Asustor AS5304T 4 Bay NAS, 1.5GHz Quad-Core, 2 2.5GbE Port, 4GB RAM DDR4, Gaming Network Attached Storage, Personal Private Cloud (Diskless)

AS5202T 2 bay NAS by ASUSThis budget range NAS has the guts of a high end storage device. With Link Aggregation, 2.5Gbs network, It has more traffic speed than the others in this price point. The Asus operating system onboard has plenty of apps to install for multimedia network serving. It also has a connection that can USB link to my UPS to respond to power failures, which was very easy to set up. The 2 bays are ideal for the smaller storage user, and there is the option of Asus add-on storage that can increase the hard drive count as needed with additional drive boxes.I did upgrade the RAM at purchase from 4 to 16GB. This is not supported by Asus, but does indeed work in my NAS. This may or may not improve my box's processing speed, but I felt it was worth the money to have.I use this NAS to stream from my HD Homerun live tv device, and my DVD collection to my Shield TV and other smart tvs with Plex, in addition to its stated purpose of network storage of data, specifically backups of connected computers.One downside is that some of the Apps are still in early maturity, and I have trouble getting some DVD's to successfully rip to the software. This is not specific to the Asustor NAS, just an fyi for anyone interested in this application of the NAS.The operating system is smartphone style app driven and easy to navigate.The Synology community does have a more mature app environment with better support. But the Asustor AS5202T can run circles around the entry level Synology NAS at this price point.

I bought this to build a home NAS and Plex server to replace an aging Xeon based workstation that was wasting tons of power in my closet. This thing is super quiet, and really sips the power in comparison. It also does a great job transcoding my movies on the fly for plex streaming, the intel chip in this support hardware transcoding, which is great!The other thing that I think is a real positive is the ram is expandable. You can get a cheap 8GB or 16GB laptop memory kit and expand the ram easily. I happened to have an extra 8GB of ram sitting around, so that's what I did.Otherwise, I found that it's pretty feature-rich. NFS and SMB both work great on it with good transfer speeds. And I was able to set up link aggregation on it easily. The other thing I'll mention is the backup features are good, it comes with built in integrations with various popular cloud providers, such as AWS and Backblaze. Setting that up is a real breeze.

Makes a great plex server. Surprisingly quiet. I had other nas and this one is significantly quieter then my pass nas. Set up was easy for the most part. My fire tv couldn't read the software as a smb but the ftp easily worked. Pretty sure I can get the smb to work if I tried. But I just keeper it on the ftp.

I’ve had this NAS up and running for about a week. The installation and setup went well. The interface is very nice and intuitive. I have the system configured as RAID 1. I’m in the process of moving all of our files from our old NAS. It was purchased for home use primarily to store pictures, music, and data files. We are able to access our files while away and the system responds quickly. We are using Windows, iOS, and Android apps to manage and access the system. Setup and use on all these platforms works well. I only gave tech support a 4 because I haven’t had to call for live support. Any questions I have I was able to get answers in the online support. The system is robust for home use and comes with a lots of apps which I haven’t explored yet. After my files are moved, I’m going to swap out one of the drives with a blank drive so I can have a backup stored offsite. It’s not a hot swappable process, but the way the system is designed will make it easy.

Easy to set up, has the basic features you need for a basic NAS, has a lot of server features for people who needs a home server. I only need it for secure storage so it's a slight overkill but so what. It works, its fast, I love that it aggregates 2 ethernet ports for max speed!

*I have to mention some things not directly related to the product to lay the background here. I was concerned because this and my harddrive (purchased separately) were not packaged well and didn't seem like they were handled with care during shipping. However, there was no obvious damage to the NAS. There WAS clicking on the hard drive (purchased separately), so I returned that and purchased a new one direct from the manufacturer instead of through Amazon.That said, I love the Asustor NAS. It was simple to set up. I have had it on my trusted network, segregated from untrusted devices, and basically the only way in is VPN or to be on my trusted INTERNAL network. So it's been very secure. This was working flawlessly for a couple months.I have a couple apps but mainly use this for photo storage, music streaming, and for easy network access to an external redundant backup.Then, suddenly, the NAS refused to wake on LAN or wake on WAN. Can't even make direct ethernet connection NAS to PC. After some great service from ASUSTOR Tech Support, we've gotten to a point where I need an RMA. I had 2 drives installed and both are still accessible despite the NAS now failing to boot or connect.I would easily give this 4 Stars, but there are unknowns around why it has failed. I suspect, because I got it off Amazon and they just don't treat sensitive items with care. The failure is a solid purple LAN Status LED, regardless of what port or connections are made. It can no longer be recognized by my network or even direct connection. We couldn't re-flash the firmware, we couldn't reset with removing CMOS battery, nothing worked so the whole system must be returned which costs RMA shipping.I would say, buy this from a reputable technology dealer who will take the extra care in packaging and who will use a shipping service that handles items with care.I will have to update my review at a later date after the RMA. I'm hoping it lasts longer next time, and I can move up to 4 stars. It will be coming back to me direct from ASUS, so I expect quality packaging and better care.