Synology DS920+ vs QNAP TS-453D NAS Comparison

what do you recommend for a dependable NAS with RAID 5. That I will not need to touch for a long time

I'm looking at both of these NAS units to replace my aging WD EX4100, but I have a question. I run the WD in JBOD...which for WD means individual disks without spanning. JBOD from what I understand on Synology and QNAP means spanning if you have more that one disk. On Synology they have Basic and on QNAP they have single, but my understanding is that with QNAP's single you will lose access to all your drives if you lose the first drive (something about having the setup software on drive 1). My question is...is that the same with Synology? Will I lose access to all drives in basic if I lose drive 1?

Would the 453 work for streaming ripped dvds to up to 3 tvs? I have a large amount of dvds I want to rip and stream from plex

really helpful channel and lots of food for thought!....oh, and love the subtle GoT (costa) ref! :P

If I plug my 453-d into my router will I be able to access thru WiFi from my pc in the other room?

With the Synology, if one of its fans failed, would the other continue working? If that’s the case that’s an advantage over 1 fan.

Great. After watching in the neighborhood of 50-60 of your videos, I've come to the conclusion that you take a video that could be 10 min and turn it into a 1/2 TV show that is more or less rambling.
After watching that many videos, I've come to the conclusion that you aren't speaking to the average person, but to some IT graduate.
Unfortunately there are that many people that do as many videos about NAS as you, sad because you have made me more confused of WTF fits my needs than ever.
As an older gentleman, I just think you like to talk to the camera, and ramble on and repeat a lot of stuff and provide little help to the average person.

Man! This video was invaluable. I finally decided on the DS920+. But it was a razor thin call. I was so settled on QNap until you demo’ed the mobile apps and how AI photo tagging works on Synology moments only + using the 5Gbe QNap usbC adapter on Synology.

Fantastic comparison! You've become my go-to channel for Nas information.
I am currently looking for the best bang for buck NAS drive that I can backup with redundancy and edit off of with speed without spending thousands.

920+ for me - thank you.

Your knowledge of QNAP & Sinologie is amazing and very helpful for me in deciding on a NAS solution. Do you ever look at FreeNAS / TrueNAS e.g. TrueNAS Mini X

This was a truly brilliant comparison. Thanks a lot

The only feature that really holds me back from getting the qnap is not having equivalent to SHR. I am looking at the 1520+ with the 5 bays, start with 3 drives and add drives as I need more capacity. I may want to add higher capacity drives to the array when i do add drives, i will start with 3x 10tb, then next year want to add a 14 or 16tb drive to the array. If what i am understanding after watching 10 or 15 of your videos is that the Qnap software cannot do that. With Qnap, i can add drives but they would have to be the same drive capacity as the drives already in the array. I like the ability of the qnap to add more hardware with the pcie slot, and built in 2.5gbe. I would have to bump up to the 1620+ to get the pcie slot on the synology platform, giving me the ability to add 10gbe in the future if i need it. Very hard to make a decision. Thanks for all the videos. Larry

Has anyone used syncovery with these?

Hi .. very useful comparison..
I have a question to know that I want either of one NAS server 918+ or TS 253D but my use is confined to 4k content copy into SATA HDD n later to play thru my Zappiti 4k HDR pro media player .. so which you suggest is best to buy..

Thanks a lot for the great work!

I have a question with regard to the specification of the QNAP TS-453D. According to the QNAP website the TS-453D has only a PCIe Gen 2 x2 slot (i.e. only 2 lanes) whereas the TS-253D has a PCIe Gen 2 with 4 lanes (x4). Thus, I am wondering which information is correct?

Many thanks!

Can you make comparison bet. QNAP TS-453D and Asustor Nimbustor 4 pls.?

Nice work. Thanks for video!

I was looking for a significant upgrade to my surprisingly still working DS415+ in the DS920+, but was disappointed with the networking and ram specs. Touch wood the old DS415+ will hold together for at least another year!

Which one is better in Transcoding for Plex Media Server?

Which one of these are better for Plex Media Server?

Do you know why I have to choose Synology ??? Because of SHR !!! If QNAP has that feature of RAID. I will switch to QNAP for sure !!!

Why same CPU but QNAP can have dual 2.5Gb LAN ports !!!!!!! ???????

Hi, Please let me know the memory specs (Mhz) and by whom in the QNAP TS-453D, Thanks!

What is the best NAS option for 4K video editing? I’m looking for a solution that lets me work on files straight from the NAS, something that is also 10Gb capable.

Hi again, Does QNAP support Static, Thick, and Thin volumes?

Was wondering if you have done a performance comparison with and without nvme cached and at what storage size/users would you recommended users to buy some nvme for caching? Is the cached at file level or block? Thanks for the help.

Love your work! When talking about tinkering - what exactly are you talking about though?

just about to buy a nas and was leaning towards the qnap but right at the end you said neither were great for h.255 10bit video so its back to the drawing board thanks

The design idea of qnap is very strange, there are almost no 2.5g switches on the market, there is still an error in the video, 453d is pci2.0 * 2 , not * 4, it still stays in the era of 453b, but qnap's own 10 Gigabit network card is pci3.0*4, product design ideas are very chaotic, similar to his system, it seems very powerful but actually difficult to use, compared to synology

I have to be honest if I was to buy a new NAS now, I would have to consider the QNAP TS-453D. This is coming from having owned up until now 4 Synology NASes DS106, DS411+, DS2413+ and DS918+.

With the software gap getting closer by the year, the hardware options on the TS-453D, like the HDMI output, the USB ports, the optional PCI card slot and most importantly for now, the Dual 2.5GBe. Looks butt ugly though, but I don't buy it to look at.


So if my DS918+ was to blow up now and was out of warranty, then it would probably be the QNAP. Of course cost is a factor I cannot ignore, but if it's within 60 -100, then for the potential life that the device will be in use, then I can't ignore the options the QNAP brings.


Hardware has always been Synologys Achilles heel, and I am sure they have a very good reason, however it gets harder to ignore.

What is the problem with the new NAS generation that made them lose the capability to decode H.265 10-bit streams?

I will be using NAS as as file server in small office.
No Plex , No Photo Station. No Sync with other computers.
NAS will be backed up on Google Drive.
Which one will you recommend for me?

Does anyone know if Synology Moments now allows users to select any folders you want to catalog from rather than requiring your photos to be under their Moment specific folder and if they now support folder browsing from a mobile device when using moments? That is the only thing holding me back from going Synology... (I want to use my own file / folder structure, and want Moments to work with me on that)

Yeappppppp, QNAP is hardware focused & Synology is software focused.
Just as Eddie, he'll tell you. Hey, ?where is Eddie anyways?
Oh, Eddie either needs a better mic or a better voice ;).
!DS720+ or Burst!

Im a PC IT engineer with 20 years experience. I cant abide Macs or IPhones, they're just toys in my (admittedly bias) eyes, yet im still leaning towards the Synology. I need something to replace my 10 year old Gen6 HP microserver which is on its last legs and only gets used for a Plex server, backup and to run the odd VM once in a blue moon when the need arises.
Despite having the skills to tinker I just want something that'll work. To me its like buying a regular light bulb you just screw in over some fancy multi colour wifi enabled thing you can control from your phone. Yeah its cool n'all but i just want to be able to see and not stub my toe thanks
I prefer the look of Synology's interface too (which ironically looks more like a windows desktop than the Qnap). My only dilemma now is between the 2 bay DS720 or 4 bay DS920.

Love your work my friend. Quick question, do you think I would see a noticeable difference if I upgrade from my DS916+ to the DS920+? Thanks

What is the expansion card for Qnap? Can you tell me where to get one and which is better? Is there something like that for my Qnap TS-569-PRO-II? Thanks for your videos!