drive fails.

It does not automatically protect you from:

Accidentally deleting a file
Ransomware
Filesystem mistakes
Software bugs
Theft
Fire
Flood
A major electrical event
Losing the entire NAS

Snapshots help with some of those problems. Replication helps with others.

Important data should still exist somewhere other than the primary NAS.

My Choice: TrueNAS, but for a Specific Reason

I still use TrueNAS.

My current system runs on an Intel N100 platform and primarily serves files.

I could load it with applications.

I don’t.

I have other systems for that.

I want the NAS to boot, make the storage available, monitor the drives and otherwise stay out of the way.

TrueNAS fits that philosophy extremely well.

If I instead wanted to consolidate my NAS, Plex server, Docker host and assorted homelab applications into one machine, I would be much more tempted by Unraid.

If I were turning an older low-power computer into an inexpensive two-drive file server, I might use OpenMediaVault.

There is no universal winner because these three platforms are trying to solve slightly different problems.

Frequently Asked Questions About NAS Software

What is the best NAS software for home use?

For a storage-first home NAS, I prefer TrueNAS Community Edition. Unraid is an excellent choice for a combined NAS and home server, especially if you have mixed drive sizes. OpenMediaVault is a strong free option for a lightweight Linux-based NAS.

Is TrueNAS better than Unraid?

It depends on the job. TrueNAS has an advantage if you specifically want a ZFS-focused storage appliance. Unraid is generally easier to expand with mismatched drives and has an especially strong home-server and application ecosystem.

Is Unraid worth paying for?

It can be. If Unraid allows you to reuse several mismatched drives, expand the server gradually and consolidate applications onto one machine, the license cost can be small compared with the hardware savings. If you only need basic file storage, a free platform may make more sense.

Is OpenMediaVault still good in 2026?

Yes. OpenMediaVault 8 is a current Debian 13-based NAS platform. It remains particularly attractive for lighter hardware, simple file servers and users who prefer a conventional Linux foundation.

Is TrueNAS CORE still recommended?

I would not start a new TrueNAS CORE installation in 2026. TrueNAS has moved new community development to the Linux-based TrueNAS Community Edition, formerly known as SCALE. CORE is now effectively a legacy branch.

Can TrueNAS use different-size hard drives?

Yes, but ZFS pool design matters. Within a vdev, usable capacity is constrained by the smallest drive, so matching drive sizes is usually more efficient. TrueNAS now supports expanding RAIDZ vdevs one drive at a time, which makes later growth easier than it used to be.

Does Unraid support ZFS?

Yes. Modern Unraid supports ZFS storage pools in addition to the traditional Unraid parity array and other filesystem options.

Do I need 10Gb Ethernet for a NAS?

No. 1GbE is adequate for ordinary file storage, backups and media streaming. 2.5GbE is an inexpensive and useful upgrade for many homes. 10GbE becomes more attractive for large transfers, multiple fast clients and SSD-heavy storage.

Can I use an old PC as a NAS?

Yes, assuming the hardware is reliable and has suitable storage connections. But check idle power consumption before assuming an old computer is the cheapest long-term choice.

Which NAS Software Would I Choose in 2026?

If I were starting again today:

TrueNAS Community Edition for a serious storage appliance
Unraid for an all-in-one home server with flexible drives
OpenMediaVault for a lightweight free NAS or inexpensive repurposed system

I chose TrueNAS because I wanted my storage to be storage.

Someone building a large Plex server from a pile of mismatched disks could make an equally rational choice and end up with Unraid.

And someone who wants little more than a reliable SMB share on modest hardware may find that OpenMediaVault is all the NAS operating system they need.

The software should follow the job you want the server to do.

Published on May 31, 2024

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Building My New Network Attached Storage(NAS): A Change of Plans, Keeping Up With The Jonsbo

Despite the fact that my ODroid H4+ had an issue, I still remained committed to the course of action of building a NAS to replace my commercial one. So, even as I pursue the Odroid H4+, I decided to explore the other option I’d explored. My original plan was build a mini-ITX NAS. And so, feeling nervous about the ODroid future, I decided to revisit that plan.

I really wanted a low power, small NAS, but while I liked the simplicity of the Odroid 4 drive case, the experience of assembling the case made me a bit concerned about how running a case that is supported entirely by the drives might work out. I decided, since I need to have a secondary location to store the backup for the NAS, I would use this for that, and I’d go more conventional for the primary location. That is a bit more than I’d budgeted for, so this is going to have to last me a while.

On reading a lot of commentary on Mini-ITX NAS cases, I had decided on the Jonsbo line of NAS cases. There’s the Jonsbo N2, which supports five hard drives, or the slightly larger Jonsbo N3, which supports eight hard drives. While I opted for the N2, I can understand some wanting the extra space for future expansion.

The budget board I opted to try is also a N100, the same line I’d been advocating for. There are a variety of variations of this board sold. For example, by CWWK. Or HKUXZR. Or Dytebeply. With minor variations, these boards contain 6 SATA ports…5 of which are via an expansion chip, which may cause throughput issues. They also have 4 2.5 gigabit ethernet ports and 2 M.2 ports on the board. Reading a lot of reviews of these boards, it takes a long time to post, may have limited RAM options, but a lot of people are using these boards, it seems. I’ll be talking a bit more about how I might set up the options I’ve chosen.

If I only wanted a 2 drive NAS, the Aoostar mini PC would be tempting.

The next challenge is how I am going to configure this. There are a lot of decisions, even once I have the hardware.

Published on May 27, 2024

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Odroid H4 Update: Things Take a NASty Turn- My SATA Dream Deferred

When things go wrong, I admit to a certain amount of anxiety about whether or not things will turn out well. I was so excited about settling on the ODroid H4 as my NAS system. It was small, flexible, had the processor type I wanted…When it showed up last week, I was disappointed that a work trip meant I couldn’t assemble it immediately.

Tonight, I got out the YouTube video from Hardkernel, and started constructing. I took my 4 hard drives and used them to assemble the frame of the case, then put the plastic spacers on the board as shown in the video, then attached the SATA cables and power cable, as shown, which I bought with it. I have SATA cables, but I didn’t have anything like the power cables, and they came as a set. According to the video, it should be 2 200mm cables, and 2 250mm cables for the drives further apart.

I put the top on, and put it in the slot, and tried to attach the cables, but quickly realized that the first one was too short to go to the bottom. I realized I’d gotten 4 identical cables. So I unhooked the top and went to take off the cables. I thought I would try a longer one I already had, although I was worried that would still create a problem with the power cable. I’ve built many computers over the years. To remove a SATA cable,, there is a locking connector you gently push in on, then release. 3 came out, the 4th, when I pushed the release and gently removed the cable, and the connector came up with it. I didn’t pull or yank on it. I tried to reseat it, but I didn’t think that would work. My assumption is, as to other ones seemed secure, that it was not secure initially. I wasn’t optimistic about getting the connector to work again, and I need 4 drives, so this rendered the item useless to me.

So, now comes the anxiety. Will Ameridroid claim human error? I don’t think it was, but the fact that they write in their return policy that if an item is deemed to not be defective by them, they will charge a 25% restocking fee makes me nervous. This is not because I had any bad experiences with Ameridroid, but because I now have to wait nervously to know if I’m going to be out the money.

It also makes me a bit nervous about ODroid and their manufacturer, Hardkernel. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought a product that was just released? Maybe I should have gone for something from a more established provider? Does the manufacturer stand behind their product? I have limited experience with them, but people seem to generally like them.

They say don’t sweat the small stuff, but I hate sometimes how one bump in the wrong can make me question a less conventional route. It’s hard to pick your hardware and assemble it. I’m already regretting my last upgrade for not leaving enough room for future proofing. Is this going to go the same way? What advice do you have for me?

Published on May 15, 2024

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Building My New Network Attached Storage(NAS): Introducing the ODroid H4 Series

I’ve been back and forth between a commercial Network Attached Storage(NAS) product and a homebuilt NAS product. But for the last iteration, I had given up on something I built and moved to a commercial product. But I’m finally ready to go back to homebuilt. Except this time, I’m going to try TrueNAS, because my barrier is always how much time I spent tinkering with it.

I debated a variety of different system configurations and decided I wasn’t going to have my NAS also handle other server duties. It’s primary job would be to run applications. I have a server for that. I just want to run functionality related to file serving, and TrueNAS offers most of that out of the box…although there are more decisions to be made. It isn’t a pure drop in replacement.

So, I settled on the N100 series of CPU processors. Generally available, reasonably priced, and more than enough power for what I wanted. Looking around, that meant I needed to pick a case, a motherboard, etc. While looking, I stumbled across a product just launching, from Hardkernel, who makes the Odroid line of products, which are single board computers. I’d rejected single board, wanting a x86 compatible processor, but the newly launched H4 series is just that.

There are three models, the H4, H4+, and H4 Ultra. The H4 and H4+ use the N97 processor, and the Ultra ups that to an i3 N305. The basic difference between the H4 and the H4+ for me is that is offers 4 SATA ports. The power profile of this thing is perfect for a headless server. They offer a mini-ITX conversion kit, but they also offer 4 different designs of metal cases you can buy, and DC adapters to power them. Case Type 4 allows for 4 SATA hard drives, a fan, and the board. It is essentially 4 cut pieces of metal you can assemble, as well as screws and a fan. The picture in this post is courtesy of their site.

It doesn’t look like a normal NAS, or a computer…it looks like an appliance, which is what I want. I sourced the equipment through Ameridroid, who is the O-droid provider in the US and who I have dealt with minimally before. This included ordering the type 4 case, the board, and the power adapter. That ran me a little over $200.

It also limits me. If I install the operating system on an NVME SSD, plus the 4 SATA drives, I can’t grow the system with additional drives. Any changes become a drive replacement, or a system replacement. But I’ve stuck with only 4 drives up until now in my commercial unit, and even in the home built ones I’ve had in the past. It allows me to have a good mix of redundancy and performance.

Redundancy in the same system is not the same as a backup though. I will be talking more about that as I learn about the options TrueNAS offers, and will talk a little about my backup strategy in future.

We’ll see what happens when the board comes and if I made the right decision.

Published on April 28, 2024

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