QNAP TS-673A

Yes, the TS-673A is designed for scalability. It comes with 8GB of RAM pre-installed, but you can expand it up to 64GB, which is ideal if you plan on running multiple virtual machines or heavy containerized applications.

The dual 2.5GbE ports offer significantly faster transfer speeds than standard Gigabit Ethernet, provided your network switch and client devices also support 2.5GbE. This setup is excellent for reducing bottlenecks during large file transfers or when multiple users are accessing the NAS simultaneously.

No, the TS-673A is a diskless system. This gives you the flexibility to choose the specific brand, capacity, and type of 3.5-inch HDDs or 2.5-inch SSDs that best fit your storage requirements and budget.

With six drive bays, you can install a significant amount of storage. Depending on the capacity of the drives you select, the unit supports a maximum raw capacity of up to 132 TB.

They are highly useful if you want to future-proof your system. You can use these slots to add features like 10GbE network cards for even faster connectivity, M.2 SSD caching for quicker data access, or even a wireless network card.

While it is designed for professional environments and features active cooling, it is relatively compact. However, because it houses six drives and a powerful processor, you will hear fan noise and drive activity, so it is best suited for a dedicated shelf or a spot where subtle background noise won't be a distraction.