Review on 🔌 Enhanced 10GbE/2.5GbE Connectivity NAS: QNAP TS-h973AX-8G with QuTS Hero and 9-Bay Configuration by Hesham Peltier

I've been using Synology for a long time, but QNAP uses ZFS in this new OS, so I decided to give it a try. The hardware specs are great and there are plenty of options for caching and device management. It's fairly fast at file transfers, clocking in at about the same speed as its competitors. It's great that it has the ability to boost the speed to a 10GBE connection when you're ready, without having to buy an additional adapter. Comes with everything you need to get started. I love that the entire storage pool is ready to create a RAID array in minutes instead of 2 days. Here's what to look for when choosing QNAP or Synology in terms of ease of use. First of all, this device takes about 10 minutes to boot up and get to a state where it can actually be used, while comparable Synology devices turn on in less than half that time. It was really finicky with the web. I have a 1GBE LACP 802.3ad switch that I use for all LAGG tasks, and whenever I connect a Synology unit, it sets up the interface and is up and running in minutes. I tried link aggregation in different ways with QNAP and every time it crashed while creating the backbone I had to turn it off from QFINDER. When I turn it back on, the interface is in the right mode, but I don't have to spend 20 minutes every time I want to change the network interface. With that in mind, almost everything you do in the UI seems to take significantly longer than anything I do in the same context on Synology. So, the pros again: really fast RAID creation, multiple RJ45 ports (and at different speeds) including 10GBE and two 2.5GBE ports. Good transfer speeds. You have to see how reliable it is. 8 GB of storage is enough out of the box. If you know how to use its features, this is a great platform. Cons: Very slow to make OS changes. It takes 10 minutes to get to working state on boot. It's a bit harder to find what you're looking for compared to Synology's more intuitive interface. Changes to network interfaces are clumsy. Once I set it up, it really is a backup device for other devices and should work just fine. I really don't like the download speed and the time it takes to make changes to the system. I have a lot of NAS devices here, so it was pretty easy to do a head-to-head comparison for my use case. For my use case, it gets 3 stars out of 5 mainly due to download speed and change effect speed. Your use case may be different and you can use it as a 24/7 NAS and I only run it for a few hours two days a week. I hope this gives everyone at least some things to think about when purchasing.