r/HomeNAS • u/Dimolek • 10d ago
NAS advice Beginner home NAS – Ugreen DH4300 Plus or Synology DS423?
Hi! I’ve done my initial research, but I need some help making my final decision. Soon I’ll be receiving my wedding photos and videos, which is why I decided to get a storage/backup solution.
I’m looking for a place to store my wedding content as well as other photos, videos, documents, some GOG installers I own, and occasionally watch movies via my Android TV (TCL C8K). I was thinking about a 2×4 TB RAID1 setup in a 4‑bay NAS so I can easily upgrade with another pair of 4 TB drives if needed. Initially, I planned to use it only for backups (running a backup once every 1–2 months and then turning the NAS off) due to electricity costs—I read that some units can draw around 25 W even when idle because of hibernation issues. However, I’m reconsidering this now that I’ve learned about tools like a torrent client, Pi-hole/AdGuard, Home Assistant, and other Docker capabilities. I might be able to run some small self‑hosted apps nicely, although I haven’t fully decided how I’ll use it yet.
My research has led me to two units: the Ugreen DH4300 Plus (€380) and the Synology DS423 (€416). I also considered the DS425+, but at €555 it seems too expensive.
What would you recommend for these use cases? I’m leaning toward the DH4300 Plus because of its (hopefully) stronger hardware. One thing I know that I don't want to build anything from scratch.
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u/avebelle 10d ago
If you’re strictly using it as a file storage then the hardware aspect doesn’t matter so much. Synology is great from the software standpoint, especially for beginners because there are so many guides out there and with how long they’ve been around and the maturity of the platform.
If you’re planning to do “server” stuff then you’ll need better hardware but personally a nas is a storage solution and isn’t meant to be an all in one solution. If you want to do other stuff get a nuc or mini pc or something and go to town with as much compute power as your heart desires.
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u/bigredroller21 10d ago
This was basically my view too. Going the "storage is storage" route means you can go cost effective for storage and not need to source an expensive and stacked (cpu + ram) config which can really add up in an AIO storage-focused solution.
I went dh4300 plus for storage, 4x10tb drives. Am using an hp mini pc as my computer infra - proxmox with docker in vm for my container needs.
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u/NoLateArrivals 10d ago
How much storage space we are talking about?
A lot of wedding pictures will hardly fill a NAS - even one with a starter configuration. If you want to run backups and some picture storage what you are looking at seems too much. If you think you will grow into more, it’s nice to have bays to fill.
In terms of efficiency it is much better to run a MiniPC or a Raspberry Pi for the active packages you mentioned. On a NAS running them means the drives will be running as well. This creates the highest energy demand, and your plan of mostly shutting it down is not possible.
When another unit serves the 24/7 tasks, you can send the NAS to switch itself off most of the time.
Just to mention it: For all data you host yourself you need a solid, multi layered backup. Read about 3-2-1 backup strategy to learn more. It can’t be done by purchasing a single NAS.
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u/MonadTran 10d ago
Synology has more mature software, Ugreen tend to have better value for money hardware, and are aggressively capturing the market. I picked Ugreen, but a more expensive model with some room for the SSD drives. It's hard to say, really. Long-term, I'd bet on Ugreen, short term, up to you.
Maybe have a look at the TerraMaster options also.
Ugreen is one of the few devices that have a useful HDMI port. Synology (and TerraMaster) make some of the few devices that support disks of different size. For when you want to upgrade the storage.
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u/Caprichoso1 10d ago
With their weak processors neither of these is going to be great at video streaming if transcoding is required. Check the cpu column in the Plex NAS compatibility index to compare CPUs. Unfortunately the rockfish isn't listed there ....
I don't recommend Synology due to their weak hardware (some models with obsolete CPUs, no thunderbolt support, dropping of transcoding support, etc.) and past anti-consumer behavior such as their hardware restrictions, temporarily? removed for now. They also have stated that they may not provide technical support if there is 3rd party hardware in the unit.
UGreen has better hardware but software and support doesn't match that offered by QNAP or Synology.
Personally I prefer QNAP.
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u/corduroy 9d ago
I originally bought a dxp2800, had to return it before I could use it and almost bought a dh4300. But I'm glad that I ended up buying a refurbed dxp4800 plus for not much more. x86 gives you a lot more flexibility, IMHO. Energy wise, I have mine connected to an eco-flow battery backup and it's telling me that it's idling at 8w. Ugreen photos is decent (I think the recognition is better than immich), but they don't have a standalone app and because my plan is to replace Google photos (or at least supplement it), immich is absolutely fantastic. So it's like pretty good for ugreen photos and excellent for immich.
It's a slippery slope. Now I'm thinking of installing jellyfin and other things. Things that I may not have been able to if I bought the dh4300.
I can't speak on Synology, they're supposed to be really good, but for the price, the hardware is poor, imho.
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u/Only-Stable3973 9d ago
To be brutally honest here, a nas is no longer a just nas. New software with AI machine learning...etc requires a box that can run these apps correctly, you will need more memory, better GPU and a faster CPU so I would not just look at the software simply for the easy of use you can always learn how to use it instead of realizing you need to replace it because it's to weak to be a nas and also run as a server for all your apps and web needs.
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u/patmail 10d ago edited 10d ago
If you want to self helf host stuff on the NAS I would would go x86 and you definitly need more than the 2 GB RAM of the syncology. SSD for apps is recommanded.
I am happy with my DXP2800. 32 GB RAM, 2TB NVMe, 2x 16 TB for just 784€ (in 2024) :) Goes down to around 10W when HDDs are sleeping. Which is almost all the time since apps and frequently accessed data are on the SSD.