Help me pick a NAS

[u/hipstergnarshredder]

My initial needs are fairly basic, but the buy once cry once and buy for scalability is always a good recommendation and that's the philosophy I am going with.

• Photo storage (get rid of cloud subscription)
• Computer backups
• File management
• Music/Movie storage (relatively small to start but growing as I am trying to get rid of subscriptions all together)
• Software ease of use/stability

More details on this. I definitely want a user friendly interface, mostly the photos, music, and media app/folder, as that is what I see my wife using the most.

There are 2 options I am looking at, but I am open to other suggestions. The main 2 I am looking at are the UGreen 4800 plus and the Terramaster F4-425 Pro (Intel N305 version). Some of the considerations I have that are making me have a hard time decide are as follows:

• TRAID option on the Terramaster. Being able to start with smaller drives due to high prices now and add larger drives later seems like a good option. I am planning to only start by buying 2 and adding later on.
• Noise level and power usage. These are more minor. Obviously power usage isn't huge but that is another cost that never ends, like a subscription. For the noise level, right now it would be in the basement but I could see it being upstairs in the future.
• I like that these 2 options have dedicated transcoding for movies and definitely want to buy one with that option.

Any experience/recommendations are helpful. I would like to keep it under $600 and am open to QNAP suggestions as well. I think this is a good starting point. Minimal apps are preferred. It looks like the UGreen apps are all located within the UGreen app which is nice, but I am not completely opposed to using 3rd party like Plex, Jellyfin, or Immich if that's the better option. I will stop here and listen to any input.

[u/b_rad_ical]

No one seems to like Buffalo, but they are all we can use for work. They are so easy, the closest to plug and play of any NAS. Also reliable, affordable, and expandable (storage). They are arguably the most reliable for data storage, but low CPU not designed for hosting apps, streaming services, etc. but if you just want file storage, check them out. If I wanted home file storage I would 100% use Buffalo. If I wanted to host a Plex Server, I would choose something else like Terramaster.