Monday, May 24, 2021
Getting yourself set up with network-attached storage (NAS) doesn't have to be difficult or expensive, especially with Prime Day just around the corner.
Using a NAS can make it easier when it comes to making backups and organizing your data. With a NAS enclosure and some hard drives, you can ensure all of your media and data is stored in a secure way that's accessible to your entire home or small business.
Best NAS Deals Available Now:
- Best NAS for Home: From $170
- Best NAS for Plex: From $550
- More info: Getting the best NAS deals for you
- Best NAS Hard Drives From $60
But which Prime Day NAS deal should you go for? Which should you avoid? There's are a ton of options out there and many of them will be discounted for Amazon's annual sale. We've rounded up our favorite pre-Prime Day NAS deals below and categorized them to help you get the right setup for your needs. We'll keep this page updated with more deals as we find them.
Best NAS deals for Home
The best Prime Day NAS deals for home use are generally some of the most affordable NAS deals you can buy, period. The more budget-friendly enclosures aren't anything special but do allow you to configure everything to your liking and have a NAS up and running. More pricey NAS options here come rocking faster processors, more RAM, and drive bays.
Synology DiskStation DS220j | $170 at Amazon
The Synology DiskStation DS220j is a cracking little enclosure. It's not the most capable, rocking an ARM processor, but it does come with two bays and is perfect for file storage and backups.
Asustor AS1002T v2 | $149 at Amazon
ASUSTOR's AS1002T isn't a very powerful NAS, hence the price, but it does allow you to set up a file storage server and save money on your new NAS, as well as canceling any cloud storage subscriptions you may have.
Synology DiskStation DS220+ | $300 at Amazon
Synology's DiskStation DS220+ is our favorite NAS for the home for one good reason: it offers tremendous value. Even at full price, this enclosure is well worth the money, sporting an Intel processor, support for so many third-party apps, as well as an excellent OS.
BUFFALO LinkStation SoHo 2-Bay | $258 at Amazon
BUFFALO's LinkStation SoHo 2-bay NAS is an affordable enclosure that even comes with two hard drives pre-installed. That means you don't have to buy anything else other than this NAS server, and you're good to go. It's not quite as good as Synology's offerings, however.
Best NAS deals for Plex
Choosing the best NAS for Plex is a little more tricky since the processor becomes a vastly more important, if not the most important, deciding factor. If you plan on storing and streaming 4K content, you'll need to make sure your recipient devices (TV, consoles, PCs, etc.) support the same format your media is saved in. If not, the NAS will need to transcode it, which requires considerable performance. These NAS will be able to handle 4K transcoding.
Synology DiskStation DS920+ | $440 at Amazon
Synology DiskStation DS920+ is a powerful NAS, sporting a capable Intel Celeron processor with enough performance to handle 4K transcoding. That makes this a great starters NAS for Plex, especially with four drive bays.
Best Prime Day NAS deals on hard drives
You could install some old desktop-class hard drives inside a NAS enclosure and call it a day, but that wouldn't work well. Hard drives used in desktop PCs simply aren't designed to run continuously and be hammered by countless users. It could work, but you'll likely run into reliability issues.
Hard drives designed specifically for NAS come rocking some advanced features, which is reflected in the price. These drives come rocking advanced features like vibration protection and better components that can withstand lots of data being read and written. Since it's Prime Day, you can find some of these drives on sale right now, like the massive 6TB Seagate IronWolf for $156. There are yet more advanced NAS drives, like the Western Digital Red Pro series, which cost more but come with faster motors and additional features.
Western Digital Red Pro 4TB
The Western Digital Red Pro series comes rocking 7200RPM motors for faster data transfer speeds and is available in capacities ranging from 2TB to 14TB with support for up to 24 bays.
Toshiba N300 12TB
Toshiba's NAS drive range is pricey, but well worth the investment. These drives are built with NAS in mind and are perfect for 24/7 operation. They have a reliability rating of 180TB per year and sport 7200RPM motors. If you want among the best drives, this is one of them.
Seagate IronWolf 6TB
Seagate IronWolf is one of our favorite range of NAS drives, rocking slightly slower 5600RPM motors, but comes with 256MB of cache and is rated to run continuously. They're also pretty affordable with this 6TB capacity drive coming in at $156.
Seagate IronWolf Pro 4TB
The IronWolf Pro series is similar to Western Digital's offering in that you get faster drives with better support for NAS deployment. You'll be able to throw numerous of these drives into an enclosure and expect excellent performance.
Why should I buy a Prime Day NAS deal?
Network-attached storage allows you to do some incredible things at home and in the office. Whether you plan on creating and running a media server using Plex Media Server or manage a file storage solution, a NAS enclosure is precisely what you require.
There are so many models to choose from, and multiple vendors offer similar enclosures at varying price points. This does mean you can score some deals on new enclosures, especially with Prime Day NAS deals offering all-time low prices. We're here to help you make the right decision and save some money in the process.
Choosing the best NAS involves a few factors, namely price, processor, and the number of drive bays. The better the processor, the more drive bays available, and advanced features like 10Gb networking can inflate prices quickly. Whatever you happen to be looking for in a NAS, we've rounded up some of the best Prime Day NAS deals available on offer right now.
But if you do have an idea as to what you plan on using the NAS enclosure for, we've also compiled lists of best best Prime Day NAS deals for home and best Prime Day NAS deals for Plex. There's something here for everyone!
Getting the best Prime Day NAS deal for you
Scoring the best deal is one thing, but getting the right deal for you is incredibly important. We want you to spend your money wisely. There's no point buying a NAS that won't be able to do what you need it to, just because it's the enclosure with the steepest price drop. This is why we recommend NAS enclosures based on specs and then price.
It's important to decide what you want to use the NAS enclosure for. Once you've got that sorted, price is then a factor to consider, allowing you to stick to a limit. If you're not comfortable paying out for a more expensive NAS at full price, there's no reason why you should pay a similar amount for one that's discounted.
NAS enclosures are usually priced well, depending on the processor, drive bays, and other specifications. But when we're enjoying big events like Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day, retailers will use all kinds of tactics to make you think a deal is better than it is. Be wary of prices that are inflated to appear like deals. Our pals at Thrifter help us find the best deals all year round and ensure that our readers don't spend money they don't have to.
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