Enterprise Network Attached Storage (NAS) devices are centralized file servers well-suited to business use. Affordable and easy to manage, they provide a wide range of data storage needs and are one of the easiest ways for businesses to set up or expand a data storage network.
They can be configured to provide backup and recovery of on- and off-site mobile devices and computers. They can also host applications, develop web and server-side applications, and perform big data analytics operations. And Enterprise NAS solutions start at around $1,000, making them affordable for most midsize and small business needs. As a comparison, a Storage Area Network (SAN) solution starts around $10,000.
When choosing a NAS solution for your business, pricing is just one of the factors to consider. It’s also important to consider the number of concurrent users in the organization, the maximum storage capacity necessary, scalability for future growth, and advanced encryption options for security.
Here are our top eight picks for Network Attached Storage devices for the year as well as a comparison chart comparing features and prices.
Top Enterprise NAS Device Comparison
Each of the top eight Network Attached Storage devices detailed here will meet the needs of small to medium sized businesses. All are affordably priced. Where they differentiate themselves is in the features they offer. Before buying, businesses should identify their needs to help determine which solution might best meet them.
| NAS Model | Max. HD Capacity | Hard Drive/rpm | Delivery | Media | Price | Differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asustor Lockerstor 10 AS6510T | 160TB | SATA HD 7200 rpm/SSD 500MBs rpm | Appliance | 2.5/3.5-inch SSD or SATA HDs | $1,220 | Allows 512 concurrent connections and has a built-in surveillance system for mobile devices |
| Buffalo TeraStation 5121 | 144TBs | 5400 rpm | Rackmount | NAS-grade HDs | $3,087 – $4,100 | Built to support demanding applications and can support 150 users concurrently |
| Buffalo TeraStation 541 | 32TBs | 5400 rpm | Rackmount | NAS-grade HDs | $1,710 – $2,405 | Uses iSCSI over IP networks to connect and use remote storage |
| HP ProLiant Gen8 DL360p | 32TBs | 15K rpm | Rackmount | 300GB SAS HDs | $300 – $1,000 | Ideal for any start-up business needing a NAS |
| QNAP TS-432PXU | Dependent on HD size | SATA HD 7200 rpm/SSD 500MBs rpm | Rackmount | Four 3.5-inch SATA or SSD HDs | $660 – $1,289 | Automatically synchronizes backup operations with other QNAP NAS devices |
| Synology RX418 | 64TBs | SATA HD 7200 rpm | Rackmount | Four 2.5/3.5-inch SATA HDs | Under $1,000 | Allows a business install their hard drives and set storage capacity |
| TerraMaster F5-422 | 100TBs | 7200 rpm | Appliance | Five Seagate IronWolf 6TB HDs | Under $1,000 | Features Six-layer data protection and cloud and remote backup options |
| WD 40TB Cloud Series PR4100 | 72TBs | 7200 rpm | Appliance | Four 3.50inch SATA HDs | $1,900 | Features a disaster recovery backup to Cloud NASes |
Jump to:
- Top NAS choice for organizations with more than 500 concurrent users: Asustor Lockerstor 10 AS6510T NAS
- Top NAS choice for large-scale operations: Buffalo TeraStation 5121 ORH Rackmount NAS
- Top NAS choice for hybrid backup to Microsoft OneDrive or Azure cloud: Buffalo TeraStation 541
- Top entry-level NAS choice for businesses that don’t want to spend a lot of money: HP ProLiant Gen8 DL360p 64-bit Server Rackmount NAS
- Top NAS choice for syncing with other QNAP devices: QNAP TS-432-PXU
- Top NAS choice for existing Synology customers who want to expand: Synology RX418 4-Bay Diskless Expansion Unit
- Top NAS appliance choice under $1,000: TerraMaster FS-422
- Top NAS choice for easy-to-use media content synchronization: WD 40TB Cloud Series PR4100
Asustor Lockerstor 10 AS6510T NAS
The Asustor NAS product is both affordable and scalable. As a business grows it can add the required hardware to match the increasing needs. This NAS device offers 12 backup options, including Google Drive and OneDrive. In addition, the Asustor NAS comes with a comprehensive surveillance system that includes four free camera channel licenses that can be expanded to 64 purchasable licenses.
Form Factor: Appliance
Media: Up to 10 3.5 inch SATA3 6Gbs/2.5 inch SSD HDs
Maximum Capacity: 32TB
Key Features:
- Intel Denverton-based Atom C3538 Quad-Core CPU
- 8GB DDR-2133 RAM
- Features an extra 128TB with the AS6004U
- Features wake on LAN and Wake on WAN
Price: $1,219
Buffalo TeraStation 5121 0RH Rackmount NAS
Priced under $5,000, The Buffalo TeraStation 5121 is designed for large-scale operations. It uses advanced encryption and RAID technology to protect data from breaches or data loss due to hard drive failure. In addition, the Buffalo TeraStation can support up to 144TB of storage using 12 hard drives and support more than 150 users concurrently.
Form Factor: 2U rack-mountable
Media: 4.3.5-inch NAS-grade hard drives
Maximum Capacity: 144TB
Key Features:
- Annapurna Labs 1.7Ghz Quad-Core processor
- 8GB DDR3 RAM with ECC
- 12 drive bays
- Up to 144TB of storage
- AES 256-bit encryption and RAID 6 technology
Price: $3,105
Buffalo TeraStation 541 0RN Rackmount NAS
The Buffalo TeraStation 541 0RN provides server-class performance and business data protection and offers a hybrid backup feature that allows data backup to a Microsoft OneDrive or Azure cloud solution. This NAS device can easily support up to 100 users concurrently.
Form Factor: 1U rack-mountable
Media: 4.3.5-inch NAS-grade hard drives
Maximum Capacity: 32TB
Key Features:
- 1.7Ghz Quad-processor
- 4GB DDR3 RAM
- Four drive bays
- 32TM maximum storage capacity
- AES-256-bit encryption and iSCSI backup ready
Price: $1,750
HP ProLiant Gen8 DL360p 64-bit Server Rackmount NAS
The HP ProLiant Gen8 is a very affordable NAS device that can support a variety of RAID technology and offers a storage controller that improves performance and stability. The price point and reliability makes it an excellent entry-level NAS device that accommodate budget constraints.
Form Factor: 1U rack-mounted
Media: Eight 300GB SAS hard drives
Maximum Capacity: 32TBs
Key Features:
- Two six-core Intel E5-2640 Xeon 2.5GHz chipsets
- 64GB DDR3 RAM (upgradable to 768GB of memory)
- HP Smart Array P420i storage controller
- 32TB maximum storage capacity
- HP’s iLO4 management engine
Price: $560 -$1080
QNAP TS-432PXU 4-Bay Rackmount NAS
The QNAP TS 432PXU is a sub-$1,000 NAS that offers high-speed performance and reliable storage. Its most notable feature is a hybrid backup sync feature that can be configured to automatically synchronize files and backups to similar QNAP products or other storage solutions. In addition, the QNAP can backup data from Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace.
Form Factor: 1U rack
Media: Four 3.5-inch SATA drives with speeds up to 6GBs
Maximum Capacity: SATA drive size dependent
Key Features:
- Annapurna Labs Alpine AL324 Cortex-A57 GHz processor
- 2GB DDR4 RAM upgradable to 16 GB RAM
- Easy file synchronization and backup options
Price: $660
Synology RX418 4-Bay Diskless Expansion Unit
Synology’s RX418 NAS device is a four-bay diskless expansion unit that can connect to existing Synology NAS devices without additional software, making expansion seamless for existing Synology customers. This NAS device can also work separately as a backup device for business data.
Form Factor: 1U rack-mounted
Media: Four 2.5 or 3.5-inch SATA drives
Maximum Capacity: 64TB
Key Features:
- Plug-and-play design
- Compatible with Synology RackStations (15 to 21 series)
- Four drive bays
- Easy RAID management with Synology DSM
Price: $625
TerraMaster F5-422 10GbE NAS Storage Server
The TerraMaster F5-422 can synchronize with multiple cloud drives (e.g. Google Drive, Amazon S3, Dropbox and many other cloud vendors) and use multiple backup tools, such as Time Machine and USB external storage backup. It has a 10Gbps LAN port and two 1GBs LAN ports that provide failover support for 2Gbps connectivity. Additionally, it supports multiple RAID modes and has an online RAID-level migration feature to support migration to different RAID configurations without turning off the NAS device or losing data.
Form Factor: Appliance
Media: Five 2.5 3.5-inch SSD or HDD
Maximum Capacity: 100TB
Key Features:
- Intel Celeron J3455 Quad Core 1.5GHz (Max burst up to 2.3GHz)
- 4GB of RAM upgradeable to 8 GB RAM
- Five drive bays
- AES hardware encryption engine to encrypt shared folders and network data transmission
Price: $670
WD 40TB My Cloud Pro Series PR4100 NAS
This PR4100 NAS device is easy to set up and use with the My Cloud tools that allow you to synchronize media content from all your computers. It offers built-in video transcoding for HD streaming that works with a Plex Media Server. In addition, this NAS device comes with AES 256-bit volume encryption.
Form Factor: Appliance
Media: WD Red Pro NAS Hard drive
Maximum Capacity: 72TB
Key Features:
- Intel Pentium N3710 Quad 1.6GHz Processor
- 4GB of RAM upgradeable to 16 GB RAM
- 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports
- 245 AES hardware encryption
Price: $1,900
Key Features of NAS Devices
NAS devices are ideal for small to midsize businesses because they can fit within a company’s budget. Besides price consideration, there are some key features you want to consider before making a purchase:
Data Security
Business and customer data will be stored on a NAS device that can now be accessed from a business Wi-Fi or cable connected network or possibly remotely through the internet. System administrators can change default ports and enable security options like SSL, firewalls, and two-factor authentication to help protect data. However, for businesses that must protect proprietary data or customers’ data,advanced security options like AES-256 encryption is a requirement.
Seamless integration with other NAS devices
When a NAS device is reaching maximum storage, some NAS devices are able to seamlessly integrate with the current NAS devices online. Synology NAS devices are designed with a plug and play feature to accomplish the integration through its Synology DiskStation Manager that does not require any device to come offline.
Redundant Array Independent Disks (RAID) technology
Most NAS devices use RAID technology to protect data in case of a hard drive failure. There are different RAID levels to use in NAS devices, but the recommended RAID level to use is RAID 5 because it can withstand two concurrent hard drives failing without losing any data.
Backup Operations
Backup operations are a common function in NAS devices. There are some NAS devices that can automatically synchronize backup operations with enhanced backup features like QNAP’s hybrid backup sync feature that automatically backs up QNAP NAS devices or other storage solutions, which requires no manual intervention once configured.
Concurrent Users
Whatever NAS device you decide to buy, you need to make sure it can meet the demands of the number of users that concurrently use the NAS device.. Knowing the maximum number of users that can connect and use the device without degradation of performance is important to know. Additionally, knowing the limitations of your Wi-Fi or cable-connected network is a factor that will influence the performance of your NAS device when it’s reaching concurrent maximum capacity.
Bottom Line: Network Attached Storage Devices
Network Attached Storage devices are an affordable, easy way for businesses to set up or expand network data storage. Compared to general purpose servers, NAS devices are faster and offer easier administration for IT staff. Choosing the right one comes down to identifying needs and matching them to specific features.
