Network storage, SSDs, drives, and memory cards, plus how I back up my data.
The Synology BeeStation Plus 8TB is a consumer-friendly NAS aimed at first-timers, a simple alternative to iCloud, Google Photos, and Drive. It ships with a preinstalled drive and preconfigured settings for an out-of-the-box experience.
The SanDisk MobileMate USB 3.0 is the smallest USB-A microSD card reader I've found, at 31x21x9mm and just 3.4g. I bought it for S$12.88 to pair a 512GB high-endurance card with my Tesla's dashcam recording.
The QNAP TS-464 is the latest 4-bay NAS and successor to the TS-453D. The TS-464-4G, with 4GB of RAM, retails for S$929 and runs on a quad-core Intel Celeron processor, shipping with cables and mounting screws.
I picked up the Samsung Evo Select 512GB microSDXC UHS-I U3 during Amazon's pre-Black Friday sale for S$75.52, well below its usual S$120. After much research, it's the best-value card for the Nintendo Switch.
The WD My Passport SSD is a portable drive from the My Passport series, released August 2020 in capacities from 500GB to 4TB. The smaller sizes come in five colours, and it's tiny at just 46g.
Synology has long made its own RAM, and later branched into its own M.2 NVMe (SNV3000), SATA SSDs, and HDDs. The main reason is compatibility: these drives are optimised with custom firmware for Synology NAS.
After dismantling my slow USB 2.0 Western Digital enclosures to reuse the bare drives at faster speeds, I needed somewhere safe to store them. To my surprise, dedicated hard-shell HDD storage cases exist for exactly this purpose.
Synology, QNAP, and ASUSTOR are my three top-of-mind NAS brands, all Taiwanese. To complete the trilogy, I review the Asustor Lockerstor 4 (AS6604T), a 4-bay NAS on par with the DS920+ and TS-453D, powered by an Intel J4125.
Ten years ago I chose Synology over QNAP for my second NAS. QNAP wanted my take on the TS-453D against the Synology DS920+, so they sent one over. Both are 4-bay, Intel J4125-powered NAS.
Toshiba Memory rebranded to Kioxia in October 2019, combining the Japanese 'kioku' (memory) and Greek 'axia' (value). Its consumer products fall under the Exceria sub-brand. This review covers the Kioxia Exceria 500GB NVMe M.2 SSD.
The SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Go is a flash drive with both USB-A and USB-C connectors, bridging older and newer devices. On USB 3.1 Gen 1 it reads up to 150MB/s, in capacities from 32GB to 512GB.
The Synology DS920+ is the flagship 4-bay NAS in the 2020 Plus series, alongside the DS420+, DS720+, and DS220+. Powered by an Intel J4125 with 4GB RAM, this post walks through migrating from an existing DiskStation.
The Synology DS220j is an entry-level NAS for newcomers. Ten years ago I moved from a D-Link DNS-323 to a Synology DS210j and never looked back. At S$249, the DS220j is an affordable starting point.
WD Red was always my go-to NAS drive, but my four WD Red 3TBs in a DS918+ were a nightmare, all RMA'd, some twice. Chalking it up to luck, I switched to Seagate IronWolf drives for my DS220j.
The Crucial P1 is popular as one of the best-value NVMe M.2 SSDs. The 500GB reads at 1,900MB/s and writes at 950MB/s. I'd tried twice to buy the 1TB without success, so I settled on the 500GB.
For secondary storage in my new build, I chose the SanDisk Ultra 3D 2TB SSD, bought on Amazon for US$209.99. Being SATA III rather than NVMe, it's slower than my addlink S70, reading 560MB/s and writing 530MB/s.
Building a new gaming PC, I had Benjamin draw up a parts list, sourcing RAM, SSDs, and fans from Amazon. First up is the primary storage, the addlink S70 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD, at US$264.99 on Amazon.
WD's 2TB Gaming Drive for PlayStation 4 was on sale for US$59.99 during Black Friday 2019 on Amazon.com. Lazada listed it pricier at S$139, so I checked Amazon.sg and, to my surprise, found the same offer.
I bought the SanDisk Extreme 128GB A2 MicroSDXC card from iRoyal on Lazada for S$33.50 during 11/11. My order stalled, and when I asked, the seller apologised, explaining it had gone out of stock after my purchase.
The Minix Neo Storage is a USB-C hub with a built-in, non-removable SSD. The Neo S1 (120GB) retails for S$120 and the S2 (240GB) for S$150, found on Amconics' Lazada store, which only carries the Silver colour.
The Synology DS918+ is the flagship 4-bay NAS in the Plus Series, announced at Computex 2017 and released that October. Retailing for S$811 at Fuwell, it costs S$100 more than the DS418play, adding a quad-core processor and 4GB RAM.
My Synology DS415play was showing its age, often failing to stream video via Plex to my Apple TV 4K and forcing a VLC workaround. This post looks at the DS418play, the natural upgrade to address those streaming bottlenecks.