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What's the difference with a "real NAS" and a "fake one"
History of the company, being a US Company and not an arm of President Xi, security of your data, support, maturity of the product...list goes on and on. How many generations is UGREEN into for NAS devices vs Synology or QNAP?
On one hand there's claim that ugrann's firmware/bios is capable of stealing info even when used with one's own OS. That'd imply they have extremely strong engineering capability to develop highly sophisticated software to achieve so, attacking from a very low level that's even beneath OS. It'd also imply that either they'd either need to get around intel's microcode signing (which is even more difficult and likely would require finding flaw in asic or rom code logic), or to get intel to collaborate and sign their own evil microcode. Either way, to break through several layers of abstraction from a highly resource constrained environment would require an extremely capable engineering team.
On the other hand, someone claims that they have no engineering capability at all...
Last edited by FeiyeungS October 25, 2024 at 01:16 PM.
I wouldn't touch any China-made NAS with a 10 foot pole. ASUS, Synology, and QNAP are Taiwanese and are safe.
UGreen and Terramaster are Chinese companies that literally, by law, have to do whatever the Communist Party tells them to do.
"But I can install my own software" you say. Yeah but what about the firmware/microcode? I value my privacy and data too much to risk it for the sake of saving $20 or whatever over Syno, and if you want to install your own software you could just build the entire NAS yourself and install UnRAID or FreeNAS or XigmaNAS or whatever.
Good box for running TrueNAS/Unraid. I am personally running Unraid on my DPX4800+. The built in OS, UGOS is pretty bad, missing lots of features for the price point.
I also have a DS923+ from Synology, and the OS (DSM) is miles ahead and easier to use. That being said, I got the DPX4800+ during the 40% pre order pricing, for that price (Sub 500) it is worth it. I dont think at this "sale" price that it is worth it over a Synology DS923+, even though the Ugreen has better specs.
Hate to be on topic too but this is not a hot deal given its pre-order kickstarter price. I would wait for BF.
I just don't think I want to spend so much money on brands UGREEN. $600 can pay for many types of NAS solution, or simply 10+ years of cloud storage.
I also don't understand why I need a powerful processor and 8GB RAM for for NAS.
I am looking for budget friendly ($200 or less) option that lets me use 2+ HDD in a RAID environment.
Because it's not just a NAS when you actually look at the hardware.
The only thing that makes this "NAS adjacent" is the fact that it's set up to rack multiple drives, but you can do far more with it.
The specs wipe the floor with anything similarly priced by Synology or QNAP, starting with the fact that it has a 2.5Gb ethernet port (and the pro models have a 10Gb ethernet port). To add that to a Synology, you're looking at another $125 minimum via an expansion card.
The much faster processor and additional RAM make sense when you run something like Proxmox as your base OS, because it gives you a lot of autonomy to get more services out of one system than being "just a NAS". Being able to turn the machine into a multipurpose server brings the cost down considerably.
It's a rudimentary example, but say you want to run a dedicated Minecraft server. Rather than need a second computer, this could do it while also acting as a full-fledged NAS.
But more generally, people have this running as a NAS while also hosting a Plex/Jellyfin server and possibly an *arr stack, making this an ideal solution for media consumption.
If you're just looking for a basic NAS, even a Raspberry Pi will run OpenMediaVault. It's all a matter of how much performance you want, which is where something like this has a lot of other off the shelf solutions beat.
Last edited by wherestheanykey October 25, 2024 at 02:27 PM.
On one hand there's claim that ugrann's firmware/bios is capable of stealing info even when used with one's own OS. That'd imply they have extremely strong engineering capability to develop highly sophisticated software to achieve so, attacking from a very low level that's even beneath OS. It'd also imply that either they'd either need to get around intel's microcode signing (which is even more difficult and likely would require finding flaw in asic or rom code logic), or to get intel to collaborate and sign their own evil microcode. Either way, to break through several layers of abstraction from a highly resource constrained environment would require an extremely capable engineering team.
On the other hand, someone claims that they have no engineering capability at all...
That's because both of these claims are only imagination (may or may not originate from racism), nothing more.
Why not just build a small PC? It would be cheaper and you'd have more hardware flexibility.
A Small pc in a similar form factor built with new components is likely to cost a fair bit. To get something this small you are looking at an ITX MB which will probably have the wonderful combination of less features and a higher price. Not that 4 SATA ports should be a problem but probably only have 2 SODIMMS to save space etc. Next go looking for a case with toolless drive bays and a backplane and you are going to spend $$$. If you don't care too much about form factor and are okay throwing what ever cheap mATX MB you can get into a random mATX case you should be able to match or beat this price especially if you have some old parts to recycle.
A Small pc in a similar form factor built with new components is likely to cost a fair bit. To get something this small you are looking at an ITX MB which will probably have the wonderful combination of less features and a higher price. Not that 4 SATA ports should be a problem but probably only have 2 SODIMMS to save space etc. Next go looking for a case with toolless drive bays and a backplane and you are going to spend $$$. If you don't care too much about form factor and are okay throwing what ever cheap mATX MB you can get into a random mATX case you should be able to match or beat this price especially if you have some old parts to recycle.
There's definitely some nice ITX boards and cases that fit the bill if you look on Ali.
Specifically, search "NAS board" and you'll find ones that have 4x 2.5Gb ethernet ports, 6 SATA ports, and a good selection of embedded processors.
For cases, Jonsbo has a lot of really appealing offerings.
But you're probably going to come close to spending just as much as these prebuilt units, in addition to the labor (granted, for a potentially better system). The UGREEN is still a good balance between completely doing it yourself and having barely any control with Synology or QNAP.
However, MadPup is just being pedantic, as usual.
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Bought this as part of the Kickstarter and the CPU fan has already started to fail. Makes a really annoying clicking sound even at super low RPMs and they had the genius foresight to use a non-standard CPU fan so it's basically impossible to replace it.
This stupidity is further compounded by that supposedly opening it to the point where you could replace the fan would void the warranty.
From what I've seen on Reddit, those who have had this issue have had ugreen replace it under warranty, but super annoying to have to replace the whole unit.
Should be an easy enough swap, right? Except the drive with the OS requires you to basically disassemble the whole thing, when there's a drive access door for additional drives that stops an inch away. Whoever designed this thing must have never built a computer before or hates people that do.
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Risky product at a high price.
On one hand there's claim that ugrann's firmware/bios is capable of stealing info even when used with one's own OS. That'd imply they have extremely strong engineering capability to develop highly sophisticated software to achieve so, attacking from a very low level that's even beneath OS. It'd also imply that either they'd either need to get around intel's microcode signing (which is even more difficult and likely would require finding flaw in asic or rom code logic), or to get intel to collaborate and sign their own evil microcode. Either way, to break through several layers of abstraction from a highly resource constrained environment would require an extremely capable engineering team.
On the other hand, someone claims that they have no engineering capability at all...
I also don't understand why I need a powerful processor and 8GB RAM for for NAS.
I am looking for budget friendly ($200 or less) option that lets me use 2+ HDD in a RAID environment.
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UGreen and Terramaster are Chinese companies that literally, by law, have to do whatever the Communist Party tells them to do.
"But I can install my own software" you say. Yeah but what about the firmware/microcode? I value my privacy and data too much to risk it for the sake of saving $20 or whatever over Syno, and if you want to install your own software you could just build the entire NAS yourself and install UnRAID or FreeNAS or XigmaNAS or whatever.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/co...hina-state
This is a good buy, and you don't need heavy hacking skills to transform this into a media transcoder machine or a plex server
I also have a DS923+ from Synology, and the OS (DSM) is miles ahead and easier to use. That being said, I got the DPX4800+ during the 40% pre order pricing, for that price (Sub 500) it is worth it. I dont think at this "sale" price that it is worth it over a Synology DS923+, even though the Ugreen has better specs.
I also don't understand why I need a powerful processor and 8GB RAM for for NAS.
I am looking for budget friendly ($200 or less) option that lets me use 2+ HDD in a RAID environment.
The only thing that makes this "NAS adjacent" is the fact that it's set up to rack multiple drives, but you can do far more with it.
The specs wipe the floor with anything similarly priced by Synology or QNAP, starting with the fact that it has a 2.5Gb ethernet port (and the pro models have a 10Gb ethernet port). To add that to a Synology, you're looking at another $125 minimum via an expansion card.
The much faster processor and additional RAM make sense when you run something like Proxmox as your base OS, because it gives you a lot of autonomy to get more services out of one system than being "just a NAS". Being able to turn the machine into a multipurpose server brings the cost down considerably.
It's a rudimentary example, but say you want to run a dedicated Minecraft server. Rather than need a second computer, this could do it while also acting as a full-fledged NAS.
But more generally, people have this running as a NAS while also hosting a Plex/Jellyfin server and possibly an *arr stack, making this an ideal solution for media consumption.
If you're just looking for a basic NAS, even a Raspberry Pi will run OpenMediaVault. It's all a matter of how much performance you want, which is where something like this has a lot of other off the shelf solutions beat.
On one hand there's claim that ugrann's firmware/bios is capable of stealing info even when used with one's own OS. That'd imply they have extremely strong engineering capability to develop highly sophisticated software to achieve so, attacking from a very low level that's even beneath OS. It'd also imply that either they'd either need to get around intel's microcode signing (which is even more difficult and likely would require finding flaw in asic or rom code logic), or to get intel to collaborate and sign their own evil microcode. Either way, to break through several layers of abstraction from a highly resource constrained environment would require an extremely capable engineering team.
On the other hand, someone claims that they have no engineering capability at all...
Specifically, search "NAS board" and you'll find ones that have 4x 2.5Gb ethernet ports, 6 SATA ports, and a good selection of embedded processors.
For cases, Jonsbo has a lot of really appealing offerings.
But you're probably going to come close to spending just as much as these prebuilt units, in addition to the labor (granted, for a potentially better system). The UGREEN is still a good balance between completely doing it yourself and having barely any control with Synology or QNAP.
However, MadPup is just being pedantic, as usual.
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This stupidity is further compounded by that supposedly opening it to the point where you could replace the fan would void the warranty.
From what I've seen on Reddit, those who have had this issue have had ugreen replace it under warranty, but super annoying to have to replace the whole unit.
Should be an easy enough swap, right? Except the drive with the OS requires you to basically disassemble the whole thing, when there's a drive access door for additional drives that stops an inch away. Whoever designed this thing must have never built a computer before or hates people that do.
Leave a Comment