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I examined the BeeStation when it got here out final 12 months, and preferred the concept of the product. It distils the basics of a NAS into an easy-to-use system that comes with an built-in onerous drive, and it exceled at backing up photographs, movies, and paperwork.
The largest situation with the BeeStation was that it did not have any solution to stream media, limiting its usability considerably. Fortunately, Synology is addressing that with the introduction of the BeeStation Plus; it shares the identical design and feature-set as the usual mannequin, however comes with an 8TB onerous drive, and also you get the flexibility to put in Plex, turning it right into a centralized media server.
The addition of Plex makes the BeeStation Plus that rather more versatile, and in the event you simply want a hassle-free solution to again up vital information and stream media, this starter NAS could be the best answer.
Synology BeeStation Plus: Pricing and availability
Synology unveiled the BeeStation Plus in Could 2025, and it’s now accessible globally. It prices $409 on Amazon U.S. and £385 on Amazon U.Okay., and is heading to different areas over the approaching weeks. The BeeStation Plus is offered in a single configuration with an 8TB built-in onerous drive (BST170-8T), and whereas we might get further storage fashions down the road, that is not the case proper now.
Synology BeeStation Plus: Design and options
The BeeStation Plus seems to be an identical to the common mannequin, and Synology did not change the design to any noticeable diploma. The design is simply as unobtrusive as DiskStation fashions; you primarily get a black field that you just sluggish subsequent to your router, and the vertical chassis does not take up a lot room.
The entrance has an LED standing indicator, however is in any other case plain. You get BeeStation branding on the perimeters, and the again has the facility button, USB-A and USB-C connectors, and a solitary Gigabit Ethernet port. There is not any lively cooling, with the BeeStation Plus as a substitute getting a ventilated design on the high and backside that cools the built-in onerous drive passively.
The NAS is powered by the Intel Celeron J4125, and it comes with 4GB of RAM, which is an efficient selection as there is no solution to prolong the reminiscence on the system. There’s an 8TB HAT3310 drive built-in into the NAS, and that alone makes up half of the $409 asking value.
Synology BeeStation Plus: Efficiency
Identical to the common BeeStation, Synology is cautious to not dub the BeeStation Plus as a NAS; as a substitute, it’s a “non-public and household cloud storage” answer. The distinction is obvious whenever you arrange the product; not like the standard DiskStation Supervisor (DSM) software program, the BeeStation Plus makes use of BeeStation OS, which is a light-weight OS that has restricted utilities.
You get simply BeePhotos and BeeFiles as commonplace, and these two utilities are derivatives of what Synology gives on its DiskStation fashions. If something, the cell BeePhotos app is almost an identical to Synology Photographs — which is an efficient factor. I like that the model retooled its present utilities as a substitute of reinventing the wheel.
That mentioned, you miss out on many of the extras that you just get on commonplace DiskStation fashions. There is not any solution to set up apps on the BeeStation Plus, nor can you utilize it as a mail server, non-public audio streaming platform, or any of the opposite helpful options you get on most DiskStation units.
If something, that is the attract of the BeeStation Plus; it is billed as a hassle-free answer that permits you to retailer photographs and different information in a centralized space, and it does simply nearly as good a job backing up information from linked units. I did not see any points with importing photographs and movies taken on my Vivo X200 Professional, X200 Extremely, and Pixel 9 Professional XL to the system through BeePhotos (it robotically uploads photographs to the BeeStation Plus within the background), and I used to be capable of again up information from my gaming rig with relative ease.
There’s additionally the flexibility to again up information from public cloud gives like Google Drive to the NAS, and that is simply useful. You get person administration as nicely — permitting you to share the BeeStation Plus with members of the family — and it makes use of the identical relay community as DiskStation fashions when connecting to the system from exterior your property community.
You are able to do this stuff with the common BeeStation as nicely — the place the BeeStation Plus stands out is the flexibility to stream media. You may set up Plex, and arrange a media server on the system that permits you to stream motion pictures and TV exhibits to any system in your home. Plex is not put in out of the field; you will want to enter the system settings and choose the Integration tab to obtain the media server, however as quickly because it’s put in, it is simply as simple to arrange and use.
Coming to the {hardware}, the BeeStation Plus has the Intel Celeron J4125, a stalwart on this class. I used dozens of NAS fashions powered by this platform, and it’s a dependable workhorse that delivers good efficiency and {hardware} transcoding. Whereas it’s displaying its age, there are not any points in day-to-day use, and the BeeStation Plus does a superb job in the case of backing up information in addition to streaming media to linked units on your property community.
Truly, the truth that the BeeStation Plus has transcoding offers it a particular benefit over a few of the newer DiskStation fashions just like the DiskStation DS925+. I did not discover any issues utilizing Plex on the BeeStation Plus, and it dealt with 4K content material in addition to transcodes effortlessly. The BeeStation Plus is likely one of the finest house NAS fashions, and in the event you simply want the necessities, that is the best product.
Synology BeeStation Plus: The options
If you don’t need an built-in answer and as a substitute want the extensibility of a full-fledged NAS, the DiskStation DS224+ is the mannequin to get. It has the identical Celeron J4125 platform because the BeeStation Plus, and also you get the complete DiskStation Supervisor software program, permitting you to put in a number of extras. The draw back is that you aren’t getting a built-in drive, so will probably be costlier to purchase the NAS and an 8TB drive — it comes out to round $500.
Synology BeeStation Plus: Must you purchase it?
You can purchase this if:
- You want an all-in-one media server
- You need built-in storage
- You want a simple solution to again up photographs and information
You should not purchase this if:
- You want a full-fledged NAS
With the BeeStation Plus, Synology is proving that it’s listening to buyer suggestions. The usual BeeStation is a good suggestion completed nicely, however the lack of media streaming made it a non-starter to most customers trying to get began with network-attached storage, and the BeeStation Plus solves that quandary.
So in the event you’re simply getting began with a centralized storage answer and wish one thing that is simple to arrange and use, I extremely advocate the BeeStation Plus. It might not have the added utilities that you just get with DiskStation NAS fashions, however it excels on the fundamentals, and it’s terrific as a Plex media server.
The BeeStation Plus is a superb selection in the event you want an all-in-one media streaming answer that additionally backs up photographs and information out of your telephones and different units.
