Quick update - this video was recorded and released 2 weeks ago (early access) and since then, several software updates have arrived that I am in the middle of testing, so a follow-up video is in the works to show off some AI/LLM services, container deployment and a few other new features. Stay Tuned
I'm interested in finding out whether this will run Lyrion Music Server (formerly Logitech Media Server) in a Docker container without stuttering when streaming FLAC files (44.1k/16bit), and whether it will work with IDrive.
This thing is very limited in usefulness. It seems like a nice private backup device for people living in small homes where the internet infrastructure is not yet optimal. For serious content creation - imagine running a production house with 8K cameras - you need external hard drives. For a portable backup when an on-site production goes low-profile for whatever reason, with a few 8K cameras, you would want loads of memory cards to begin with, and a device like this could come in handy if it had loads of internal storage. Imagine it had 5 or more CFexpress Type B (CFeB) slots under a lid internally and could run these as a RAID 5 array. Now it offers almost no built in capacity and supports RAID 1. But RAID 1 has no protection of "data integrity" that RAID 5 does much better. With 6 CFeB slots you can go up to 24TB gross storage - lose 4TB to the RAID 5 and, say, 10% to the file system: you end up with 18TB net storage with data integrity protection. This means that about 5* 4TB CFeB cards can be backed up to the device. (These cards lose some 10% too.) (Used Seagate RAID calculator for the RAID loss.) I might lose the external SD-UHS-II card slot and have a second external CFeB in return. Also I would want all these card slots - 2 external and 6 internal in this example - on USB4/TB4. The software in the device should be able to do "data scrubbing" periodically. That is a process inspecting if any bits have flipped spontaneously and next corrects the flips - this way data integrity protection goes farther than just doubling and checksumming when writing. Note that RAID 1 offered in the device here only protects against loss of a drive, and not against data corruption.
@@timothymchudson yes, that's answered in the Kickstarter FAQ. NVME drives are not included so you choose those yourself, and you can add an external drive for expanded storage.
I'm absolutely floored at all the technology in that phone sized case. Seems you could have 16TB in there and be (reasonably) portable. I'd use one as a casual Sneaker Net.
By this point you should have created your own brand portable nas 😂 being this long in this field and really know what people actually need and want. Think about it 😎
Seems like a cool open-source project too! Out of my wheelhouse, but a Pi Compute Module board with M.2 slots and a beefy battery bank. 🤔🤔 #howHardCouldItBe
I have been watching your videos for years and definitely learned a lot. Thank you! I just put together a Synology 1821+ with eight 22 TB drives (2 fault tolerance so it has 120TB net and 160 gross) and added the OEM 10gbe network card. My internet connection is 3Gbe (fastest available in my area) up and down and my home routers are 2 ASUS GT-BE98 PRO. This makes all my devices not have to rely on any cloud services, like google drive, icloud, etc. The transfer speeds when I'm not home are fast enough that I can clear my photo album on my phones and just rely solely on my home NAS server. The Synology handles all files, photos, calendar info, notes, surveillance footage, etc. pretty much everything. I would not know how to include this portable NAS device with my current setup even if it's just for fun but it's really nice to have one available!
That thing looks and acts EXACTLY like the Jikongjian T2, that has been out in China for at least a year or so (if I interpreted the Chinese web pages & videos correctly). Why does it take a Kickstarter campaign fot that thing then?
Lol good spot. This and another zspace detail is in the next video on this. Great spot though man, 10/10. Was hoping to hold onto this for next vid. Respect
This can explain why this Kickstarter is so different from other NAS offerings - it appears to be a finished product in hardware and software, and it is expected to ship within 2 months with a reasonable price. Also, Kickstarter goal is on $20,000, so it seems like more of an advertisement than a way to raise money for launch.
At first I thought this was more like one of those media backup devices like from Nexto DI, HyperDrive that were available many years ago. So nice to see things like docker support.
Technically Unsure did a review of this a couple weeks ago -- seriously impressive device. As someone who lives full-time in an RV I'm keeping a really close eye on it; really amazing machine for portable life. They have clearly put a TON of thought into the software design which is very impressive for a device getting promoted on Kickstarter.
It's a neat bit of kit, yeah. But we also have to be a little realistic and accept that the people behind this are definitely not indie/start up, this is a finished hardware product (based on a Zspace previous product) and Kickstarter is being used here for marketing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely means it should be viewed as such. Next vid will go into more detail on this. Cheers for watching, bud!
Agreed, but 30-60 mins ain't too bad and running off even a mid powered local USB port or wall usb (car?) isn't to be sniffed at. Might take add a battery test into the next vid, just need the parameters
@@nascompares nope, I’m really not sniffing at it at all. This has been a product I’ve been wanting for ages too. The relatively shorter battery aspect isn’t really an issue for me, as I’d probably plug it into a power source for longer use anyway. And having any kind of battery at all is fabulous for quick file access in a pinch, and protection against power failures.
@@stefanomatic would be interesting to see how it does while plugged into an external USB power supply -- if it can take higher PD voltages you should be able to run it for as long as the external lasts.
I'm just recording a 2nd vid now with a new er firmware. I will say that, although I have found a few issues that this review missed (small ones, relating to newer beta features that are added), it's still been a great little device and although its no 'giant killer', for what it's trying to achieve, full marks
Great review of this unit. I am thinking of investing in one of these. As a Wedding cinematographer and my wife being a photographer, this would be great to have with us to do a safety backup while we are on the go. Love all the features it offers. Really appreciate you taking the time to go through everything in detail! :)
Just remember his warning, crowdfunding is not buying a product, it’s funding a project, and the creator of the campaign has no legal requirement to deliver.
My God this thing is absolutely brilliant. I WFH and when I have to travel to HQ, I often want to take files with me. Tailscale doesn't allow Plex, Jellyfin, etc so this would be perfect for bringing my entertainment and other files with me. Did I see an encryption option? Be still my heart!
Tbh I have the F4 Max and the T9 Pro review on the works. Wanted to hit those first, as I thought they would be the most demanded. But I'll contact the brand and see if they would consider sending a new F6, even on a loan. Tbc
haha when i first saw this thing a couple days ago i had the same "i've dreamt of this" feeling. the closest thing i've seen was a glinet travel router type thing that was also a portable battery situation but the storage was usb/ sd card i believe
Battery life was shown to only be 25-30min in another test. And no weather sealing… makes it a sad pass for me to use as a travel/outdoor ssd replacement. Maybe the next version? Maybe go hold synology executes hostage till they make one and fix all their software for the things they look to be abandoning?
Love it. But, some of us are never satisfied and always want more. Package it with a travel router like a GL iNet. I can certainly see using it for off grid / RV / boat use.
I think we would like to know more about the software. It's a fork of what? I like the concept but would worry that there might not be a company around in a few years when it needs a software update.
Is the battery removable? It'd be a really terrible if the battery is integrated and the whole thing is obsolete when the battery degrades-which will happen really fast for this type of device.
@@nascompares I was thinking more of something like a portable nas the size of a 3.5 external drive but holds either laptop drives or NVME. The F8 and Flashstor are more like traditional Nas using ssds and don't really have all the local access that this Unifydrive does. Something like the Beestation but with more Nas functions and not as dumbed down.
@@DJDocsVideoswhat's a good setup for built-in WiFi sharing in this diy nas? Is there an open nas app you can recommend for android? I'd like this Nas to have video sync is there an Intel version? What's the storage limit to this diy Nas?
this NAS quite a lot of promise. A good battery pack makes up for the low internal battery life. Would like to know what the battery life is like when having 2 extra drives plugged in VIA the usb type A and C.
Is the direct storage (das/flashdrive) separated from usage or how does it work? I've noticed you have to preallocate amount of storage for direct use - are the files transfered this way directly accessible via smb or other network protocols, or they have to be moved from direct storage to main storage pool?
This looks like a really interesting device, with a couple of limitations. The battery life will be quite limiting and maybe they should have either skipped this or very slightly increased the size of he device. The bigger limitation will be the arm processor. Yes it is very low power draw but it will limit the docker containers the unit will run. Over the next 5 years more devices will run arm processors and more containers will be available, but right now there are fewer. Just as a comparison consider something like the morefine m6. Granted it does not have a battery, but it does have a n200 intel with Intel UHD graphics (enough for simple transcoding) 2.5Ghz LAN, wifi bluetooth. It can also sport 2 x m.2 nvme drives and comes in at a lower price point. This device does look like a great piece of kit, but I suspect other nas manufacturers (including ugreen) will make similar products soon.
Also, mature mobile OS, though not 'easy peasy' are alot easier than you might think. ALOT more rigid use railing than a desktop os or browser experience.
I like the thought of this about time they did something new to market compared to the WD and Seagate that I have wish more came out wish the Abity to add 16tb would be more ideal then just 8
I'm very very new to NAS in so much as I'm currently trawling eBay looking for a good used model. Strikes me that the beauty and advantages of a NAS is that you can access it from anywhere.... So why take one with you?..... Seems like an expensive novelty considering for the asking price you could get a good "real" NAS, install cheaper spinning HDDs and access it from the middle of a field, why have it next to you in the middle of a field and open it up to environmental damage?
Tbh the main draw here is for people who want a middle ground between NAS and DAS. NAS is 10/10 when it comes to local network access, as you will almost always have minimum 100MB/s+ on even bog standard networks, and greater than that at 2.5G and upwards...but remotely (ie via the internet far away) you are limited by the internet connected and relay service you are going to use. In those situations, most people in a hurry would use a DAS/LAS storage method (usb drive, fat thunderbolt drive etc). But then have to back it up later when they get back, plus also lose out on more than one client device (laptop, phone, taeam machines) ha inf access to it at once. This thing (I believe, anyway) is trying to middle ground it! It can be setup in your office as a Nas for everyone to access, but can also be easily carried around like a DAS drive, but with full NAS functionality. Hope that explains the possible deployment of this kind of solution a little better than I did (and maybe failed) in my video above!
Yep. It has (at least, the prototype unit I was sent for review!) RAID 0, 1 and a proprietary selective RAID1 on folders by selection. It's effectively a middle ground between folder sync and RAID, but at least opens the door to have redundancy on choose files via folder sync, without the 69% storage cal loss of R1
@@nascompares but did they also solve the Probleme were 2 new ssds die at the same time in a raid 1 after their end of life which should be around the same? I think there is a protocol where one ssd gets more write actions than the other to make sure one is dying first. Do you know what I mean?
Staggered write /anto-wear, yea. I don't think this will have that, but even then - at this scale and design, I'd be much , much more included to invest in a better backup sync instead
Thing is crowdfunding has no protections for the funders, and there are so many projects on there that have sent out real products (to reviewers) but then never delivered to funders. (Take the dune pro for example) so I’m very hesitant to put money down in this format, but the device isn’t honestly worth it for me at their suggest msrp, so I either gotta gamble that this is legit or skip until something else comes out that’s similar but sold properly.
man, that is a great idea.. I'm asking myself here now if there is a tool such as HyperBackup from Synology in that little guy. If I were to buy one of those, I would back it up to my NAS.
I covered this in a previous comment, so apologies for the repetition, but there are several backup methodologies baked in (a couple still beta tbh) to targetted a Nas on SMB/IP pretty easily, as well as remote mount, but those are all local/network. For remote sync, I could only find (and there HAVE been software updates since this vid, so might have changed ) WebDAV or cloud sync
@@nascompares Thanks for reading and answering my comment.. :) WebDAV and Cloud Sync wouldn't work with Synology I suppose, perhaps rsync through an IPsec tunnel ? If that product reaches the shelves around here, I'll definitely get one and probably recommend to a few customers. I need to start testing and checking possibilities asap
What? Whipping her out of your bag at a trade expo and accessing her data conveniently? I mean, you do you buddy. I'm afraid my dreams are painfully pedestrian by comparison
Pretty sure this is included (been testing a newer firmware since this video) + there is the button too. Though I question how accurate the automation will be on a drive it "recognised". Tbc!
@@nascompares Would be interested to see. I am trying out portable RPi based photovault solutions. I often offload now to a home minipc with CasaOS and photoprism that will show my raw files and geodata, but if this can do some of it... it's be buy-curious
Will this gear be useful for me that I have a music Recording studio to récord from my DAW (ProTools or Apple Logic Pro) directly to this Device and be safely sure that my Recording session is being Recording in a Raid 1 NAS? Maybe thru USB instead of Ethernet. Thank you
RAID is good, it's just not a "backup". RAID is a safety net, or an 'airbag' in a car. Raid means that in a collection of drives, if 1 drive does, the data is not lost....however, if a 2nd drive dies before you insert a replacement drive (to rebuild the RAID), all data is lost! Same goes for if the NAS is stolen, or smashed, or simply just develops a hardware fault or ransomware...raid saves you from a HDD/SSD failure..so it provides a failover or safety...but a real backup is a copy of all your data in a 2nd location (location= different devices and/or physical location). Hope that helps bud.
As a photographer, I always have to bring my MacBook when I am travelling, to back up my files. Already carrying a lot of stuff, I want my kit to be as minimale as possible. So I have some questions. Can I use the UnifyDrive to back-up my files from SD and CFExpress cards? Can I check in the app if the UnifyDrive backed up everything before I format my SD/CFe card in camera? Will the UnifyDrive notify me when the backup is finished (sometimes I need to back-up a lot of GB's). Can I also make a second back-up by attaching a Samsung SSD T7 to the UnifyDrive and transfer the files from the UnifyDrive to the external SSD? (I do NOT want to rely on one drive in case of failure). Does it read .NEF files (Nikon camera) and .DNG files? Would love to backup my drone files (.dng) in the outdoors on the UnifyDrive before I am sending my drone back again in the air (in case of crashes I at least have previous pictures saved). And last: is the app for android, or will there also be an iPhone app. Sorry for so many questions, hope you will be able to answer them.
I would definitely recommend reposting this Q in the comments of the Kickstarter, as any answer I give will be on the prototype and not 100% enough for your needs. I would say that currently I didn't get a notification ping upon a backup completing, but I did get one of it failed (network, disconnection, space, etc).
As a documentary photographer in the field, I can easily see that as my drive to backup my sd cards. Would that be possible to set up auto sync to my home synology NAS, via any wifi available around?
I image you would have to use WebDAV for that remotely. Locally, easy SMB / IP sync, but other than that,you would need to use Google Drive or a cloud as a remote 'go between' I reckon
that "super Compact Flash" (I forget what it's actually called) slot that it has is perfect for your use case since a lot of high-end cameras take that kind of card. also interesting: technically that interface is PCIe, which means there's no real reason you couldn't connect any number of other kinds of devices to it provided there's driver support in whatever kernel this thing runs.
Help lol Literally just learned about NAS today and I’m wondering if I bought this device with the correct storage how it would compare to an external ssd. I’m a videographer/photographer and need something fast but also has a ton of storage but not looking to go over a $1000 with a raid 1 configuration. Is this something that you guys would recommend?
The only reason to buy it is that you want to go out and about, and use it in other people's office, outdoors, at conferences, at a cafe and the like. If you do all your work in an office or studio, there is no reason to buy a laptop, or a portable NAS. For videography you might want a lot more storage for your money with hard drives. This is better than an SSD in terms of protecting your data, and great for portability, but not great if you need to store lots of projects long term at a low cost per terabyte. TLDR; consider it further if you need it to be portable and would actually use it on the move otherwise, look into desktop NAS solutions which offer more storage for the money.
Would have been cool if it had a dock to plop it in to, with passtrough for power, ethernet and HDMI. Anyway, this thing is crazy. I could imagine many reasons i'd want one of those.
Not to change the subject. You are likely to be the only one bold enough to speak out. The Synology cameras have been out of stock in the U.S. for easily six months and probably closer to a year. Synology will not explain why. They just said no problem just check back in a few weeks or two. That was many months ago. What is the problem?
I hope this is a jumpstarter to get lots of portable NASes flooding the market. Not cause I think it would be useful for me, but for the possibility of giving Robbie a good opportunity of a classic signoff. ie. If the device is rubbish, he can end his review with him behind forward, placing the device by his buttocks region, then straining. His signoff message can be, "and there you have it folks; I now have a nazz shoved up my azz"
As they all would be pretty much the same components and run the same software, some linux/BSD with a "fency" phone App there wouldn't be much of a competition maybe on who can cheaps out the most on the batteries...
Really interesting product, but me personally, I'd rather hold off until a similar product gets released by a western company or they are willing to open their source code. Thank you very much for the detailed review.
The thing is...I've been waiting YEARS for one of the big players to make something like this.. the closest (and it's not even close) was the QNAP QGenie or the WD My Passport Wireless...and they were just WiFi HDDs...bummer
The problem with this is that while we _suspect_ that China adds spyware onto its products, we _know for sure_ that the USA does it (NSA, Cisco, etc.) so you have to put your faith blindly no matter what when the product relies on proprietary software or hardware. At least it should still be possible for independent parties to sniff the network connections going in and out of this thing using something like Wireshark and perform a detailed investigation to rule out these suspicions.
@@nascompares I got couple of PoE to rj45 + usb splitters. I think they will fit perfect. But internal poe can be much more suitable. In that case you can also charge something from this nas :)))
Actually, I am just about to publish a review on the Acasis dual NVMe USB4 portable docking station that might be just the thing for you. Should be love in a few days
This is sadly common, as aside from shipping and tax prediction issues, ALOT of the time new products out of the east use distribution centers in the Netherlands. Ugreen did similar to this at the start
This is giving me Gnarbox flashbacks. All is well until the parent company dies and you are left with a $600 SSD with a small battery because the app eventually won’t work with no updates
Tbh I haven't tried. I know it can be done offline, but I didn't test the initialization over local and a browser. Mid testing at the minute for a 2nd vid, but will try to Inc this at the end of my testing (as it'll format it).
I don't like the fact that it goes into crowdfunding when it's technically "ready to ship" literally days from when the crowdfunding finishes, it's ready to ship in the same month. I guess that's one way to create a "crowd" to show how many people are actually buying... under the guise of crowdfunding. But, that's not what crowdfunding is for. Oh well, I still placed a pre-order. lol
Yeah, I discussed this before, crowdfunding sites for ALOT of eastern brands is a marketing tool - allowing them to lose a % of profit towards using a global marketing platform ( tools and all). Not necessarily a bad thing...but does kinda make it tougher for genuinely indie/startups that need community $ to get off the ground, when established brands/companies are setting expectations higher
And tbh I would have bet good money that it would have been QNAP who would release something like this! Remember the QGenie? The building blocks were there.....
Tbh even if it was a phone with 2 ssds rammed inside...if they can pull off a genuinely secure, remote accessible NAS, that I can also pull out my bag on a whim, on a battery, with full SMB, container, AI recognition and seamless backup... How is that a bad thing?
Tbh I can't really say it's a copy thing, as it's a different tech genre and spelling. That said, it's definitely close enough that I reckon UniFi would definitely notice lol
Agreed - interesting little device. They may get away with that name in jolly old Blighty, but a law suit would be likely if they decide to bring it to market over here (US).
It is still a crowdfunded product with no other way to buy, which could still very well be a scam still. Even he says in the video that funding this isn’t a guarantee you’ll get it.
Quick update - this video was recorded and released 2 weeks ago (early access) and since then, several software updates have arrived that I am in the middle of testing, so a follow-up video is in the works to show off some AI/LLM services, container deployment and a few other new features. Stay Tuned
I backed this and it is looking amazing, going to use it as a photo nas for all my familys photos instead of iphone / icloud.
I'm interested in finding out whether this will run Lyrion Music Server (formerly Logitech Media Server) in a Docker container without stuttering when streaming FLAC files (44.1k/16bit), and whether it will work with IDrive.
This thing is very limited in usefulness. It seems like a nice private backup device for people living in small homes where the internet infrastructure is not yet optimal. For serious content creation - imagine running a production house with 8K cameras - you need external hard drives.
For a portable backup when an on-site production goes low-profile for whatever reason, with a few 8K cameras, you would want loads of memory cards to begin with, and a device like this could come in handy if it had loads of internal storage.
Imagine it had 5 or more CFexpress Type B (CFeB) slots under a lid internally and could run these as a RAID 5 array. Now it offers almost no built in capacity and supports RAID 1. But RAID 1 has no protection of "data integrity" that RAID 5 does much better. With 6 CFeB slots you can go up to 24TB gross storage - lose 4TB to the RAID 5 and, say, 10% to the file system: you end up with 18TB net storage with data integrity protection. This means that about 5* 4TB CFeB cards can be backed up to the device. (These cards lose some 10% too.) (Used Seagate RAID calculator for the RAID loss.)
I might lose the external SD-UHS-II card slot and have a second external CFeB in return. Also I would want all these card slots - 2 external and 6 internal in this example - on USB4/TB4.
The software in the device should be able to do "data scrubbing" periodically.
That is a process inspecting if any bits have flipped spontaneously and next corrects the flips - this way data integrity protection goes farther than just doubling and checksumming when writing. Note that RAID 1 offered in the device here only protects against loss of a drive, and not against data corruption.
Can you add storage to this?
@@timothymchudson yes, that's answered in the Kickstarter FAQ. NVME drives are not included so you choose those yourself, and you can add an external drive for expanded storage.
I'm absolutely floored at all the technology in that phone sized case.
Seems you could have 16TB in there and be (reasonably) portable.
I'd use one as a casual Sneaker Net.
sure if you want to spend 2000 bucks on something that you can do with a externel harddisk for a fraction of the price with higer capacity.
By this point you should have created your own brand portable nas 😂 being this long in this field and really know what people actually need and want. Think about it 😎
Maybe not portable but you could create really cool nas
Seems like a cool open-source project too! Out of my wheelhouse, but a Pi Compute Module board with M.2 slots and a beefy battery bank. 🤔🤔 #howHardCouldItBe
I have been watching your videos for years and definitely learned a lot. Thank you!
I just put together a Synology 1821+ with eight 22 TB drives (2 fault tolerance so it has 120TB net and 160 gross) and added the OEM 10gbe network card. My internet connection is 3Gbe (fastest available in my area) up and down and my home routers are 2 ASUS GT-BE98 PRO. This makes all my devices not have to rely on any cloud services, like google drive, icloud, etc. The transfer speeds when I'm not home are fast enough that I can clear my photo album on my phones and just rely solely on my home NAS server. The Synology handles all files, photos, calendar info, notes, surveillance footage, etc. pretty much everything.
I would not know how to include this portable NAS device with my current setup even if it's just for fun but it's really nice to have one available!
That thing looks and acts EXACTLY like the Jikongjian T2, that has been out in China for at least a year or so (if I interpreted the Chinese web pages & videos correctly). Why does it take a Kickstarter campaign fot that thing then?
Lol good spot. This and another zspace detail is in the next video on this. Great spot though man, 10/10. Was hoping to hold onto this for next vid. Respect
From the kickstarter page:
The technical development behind UnifyDrive is powered by the Ji Kongjian team in China
This can explain why this Kickstarter is so different from other NAS offerings - it appears to be a finished product in hardware and software, and it is expected to ship within 2 months with a reasonable price. Also, Kickstarter goal is on $20,000, so it seems like more of an advertisement than a way to raise money for launch.
Almost the same logo! --it must be the same company. It is actually better to know that it is already a finished/proven product.
did you maybe spell this wrong? can't find a link to it (not that I disbelieve you, obviously @nascompares knows what you're talking about)
thanks for alll ur hard work Rob!
Cheers man. But in my defence...I LOVE IT!
At first I thought this was more like one of those media backup devices like from Nexto DI, HyperDrive that were available many years ago. So nice to see things like docker support.
Technically Unsure did a review of this a couple weeks ago -- seriously impressive device. As someone who lives full-time in an RV I'm keeping a really close eye on it; really amazing machine for portable life. They have clearly put a TON of thought into the software design which is very impressive for a device getting promoted on Kickstarter.
It's a neat bit of kit, yeah. But we also have to be a little realistic and accept that the people behind this are definitely not indie/start up, this is a finished hardware product (based on a Zspace previous product) and Kickstarter is being used here for marketing. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely means it should be viewed as such. Next vid will go into more detail on this. Cheers for watching, bud!
Although the battery life could be considered minimal, it still acts as a very decent UPS.
Agreed, but 30-60 mins ain't too bad and running off even a mid powered local USB port or wall usb (car?) isn't to be sniffed at. Might take add a battery test into the next vid, just need the parameters
@@nascompares nope, I’m really not sniffing at it at all. This has been a product I’ve been wanting for ages too. The relatively shorter battery aspect isn’t really an issue for me, as I’d probably plug it into a power source for longer use anyway. And having any kind of battery at all is fabulous for quick file access in a pinch, and protection against power failures.
@@stefanomatic would be interesting to see how it does while plugged into an external USB power supply -- if it can take higher PD voltages you should be able to run it for as long as the external lasts.
Wouldn't a battery to cover temporary power outages (and allow ordered shutdown) be useful built-in to a desktop NAS? That would appeal to me.
@@rufus_mcdufusThat is literally what a UPS is.
I would really love to see reviews post launch. This seems a little too good to be true. Very awesome little thing!
I'm just recording a 2nd vid now with a new er firmware. I will say that, although I have found a few issues that this review missed (small ones, relating to newer beta features that are added), it's still been a great little device and although its no 'giant killer', for what it's trying to achieve, full marks
Great review of this unit. I am thinking of investing in one of these. As a Wedding cinematographer and my wife being a photographer, this would be great to have with us to do a safety backup while we are on the go. Love all the features it offers. Really appreciate you taking the time to go through everything in detail! :)
Just remember his warning, crowdfunding is not buying a product, it’s funding a project, and the creator of the campaign has no legal requirement to deliver.
Great video and very informative content… we definitely need a device like this on the market.
Thanks for sharing
The RK3588 has 4 PCIE 3.0 lanes, so I think the M.2 slots are each 2 lanes.
it's the RK3588C and no the M.2's are one PCIe 3 lane each.
My God this thing is absolutely brilliant. I WFH and when I have to travel to HQ, I often want to take files with me. Tailscale doesn't allow Plex, Jellyfin, etc so this would be perfect for bringing my entertainment and other files with me. Did I see an encryption option? Be still my heart!
Hello,
I would like to request a review of the Terramaster f6-424 and f4-424. I want to know your opinion on it vs other systems.
Tbh I have the F4 Max and the T9 Pro review on the works. Wanted to hit those first, as I thought they would be the most demanded. But I'll contact the brand and see if they would consider sending a new F6, even on a loan. Tbc
haha when i first saw this thing a couple days ago i had the same "i've dreamt of this" feeling. the closest thing i've seen was a glinet travel router type thing that was also a portable battery situation but the storage was usb/ sd card i believe
but this thing is next level
Battery life was shown to only be 25-30min in another test. And no weather sealing… makes it a sad pass for me to use as a travel/outdoor ssd replacement. Maybe the next version? Maybe go hold synology executes hostage till they make one and fix all their software for the things they look to be abandoning?
Love it. But, some of us are never satisfied and always want more. Package it with a travel router like a GL iNet. I can certainly see using it for off grid / RV / boat use.
Man alive.. combine those and I think I might die happy....in a houseboat....
Mostly likely of cider. But that's not relevant...
I think we would like to know more about the software. It's a fork of what?
I like the concept but would worry that there might not be a company around in a few years when it needs a software update.
Looks like a great device!
BTW whatever happened with SPAN?
So, so very much. One day bud, one day...
Is the battery removable? It'd be a really terrible if the battery is integrated and the whole thing is obsolete when the battery degrades-which will happen really fast for this type of device.
Great question, I hope he answers
Incredible solution!
Wouldn't mind seeing a desktop version of this using 2.5 inch drives or with more NVME slots.
Tbh, for that, you would maybe want to look at the terramaster F8 SSD or the flashstor 6 tbh
@@nascompares I was thinking more of something like a portable nas the size of a 3.5 external drive but holds either laptop drives or NVME. The F8 and Flashstor are more like traditional Nas using ssds and don't really have all the local access that this Unifydrive does. Something like the Beestation but with more Nas functions and not as dumbed down.
Build your own it's not hard. take a mini PC like the GMKtec K8 glue a power bank to the thing, done.
@@DJDocsVideoswhat's a good setup for built-in WiFi sharing in this diy nas? Is there an open nas app you can recommend for android? I'd like this Nas to have video sync is there an Intel version? What's the storage limit to this diy Nas?
This is actually a pretty cool product.
I KNOW RIGHT?
This is a professional photographer dream. They'll sell like hot cake
this NAS quite a lot of promise. A good battery pack makes up for the low internal battery life. Would like to know what the battery life is like when having 2 extra drives plugged in VIA the usb type A and C.
i would love to see a teardown in the follow up video!
Is the direct storage (das/flashdrive) separated from usage or how does it work? I've noticed you have to preallocate amount of storage for direct use - are the files transfered this way directly accessible via smb or other network protocols, or they have to be moved from direct storage to main storage pool?
This looks like a really interesting device, with a couple of limitations. The battery life will be quite limiting and maybe they should have either skipped this or very slightly increased the size of he device. The bigger limitation will be the arm processor. Yes it is very low power draw but it will limit the docker containers the unit will run. Over the next 5 years more devices will run arm processors and more containers will be available, but right now there are fewer. Just as a comparison consider something like the morefine m6. Granted it does not have a battery, but it does have a n200 intel with Intel UHD graphics (enough for simple transcoding) 2.5Ghz LAN, wifi bluetooth. It can also sport 2 x m.2 nvme drives and comes in at a lower price point. This device does look like a great piece of kit, but I suspect other nas manufacturers (including ugreen) will make similar products soon.
Based on the strangely mature OS, I'm wondering / assuming that it's a fork of an existing NAS OS. Do you think this is possible?
Look into Zspace and their solutions tbh (some organisation, or at least sister/equity owned). But seems to be their own work.
Also, mature mobile OS, though not 'easy peasy' are alot easier than you might think. ALOT more rigid use railing than a desktop os or browser experience.
Would be awesome if that would work also as a docking station in usb operation (we have hdmi, rj45 and card reader)
I like the thought of this about time they did something new to market compared to the WD and Seagate that I have wish more came out wish the Abity to add 16tb would be more ideal then just 8
I'm very very new to NAS in so much as I'm currently trawling eBay looking for a good used model. Strikes me that the beauty and advantages of a NAS is that you can access it from anywhere.... So why take one with you?..... Seems like an expensive novelty considering for the asking price you could get a good "real" NAS, install cheaper spinning HDDs and access it from the middle of a field, why have it next to you in the middle of a field and open it up to environmental damage?
Tbh the main draw here is for people who want a middle ground between NAS and DAS. NAS is 10/10 when it comes to local network access, as you will almost always have minimum 100MB/s+ on even bog standard networks, and greater than that at 2.5G and upwards...but remotely (ie via the internet far away) you are limited by the internet connected and relay service you are going to use. In those situations, most people in a hurry would use a DAS/LAS storage method (usb drive, fat thunderbolt drive etc). But then have to back it up later when they get back, plus also lose out on more than one client device (laptop, phone, taeam machines) ha inf access to it at once.
This thing (I believe, anyway) is trying to middle ground it! It can be setup in your office as a Nas for everyone to access, but can also be easily carried around like a DAS drive, but with full NAS functionality. Hope that explains the possible deployment of this kind of solution a little better than I did (and maybe failed) in my video above!
Does it have any redundancy? What if a drive dies as all ssds do?
Yep. It has (at least, the prototype unit I was sent for review!) RAID 0, 1 and a proprietary selective RAID1 on folders by selection. It's effectively a middle ground between folder sync and RAID, but at least opens the door to have redundancy on choose files via folder sync, without the 69% storage cal loss of R1
@@nascompares but did they also solve the Probleme were 2 new ssds die at the same time in a raid 1 after their end of life which should be around the same? I think there is a protocol where one ssd gets more write actions than the other to make sure one is dying first. Do you know what I mean?
Staggered write /anto-wear, yea. I don't think this will have that, but even then - at this scale and design, I'd be much , much more included to invest in a better backup sync instead
@@nascompares thanks for your answers 🙏
Thing is crowdfunding has no protections for the funders, and there are so many projects on there that have sent out real products (to reviewers) but then never delivered to funders. (Take the dune pro for example) so I’m very hesitant to put money down in this format, but the device isn’t honestly worth it for me at their suggest msrp, so I either gotta gamble that this is legit or skip until something else comes out that’s similar but sold properly.
man, that is a great idea..
I'm asking myself here now if there is a tool such as HyperBackup from Synology in that little guy.
If I were to buy one of those, I would back it up to my NAS.
I covered this in a previous comment, so apologies for the repetition, but there are several backup methodologies baked in (a couple still beta tbh) to targetted a Nas on SMB/IP pretty easily, as well as remote mount, but those are all local/network. For remote sync, I could only find (and there HAVE been software updates since this vid, so might have changed ) WebDAV or cloud sync
@@nascompares Thanks for reading and answering my comment.. :)
WebDAV and Cloud Sync wouldn't work with Synology I suppose, perhaps rsync through an IPsec tunnel ?
If that product reaches the shelves around here, I'll definitely get one and probably recommend to a few customers.
I need to start testing and checking possibilities asap
I have the same dream about britney spears 🤣
What? Whipping her out of your bag at a trade expo and accessing her data conveniently? I mean, you do you buddy. I'm afraid my dreams are painfully pedestrian by comparison
As a photographer/creator, onsite backup is big. I'd like to see automated offloads, eg: insert sd card, it gets copied to the drive automagically
Pretty sure this is included (been testing a newer firmware since this video) + there is the button too. Though I question how accurate the automation will be on a drive it "recognised". Tbc!
@@nascompares Would be interested to see. I am trying out portable RPi based photovault solutions. I often offload now to a home minipc with CasaOS and photoprism that will show my raw files and geodata, but if this can do some of it... it's be buy-curious
Can you more drives through the USB or ethernet ports?
I wonder if Nextcloud could be installed on it and use it as my Nextcloud server with auto backups to my multidisk nas on my desk?
Will this gear be useful for me that I have a music Recording studio to récord from my DAW (ProTools or Apple Logic Pro) directly to this Device and be safely sure that my Recording session is being Recording in a Raid 1 NAS? Maybe thru USB instead of Ethernet. Thank you
I'm new to the NAS/backup area and would love to know an explanation of the 'RAID is not a backup' hoodie slogan. Is RAID not considered good?
RAID is good, it's just not a "backup". RAID is a safety net, or an 'airbag' in a car. Raid means that in a collection of drives, if 1 drive does, the data is not lost....however, if a 2nd drive dies before you insert a replacement drive (to rebuild the RAID), all data is lost! Same goes for if the NAS is stolen, or smashed, or simply just develops a hardware fault or ransomware...raid saves you from a HDD/SSD failure..so it provides a failover or safety...but a real backup is a copy of all your data in a 2nd location (location= different devices and/or physical location). Hope that helps bud.
@@nascompares that explains it clearly. Thanks a lot 🙏 Keep up the great work
wifi nas on amazon all perform unreliably what makes this unit any better than 3.4??
As a photographer, I always have to bring my MacBook when I am travelling, to back up my files. Already carrying a lot of stuff, I want my kit to be as minimale as possible. So I have some questions. Can I use the UnifyDrive to back-up my files from SD and CFExpress cards? Can I check in the app if the UnifyDrive backed up everything before I format my SD/CFe card in camera? Will the UnifyDrive notify me when the backup is finished (sometimes I need to back-up a lot of GB's). Can I also make a second back-up by attaching a Samsung SSD T7 to the UnifyDrive and transfer the files from the UnifyDrive to the external SSD? (I do NOT want to rely on one drive in case of failure). Does it read .NEF files (Nikon camera) and .DNG files? Would love to backup my drone files (.dng) in the outdoors on the UnifyDrive before I am sending my drone back again in the air (in case of crashes I at least have previous pictures saved). And last: is the app for android, or will there also be an iPhone app. Sorry for so many questions, hope you will be able to answer them.
I would definitely recommend reposting this Q in the comments of the Kickstarter, as any answer I give will be on the prototype and not 100% enough for your needs. I would say that currently I didn't get a notification ping upon a backup completing, but I did get one of it failed (network, disconnection, space, etc).
Cool product
As a documentary photographer in the field, I can easily see that as my drive to backup my sd cards. Would that be possible to set up auto sync to my home synology NAS, via any wifi available around?
I image you would have to use WebDAV for that remotely. Locally, easy SMB / IP sync, but other than that,you would need to use Google Drive or a cloud as a remote 'go between' I reckon
that "super Compact Flash" (I forget what it's actually called) slot that it has is perfect for your use case since a lot of high-end cameras take that kind of card. also interesting: technically that interface is PCIe, which means there's no real reason you couldn't connect any number of other kinds of devices to it provided there's driver support in whatever kernel this thing runs.
Use syncthing in docker to synch to home
Thanks for the info!
Help lol Literally just learned about NAS today and I’m wondering if I bought this device with the correct storage how it would compare to an external ssd. I’m a videographer/photographer and need something fast but also has a ton of storage but not looking to go over a $1000 with a raid 1 configuration. Is this something that you guys would recommend?
The only reason to buy it is that you want to go out and about, and use it in other people's office, outdoors, at conferences, at a cafe and the like. If you do all your work in an office or studio, there is no reason to buy a laptop, or a portable NAS. For videography you might want a lot more storage for your money with hard drives. This is better than an SSD in terms of protecting your data, and great for portability, but not great if you need to store lots of projects long term at a low cost per terabyte. TLDR; consider it further if you need it to be portable and would actually use it on the move otherwise, look into desktop NAS solutions which offer more storage for the money.
Does it allow SSH access? Can I run state full services in it?
Would have been cool if it had a dock to plop it in to, with passtrough for power, ethernet and HDMI. Anyway, this thing is crazy. I could imagine many reasons i'd want one of those.
This gonna get dropped like the gnarbox and become a brick?
Not to change the subject. You are likely to be the only one bold enough to speak out. The Synology cameras have been out of stock in the U.S. for easily six months and probably closer to a year. Synology will not explain why. They just said no problem just check back in a few weeks or two. That was many months ago. What is the problem?
Tbh I didn't even know about this. Will investigate for ya. Cheers for the heads up
perfect
I hope this is a jumpstarter to get lots of portable NASes flooding the market. Not cause I think it would be useful for me, but for the possibility of giving Robbie a good opportunity of a classic signoff. ie. If the device is rubbish, he can end his review with him behind forward, placing the device by his buttocks region, then straining. His signoff message can be, "and there you have it folks; I now have a nazz shoved up my azz"
I agree with the first half of your message...and am deathful afraid for my bum re: the 2nd half...
As they all would be pretty much the same components and run the same software, some linux/BSD with a "fency" phone App there wouldn't be much of a competition maybe on who can cheaps out the most on the batteries...
I am wondering is it hard to add 2 more drive on the other side. I mean in future versions.
Even at 3x1, that's gonna need more cooling and therefore a bigger battery. Still, we can hope
I was under the impression that CFexpress is the next version of compact flash nothing to do with SD Card
Really interesting product, but me personally, I'd rather hold off until a similar product gets released by a western company or they are willing to open their source code. Thank you very much for the detailed review.
The thing is...I've been waiting YEARS for one of the big players to make something like this.. the closest (and it's not even close) was the QNAP QGenie or the WD My Passport Wireless...and they were just WiFi HDDs...bummer
Western companies are the most shadyy dude…
We all saw pagers, radios exploding in lebanon😂
You think you’re good because propaganda 😂
The problem with this is that while we _suspect_ that China adds spyware onto its products, we _know for sure_ that the USA does it (NSA, Cisco, etc.) so you have to put your faith blindly no matter what when the product relies on proprietary software or hardware. At least it should still be possible for independent parties to sniff the network connections going in and out of this thing using something like Wireshark and perform a detailed investigation to rule out these suspicions.
I want one
This looks good
I think PoE will be useful
THAT is a good point. Added PoE RJ45 to USB adapter test to the 'to do' for next vid
@@nascompares I got couple of PoE to rj45 + usb splitters. I think they will fit perfect. But internal poe can be much more suitable. In that case you can also charge something from this nas :)))
Upvote!! That would be super clean if you only need an Ethernet cable going into it
Is there a just a simpler portable case product that fits 2 NVME's in raid setup that is reliable?
Actually, I am just about to publish a review on the Acasis dual NVMe USB4 portable docking station that might be just the thing for you. Should be love in a few days
@@nascompares THANK YOU
@@nascompares OMG 😇
They launched a Kickstarter campaign but were very selective about the countries they are willing to ship to, which I find disappointing.
This is sadly common, as aside from shipping and tax prediction issues, ALOT of the time new products out of the east use distribution centers in the Netherlands. Ugreen did similar to this at the start
🔥
This is giving me Gnarbox flashbacks. All is well until the parent company dies and you are left with a $600 SSD with a small battery because the app eventually won’t work with no updates
Wich OS is running on it?
The link to Kickstater is incorrect.
Cheers! Repaired
Plexing?
can it be configed without using the phone app ?
Tbh I haven't tried. I know it can be done offline, but I didn't test the initialization over local and a browser. Mid testing at the minute for a 2nd vid, but will try to Inc this at the end of my testing (as it'll format it).
I don't like the fact that it goes into crowdfunding when it's technically "ready to ship" literally days from when the crowdfunding finishes, it's ready to ship in the same month.
I guess that's one way to create a "crowd" to show how many people are actually buying... under the guise of crowdfunding. But, that's not what crowdfunding is for. Oh well, I still placed a pre-order. lol
Yeah, I discussed this before, crowdfunding sites for ALOT of eastern brands is a marketing tool - allowing them to lose a % of profit towards using a global marketing platform ( tools and all). Not necessarily a bad thing...but does kinda make it tougher for genuinely indie/startups that need community $ to get off the ground, when established brands/companies are setting expectations higher
LOL poor dude did so much NAS, it haunted him in his sleep. 😂😂😂
FUCKING TELL ME ABOUT IT....
👏👏👏
This device needs covers to keep dust and debris out of the ports. A bag would be easier to implement, but may be lost or forgotten.
I did open it up a bit more and it does have a mesh panel inside..but it's not the 'finest' tbh
i want a qnap version even if it does use lower power sticks
I want a qnap system for my car
And tbh I would have bet good money that it would have been QNAP who would release something like this! Remember the QGenie? The building blocks were there.....
Moment he said crowdfunded, I left.
Remote gives away that it's repurposed android tv box.
Tbh even if it was a phone with 2 ssds rammed inside...if they can pull off a genuinely secure, remote accessible NAS, that I can also pull out my bag on a whim, on a battery, with full SMB, container, AI recognition and seamless backup... How is that a bad thing?
i don't know. From a brand that try to mimic "the other famous" one...i'm not very trusty tbh
Tbh I can't really say it's a copy thing, as it's a different tech genre and spelling. That said, it's definitely close enough that I reckon UniFi would definitely notice lol
Kick the battery and put a oled on
SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY!
They should change the name before it ships
Agreed - interesting little device. They may get away with that name in jolly old Blighty, but a law suit would be likely if they decide to bring it to market over here (US).
Time will tell!
Wow I'm 4 minuten in and he still hasn't said what the fuck the product does😂
*cough* chapters
O
You look like you have insomnia.
talked too much
Thank you for the solid review, watched another channel's video and he must have said the name 300 times - this made me think the product was shady.
It is still a crowdfunded product with no other way to buy, which could still very well be a scam still. Even he says in the video that funding this isn’t a guarantee you’ll get it.
I want one