Category: Storage

Synology BeeStation is a user-friendly alternative to services like iCloud, Google Photos, and Google Drive, aimed at everyday consumers rather than IT professionals or DIY enthusiasts. It comes with a preinstalled hard drive and preconfigured settings, providing an out-of-the-box experience that lets users start uploading files and backing up photos immediately.

I would consider the Synology BeeStation a consumer Network Attached Storage (NAS) targeted at first-time consumers who want to get a feel of NAS and how it fits into their daily workflow.

SanDisk MobileMate USB 3.0 microSD Card Reader is the smallest microSD Card Reader for USB-A ports that I have came across.

It measures 31 x 21 x 9 mm and weighs just 3.4g.

QNAP TS-464 is the latest 4-bay NAS from QNAP and is the direct successor to the QNAP TS-453D.

QNAP TS-464-4G retails for S$929 on Lazada and Shopee. The -4G prefix at the end of the model means it comes with 4GB of RAM.

Bought the Samsung Evo Select 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 during Amazon Pre Black Friday sale. The sale is from Amazon.com, but it is available on Amazon.sg as well.

I got it for S$75.52 with free shipping to Singapore since I am an Amazon Singapore Prime member. The usual price is about S$120 on Amazon, and on Lazada, it is selling for S$174.99.

WD My Passport SSD is a portable SSD from Western Digital that was released back in August 2020 as part of the My Passport series.

It is available in four capacities, 500GB (S$189), 1TB (S$329), 2TB (S$599), and 4TB (S$1,099).

Synology started out having its own brand of RAM for as long as I can remember. I covered them back in 2017. After that they went on to have its own brand of M.2 NVMe SSD (SNV3000), SATA SSD (SAT5200), and SATA HDD (HAT5300).

One of the reasons Synology introduces their own lineup of SSD and HDD is for compatibility. The SSD and HDD are optimized for use with their own Synology NAS with customized firmware. Also, when things go wrong, the users don’t need to contact different vendors. They can bring it all back to Synology.

Recently, I have dismantled my Western Digital Elements Desktop 1TB and Western Digital My Book Essential 1TB to remove the hard drives inside as USB2.0 is way too slow for file transfer.

Once I have the internal hard drives, I can use them with my Vantec NexStar SATA/IDE to USB 3.0 Adapter to get better transfer speeds.

When I think of NAS, there are always three brands that came to my mind. Synology, QNAP, and ASUSTOR. All three brands are from Taiwan. I reviewed Synology NAS many times and did my first QNAP NAS review in December.

To complete the trilogy, I have with me the Asustor Lockerstor 4 (AS6604T) which is equivalent to the Synology DS920+ and QNAP TS-453D. All three models are 4-bay NAS, powered by Intel Celeron J4125 and comes with 4GB of DDR4 ram. Intel J4125 is a 4-core 2.0 GHz (burstable to 2.7 GHz) processor.

My second NAS 10 years ago was a decision between Synology NAS and QNAP NAS. In the end, I chose Synology. I can’t remember the reason why. Throughout all these years, I have been sticking with Synology NAS.

QNAP contacted me and wanted to hear my thoughts on the QNAP TS-453D against the Synology DiskStation DS920+, so they sent me the QNAP TS-453D.