QNAPTS-253BE-2G 2 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure - 2 GB RAM, Intel Celeron Quad Core Processor - Multimedia NAS with PCIe Connectivity

We've had this NAS for two months now, it should've been a quick solution to a straight forward problem; synced backups of files for the people (three of us) on our home network, and sharing data between us. Maybe a media server too. After the best part of 20 years in IT jobs and the confidence to set up and administer Linux servers etc etc, I imagined this would be a piece of cake. Oh how wrong I was...Just to clarify, it's not that I think there's anything bad about the physical hardware. It seems well built and solid, easy to install the hard drives and get to the point of booting and connecting to the network. Creating shares/network drives was straight forward enough, as was setting up Plex. Even restricting access to internal network only was more complex, but achievable. However, getting synced backups working has been a migraine inducing nightmare. I don't doubt that I can do it when I get stuck in, but so far I haven't been able to spare a full day to dedicate to getting it all set up and properly configured, working out the order I need to work through the process and troubleshooting the errors that have so far stumped me.The problem is that the QNAP web interface and seems to give a whole range of esoteric setup options for each feature, but very little explanation or guidance on how to use them. Anyone who's set up computer systems in the 90s remembers how frustrating it could be, but we've evolved since then - there are such things as wizards and interactive user guides that help the uninitiated set up everything we buy, from TVs and streaming boxes to smartphones and laptops. So going back in time to the 90s-like experience of fending for yourself will probably make you lose the will to live. That's the reason for my low rating; a product that's marketed for home use should come with software that makes it easy to use for the average home user.I don't know who this product is for. It seems so endlessly configurable that it would be at home on a large corporate network or university research department. However, it's supposed to be geared to home users. But the software in no way supports that. If you want a 'project' and enjoy jumping through endless hoops, spending hours googling error messages to work out what you might have done wrong, by all means, buy this.However, I'd caution anyone without very deep technical knowledge against buying QNAP for basic home use as life is just too short.

Not the cheapest but was impressed by the quality. Easy to setup and plenty of useful software. Accessible on the local network and externally using myqnapcloud. Video station isn't perfect and doesn't do a great job at playback / transcoding, however easy enough to use something else like vlc which works flawlessly. Qnaps own helper with vlc is not integrated properly. This unit recognised a previous raid 5 setup even though the drive order had changed. This saved hours of resetting up and copying again. Reliability uncertain yet as I've only had it a few days. This is important as using a nas needs something that just quietly gets on with the job in the background so any problems on this score and I'll update. As well as the host of apps there's plenty available for mobile too.

Firstly, let me say that this unit is fast enough for streaming to multiple devices at the same time, including HD media.I have loaded it up with disks and use it for personal network shares, home movies, music backups from laptops etc.It sits there quietly purring in the background, backing up to Google cloud and just runs.It's one of those units that you only really think of when things go wrong.I have lost one disk already though, but that appears to be my fault, as the disk was not one of the disks that were approved for this unit. Always read the "recommended disks" section of the info before plugging in your disks....The firmware updates are fairly regular, which is great as it shows that QNAP are actively working on this device.All the apps available are also a great advantage. Web server, Plex, backups....there are loads of them, and they are all nicely presented via the GUI.Disks are simple to install, no screws, just easy push fit clamps :-)Dual network connectivity means very fast access with this NAS, and plenty of USB3 connectivity as well. I use a USB 3 disk as another backup device :-)I would whole-heartedly recommend this NAS for anyone who wants good performance, flexibility at a great price.

Ran ok for 8 months and then diesBlinking red status light on and off, the HDD's don;t spin up.I bought this to replace a netgear NAS that ran for years no problems.

I've been using a QNAP NAS for a few years now so I'm very familiar with them. The user interface is good. It's very similar to other web interfaces and is intuitive. It's not all wizards though so you need to understand what you're doing for a few of the key features like networking, an area that I struggle with.There are loads of features and apps that you can run on this NAS and they work well on the whole. I haven't got around to running a virtual machine on it yet but I'm sure it'll cope with a Linux build.I bought it primarily for streaming 4k, which I haven't been successful with so far. Again, this is not setup using a wizard so you need to understand streaming and on-the-fly encoding to get the best out of it (or anything as it turns out).This would be a very useful machine for a web developer, especially if you're site is local. If not AWS might be easier to and more accessible to use.

Initially I was very please with this device as it ticked all the right boxes for features ,it was mainly used for home security and PC back up. After 12 months the unit has died with the same issue as other reviewers Blinking red status light on and off. I pray I don't require the back up images on the HDD before I receive an alternative brand NAS.

I mainly use this for file/picture backup as well as a media streamer. Plex allows for hardware transcoding and this CPU handles it pretty well. I’ve had 3 simultaneous 1080p transcodes over my home LAN network and it’s without issue. Overall very pleased. Though I don’t know why they don’t put in the maximum 8GB RAM. Easy to upgrade though and bought fairly cheaply from Scan.

Very good product. Enables me to access my data from my laptop from round the house without having to carry a hard disk about.