Thus far, Synology has been the primary choice for Network Attached Storage. But now, electronic device and accessory company Ugreen aims to change that, and users are showing their excitement through Kickstarter, pledging more than $2.3 million so far.
Network Attached Storage (NAS) is a type of storage that provides access to files over a computer network instead of plugging directly into a specific computer. It’s like a personal cloud storage option, though with no monthly fees, and users need physical NAS drives somewhere. NAS is ideal for individuals who need to access their files from multiple devices and locations or for teams and businesses that rely on collaboration.
Officially announced at CES on January 9, the Ugreen NASync Series is hoping to dethrone Synology as the king of NAS. The Kickstarter for the new line of NAS opened today, and to say it surpassed its goal is an understatement. The Kickstarter goal was only $20,000, and at the time of writing, $2.34 million had been pledged.
It seems that people are very excited about this new series. It doesn’t hurt that users can get 40 percent off each product now. The Kickstarter still has 44 days to go, ending on May 9, so seeing how high that pledge amount goes will be interesting.
The NASync Series consists of six products in three ranges for different types of users. At the bottom of the lineup are three options for personal and home use. The DXP2800, DXP4800, and DXP4800 Plus are two- and four-bay drives, respectively. They allow for storage capacities ranging from 52 to 96 terabytes. These three are ideal for backing up photos and videos daily with easy sharing and media streaming access.
Next, the DX480T Plus is an all-flash option with 16 terabytes of storage. It offers high-speed SSD read and write capabilities in a portable size. The smaller form factor makes it ideal for creatives and media professionals.
Finally, at the top of the lineup are the DX6800 Pro and DXP8800 Plus, which are six- and eight-bay drives, respectively. They offer between 140 and 184 terabytes of storage. These larger setups are geared toward power users and business solutions, with massive storage space for media libraries, creative archives, and more. It also features a powerful CPU and fast ports for multitasking and collaboration. For context, 184TB is roughly 36 million 3MB images or 124,000 1.5GB movies.
The product specs differ between the three tiers, but they are all impressive. The three top-tier offerings (DX6800 Pro, DXP8800 Plus, and DXP480T Plus) all feature the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 Processor. The six NASync devices offer 8GB DDR5 memory, which is expandable up to 64GB. That much memory allows for rapid processing speeds and improved performance, making multitasking even more straightforward. NASync also has two M.2 NVMe slots, which work well with SSDs, allowing for fast caching and read and write performance. The SSDs are sold separately, though.
Regarding connections, the NASync products offer a range of ports for fast performance. At the top end, the DX6800 Pro and DXP8800 Plus offer dual 10GbE ports, which can be aggregated to 20G bandwidth and provide download speeds of up to 2,500MB/s. Those two also feature two Thunderbolt 4 ports for transmission rates up to 40Gbps.
Beyond the hardware, the NASync Series also offers an all-inclusive mobile app for easy access to files. Finally, professional data security will keep files safe, making these suitable for teams that work with sensitive data.
Complete specifications and additional purchasing details are available on Kickstarter, and shipping is expected to commence in June.
Disclaimer: Make sure you do your own research into any crowdfunding project you’re considering backing. While we aim to only share legitimate and trustworthy campaigns, there’s always a real chance that you can lose your money when backing any crowdfunded project.
Image credits: Photographs by Ugreen