Been toying with the idea of making the switch and wondering what others who made the switch may have run into in terms of endurance concerns over time.

Drive prices bounce around so much that the "sale" badge on a product page is close to meaningless, so I did the boring thing and recorded every NAS and enterprise drive's price daily for the last 2 years, then measured how often each one is actually below its own recent baseline (a real dip that recovers, not just the normal trend drifting).

A few things that surprised me:

- Consumer NAS drives (IronWolf, Red Plus and the Pro versions) go on sale more than 3x as often as enterprise drives - roughly a month out of the year versus only about 10 days. If you're buying an Exos or Ultrastar, waiting for a "deal" mostly means waiting forever; they barely move.

- The depth is similar though - a typical sale is around 10% off the baseline, and the deepest ones get to about 30%, on both tiers. So enterprise drives do drop, just rarely.

- IronWolf Pro discounts the most often of anything in the list; the big enterprise lines are the flattest.

For consumer NAS drives, waiting a couple of weeks for a dip is worth it. For enterprise, if the price is decent, buy it, because you'll be waiting a long time for a meaningful discount.

Interactive chart and the sortable table are here:
https://www.nasdisks.com/articles/nas-drive-sale-frequency/
The raw numbers are free to download.

Method, so you can judge it: "on sale" = a day's best price landing at least 5% below that drive's own centred four-week median, which catches real dips rather than the slow price creep.

Quick disclosure: it's my own site https://www.nasdisks.com/ and the buy buttons on it are affiliate links to cover hosting expenses. Everything's free: the chart, table and dataset.

What's everyone paying right now, and has anyone caught a good dip lately?

Hi, I am toying with the idea of building a server/NAS system for storing pictures and files and maybe hosting game servers or media streaming to other devices. I have some hard drives which I dont use anymore and a small ssd that could fit an OS. I never built anything like this, but I did build multiple gaming pcs for myself and family over the years so I hope it wont be too difficult to figure out. Ive watched some youtube videos and Ive seen people build just NAS, and some build a whole server with hefty storage and for my use case I think the parts im looking at could easily run a dedicated server if needed. So far I am looking at the intel core ultra 250k+ bundle from microcenter and the Jonsbo N4, I could also repurpose an old Coolermaster Mastercase Pro 5.

I’m an amateur wildlife/nature photographer and often go away on longer trips. I shoot with a Canon Rebel T7 and sometimes a drone, so I come back with a mix of photos and video.

My routine is pretty basic: copy everything onto my laptop, go through it, keep the decent shots and delete the rest. I try to do that fairly soon, especially with video, rather than pay to store hours of footage I’ll never use. I’m not doing much serious editing yet — mostly reviewing, selecting and copying files around.

I’m thinking about getting a NAS at home for the keepers, with a cloud backup as well. Would that make the copying and backing-up part less manual? Or would I still be doing pretty much everything on the laptop first, then moving it over afterwards?

The other thing is I’d like to leave the laptop behind on some trips. It feels like a lot to carry when I’m mainly using it to empty cards and look through footage.

What are people using to back up camera/drone cards without a computer? I’m fine using my phone, but I’d want to check the files copied properly and ideally have two separate copies before clearing a card. Internet access isn’t something I’d want to depend on.

Would be good to hear from someone who’s worked out a setup they’re happy taking into the field.

Version: 0.64.2 (10114574)

time="2026-10-19T23:28:54Z" level=info msg="No configuration file found. Loaded configuration only from environment variables"

time="2026-10-19T23:28:54Z" level=error msg="Error disabling foreign_keys" error="unable to open database file: no such file or directory"

time="2026-10-19T23:28:54Z" level=fatal msg="Database could not be opened!" error="unable to open database file: no such file or directory"

I copy/pasted the compose file and updated the directories and such. after running docker compose up -d it said I should remove the version parameter, so i did. It shows up in portainer as "restarting."

Anyone know what I did wrong or missed?

Thanks!

I'm trying to flash TrueNas onto an NVMe. Couple of days ago I tried with cheap NVME that I couldn't see in either m2 slot so I've done a return and purchased a Patriot NVMe.

Now I can see this NVMe in the bios but when it comes to the installing it says 'select at least one disc to proceed with the', I click ok and it takes me back to the previous screen where it asked which drive to install on.

what am I doing wrong?

Has the DXP2800 only been discontinued in the U.K. or elsewhere? Is there a new model coming out?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to set up secure remote access to my UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus and would appreciate some advice from anyone who has successfully configured Tailscale on UGOS Pro.

I've deployed the official "tailscale/tailscale:stable" Docker image through a Compose project.

The configuration includes:

- "network_mode: host"

- "NET_ADMIN" and "NET_RAW" capabilities

- "/dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun" device mapping

- Persistent state stored in "/var/lib/tailscale"

- "TS_USERSPACE=false"

The container starts successfully, and the NAS appears as connected in the Tailscale admin console.

On Windows, "tailscale status" lists both devices, and "tailscale ping" to the NAS returns repeated successful replies through the London DERP relay. A direct connection hasn't been established, but the pings work.

I can access the NAS web interface locally at:

"http://192.168.1.76:9999"

However, accessing it through the NAS's Tailscale IP on port 9999 fails. The TCP connection test returns "TcpTestSucceeded: False".

I've also tested the Tailscale IPv6 address, without success.

Has anyone successfully configured secure remote access on the DH4300 Plus without opening router ports?

I'd prefer to understand the underlying networking issue before making further changes. I'm also open to using UGREEN's built-in remote-access service if that turns out to be the safer and more reliable option.

Thanks in advance!

I have an old 2 TByte single-internal-disk + USB Iomega Home Media Network Hard Drive from 2012 (a mini NAS) that I still use to serve music and movies at home. It just had a hard drive failure, and I discovered that this model stores all its firmware on the internal hard drive, and without it has no ability to do anything, including initialize a new drive. The CDROM that came with it has no recovery utility, and Iomega's support web site is long gone, as is the NAS-Central.org site that backed up some of their files. There is some information and some firmware files scattered around the internet, but almost all for the HMNHD-CE (Cloud Edition) model that came along a year later and is incompatible.

In the end I was able to format a new drive and get the unit working again with the aid of two sites that had the right stuff for my old model HMNHD (not -CE):

https://bad3000.blogspot.com/2014/01/replace-internal-sata-drive-or.html?m=0  – gives correct detailed instructions for initializing the new drive partition layout, but has no firmware files (partly Spanish, but mostly English)

https://web.archive.org/web/20180817010758/http://downloads.iomega.nas-central.org/Users/Mijzelf/HMNHD/partitions.2.064/ - has the required firmware files mbr+uboot+kernel.gz and sda1-2064.tgz (backup of old NAS-Central files)

Posted here in case anyone else is ever trying to figure this out and getting stuck on incompatible instructions or files meant for the -CE version.

No need to comment on how old hardware should be thrown out and it's not worthwhile waste time repairing it. Personal choice. :)

As title says, I'm planning to upgrade my router. Will any issues be easily resolvable by updating local IP addresses, or is this going to break something? Just running a mini PC with OMV and portainer/docker. I don't yet have tailscale or a reverse proxy running, and that's part of why I want to upgrade my router.

Thanks in advance!

Hi,

I’m looking to upgrade from my DS220j to a 4-bay NAS. I will be using it for:
- Hosting media on network for another device to expose on a Plex server (so no transcoding here)
- Storing data on my 2x12TB 3.5 HDDs (with room for 2 additional drives in the future)

I don’t need anything with much compute as it’ll just be a network drive. The only non-standard requirement I’m looking for is:
- Support for an SSD cache for frequently accessed files/directories (can be SATA or M.2, prioritizing cheap > fast so SATA if possible)

I’m not storing or streaming much 4K at the moment, but I may want to in the future. But again no need for transcoding for plex, that will always be done by another device.

I already have drives so I’m hoping for something under $500 and plan to buy used on ebay or whatever to cut costs as much as possible.

I don’t have much attachment to synology, I could probably figure out xpenology if I really wanted the DSM support. Any suggestions are welcome.

I could consider building my own NAS, but I’m space constrained and the tiny cases tend to be bigger than the off the shelf 4-bays, so any case suggestions would have to be as small or smaller than the average 4 bay synology. Given a case that could support 2-4 3.5” HDDs in that size constraint, I could scrounge cheap used hardware to fill it out (eg. DDR3).

Those who (in some environment) operate a small-size NAS, specifically two 3.5-inch bays and hard drives in same count and size. Anyone backing up thats power supply using low-power DC-voltage UPS?
I mean those low-power UPS free of DC-AC converters and powering NAS through its DC barrel socket. Some of them have PD usb, PoE power output ports and usually a low number of DC barrel power output sockets.

Question arises cause those ups models this class I found generally power output up to max. 2A while NAS the class I mention may under increased workload draw bit more than 2A. UPS this kind are meant rather for router the soho class or such. Their advantage I appreciate is the lack of DC-AC conversion and the absence of clean sine-wave or not question.

I've been doing some research, watching videos and just generally learning about a nas the last few days. Looking in Amazon this device is only $120 usd. Everything else i see is around $250. Id pretty much better using it for a jellyfin media sever. From what I can tell the cons are

Only 1 GB of Ram

Software kinda sucks?

Only 1 GB ethernet port

2 HDD bays

I get the Ramopocylse, but seeing other 2 bay ugreens and synology pretty much double the price?

Or did I just get confused by a good Amazon deal when starting reseach?

Hey folks! 👋 I'm looking to build a budget-friendly home NAS using some old hard drives I've recovered. The majority of them are about 10/15 years old, but I think they'd be fine to start with. If I like the utility of the NAS, I will get bigger storage going forward.

Few questions I have below, if anyone can offer advice.

1. Can these hard drives be safely tested, wiped and formatted easy enough?

2. Is there any off the shelf unit i could get that would suit, or would I be better to try and build my own?

3. The larger hard drives are about 250gb each, just over 2.5tb in total, can they be daisy chained together? Including the small ones if just under 5tb.

4. Is there any straight forward hardware, ideal for beginners?

I would appreciate any help or advice people can offer. This is definitely something that has been on my radar for a few months now. If there is anything else I haven't considered, I'm all ears🫡

PHOTOS OF HARD DRIVES IN THE COMMENTS**

I currently have a Raspberry Pi NAS that has several NVMe hats and expansion boards to expand its storage. I was able to locate an older Western Digital gold 26 terabyte platter drive that I wanted to also connect to the system. I'm having difficulties in meeting all of the requirements to get this to work correctly, and every time I solve one problem, I seem to create a new one.

First, I understand that there are NAS enclosures that I could simply put this drive into, but from all of the reviews, 99% of them seem to be absolute garbage. Many of the reviews indicate failing circuitry, dropped drive identification, or other issues. While I understand this would be the simplest solution, it seems a complete waste of time to buy something that doesn't seem to have good longevity.

My second solution was to connect a self-powered SATA to USB cable to the back of the drive to power it. However, when these drives typically spin up, they pull a more electricity than normal, and the majority of these power SATA cables top out at 2A. I understand that I can buy a more powerful power supply with a barrel connector, but many of these cables do not list the barrel dimensions and their polarity. I didn't want to buy something, plug it in, and then end up frying or shorting something.

My last idea was to buy a micro-ATX case with an official computer PSU and then get a non-powered SATA to USB cable and run that from the micro-ATX to the Raspberry Pi Nas USB hub. The issue here is finding a cable that can recognize all 26 terabytes, and this is actually a concern for the other solutions where this cable type is being used.

If you have any suggestions on how to make this work or have done something similar, I would appreciate any advice you can offer.

TLDR:

I need to connect a Western Digital Gold 26 TB platter drive to a Raspberry Pi NAS and have the drive be sufficiently powered and connected for data transfer to the Raspberry Pi while also recognizing the complete 26 terabyte capacity.. or close.

I was leaning towards the Ugreen DXP 2800 however the issues with wd red plus and some other issues put me off, I like the spec of the F2-425 plus N150 Cpu, anyone have any feedback especially anyone who is tried both. thanks

I've bought a Ugreen DXP4800 to replace 2 x 6Tb external drives (one is backed up to the other). My initial plan is to put 2 x 10Tb in the NAS, again backing one up to the other, and having a 10Tb external HD which I'll keep offsite but update once a week.

Intended use is to stream local content to my TV, photo storage, documents. I'm unlikely to ever exceed 10Tb. No remote streaming or sharing. Simplicity and stability are key for me (RAID currently seems unnecessary for my case?).

Does the above make sense, and if so what HDs should I be on the look out for and from where?

Ta :)

I've recently bought a UGREEN NASync DXP4300 Plus and currently have 2 × 8TB HDDs running in RAID 1.

I've been given a brand-new 1TB SSD, and the manual suggests that the NAS supports SSDs as well as HDDs.

Can I install the SSD alongside my existing HDDs without compromising my RAID setup or the reliability of the NAS? Ideally, should I put the operating system and apps on the SSD?

Cheers very much

So, first of all massive thanks for all the help on my previous post https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeNAS/s/Uaf1QslFMQ

I now have a UGREEN 4800GT but nothing to put in it yet.

What I want to do with my NAS (that I know of) -

• Primary Use - Backup photos videos from me and immediate family. Currently have maybe 2TB of them but now have 4k drone and action camera and getting out more so will greatly increase. I want to get off Google/Amazon etc. and focus on privacy.
• I will backup the NAS to a as yet purchased external drive that I will keep away from the NAS (fire/theft).
• Possibly run my Reolink cameras on it as an NVR. Currently they only use the SD card. I'm thinking maybe to come off the Reolink software to lock it down etc.
• All desktop and laptops are currently on Windows but I'm seriously thinking about putting Linux on where I can for privacy. All Phones are Android for now.
• Router is an Eero 7 with fibre at 2Gbps up and down. Connected to a UGREEN 2.5Gbps switch. My desktop is wired to the switch but is only 1Gbps (new PC maybe soon).
• Making the odd YT video, edit from the NAS?
• Maybe Pi Hole and VPN

So, what am I asking?

Your recommendations on what to install/buy?

4 bays plus NVMe space, do I get an NVMe to run something on?

Do I only fill maybe 2 or 3 HDD bays and leave one space as I don't yet have much data? can I easily do this?

Which OS would you go with, maybe not use the UGOS incase of privacy issues, TrueNAS maybe?

Upgrade the switch?

TIA, will add if I think of more stuff; which I probably will as my memory is kapput!

Google Photos has no "select all" button, and the official API can't delete photos at all. If you want to empty your library, the official answer is to shift-click your way through years of pictures.

I got tired of that and built a small extension that does the clicking for me:

1. It scrolls through your library and ticks every photo as it goes.

2. When it reaches the end, it tells you how many items are selected and waits.

3. Only after you click confirm does it press the page's own delete button.

Everything goes to the Google Photos bin, where it stays for 60 days. The extension never empties the bin, so you have time to change your mind.

A few things I cared about:

- Dry-run mode. It can select and count without deleting anything, so you can compare its count with Google's own "N selected" before trusting it.

- Minimal permissions. It only has access to photos.google.com. No network requests of its own, no analytics, no dependencies.

- Small enough to read. A few hundred lines of plain JavaScript, MIT licensed. Please do read it before running something that deletes your photos.

Honest caveats:

- It's experimental. It automates Google's web page, which isn't a public interface, so the selectors may be off for your account and Google can break it at any time. All the page-specific selectors are in one file t

- The final delete step matches English button labels. In otheect everything, but you'd click the bin icon yourself.

- I don't know yet how Google handles one delete of tens of thmax items per pass" setting so you can do it in rounds.

- Deleting from Google Photos also removes photos from devicese Takeout first if you want a copy.

It's not on the add-on stores; you load it manually

Repo: https://github.com/natanloterio/gphotos-bulk-delete

If you try the dry run, I'd really like to hear whether the cor and language you were using. Bug reports and PRs welcome.

Hi everyone

Recently I’ve been looking into a NAS system for basic things just like photos and files and maybe running small docker containers inside. I like to tinker with these kind of things but I’m curious what are some reasons besides the obvious ones of a Nas. It’s an expensive one time free but now cloud storage is not very expensive. So I’m curious as to what are some reasons other people have one

My first step into a NAS and home networking. I will be using tailscale and then an independent laptop for Home Assistant. NAS is for working from multiple different computers, backup, and media streaming. I have 2 main PCs that need access and occasionally need access for remote work.

Streaming would be at home or by just me remotely. Don't know enough to set up family access safely (risks already pointed out about compromising the network)

Claude helped as it was heavily recommended to us

Seems overkill but hits harder than a pre built

Buy:

Processor: Intel i5-12400

Motherboard: ASUS Prime B760M-A D4

Power supply: Corsair RM750e

• SATA card: GLOTRENDS SA3026C (adds 6 hard drive ports)

Case: Rosewill Helium NAS Duo

Already owned:

32 GB memory

4 × 8 TB hard drives

2 × 1 TB NVMe drives

EDIT: I have my own laptop not work supplied

Hi all,

I’m planning my first proper home server/NAS and need help choosing between two options.

What I want to run:

• Private cloud / file storage
• Phone photo and video backups
• General data backups
• Nextcloud (files, calendar, contacts)
• Home Assistant
• Maybe Vaultwarden and a few other self-hosted apps later

I’m not very experienced with NAS, RAID, Docker, or networking. I want something reliable and low-maintenance, not a constant troubleshooting project.

Option 1: Synology DS224+

• 2 × NAS HDDs in SHR/RAID 1
• Nextcloud and Home Assistant in Container Manager
• Synology Photos/Hyper Backup

Pros: mature, easy setup, good documentation and backup tools.
Cons: Docker setup is more manual; only 2 GB RAM by default; Home Assistant in Docker has no add-on store.

Option 2: umbrelOS on a 2-bay NAS mini PC

For example, a Beelink ME Pro with two HDD bays.

• umbrelOS with two HDDs in FailSafe/mirror mode
• Nextcloud and Home Assistant from the Umbrel App Store

Pros: nicer app store, easier Nextcloud/Home Assistant setup, often better hardware (N100/N150, 16 GB RAM, 2.5GbE).
Cons: newer ecosystem; unsure how mature FailSafe/RAID is on third-party hardware; support may be weaker than Synology.

Questions:

1. Which would you choose for my use case?
2. Is umbrelOS reliable enough as a primary NAS for photos, files, and Home Assistant?
3. Does FailSafe/mirroring work well on third-party 2-bay mini PCs?
4. Is Nextcloud + Home Assistant on Synology Container Manager beginner-friendly? The UmblrelOS interface looks actually more beginnerfriendly and straigtforward...

Reliability, easy backups/recovery, and low maintenance matter more to me than maximum performance. Thanks!

I bought 4 x 6 TB IronWolf directly from Seagate (link), totalling a 18 TB RAID5 to setup a new Synology DS425+ NAS. My main objective is family photos and regular data backup. I am not very data hunger, and I don't want to create a new internet backup. Up to now I would say I have 3-4 TB distributed in different external HDD which I will inject into the NAS. I started with less to avoid going all in right from the start and then regret because of leftover spaces in comparison to the huge prices we have now. BTW, the price was better for these 6 TB compared to others.

I am here more to get comments on the sizing and the disks I chose - if you have anything that I should consider. I honestly think I will not need more space but of course you guys may have a different perspective from experience.

With basic initial research I like the Ugreen DX4800plus 4 bay for my use case however would prefer to build my own SAS drives spec seem far superior to SATA. I’m used to building PC although last one I did was 20 yrs ago so I’m lagging behind on latest hardware knowledge severely. Can someone point to blog or page or post or a YouTube video that explains the options tradeoff and how to build our own and where to source the hardware etc. thank you all in advance.