QNAP TS-832PX-4G 8 Bay High-Capacity NAS with 10GbE SFP+ and 2.5GbE

For those who want the quick bottom line...it simply works and I've had now issues after 4 months at the time of this writing.Some observations and reservations might be useful to others, however. So, here goes...Some things to consider straight up:* Get the additional ram and max it out. With the 4gb that comes with the unit, the interface is sluggish. It does work and you can do things with the NAS, but not the best experience. For the extra $35 (ish), well worth the upgrade. You need to access the RAM by removing the left (from the front) couple of drives. I have medium size hands finding it a little odd but serviceable. Someone with bigger hands might find it tougher.* Plan on getting (or repurposing) some SSD drives for cache. Only when you use cache does this NAS really reach full potential. I was planning to use SSD drives for cache from the start, so never really tried any testing without the cache. With 4 older enterprise SSD drives I was able to get read speeds that completely saturated my10gbe line (1.1GBs). Write speeds were somewhat slower topping out around 750MBs, with a more general speed around 640MBs. For my network situation and planed usage, more than good enough.* IMHO, this is really a RAID 5 device, so if you want RAID 6 or RAID 10, think you have better options. Yes, if you have several 2 1/2 inch drives around, I am sure you can make things work. However, because 5 drive bays are 3 1/2, the other 4 are 2 1/2 inch, getting drives with the same specs for the 2 1/2 inch bays I see as being problematic. And, for maximum space (and at least some protection), RAID 5 seems the best option for this device.Other observations:I only heard of the processor (AnnapurnaLabs Alpine AL324 ARM Cortex-A57) in passing, so was skeptical, but the full speed read (from cache) only resulted in CPU usage in the mid teens, and writes pushed the processor up to an average 50-55%, with a peek around 75% for a few short bursts. These numbers suggest you could use other capabilities of the NAS without issue.Even with the additional memory, the interface is still a bit sluggish (though much better) and I personally feel the Synology interface is better organized for my taste. Still, the interface is well done and I've had no problem finding my way around, though it took a bit more time.For me, because I had some SSD drives hanging around also having the hard drives this was really a no-brainer based on the cost of the next best option, that options being almost double to get the additional memory, 10Gbe card, and NVME drives. If you are planning to do more things with the NAS (perhaps needing a more robust processor, more memory), want a different RAID setup (raid 6/10), or simply need the space of 8 or more bays, this is not a good choice. Also, if you are starting from scratch needing to get the drives, the drives can easily cost (depending on capacity) as much or more than the NAS itself so for a few hundred dollars (a small percentage of the total cost), I would suggest going for the 8 bay units.However, for home backup being fast enough (at least on a read basis) to saturate an 10gbe line, and as long as you know the limitations up front, I think this is a great deal.I had a few unknowns (like the processor, and if you could really get the line speed) going in. But, based on my experience to day, this really hit the spot and so far have had no issues.AFTER ONE YEAR....Still think this is a great buy, but I did think of a couple of a couple of up and down sides that may be of interest.On the down side:* This unit only has USB 3.0/1 (5Gbe) ports that limit the speed for any type of extension. So not the best choice if you plan to add drives to this unit with a storage extender. That was not my plan so was not an issue for me.* Not a good choice for use with any extension cards. This model does not have that capacity...period. If you are looking to do something like add a faster network card in the future, no option here.* You need to use older SSD storage for cache so can not use more recent (and faster 4-5x) NVME drives making migration harder moving forward. In my case had this stuff lying around so really just using what I already had. However, for others I can see hesitation at needing to buy the "older" technology at nearly the same price as newer NVME drives.On the (possible) plus side:It occurred to me implementing RAID 6 might be possible if you go all flash (SSD) drives. This is something I would like to try if SSD drives for 4TB would come down to approximately $100/drive. If this works (and you don't mind the older technology), think it would be a great option.Conclusion:Think my conclusion is still the same: for small business not needing drive extension, family backup, playing movies, for photo or video collections, and for video surveillance this is a great device. For expansion, not so much.Basically, even being a tech guy, I was looking for the equivalent of a toaster to just plug in and do the basic functions I was looking for lasting 7 even 10+ years knowing until the next incarnation comes along it will continue to just make toast.

I purchased this QNAP NAS to upgrade from an Eight Drive Drobo that I had for 12 years. My Drobo had 8 3TB drives circa 2009 that finally started to give out. Drobo is past tense so I looked for a replacement. I compared Synology and QNAP and like the QNAP better. For the same price, I got two 10 GB ports and 9 drive bays. This allowed me to add five 12TB drives and four 1TB SSD’s for caching. Setup was very easy with hundreds of YouTube videos to help with the configuration. Took about an hour for setup and then 2 days for the RAID 5 to be built. Once done, it was very to setup the shares and then the sync software with my Mac Studio. I am using the 10GB connection with my Mac Studio into a 10GB NetGear Switch. Performance is excellent when transferring large files and crazy fast for smaller ones. I move gigs back and forth is light speed times. The OS it comes with is very easy to manage and complete. The tools that are built in are mor than enough for the general to power user. Bottom line is this is a very good NAS that I highly recommend .

I got this unit in used acceptable condition. Looks new, but missing screws and keys. I received only the unit with power supply in a badly taped up retail box. The unit in perfect condition with nothing missing internally.All plastic parts! I got 5 MaxDigitalData refurbished drives with all SMART data reset to 0. They were WD HC530 drives under the MDD label. Setup 7 days ago using RAID 6 and has been copying data to it over WiFi on and off since! Setup was easy but requires Internet because it connects back to mothership for access and configuration initially. QNAP offers much more features than Synology in terms of apps and drive bays. I hope reliability is good too!

Switched from Synology as they are still using 1 and 2GB ports. Our network is comprised of CAT8 and 10GB switches. The QNAP TS-932PX-4G is much better suited to the faster network and the RAM is easily upgradable. I went ahead and upgraded the memory from 4GB to 16GB for around $35. Overall, for NAS functions such as mapped network storage and system backups the QNAP is flawless.Some of its software is severely lacking when contrasted to the Synology offerings having the same name and function, such as Note Station -- wherein the Synology version has desktop applications for Windows and Linux Ubuntu.Overall, the NAS is excellent. It just doesn't feel as end-user friendly when one considers some of its software. For the majority of people, this NAS will perform very well for them.