*REQUEST* Hi. I have a request for anyone who ends up buying a UNAS Pro NAS system. I need your help with a video I want to work on in the new year about the "UNAS Pro 3 Months Later" (maybe 6 months, will see how UI approach the updates and roadmap). I know I have hit the 'content button' hard on this device, but as a new entry into the server space from such a well-known player in networking tech, I want to 1) obviously cover as many angles on what users want to know as possible, but also 2) keep the pressure on UI/Ubiquiti to develop this system more and more (and more!), as I think this thing nails the fundamentals very well, but could be more. So, here's my request. If you end up getting this device (or maybe you are a fellow reviewer who will be continuing to work with the system), I want to slot in a video early next year - kind of a "what has happened since launch" piece. A big, big part of that should be what real-world users think of it, did it meet expectations and did you stick with it, or abandon it as 'a fun play thing' and little else? If you can provide your input below in the comments or directly to me on robbie (at) nascompares , that would be awesome and of course, all those individually featured will be credited and linked appropriately. No worries otherwise, and cheers for reading! Have a bloody great week.
I agree with another comment elsewhere on this video. It’s not a server, in the sense of something that delivers “apps,” it’s a network attached STORAGE device. While I love my 6-bay Synology NAS, I only use it for storage and find the all of the other software that is available for it overwhelming, confusing, and unnecessary. If I was starting from scratch today, not just with a NAS but with a whole networking infrastructure, I would be looking seriously at UniFi. That said, I also find their ecosystem over-whelming complex and have yet to find any videos, including yours, that take a deep breath and walk through the installation and configuration slowly and thoroughly, explaining each feature in terms of: 1) what is does, and 2) why you might (or might not) need it or want to use it.
What I don't understand is, that most people criticise the fact that it can't run apps (through docker, etc.). Its a network attached storage solution, not a server. Sure, other brands offer that functionality, but it's not really what a nas is for. If you have the money to buy a NAS, then you most certainly also have the money to buy a raspberry pi and run containers on there. I think that the UNAS Pro is something a small business would use in conjunction with an actual server.
That's all very true. But we also cannot ignore that the standard of what a NAS server can "do" in 2024 has changed alot. Even 10 years ago, "just storage" was already looking a bit underwhelming. So, I 100% see your point and agree that there IS an audience for a device like this that wants 'pure storage', but that audience is also mixed with new users and new competitors offering just...well.. more.
I’m with you. I have unRAID for my movies on slow 5400rpm drives because that’s all they need but in the market for a proper NAS that’s faster for everything but movies. I don’t run docker containers on unRAID because I have dedicated hardware for my workloads. So the UNAS’ price point is very compelling since it doesn’t come with the extra capabilities I don’t need and is priced accordingly. I’m not in a rush so I’ll let UniFi iron out the early kinks but I’m really glad they went the direction they did. Lack of NVR support is the only big miss out of the gate in my book.
@nascompares Fully agree on that. In my view, these kinds of UniFi products are more tailored to small businesses, than the normal end user. As an end user sure, I would like to have these kinds of features. As a business, I would put that onto a dedicated server. It's just something that seemingly everybody criticises. There are other types of features that would be more important to implement. But for that price you really can't complain much
You have to meet the market where it’s at. Otherwise, profits will suffer and perhaps turn into losses. I guess time will tell if UniFi’s experiment in the NAS arena will be successful. Or not.
If you really want to run apps get an older Mac mini or get a small form factor pc, etc. NAS’s are not meant to be docker/k8s hosts nor would I want them to be. Focus on storage, that’s all I care about
Maybe it's just me but I love it. I love the single NAS idea, the way is made to be an Unifi NAS and nothing more. I own a synology nas but since the day one I separated the file storage part from the server applications. My point is, if you want a rackable NAS, dedicated to being a NAS and nothing else..this is for you. If not, maybe take a look at other brands.
UNAS arrived about 30 minutes ago. She's already up and running, and I was pleasantly surprised to find NFS shares are already an available service! That was my main gripe when I purchased. Taking notes for you now, will keep on it and am happy to provide updates as I go.
Thanks for the informative video! How does this device detect a power outage when connected to a UPS system? Typically, this is done using a USB cable between the NAS and the UPS, but I couldn’t spot a USB port in the pictures I’ve seen. Could you please clarify?
I like the fact that it's a NAS, and nothing else. I see the addition of 3rd party apps just adding potential attack vectors. For the price savings, one can add a couple of Raspberry PIs, and configure how you want.
Does it work with active directory? We have a separate server for managing our windows clients via active directory. Would this nas work in conjunction with that?
I have a Synology 920+ already and have a bunch of Unifi cameras, switches, and Dream Machine Pro SE and I'll be picking up the UNAS Pro when it comes back into stock. I have 6 8TB drives in an old computer I used for a NAS before I got my Synology that I'll use for the UNAS Pro (thankfully unlike Synology, you can use pretty much any drive without it complaining). I like the 10GB port, which the best my 920+ can do is bonded 1GB links. I'll run 3rd party apps on the 920+ and to start with, use the UNAS to backup my 920+ in a NAS to NAS backup system. I hope they will be updating the features quickly. The one I would love to have multiple storage pools. That should be able to be added at a later date though. Might have to reformat all the drives, but should be doable.
If they add the option to backup workstations and restore them directly to the machine, or do bare metal backups from an ISO, I’d be all over this thing. I’d pay more for it too
That is good for homelab - you have storage, and you can add whatever standalone proxmox that will work with that. No point in having 128core cpu in nas, and to be able to make everyone happy. They got storage, you can diy whatever you want to work with that but data is perfectly safe. I might switch feom synology at some point for great form factor- i like rack mount. In Synology its absolutely crazy priced
The Unifi lineup is full of devices that are simple, and do their tasks simply. So I doubt very much that they are going to allow any third party software to run on them. The reason that the hardware is fairly anemic in comparison to other NAS hardware is that the Unifi UNAS is only a NAS. It has only enough hardware to do what it is designed to do. Which makes it more price and energy efficient in the process.
im curious why you seem to say that the rps port on the back is for ups, not the redundant psu port plug-in it actually is, unless i misunderstand what your saying here. at 6:23, it shows that rps port that allows an effective power supply backup/redundancy for your box when you plug into the unifi power backup
Hey, thanks for the video! I have a question about the backup feature with two NAS setups. If I set one up at home and the other at my business, will I still be able to use the home NAS for personal data while also having it back up the business NAS? Or will the business backup limit my home NAS to only serving that purpose? Thanks!
Thanks for the review! I buy storage, for storage. I have servers, I don't need (or want docker/containers). It has to hold hard drives, and put them into a RAID. I would appreciate finer grained controls over the RAID level and stripe width and size, as well as performant expansion options. m.2 Cache would be a good thing for 10 Gb networks as well. But all in all, I think this is a solid firt offering from Unifi. I just hope that that they add RAID6 to the feature set soon.
I likely won't buy it because it lacks all the stuff that my Synology can do - Plex and a pretty good security system. But for the price, 7 bays and 10gb Ethernet and rack mountable, it's a pretty amazing value. For a $499 server, you shouldn't expect redundant power supplies, and dual 10gbe. If the ARM processor makes it consume less power, that's great for most people. If I were doing a ton of video production, a 7 bay raid would be fast enough for 4k prores work. I think it's an amazing solution for most people.
As someone who has a slow internet connection, little money and takes lots of videos and photos. The 4 bay UNVR is a better device for me to be running as a sharable file server for my clients to view content
Tbh at that price it does exactly what I need Cheap nas that I connect to a mini pc to run all my apps And buying those 2 things is still cheaper than a comparable synology
Nice. Please make a fresh comment after a week or so of using it and tell me what you think of it. Need much, much more real world opinions out there shared! Not just "TH-cam" knobbers like me! Thanks
Cheers bud. No need to go nuts etc, just a little feedback after X about of time time (at least a month if possible, but ideally Jan '25 onwards) about how you've found it. Cheers man
As I recall, it was 7x 8TB (4 Toshiba MG08 and ³x WD Red pro - I was short on media). More detail on the power consumption and tests is in the longer "massive" review
Managed to buy the UNAS this morning. Cannot wait to get it loaded with drives, move everything from my annoying ASUSTOR over, and setup a headless Mac mini M4. Admittedly the Mac mini is overkill for Plex, but I’d rather have the headroom and flexibility. Thank you for this vid validating my reasons for getting the UNAS Pro.
This is perfect for me... I have other servers for Virtual stuff.. I just wanted a NAS. They have a another system for cams . I will be picking one of these up for sure!
Wow, I saw many videos about, but I had no idea you can have only one storage pool until I saw this video. This is huge problem for many people and it just kills it for me. That's a shame, because it would be otherwise a perfect NAS for me. Hopefully they will fix it in software update.
Nice addition to the Unifi collection. It is network storage only with a 10gb connection. No need to compare to Synology or QNAP can be used a backup to Synology or QNAP.
I like the idea of this NAS and I'm tempted to pick one up today, but I'm not a fan of being the first in line for a new product like I used to be. This machine is exactly what I've wanted for ages. A good, solid name brand rack mount NAS without the gold plating I'll never use.
Tbh, it's the software that should sell a decent NAS server. Keep an eye on the NAS OS updates over time to see if/when the best time for you to hope in is
I still don't think focusing on the NA_S_ (S is for Storage) part of the equation is as problematic as some make it out to be. There are tons of small computers out there for super cheap that can be container hosts that will run circles around Synology, if containers and server features are concerned. But if what you want is centralized (network) STORAGE, nothing can touch this 7-bay beast, for the money. I keep seeing people (and reviewers) complaining about the lack of dual PSUs, as well. I'm split on this one: One the one hand, for hardcore business work, I 100% agree: We only buy storage with dual hot swap PSUs, at work. But on the other hand... which Synology and QNAP and TerraMaster NASes actually have that feature? Complaining that this doesn't have the container features the others have, and then simultaneously complaining that it lacks the thing the others on the market lack, seems a bit much. Again, for HIGH END business use, I agree completely. But when was a $500 NAS a serious contender in the Enterprise NAS market? The single storage pool thing bothers me the most, for my personal use. But that's also the thing most likely to be addressed in future software updates. Well, that, and no M2 slots for Caching, which obviously won't be addressed until the next round of hardware updates... perhaps a UNAS Pro? (throw in a second SPF+ port, too) Adding Protect is an interesting idea that I'd love to see. I wonder if the processor and hardware can manage a ton of cameras AND heavy network storage access, at the same time? Again, that may need to wait for future hardware upgrades (or a Pro/"Enterprise" version).
I think you are being slightly unfair on you negative points (except for Protect). To get the options and features you say are lacking, would completely change the price point. And how much do you have to spend with the competition to get all those features you mention. A hell of a lot more than $499
Im a major UniFi fan.. hell I even have my garage door opening with a tap of my mobile phone!! I have a sizeable Synology NAS but actually dont love DSM.. BUT using Synology Drive like a local OneDrive feature is difficult to give up for simple SMB shares and Active Backup for Business automatically backing up the entire family set of computers has saved my bacon in more than one occasion... as much as I think the UNAS Pro looks great and fits with my rest of my network, I'm more likely to end up buying another Synology to backup my NAS than the UNAS Pro.
I actually really like the system, but i really do want separate storage pools so j can have a local on machine backup of a faster and smaller SSD array onto HDDs. Im also hoping they give us an AI enabled photo storage system so i can atop using google photos as much or at all. But aside from that i think this thing just being a NAS and not much else is not a weakness in my eyes.
To me, this video shows me 10 reasons to BUY an UNAS-PRO. 😁 As soon as RAID6 is added to the features, my aging WD EX4100 is going to the IT Heaven. My 10G Link Aggregation switch is eagerly awaiting his new UNAS-PRO brother.
I mean *glances at script* I definitely buggered the plan up a bit if you saw this as 10 reasons Pro and 0 reasons Con...but I get your point, the cons (and indeed the Pros at points) are relative arguements. I'd like to hope this video serves as a "Before you pay down your $499 smackers, that you know the full score of the device). Cheers for watching and commenting
Dood you got one of those EX4100's too? I've had a love-hate relationship with mine over the years. I then benched it after WD got hacked. I just ordered it new drives this morning, Think I'm going to fire it back up and try using it as a backup for the UNAS.
@@vapurade Don't forget to DISABLE the Cloud functionality on the EX4100. If used solely on the LAN it works like a dream. And it will be a great backup option for the UNAS-PRO.
I tend to think that this is a test or research device. It’s as basic as one can get but discussions on it will bring about information on what people really want. I really considered this purchase but several things told me to wait. I’d love a device that is simple. But… it needs a processor that will be able to obtain a 10gb transfer rate. My synology’s can do that with just the spinning drives. I can see this device choking under a heavy load. Second, user management is too simplistic. I’d like to see the ability to create user groups to make assignments for folder access easier. Third, like you said, it needs to have the ability to expand storage beyond its own case and I would add the ability to provide iscsi service. And fourth, I’d like the ability to add memory. Thanks.
Cheers for the detailed input man. Said it before and I'll say it again, the more feedback this system gets from real world users (not just TH-cam knobbers like me), the better UI can make this product moving forward
ok, so for me, give me double the height, 14 bays, 12 for my spinners, 2 for my SSD caching, give me snapshotting, 3rd party apps like plex, hybrid raid and an even semi decent CPU to cover encryption overhead and i will pay 4x-6x this price without even thinking possibly more
Rack mount device with singlenpower supply missing one ? For the price tag probably you can buy two device instead of one when spending same budget for "proper" turkey rack mount storage soultion And the software solution from this company looks more promising in stability and security compare to synology and qnap Plus they have a own ecosystem ( although a bit pricy compare to consumer/ home use product)
This gentleman does keep mentioning that it only has one power supply This is incorrect. The other port on the back is a USP-RPS designed to work with Unifi's secondary power supply solution. If you have an all-Unifi rack, then you just buy one of those suckers and a bunch of cables and boom all of your devices have backup power.
Would it be possible to see what happens when you swap drives from one unit to another unit? How do you restore your data? With a single PS, you would need to swap out chassis, thus having to move your drives.
Since this is the same unit as the UNVR pro, I assume that when you swap drives from one unit to another, it’ll tell you it needs to just reformat it and wipe whatever’s on that drive. That’s what happens when I move my drive from my UDM Pro to my dedicated UNVR Pro
For 499 or the cost a couple of medium size drives a business can pull the drives and put them into the enterprise NAS when it comes out. So that’s not a big con.
Great review and viedos on Unifi’s new NAS. Tempting but no, not at this point. I’ll keep using my Synology NAS systems. I know what they can do and have to offer.
it really looks more like a backend device, set and forget, backups only, maybe appealing to Synology/QNAP/Proxmox users that may migrate to SSD-only "server" build and looking for just backup bulk storage "elsewhere"
Good description, agree completely. Only reason I cannot make a video that says precisely that, is that frankly there are definitely users who will use this devices as their primary, and just want a cloud alternative. Cheers for commenting bud!
Tbh that's the main reason for this video, that it should be available to buy from today (check the link in the description, not only does it support NASCompares via commission, but also I checked it earlier from UK and I could add it to my basket). This video is basically a "before you buy it - here is the skinny" vid. Hope that came across
My main criticism is its only got one 10gb nic and one psu not ideal for a "pro" device . Other than that i really like it. Something that cant be fixed by sw update. My other critisms.are mostly sw based so can easily be fixed. I dont really care about apps as i run xcp-ng /XO pool(cluster), i have apps coming out of my ears .
The functionality of this is probably comparable to my Thecus N5200 from way back in 2006......and that was already crappy back then. The rather decent price though suggests it is actually an alpha test at the customers expense. You gotta start somewhere.....ARM NAS are just not versatile enough when it comes to the things you mentioned like containers, VMs (especially Windows Server VMs)...and soldered the memory to the board? come on.......Ubiquiti, you can do better. And the performance is just meh.....but then again for the price, it's probably not that bad.
I work in a school with two block, on the main one we have servers in a rackmount 1m depth, on the small one we have a small rack with switch and unifi dream machine, we use a VPN to share user files with the remote lab, but is slow. I've made a replica of our DC ... and now I think I'll di the same for data. UNAS pro is definitively what we need. Does't care much about the "UNIFI system" is just form factor, depth, cost. No virtual machine No docker ... we need NAS. I complain about storage topology, and filesystem ... unknown zfs (8Gb???) xfs btrfs ext4 ntfs??? who knows? How file corruption is checked or solved? Is just my scenario.
Depends on what you need. For software, Synology..or for DiY UnRAID or TrueNAS Scale. For hardware AND software, QNAP. For Hardware value, Asustor. And for Hardware low cost, Terramaster. Oh and DiY, if you have the time and the knowhow...winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Hi! I get that the hardware is ”underwhelming” BUT it is designed to store and share data. No apps docker or other stuff. If you want a server. Get a server. For what it is supposed to do hardware isn’t lacking. One storage pool. Again. Use case. I understand that you might want different storage pools for different uses on the same system BUT this system ONLY serve files. So there is no need for more than one storage pool here. Folders and accounts are enough separation. Come ON. A $499 device with tiers of disks? Not really realistic. Yes. Converging UNVR pro and UNAS Pro is a no brainer. It’s basically the same device purposed differently. But now when Protext can use NAS for archiving you could use an UDMP UNVR / Pro for protext and archive to UNAS which kind of makes sense. NO. Apps aren’t missing. This is NOT that kind of device. We use QNAP NAS for backups at work. We NEVER use apps on them. That is just bloat. For workloads we use virtualized clustered Linux servers windows servers and SAN drives or HCI clusters. NAS devices are great as slower tier backup storage or SMB file shares. That is the audience for this NAS. Not hobbyist home labs running pinhole in docker. That market belongs to QNAP and Synology
I hear you. But my pov is that we have a comparatively big brand in the world of networking devices that is entering the NAS space, when there are already big and established NAS players in the market. What/if it brings something new to buyers, how it compares with the status quo and whether it's just a fad system are questions that new NAS users and buyers will want to know.
Yeah, to be fair, for the H/W on offer here, this challenges even DiY. I have perhaps a more diverse opinion on where the software platform is at right now for the system, but in terms of hardware price, it's an easy sell
@@nascompares I'd say the biggest challenge for DIY is the (simplicity of) software here, unless someone clever comes up with hacked UNAS bootloader (like xpenology) :D because frankly even popular TrueNAS in latest build fails to deliver basic 1st party file browser/manager
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*REQUEST* Hi. I have a request for anyone who ends up buying a UNAS Pro NAS system. I need your help with a video I want to work on in the new year about the "UNAS Pro 3 Months Later" (maybe 6 months, will see how UI approach the updates and roadmap). I know I have hit the 'content button' hard on this device, but as a new entry into the server space from such a well-known player in networking tech, I want to 1) obviously cover as many angles on what users want to know as possible, but also 2) keep the pressure on UI/Ubiquiti to develop this system more and more (and more!), as I think this thing nails the fundamentals very well, but could be more. So, here's my request. If you end up getting this device (or maybe you are a fellow reviewer who will be continuing to work with the system), I want to slot in a video early next year - kind of a "what has happened since launch" piece. A big, big part of that should be what real-world users think of it, did it meet expectations and did you stick with it, or abandon it as 'a fun play thing' and little else? If you can provide your input below in the comments or directly to me on robbie (at) nascompares , that would be awesome and of course, all those individually featured will be credited and linked appropriately. No worries otherwise, and cheers for reading! Have a bloody great week.
Sure Robbie. I bought it. I'll send my info to you momentarily.
I ordered one today along with 7 WD Red Pros. Happy to provide any feedback, but not sure if you're looking for contact info now or later.
I agree with another comment elsewhere on this video. It’s not a server, in the sense of something that delivers “apps,” it’s a network attached STORAGE device. While I love my 6-bay Synology NAS, I only use it for storage and find the all of the other software that is available for it overwhelming, confusing, and unnecessary. If I was starting from scratch today, not just with a NAS but with a whole networking infrastructure, I would be looking seriously at UniFi. That said, I also find their ecosystem over-whelming complex and have yet to find any videos, including yours, that take a deep breath and walk through the installation and configuration slowly and thoroughly, explaining each feature in terms of: 1) what is does, and 2) why you might (or might not) need it or want to use it.
It be awesome to use Unas pro as a plex server ;)
What I don't understand is, that most people criticise the fact that it can't run apps (through docker, etc.). Its a network attached storage solution, not a server. Sure, other brands offer that functionality, but it's not really what a nas is for. If you have the money to buy a NAS, then you most certainly also have the money to buy a raspberry pi and run containers on there. I think that the UNAS Pro is something a small business would use in conjunction with an actual server.
That's all very true. But we also cannot ignore that the standard of what a NAS server can "do" in 2024 has changed alot. Even 10 years ago, "just storage" was already looking a bit underwhelming. So, I 100% see your point and agree that there IS an audience for a device like this that wants 'pure storage', but that audience is also mixed with new users and new competitors offering just...well.. more.
I’m with you. I have unRAID for my movies on slow 5400rpm drives because that’s all they need but in the market for a proper NAS that’s faster for everything but movies. I don’t run docker containers on unRAID because I have dedicated hardware for my workloads. So the UNAS’ price point is very compelling since it doesn’t come with the extra capabilities I don’t need and is priced accordingly. I’m not in a rush so I’ll let UniFi iron out the early kinks but I’m really glad they went the direction they did. Lack of NVR support is the only big miss out of the gate in my book.
@nascompares Fully agree on that. In my view, these kinds of UniFi products are more tailored to small businesses, than the normal end user. As an end user sure, I would like to have these kinds of features. As a business, I would put that onto a dedicated server. It's just something that seemingly everybody criticises. There are other types of features that would be more important to implement. But for that price you really can't complain much
You have to meet the market where it’s at. Otherwise, profits will suffer and perhaps turn into losses. I guess time will tell if UniFi’s experiment in the NAS arena will be successful. Or not.
If you really want to run apps get an older Mac mini or get a small form factor pc, etc. NAS’s are not meant to be docker/k8s hosts nor would I want them to be. Focus on storage, that’s all I care about
Without a USB port, what is the solution for monthly-full and daily-incremental LOCAL backup?
Maybe it's just me but I love it. I love the single NAS idea, the way is made to be an Unifi NAS and nothing more. I own a synology nas but since the day one I separated the file storage part from the server applications. My point is, if you want a rackable NAS, dedicated to being a NAS and nothing else..this is for you. If not, maybe take a look at other brands.
Nice, solid points. Cheers bud
UNAS arrived about 30 minutes ago. She's already up and running, and I was pleasantly surprised to find NFS shares are already an available service! That was my main gripe when I purchased. Taking notes for you now, will keep on it and am happy to provide updates as I go.
I love how you just get to the point.. TY for the Video. From one I.T. guy to another.
Thanks for the kind words and the positive vibes bud!
What’s the disk and storage structure? LVM with BTRFS on top? If it was ZFS, they’d be singing it from the rooftops, so it isn’t that.
Can you tell me if it has the option to put the HDDs into hibernation after a certain period of inactivity?
Thanks for the informative video! How does this device detect a power outage when connected to a UPS system? Typically, this is done using a USB cable between the NAS and the UPS, but I couldn’t spot a USB port in the pictures I’ve seen. Could you please clarify?
I like the fact that it's a NAS, and nothing else. I see the addition of 3rd party apps just adding potential attack vectors. For the price savings, one can add a couple of Raspberry PIs, and configure how you want.
Fairplay
Does it work with active directory? We have a separate server for managing our windows clients via active directory. Would this nas work in conjunction with that?
I have a Synology 920+ already and have a bunch of Unifi cameras, switches, and Dream Machine Pro SE and I'll be picking up the UNAS Pro when it comes back into stock. I have 6 8TB drives in an old computer I used for a NAS before I got my Synology that I'll use for the UNAS Pro (thankfully unlike Synology, you can use pretty much any drive without it complaining). I like the 10GB port, which the best my 920+ can do is bonded 1GB links.
I'll run 3rd party apps on the 920+ and to start with, use the UNAS to backup my 920+ in a NAS to NAS backup system. I hope they will be updating the features quickly. The one I would love to have multiple storage pools. That should be able to be added at a later date though. Might have to reformat all the drives, but should be doable.
If they add the option to backup workstations and restore them directly to the machine, or do bare metal backups from an ISO, I’d be all over this thing. I’d pay more for it too
I’d love to see this do iscsi. I can see myself using this as a shared storage for my proxmox cluster at home.
That is good for homelab - you have storage, and you can add whatever standalone proxmox that will work with that. No point in having 128core cpu in nas, and to be able to make everyone happy. They got storage, you can diy whatever you want to work with that but data is perfectly safe. I might switch feom synology at some point for great form factor- i like rack mount. In Synology its absolutely crazy priced
The Unifi lineup is full of devices that are simple, and do their tasks simply. So I doubt very much that they are going to allow any third party software to run on them. The reason that the hardware is fairly anemic in comparison to other NAS hardware is that the Unifi UNAS is only a NAS. It has only enough hardware to do what it is designed to do. Which makes it more price and energy efficient in the process.
They restocked today. I ordered one
N'oice
im curious why you seem to say that the rps port on the back is for ups, not the redundant psu port plug-in it actually is, unless i misunderstand what your saying here. at 6:23, it shows that rps port that allows an effective power supply backup/redundancy for your box when you plug into the unifi power backup
Hey, thanks for the video! I have a question about the backup feature with two NAS setups. If I set one up at home and the other at my business, will I still be able to use the home NAS for personal data while also having it back up the business NAS? Or will the business backup limit my home NAS to only serving that purpose? Thanks!
Thanks for the review! I buy storage, for storage. I have servers, I don't need (or want docker/containers). It has to hold hard drives, and put them into a RAID. I would appreciate finer grained controls over the RAID level and stripe width and size, as well as performant expansion options. m.2 Cache would be a good thing for 10 Gb networks as well. But all in all, I think this is a solid firt offering from Unifi. I just hope that that they add RAID6 to the feature set soon.
I likely won't buy it because it lacks all the stuff that my Synology can do - Plex and a pretty good security system.
But for the price, 7 bays and 10gb Ethernet and rack mountable, it's a pretty amazing value. For a $499 server, you shouldn't expect redundant power supplies, and dual 10gbe. If the ARM processor makes it consume less power, that's great for most people. If I were doing a ton of video production, a 7 bay raid would be fast enough for 4k prores work. I think it's an amazing solution for most people.
you dont need docker and bloat on a NAS - it is a dedicated NAS as in Network Attached Storage
I get ya. But to some, an appliance that combines storage and hypervisors etc is a net plus. But I see your point!
As someone who has a slow internet connection, little money and takes lots of videos and photos. The 4 bay UNVR is a better device for me to be running as a sharable file server for my clients to view content
Tbh at that price it does exactly what I need
Cheap nas that I connect to a mini pc to run all my apps
And buying those 2 things is still cheaper than a comparable synology
I bought that baby right at 7am when the page refreshed. No regrets. Cant wait.
Nice. Please make a fresh comment after a week or so of using it and tell me what you think of it. Need much, much more real world opinions out there shared! Not just "TH-cam" knobbers like me! Thanks
i ordered it around 7:45am. so stoked.
I bought it today around 8:00 a.m. LOL
@@nascompares Ha, will do. I'm genuinely curious if it can be used as a work horse. But that lack of ram cashing makes me have doubts. We'll see.
which drives did you get?
Was looking to add this as a backup tool for my current nas and server, at the price and 7 bays to me its seems to be a no brainer
I mean, cannot argue with you on that price. Almost comically priced for what it is.
I ordered one, would be happy to provide usage and input and how it slots into my setup over the next couple months.
Cheers bud. No need to go nuts etc, just a little feedback after X about of time time (at least a month if possible, but ideally Jan '25 onwards) about how you've found it. Cheers man
@ aye aye captain
How is the raid10 speed with 6 disks?
Can someone who has the NAS tell the power consumption of the NAS? And how many hard drives does he use? I would be interested
As I recall, it was 7x 8TB (4 Toshiba MG08 and ³x WD Red pro - I was short on media). More detail on the power consumption and tests is in the longer "massive" review
Managed to buy the UNAS this morning. Cannot wait to get it loaded with drives, move everything from my annoying ASUSTOR over, and setup a headless Mac mini M4. Admittedly the Mac mini is overkill for Plex, but I’d rather have the headroom and flexibility. Thank you for this vid validating my reasons for getting the UNAS Pro.
Pretty sure I am headed in the same direction.
I have a qnap h1288x for mine a mac studio pro unboxxed I was gonna use haha
And now I'm really looking forward to you highlighting the (assuredly) upcoming NAS hard drive sales around cybermonday/etc.
This is perfect for me... I have other servers for Virtual stuff.. I just wanted a NAS. They have a another system for cams . I will be picking one of these up for sure!
Wow, I saw many videos about, but I had no idea you can have only one storage pool until I saw this video. This is huge problem for many people and it just kills it for me. That's a shame, because it would be otherwise a perfect NAS for me. Hopefully they will fix it in software update.
Nice addition to the Unifi collection. It is network storage only with a 10gb connection. No need to compare to Synology or QNAP can be used a backup to Synology or QNAP.
Again, I see your point. But the reality is that alot of new buyers ARE going to compare them.
I like the idea of this NAS and I'm tempted to pick one up today, but I'm not a fan of being the first in line for a new product like I used to be.
This machine is exactly what I've wanted for ages. A good, solid name brand rack mount NAS without the gold plating I'll never use.
Tbh, it's the software that should sell a decent NAS server. Keep an eye on the NAS OS updates over time to see if/when the best time for you to hope in is
Hi! have tried integrating it with a microsoft account yet?
Are there any drive restrictions when using this NAS, like Synology with certain models?
I still don't think focusing on the NA_S_ (S is for Storage) part of the equation is as problematic as some make it out to be. There are tons of small computers out there for super cheap that can be container hosts that will run circles around Synology, if containers and server features are concerned. But if what you want is centralized (network) STORAGE, nothing can touch this 7-bay beast, for the money.
I keep seeing people (and reviewers) complaining about the lack of dual PSUs, as well. I'm split on this one: One the one hand, for hardcore business work, I 100% agree: We only buy storage with dual hot swap PSUs, at work. But on the other hand... which Synology and QNAP and TerraMaster NASes actually have that feature? Complaining that this doesn't have the container features the others have, and then simultaneously complaining that it lacks the thing the others on the market lack, seems a bit much. Again, for HIGH END business use, I agree completely. But when was a $500 NAS a serious contender in the Enterprise NAS market?
The single storage pool thing bothers me the most, for my personal use. But that's also the thing most likely to be addressed in future software updates. Well, that, and no M2 slots for Caching, which obviously won't be addressed until the next round of hardware updates... perhaps a UNAS Pro? (throw in a second SPF+ port, too)
Adding Protect is an interesting idea that I'd love to see. I wonder if the processor and hardware can manage a ton of cameras AND heavy network storage access, at the same time? Again, that may need to wait for future hardware upgrades (or a Pro/"Enterprise" version).
I think you are being slightly unfair on you negative points (except for Protect). To get the options and features you say are lacking, would completely change the price point. And how much do you have to spend with the competition to get all those features you mention. A hell of a lot more than $499
Im a major UniFi fan.. hell I even have my garage door opening with a tap of my mobile phone!! I have a sizeable Synology NAS but actually dont love DSM.. BUT using Synology Drive like a local OneDrive feature is difficult to give up for simple SMB shares and Active Backup for Business automatically backing up the entire family set of computers has saved my bacon in more than one occasion... as much as I think the UNAS Pro looks great and fits with my rest of my network, I'm more likely to end up buying another Synology to backup my NAS than the UNAS Pro.
Can't argue with you there man... I wouldn't want to. Cheers for sharing bud
Interested but...unless my DS920+ dies and until the offer something like Active Backup for Google, I will have to wait.
Fairplay!
I actually really like the system, but i really do want separate storage pools so j can have a local on machine backup of a faster and smaller SSD array onto HDDs.
Im also hoping they give us an AI enabled photo storage system so i can atop using google photos as much or at all. But aside from that i think this thing just being a NAS and not much else is not a weakness in my eyes.
To me, this video shows me 10 reasons to BUY an UNAS-PRO. 😁
As soon as RAID6 is added to the features, my aging WD EX4100 is going to the IT Heaven. My 10G Link Aggregation switch is eagerly awaiting his new UNAS-PRO brother.
I mean *glances at script* I definitely buggered the plan up a bit if you saw this as 10 reasons Pro and 0 reasons Con...but I get your point, the cons (and indeed the Pros at points) are relative arguements. I'd like to hope this video serves as a "Before you pay down your $499 smackers, that you know the full score of the device). Cheers for watching and commenting
Dood you got one of those EX4100's too? I've had a love-hate relationship with mine over the years. I then benched it after WD got hacked. I just ordered it new drives this morning, Think I'm going to fire it back up and try using it as a backup for the UNAS.
@@vapurade Don't forget to DISABLE the Cloud functionality on the EX4100. If used solely on the LAN it works like a dream. And it will be a great backup option for the UNAS-PRO.
I tend to think that this is a test or research device. It’s as basic as one can get but discussions on it will bring about information on what people really want. I really considered this purchase but several things told me to wait.
I’d love a device that is simple. But… it needs a processor that will be able to obtain a 10gb transfer rate. My synology’s can do that with just the spinning drives. I can see this device choking under a heavy load.
Second, user management is too simplistic. I’d like to see the ability to create user groups to make assignments for folder access easier.
Third, like you said, it needs to have the ability to expand storage beyond its own case and I would add the ability to provide iscsi service.
And fourth, I’d like the ability to add memory.
Thanks.
Cheers for the detailed input man. Said it before and I'll say it again, the more feedback this system gets from real world users (not just TH-cam knobbers like me), the better UI can make this product moving forward
I bought mine at 2:30 pm eastern time zone. I had to justify buying it.
Unifi need to focus more on their core products.
ok, so for me, give me double the height, 14 bays, 12 for my spinners, 2 for my SSD caching, give me snapshotting, 3rd party apps like plex, hybrid raid and an even semi decent CPU to cover encryption overhead and i will pay 4x-6x this price without even thinking possibly more
Rack mount device with singlenpower supply missing one ?
For the price tag probably you can buy two device instead of one when spending same budget for "proper" turkey rack mount storage soultion
And the software solution from this company looks more promising in stability and security compare to synology and qnap
Plus they have a own ecosystem ( although a bit pricy compare to consumer/ home use product)
Cheers for commenting again bud!
This gentleman does keep mentioning that it only has one power supply This is incorrect. The other port on the back is a USP-RPS designed to work with Unifi's secondary power supply solution. If you have an all-Unifi rack, then you just buy one of those suckers and a bunch of cables and boom all of your devices have backup power.
Would it be possible to see what happens when you swap drives from one unit to another unit? How do you restore your data? With a single PS, you would need to swap out chassis, thus having to move your drives.
Unfortunately, I only have this single unit. Don't know another UK based reviewer to try that out on. Will add it to the to-do list for if/when I can
Since this is the same unit as the UNVR pro, I assume that when you swap drives from one unit to another, it’ll tell you it needs to just reformat it and wipe whatever’s on that drive. That’s what happens when I move my drive from my UDM Pro to my dedicated UNVR Pro
@@nascompares awesome - thank you!
For 499 or the cost a couple of medium size drives a business can pull the drives and put them into the enterprise NAS when it comes out. So that’s not a big con.
True, but I gotta be balanced and call it how it is. Some users are going to want this feature, and it's common in most other NAS in the market
Really looking forward to software updates when this becomes more promising. But for now it's still compelling.
Too true!
Great review and viedos on Unifi’s new NAS. Tempting but no, not at this point. I’ll keep using my Synology NAS systems. I know what they can do and have to offer.
Thanks for the kind words and the comments bud. Appreciate the balanced and informed POV bud
it really looks more like a backend device, set and forget, backups only, maybe appealing to Synology/QNAP/Proxmox users that may migrate to SSD-only "server" build and looking for just backup bulk storage "elsewhere"
Good description, agree completely. Only reason I cannot make a video that says precisely that, is that frankly there are definitely users who will use this devices as their primary, and just want a cloud alternative. Cheers for commenting bud!
@@nascompares hmm maybe you *could* make a video on topic of "secondary NAS" though, later one day :D
Do you know when it will be in stock on the UK store?
Tbh that's the main reason for this video, that it should be available to buy from today (check the link in the description, not only does it support NASCompares via commission, but also I checked it earlier from UK and I could add it to my basket). This video is basically a "before you buy it - here is the skinny" vid. Hope that came across
It appears to have sold out in the UK. I guess lots of people really like the device.
Can I use this without Unifi Router?
100% can be completely standalone and/or used with 3rd party network kit
My main criticism is its only got one 10gb nic and one psu not ideal for a "pro" device . Other than that i really like it. Something that cant be fixed by sw update. My other critisms.are mostly sw based so can easily be fixed. I dont really care about apps as i run xcp-ng /XO pool(cluster), i have apps coming out of my ears .
The functionality of this is probably comparable to my Thecus N5200 from way back in 2006......and that was already crappy back then. The rather decent price though suggests it is actually an alpha test at the customers expense. You gotta start somewhere.....ARM NAS are just not versatile enough when it comes to the things you mentioned like containers, VMs (especially Windows Server VMs)...and soldered the memory to the board? come on.......Ubiquiti, you can do better. And the performance is just meh.....but then again for the price, it's probably not that bad.
I work in a school with two block, on the main one we have servers in a rackmount 1m depth, on the small one we have a small rack with switch and unifi dream machine, we use a VPN to share user files with the remote lab, but is slow. I've made a replica of our DC ... and now I think I'll di the same for data. UNAS pro is definitively what we need.
Does't care much about the "UNIFI system" is just form factor, depth, cost. No virtual machine No docker ... we need NAS.
I complain about storage topology, and filesystem ... unknown zfs (8Gb???) xfs btrfs ext4 ntfs??? who knows? How file corruption is checked or solved?
Is just my scenario.
i guess you recommend synology.
or QNAP, with Synology you are vendor locked-in with Synology brand drives only, QNAP is open to the market.
Depends on what you need. For software, Synology..or for DiY UnRAID or TrueNAS Scale. For hardware AND software, QNAP. For Hardware value, Asustor. And for Hardware low cost, Terramaster.
Oh and DiY, if you have the time and the knowhow...winner, winner, chicken dinner!
Hi! I get that the hardware is ”underwhelming” BUT it is designed to store and share data. No apps docker or other stuff. If you want a server. Get a server. For what it is supposed to do hardware isn’t lacking.
One storage pool. Again. Use case. I understand that you might want different storage pools for different uses on the same system BUT this system ONLY serve files. So there is no need for more than one storage pool here. Folders and accounts are enough separation. Come ON. A $499 device with tiers of disks? Not really realistic.
Yes. Converging UNVR pro and UNAS Pro is a no brainer. It’s basically the same device purposed differently. But now when Protext can use NAS for archiving you could use an UDMP UNVR / Pro for protext and archive to UNAS which kind of makes sense.
NO. Apps aren’t missing. This is NOT that kind of device. We use QNAP NAS for backups at work. We NEVER use apps on them. That is just bloat. For workloads we use virtualized clustered Linux servers windows servers and SAN drives or HCI clusters. NAS devices are great as slower tier backup storage or SMB file shares. That is the audience for this NAS. Not hobbyist home labs running pinhole in docker. That market belongs to QNAP and Synology
I think that this is a underwhelming device that is getting too much attention
I hear you. But my pov is that we have a comparatively big brand in the world of networking devices that is entering the NAS space, when there are already big and established NAS players in the market. What/if it brings something new to buyers, how it compares with the status quo and whether it's just a fad system are questions that new NAS users and buyers will want to know.
If they could allow installation of the OS in other devices would be amazing, Would love to use this OS just because of the eco system
If they ever do that, I'll eat my hat...no..the ENTIRE HATRACK...
Does it support nfs
Unfortunately no, not 'yet' at least
@@nascompares Version 4.1.7 supports NFS. I'm using it right now.
this is to much of a first gen product, i think the Pro Max or SE will be the true version you will want.
It is literally a 7 bay rackmount system that doesn't do Raid 6 ..... I mean that's about as fundamental as it gets ...FAIL
I mean ...THE MAN HAS A POINT
They said RAID 6 is definitely coming soon
Whoa! Your new office is extremely bright!
I only wish I was too....
@@nascompares His future's so bright, he's got to wear shades.
Still no batman's car videos... 😂
For you...for YOU... Watch this space
@@nascompares. I just watched Adam Savage unboxing a 1/6 scale Batmobile from 1989 Batman. Just saying... 😂
At the moment, if it can't predict elections, it's useless to me.
Mate....MATE.....
To expensive that stuff :/
It’s within the cheapest per bay
Yeah, to be fair, for the H/W on offer here, this challenges even DiY. I have perhaps a more diverse opinion on where the software platform is at right now for the system, but in terms of hardware price, it's an easy sell
@@nascompares I'd say the biggest challenge for DIY is the (simplicity of) software here, unless someone clever comes up with hacked UNAS bootloader (like xpenology) :D because frankly even popular TrueNAS in latest build fails to deliver basic 1st party file browser/manager
Ok but can it run Metal Gear Solid 1 via emulator
YOU'RE RIGHT! LETS GET ANSWERS TO THE REAL QUESTIONS!!!!
Snake? ...Snaaaaaaake!