Best Storage: Synology DiskStation DS918+ With capacity up to eight terabytes of space (hard drives sold separately), there’s still plenty of room on this budget all-star for added services such as 24/7 home surveillance with Surveillance Station, which allows an owner to view and monitor live streams on both desktop and mobile devices. Fortunately, once these files are loaded onto the NAS, Synology provides a simple backup solution with file protection to back up everything to another NAS, a cloud service or a separate external device for redundancy across the board. Options such as Cloud Stations and Cloud Sync provide quick and easy access to files across multiple devices, including cloud services such as Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive. The DS115j provides both an easy way to automate simple tasks or backup your multimedia files for later playback all while accessing everything from Synology’s smartphone apps. If you’re running on a lean budget, the Synology DS115j offers both sharp looks and good performance at a welcoming price tag.

Our Top Picks Best Streaming: Western Digital My Cloud EX2

Best Splurge:Netgear ReadyNAS 626XOO at Amazon, “The best NAS money can buy.”.

Best for Home: Western Digital My Cloud EX4100 at Amazon, “Its eight terabytes of storage space offers up a wide set of possibilities for home storage options.”.

Best for Small Businesses: Synology D216II+ at Amazon, “Allowing terabytes of data to fit neatly in your pocket over the cloud with Synology’s mobile app.”.

Best Media: Qnap TS-251A at, “HDMI support on the rear of the box, which allows 1080p videos to play directly from the NAS to an HDTV.”.

Best Storage: Synology DiskStation DS918+ at Amazon, “Nine drives of storage.a smart option for NAS shoppers looking for a single solution to hold all their data.”.

Best Budget: Synology DS115J at Amazon, “Offers both sharp looks and good performance at a welcoming price tag.”.

Best Streaming: Western Digital My Cloud EX2 at Amazon, “Outstanding performance for both media streaming and file transfers.”.

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