Source: Rich Edmonds / Windows Central
Network-attached storage (NAS) enclosures are small servers that allow you to do some incredible things at home and in the office. Whether you plan to create and run a media server using Plex Media Server or manage a file storage solution, the best NAS for home enclosure is precisely what you require. The thing is, it’s easy to buy the wrong NAS.
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 as we move towards the end of the year. We’re here to help you make the right decision and save some money in the process this Cyber Monday.
Choosing the best NAS for Plex is a little trickier since the processor becomes 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.
Best Cyber Monday NAS deals
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 enclosures available on offer right now.
QNAP TS-451D2-4G | $50 off
The QNAP TS-451D2 is one of the company’s best enclosures for the home and office, offering excellent value. This server has four drive bays, an Intel Celeron J4025 CPU, and 4GB of DDR4 RAM. If you want to run anything from a file server to a Plex Media Server, this is a great system.
QNAP TS-230 | $20 off
The QNAP TS-230 is an affordable two-bay NAS enclosure with a Realtek RTD1296 ARM processor, 2GB of DDR4 RAM, and a single 1Gb LAN port. It’s not the most powerful NAS around, but it’s perfect for your first enclosure or for some file storage.
QNAP TS-253D | $84 off
The QNAP TS-253D is another two-bay NAS, but has an Intel Celeron J4125 quad-core processor, two 2.5Gb LAN ports, plenty of USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports, and an excellent OS. Remember to use discount code BFFRDY36!
QNAP TS-431K | $30 off
This is an affordable NAS with four drive bays, allowing you to pack it full of HDDs. Inside, the QNAP TS-431K is powered by AnnapurnaLabs Alpine AL214 ARM processor, 1GB of DDR3 RAM, and two 1Gb LAN ports.
QNAP TS-251D-4G | $40 off
The QNAP TS-251D is a great NAS for the home. It has 4GB of DDR3L RAM, an Intel Celeron Apollo Lake processor, two drive bays, and a 1Gb LAN port. If you want to set up a backup machine, file server, or home media streaming platform, this is a solid place to start.
Buffalo Terastation 5410DN | $600 off
If you want hard drives to already be installed, configured and the entire NAS ready to go, the Buffalo Terastation 5410DN is a good choice. The price is high largely due to 32TB of storage being pre-installed with all four drive bays populated. Then there’s 10Gb LAN, an Annapurna Labs quad-core processor, and 4GB of DDR3 RAM. Use code BCMAY22327 at checkout to get the full discount.
QNAP TS-453D-4G | $110 off
The TS-453D-4G has the requisite hardware for Plex 4K transcoding, and with 2.5GbE connectivity, four drive bays that can hold up to 64TB, three USB 3.0 ports, and HDMI out, you’re not missing out on any features here. Combine that with easy-to-use software and you get a great package. Use promo code BFFRDY37!
QNAP TS-451D2-4G Bundle (12TB) | 15% off
At this low price, the TS-451D2-4G NAS with four 4TB Seagate IronWolf drives is a bargain. It’s pre-configured and offers 12TB of capacity with SHR (RAID) enabled for data loss protection. It’s a powerful NAS, rocking an Intel Celeron J4025 processor that can handle 4K Plex transcoding and 4GB SO-DIMM DDR4 RAM (can be upgraded to 8GB).
Where to find the best Cyber Monday NAS deals
Cyber Monday NAS deals are expected to start soon (if not already), and we’re keeping tabs on the best sales right here. However, you can always check out individual stores to see for yourself what kind of deals are currently available. Amazon is one of the more popular destinations, but you must be wary of third-party listings and inflated prices.
When do Cyber Monday NAS deals begin?
It’s possible some NAS enclosure deals will go live in the run-up to Cyber Monday. We’ll see the full brunt of promotions on Nov. 26, but retailers are attempting to get ahead by guaranteeing prices right now. Be sure to keep tabs on the aforementioned retailers during the actual week of Cyber Monday, starting Monday, Nov. 22, when we’re hoping to see deals go live.
Don’t be shy if a product you’ve been after for some time is now available for less as the retailer may guarantee the price throughout Cyber Monday, so you won’t feel left out. Just watch out for the guarantee messages to be sure you’re not going to see a lower price closer to Cyber Monday.
Plex Pass lifetime
Plex Pass is an amazing service for anyone with countless GBs worth of movies, shows, and music. It’s what allows you to transform a small NAS enclosure into a powerful media hub. Just remember to use the code LIFETIMEOFCOMFORT to get the 25% discount!
Best Cyber Monday NAS drive deals
You’re going to need a drive or few to store all your data on, which is where our collection of the best Cyber Monday drive deals come into play. Whether you need an affordable 1TB drive or beastly 18TB monster, there’s a deal here for every NAS owner.
Seagate IronWolf 4TB HDD | 19% off
Seagate’s 4TB IronWolf HDD has a 5900 RPM motor and 64MB of cache, making it one amazing HDD for NAS use. If you want to store all your favorite movies, TV shows, photos, and more you’ll need some expansive storage.
Seagate IronWolf 8TB HDD | 18% off
Interestingly, this Seagate IronWolf is double the capacity of the drive above and it’s exactly double the price at a different retailer. this is only required if you’re going to take Plex, surveillance and other NAS uses seriously.
Toshiba N300 4TB HDD | 18% off
Toshiba’s N300 NAS HDD discount range kicks off with the 4TB model, which has a 180TB/yr workload rate and a 7200RPM motor. The data transfer rate caps out at 232MB/s.
Toshiba N300 8TB HDD | 21% off
Doubling the capacity to 8TB will see you able to store much more on your NAS and not lose too much space to RAID reserves. You get the same 180TB/yr workload rate and 7200RPM motor, but data transfer is bumped to 260MB/s.
Toshiba N300 16TB HDD | 15% off
We’re now into the “big boy” territory with a 16TB NAS drive. It also has a 7200RPM motor and 180TB/yr workload rate like the above two drives, but that’s where the similarities end. The data transfer rate for this HDD is 274MB/s and a time between failure of 1,200,000 hours (compared to “just” 1,000,000 hours)
Western Digital Red 3TB HDD | 19% off
We’re used to seeing 1TB NAS HDDs priced at $60 as the entry point, but right now you can multiply that by three to get 3TB for the exact same price!
Western Digital Red Plus 1TB HDD | 8% off
If you’re on a strict budget or only have a two-bay NAS and want to play around with the system before investing far more cash, there’s always this Western Digital Red Plus 1TB drive. It’s at a super-low price of just $45.
Western Digital Red Plus 4TB | $43 off
Western Digital’s Red Plus series of hard drives are specifically designed for NAS use, and the 4TB model is on sale at Best Buy for just $85. Considering the 1TB entry drive is usually $60, this is excellent value for packing your server with storage. It’s a 5,400 RPM drive with a maximum transfer rate of 150MB/s.
Western Digital Red Plus 8TB | $95 off
This is the same as the above Western Digital Red Plus Drive, but with double the capacity. 8TB is a good place to be for a Plex Media Server, especially if you take into account space reserved for RAID.
Western Digital Red Pro 18TB | $240 off
This is about as big as you can get right now with NAS storage. If you want to build a monster of a file server or ensure you have ample space for all your media, look no further than Western Digital’s 18TB NAS drive, currently on sale with a massive $240 discount. You can use up to 24 of these in a single enclosure.
Western Digital 1TB Red SA500 | $33 off
An SSD is still a little niche for NAS enclosures because they’re so expensive compared to HDDs. These drives do bring considerable benefits, however. Namely, there’s less noise, lower power consumption, and no vibrations from a motor. Then you’ve got the enhanced reliability and if you don’t write too much to the SSD it should last far longer.
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