Synology today is out with its latest NAS. Well, sort of. The new Synology BeeStation is a local cloud server that takes some of the guesswork out of rolling your own Time Machine backup or online photo reserve.
We love Synology here at 9to5Toys, and I personally recommend them as my go-to NAS. The company already has quite a few different form-factors to pick between based on your use case, but they all require a certain level of networking know how to take full advantage of – if not just to get things set up in the beginning.
There’s where the new Synology BeeStation comes into play. It’s like any of the company’s NAS in that it lets you access files remotely, but it is far easier to use. For starters, it comes with all of the storage you need built-in right out of the box. You don’t have to shop around for an internal hard drive to go with your NAS like any of the company’s other options, as the BeeStation just comes with 4TB of storage by default.
If you need additional storage, you can also use the USB-C or USB-A ports on the back of the hub in order to bring some additional devices into your cloud setup or just transfer files directly to the BeeStation.
As for what the BeeStation can do, Synology touts it as a general-purpose cloud storage device. It connects to your router via Ethernet and allows for ten people to simultaneously access any stored info. It can handle typical file storage, as well as acting as a backup of photos from your smartphone – complete with an AI-backed image search feature. The BeeStation can also connect in with services like Google Drive, OneDrive, and Dropbox to keep files stored locally, too.
The new Synology BeeStation, complete with 4TB of storage, is now available for purchase. It sells for $219.99 and is up for pre-order at B&H. A baseline Synology NAS – like the DS223j – would run you $190 by comparison, and that doesn’t even include any storage. So the value is definitely there for those who don’t need to run a full server from their NAS and instead just want a more simple cloud backup solution.
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