QNAP TS-264 NAS Review - Most Capable 2-Bay NAS?

[@svitroful]

The TS-264 is a great unit and very quick with 8GB or ram, you don't really need 16/32 unless you're doing virtualization. I monitored the drive and unit temp with the front door on and off, and the unit runs about 5-10 degrees Celsius hotter, so I am not using the front cover. I am finally replacing my 11 year old QNAP TS-412, that I have never had any issues with running 24/7 - 4 drives (WS WD20EARX drives) in raid 5 - and have never had a bad drive. QNAP is very good NAS solutions, highly recommend it. Thank you for you review.

[@raychii7361]

Something i saw is the resell value. No matter if you buy a 2 bay nas. Years later you can upgrade to a brand new 4 bay with new hardware and sell the old one.

[@rdbjr52]

Thanks Robbie, well done I was going to upgrade to a 4 bay, but I'm not a storage hound After this review, I'm just going to keep it

[@joemakesfilms]

I bought the 4 bay version and an external 4 bay expansion, use it for 4k video editing and it's absolutely great.

[@Fluera]

I also bought the 4 bay version and agree it’s fantastic. May I ask what external 4 bay expansion you went with? And also, have you added any m.2 nvme’s to it? I’m holding off until I know it will make a difference for navigation/Plex/on-the-fly file editing.

[@InicianteDigital]

​@@Fluerado que li o Raid 6 é melhor para 4 baias. Se fosse 3 baias seria o raid 5.

[@PaulFirmin]

@55:30 I don't understand your comment about not utilizing pro series drives or drivers over 10TB, they would be supported so what's the problem?

[@jewelbriard5444]

One thing i have never been able to figure out is how to use the 2nd 2.5gb network port ? I did buy the qnap 2.5 switch, but can only ever get one or the other port to work, not together to get 5gb, and not even having both enabled at same time. So I only have one enabled. Have not been able to find info or video on this setup. Thank you.

[@mireally]

Is the TS-264 able to accept installed RAM beyond the installed 8 GB RAM like the TS-253D is? If so, what is the brand, type, speed, etc and maximum amount of RAM you can install into the TS-264? And have you (or will you) do a TS-264 RAM upgrade video?

[@MrAlexandarv]

Can you make a comparison between QNAP TS-264 vs QNAP TS-253E ... thanks in advance

[@jewelbriard5444]

Great video. I prefer a 2 bay nas. I also have the previous qnap 253-d and an older qnap 251-b-4gb. I have been waiting for this new 264 model like many others. The increase from 4gb to 8gb will be very welcome. I worry if the ram will go bad in later years such as 6 years later , the machine can not be fixed ?

[@user-ic6xf]

I am trying to choose between the TS-264 and TS-253E with 2.5 inch SSDs or the TBS-464.

[@RonaldSuper7]

OMG. You did a fantastic job... I love this NAS. That HDMI is so useful even if it is not fully fleshed out..

[@CamiloAlarconH]

Hello! In this balck friday I planned to buy my first Nas. And I don't know which one to choose, I'm between these two models: QNAP TS-264 and Synology DS-224+. I want to use it for PLEX and backup photos and maybe 1 or 2 cameras. Thank you

[@MrVicius141280]

Can you tell if this nas work perfect with encoding 4k 100 mbit?

[@r_u_b_y2977]

Question, what would you advise, I want to purchase the TS-464-8G or the 2 bay verion all depends on the following. I also want to use it for my 2 IP camera's. Would a 2 bay more than enough? Or would you advice to go for a 4 bay so that I use one HDD for the IP camera's. Thank you.

[@kryko.]

Yes please do a video on Qtier. Really curious about what the best implementation of Qtier would look in the 6-bay version of this NAS. 2x NVME 4x HDD 2x SSD? 6x HDD with different NVME for separate tiers? Seems like you're spoilt for choice with configuration options.

[@km3481]

I went with QTier for my 453E, made a noticeable difference. Qtier is best if you use many of the same files over and over. Much faster than the drives I have. Would be great if Robbie did a video on it. I went with 2 WD Red 1 TB m2.nvme in Raid 1, added 1tb to my pool which was perfect for me. You really need to use m2.nvme's designed for NAS for maximum life. It was super easy to setup, took just a few minutes. Told the OS just to deal with it... Good luck!

[@km3481]

@@QNAPUK Does it make sense to change the resync priority to the SSD's? How often do items get moved around on the tier with the default settings and is it worth manually doing?

[@stanmalek]

Great video! What would be the best combo/ratio of HDs for this NAS? How big should the NVMe cash should be?

[@derred723]

Nice. very in depth. For me a 2 bay is the clear most likely option. I think i'm more an average person and 2 bay is more approachable especially in these times where everything is so expensive. No real business uses. Just file storage, plex, remote access to music would be a plus and in the future maybe a camera or three. Also as a regular person i too would be concerned about ransomware and file security so maybe i wouldn't store sensitive documents there at all which would kinda suck to have to do but i'd also very much be trying to lock down my nas as secure as possible while still allowing myself to stream music to my phone when away from home.

[@ultraret]

mate just spend the extra hundo quid and make it a 4 bay, Also once you run 3 more drives you are more disk efficient in the raid usage.

[@derred723]

@@ultraret I have no need for 3 drives let alone 4 or to spend $100 more.

[@InicianteDigital]

Enquanto a Qnap não resolver o problema com invasões, as pessoas sentiram-se inseguras.

[@soda64]

qnap ts-264 or synology ds224+ with additional 16gb ram? i need run on this 1 or 3 virtual machines.

[@ZuluKing91]

Also considering this choice. Only getting 1gb network fiber network soon and not seeing any upgrades coming for the coming 5 years at least. Got Apple TV 4k which can do all my transcoding for me. Bought can do docker for pihole, home assistant and torrent containers. My parents have a NAS which I can sync with so that would be my off-site back-up. That leaves just photo storage, ai features, and customizability I guess. What am I missing here?

[@soulreeper222]

Hi @nasccompares, I just got my Ts 264 and while minstalling the m.2 I saw that my ramn is not soldered on like in the video. I can swap it and there are 2 slots. Is that normal and can I upgrade the ram without worrying? thx for the help.

[@nascompares]

Someone else mentioned this to me, yeah. I assume the memory shortages have eased up a bit since this was released. Cheers for the heads up bud.

[@SeifEddineB]

Hi, Just ordered one (ts 264) and to my surprise, it doesn't have ram soldered into it, but I do have two memory slots, just like a laptop, one of them is populated with an 8 gb stick, and the other one is free! Did qnap quietly upgraded their NAS hardware?

[@federicofavaro2616]

Me too...very surprised!! Do you happen to know what the exact model is?

[@SeifEddineB]

@@federicofavaro2616 it's TS-264 only, no special part number, all I can see is two mac addresses for the LAN ports and the SN.

[@federicofavaro2616]

@@SeifEddineB sorry...I meant the memory model, I'm already thinking about buying a second bank.

[@SeifEddineB]

@@federicofavaro2616 well there is something, on Amazon, the product description says: Quad-core Intel Celeron N5105/N5095 4-core/4-thread burst up to 2.9 GHz with 8GB DDR4 RAM (16GB Max) Means it's upgradable to 16gb, but knowing that many Amazon product descriptions are garbage, so I won't rely on it too much. I ordered it from Amazon us, the product title is: QNAP TS-264-8G-US 2 Bay High-Performance Desktop NAS with Intel Celeron Quad-core Processor, M.2 PCIe Slots and Dual 2.5GbE (2.5G/1G/100M) Network Connectivity (Diskless)

[@SeifEddineB]

@@federicofavaro2616 ahh yes, it's equipped with a Transcend TS1GSH64V6B 8gb 2666 mhz I ordered a Crucial RAM CB8GS2666 8GB DDR4 2666 MHz and it works just fine, total RAM is 16gb now 🤠

[@jtlukkari]

I have a Synology DS718+. Plannig to enlarge hdd capacity. At the same time, I'm interested in switching to this Qnap. New Synology NASes are not very appealing any more. Question: I have a Synology D118 as Hyper Backup station. How do I use Synology as backup for Qnap?

[@MrVicius141280]

can you tell me how it works with 4k 200 mbit video?

[@jacobschristopher]

What do people normally use the 2nd ethernet port for usually?

[@jewelbriard5444]

Thank you for this video. Could you do a video installing M.2 for caching ? Along with the software setup ?

[@epposh]

dear NASCompares, which NAS do you use at home? i understand that you have access to every kind of NAS out there, but in the end of the day, which one you chose to store your files on? 🙂

[@nascompares]

One of these days I really need to do an AMA or User Qs stream. I should mention this more. I use a QNAP TS-253A and Synology DS918+ at home (synced, backup + media) and a DS1621xs+ at the office that is remote synced with both Home NAS + a backblaze. Currently playing (personally, not for YT) with Syn C2 Surveillance and I use the QNAP tools for my photo collection and Plex for home media.

[@nascompares]

Also, I should add. All personally bought. I rarely get to keep the samples sadly. The ones I do, you can see in the studio. Cheers for asking bud!

[@epposh]

@@nascompares thank you for the info! very interesting setup! if my upload speed wasn't 20Mb/s, i'd probably consider Backblaze as another level of protection (currently have about 12TB of data)

[@SeifEddineB]

Hello, What is the maximum capacity of the Qnap 264 using only its two bays and 2x nvme? I am planning to order one with 2x Iron Wolf pro 12 gb + 2 x 2gb nvme to be used independently (no mirroring, just separate storage volumes for different types of data), is it possible?

[@kenmcf]

I just got a small Synology 2bay.,..so noisy. How is the noise on this model.

[@DaBud9263]

Does it play Emby and JellyFin as well?

[@willembos01]

Hi @nascompares There is no option to upgrade the RAM and I wonder if 8GB is enough for PLEX and 6 security cameras. Thanks in advance!

[@Airbag888]

Is that a re upload?? I remember saying where are the transfer tests of this review specially over 10gbe

[@tuborice4571]

Hi just thought I'd ask if you heard of the kick-starter for this Storaxa nas? Should be out by summer around $499 dollars. .

[@YorkshireHillbilly]

Are we 100% sure the TS-264's RAM isn't extendable? Mine has 2 traditional slots and only 1 is occupied 🤔

[@nascompares]

The 2 bay and 4 bay differ WILDLY. This was down to hardware shortages in 2021/2022/2023. The first "wave" of 4 bays had non fixed memory (with the -4G model id) and the 2 bay DID have fixed. This was then reversed. And now...it's kinda pot luck. Crazy I know

[@Ronin-xa]

Can you please confirm if the memory is soldered to the board ? Someone on Reddit says to his surprise it's not soldered to the board and he got two slots ??? Can you confirm ? Thanks

[@nascompares]

Hi bud. Yeah, there are conflicting reports on units produced at the start of 2023 (maybe even Q4 '22). When memory shortages were afoot, QNAP seemingly started presoldered memory and 'default 8GB' systems, as pre soldered memory is more cost efficient during storages. However these has seemed to ease a bit and the 2 bay is starting to appear with the 2x sodium slots. HOWEVER, there are also a number of 4 Bays in this series produced during the same period that are 8GB soldered too. It's resulted in messy pricing and stock availability in places and (at least in a few places) stores unknowing selling 8GB units at 4GB pricing. Make sure you shop around a bit! (And use the links in the description to passively support me and Eddie at NASCompares...plug, plug, plug!). Have a great weekend man

[@federicofavaro2616]

@@nascompares I bought the ts-264 last week and received the model with the memory not soldered. There are two slots: one occupied (1x8GB) and one free.

[@marcosscriven]

@@nascompares thanks for clarifying. It's so frustrating as a consumer not knowing for sure what you're going to get.

[@dushshr]

Every store I have seen so far has this TS 264 with Celeron N5095 not N5105, and HDMI 2.0 (not even 2.0b) let alone HDMI 2.1 What am I missing?

[@nascompares]

They are using existing specs from the TS-464 pages and duplicated them for the TS-264...but the 264 was released 8months later and benefitted from a lot of hardware improvements.

[@dushshr]

@@nascompares I see. I hope I can have this in Australia asap. I was going back and forth b/w LOCKERSTOR 4 Gen 2 and TS 264, but if you are correct then it is TS 264 for me. I only need this for Plex. It is very disappointing that LOCKERSTOR 2 Gen 2 cannot have a 10Gbps network card. Thanks for the review. It is very helpful and also all your other reviews.

[@yamato2183]

​@@nascompares Hi! I had the same quaestion, thanks for the answer. Is it normal though that also on the QNAP site the specs are wrong?? Because in their site it is written Celeron N5095 and HDMI 2.0. Can I be confident that it is just a mistake, and that if I buy it, it will be with 5105 and HDMI 2.1? I'm in Italy, I don't know if it's relevant. Thank you for the answer.

[@Luiscofield.]

Hi, I hope you can help me... I have 3 disk on my NAS, the 3rth one it''s just movies and other stuff, but I want to hard reset my NAS, and make a SHR with disk 1 and 2. How could I just do that without losing the info on the 3rth drive? Im planing on formating my NAS without the 3rth disk inserted but after I set up my NAS with disk 1 and 2 , I just insert the third disk on the same bay and Illl have all the info back on that disk or I have to do something else?? Thank you so much

[@bothworld2020]

thanks for the informative

[@willbarger2233]

Hi, I have a Qnap 267L running 2 6tb WD Red Plus. I use it for media storage and serving using Twonkey as well as file storage. Given it's age could you suggest a suitable 2 and 4 drive replacement?

[@willbarger2233]

@@QNAPUK Thanks, the TS-253E-8G are about $670.00 here and another $350.00 or so each for 10TB WD Red Plus or 10TB Seagate Exos at about $390.00. Will have a look. Thanks.

[@Ronin-xa]

I am new to the Nas world , I have just got mine few days ago but I didn't bought yet no Hard drive , my question can i Instal Operating system in the NVME and apps in the SSD is this possible and if yes how many storage i need for nvme to accommodate the qnap nas operating system ? Thanks

[@nascompares]

You can, but only on some manf brands (Synology doesn't support it atm, but a few others, with the latest firmware, do). I would recommend at least two, in a RAID 1 for performance and long term stability for your OS and apps

[@Ronin-xa]

​@@nascompareshow many gigs you would recommend for each one of them ? 500gb or 1TB ? Thanks

[@Cruiseblackpool]

I bought this and had no idea the m2 is capped at 1000 which is such a shame and making me want to get something else. Is there no way to turn off a usb3.2 port and turn off a m2 port to release the extra bandwidth to a single m2 connection?

[@GregoryCunningham]

This is easily the most *cocksure* 2 bay NAS currently available. 😎

[@Артем741]

Nobody of reviewers did not show how HDMI works and what apps can be runned on hdmi.

[@nascompares]

I did a video on this back in 2020/2021 I think, look up QNAP HDMI or HD Station Review. Sadly, it has not received notable updates, that's why I haven't revisited it

[@Артем741]

@@nascomparesthank you! got it

[@AlejandroTaylorEscribano]

Can you have it wake over Ethernet?

[@nascompares]

Yes, absolutely!

[@JohnMuz1]

I don't bother putting the front panel on.

[@tombouie]

Thks &, I see the coolest-geeks all wear classic gold calculator signature watches ;) Oh, DS223+ OR Bust maybe

[@georgehoffman9307]

Shorter...

[@antong3987]

LOL, "Great Video"? Learn to review with authority dude!