UGREEN NASync DXP2800 2-Bay Desktop NAS, Intel N100 Quad-core CPU, 8GB DDR5 RAM, 2.5GbE, 2 * M.2 NVMe Slots, 4K HDMI, Network Attached Storage (Diskless)

After a few months of using it, I can confidently say I’m absolutely thrilled with this little NAS! It’s incredibly powerful for its price and is actually more capable than some $700 models from Synology (one of the top leaders in the NAS market). I loved it so much that I even bought another one as a gift for a friend (the one who also used an external USB drive attached to his router and having issues with it), and he’s very happy with it too.To maximize performance, I purchased a 5 Gbps USB-to-Ethernet adapter from UGREEN ($23), connected it to the NAS, and plugged the Ethernet cable into the adapter instead of the NAS’s native port. This upgrade gave me 5 Gbps speeds, allowing me to transfer files to the SSDs in the NAS at over 500 MBytes/s.Since my router doesn’t support high speeds, I also added a TrendNet 10Gbit switch (model TEG-S762) with 4 x 2.5G RJ-45 Base-T Ports and 2 x 10G RJ-45 Ports. I connected both the NAS and my main PC to this switch (to the 10G ports, of course), enabling them to communicate directly through the switch instead of the slower router.While the number of 1-click installable apps is limited, the NAS includes a Docker app. With Docker, you can install virtually any application from thousands of available containers. To install apps, I ask Grok AI for the correct docker run command, which installs and starts the desired container. Using this method, I’ve been able to install everything I need.The NAS’s UI allows you to easily add users and configure remote access, so you can access your NAS from outside your local network with minimal setup. For torrent downloads, qBittorrent is natively supported, meaning it can be installed with just one click. I now download torrents directly on the NAS instead of keeping my PC running overnight for large downloads. The downloaded files are, of course, available to all devices on my home network.I share storage using the SMB (Samba) protocol. This is typically the default protocol for sharing folders, so don’t let the term SMB intimidate you—you won’t need to do anything special or complex to share folders. And the shared folders are immediately & reliably accessible from all my PCs & other devices. The transfer speeds are consistently fast, and I’ve had no issues with shares becoming unavailable. This is a huge improvement compared to the constant problems I experienced when using external drives attached to my router. I suspect this reliability is due to the NAS supporting the latest SMB protocol versions and supporting them well.The NAS also allows you to connect and share external drives via USB, which is a handy feature. It has a good number of USB ports - 4, including 2 x 1 Gbps ports.One feature I find absolutely essential is the NAS’s built-in Music app. It lets you maintain a music library, create playlists, and automatically updates the library whenever you copy new music to the designated folder. Thanks to the NAS’s remote access feature, I can listen to my music library from anywhere in the world, not just at home. As someone who listens to music for a few hours a day, I absolutely love this feature!The UGREEN NAS is excellent for managing documents. For example, if I’m at a doctor’s appointment and realize I forgot my insurance card, I can easily open the UGREEN app on my phone, access the document stored on the NAS, and share the necessary information. Similarly, when I return purchases (e.g., from Amazon or Walmart), I take photos of the return receipts with my phone and save them on the NAS in the /documents/returns folder with descriptive filenames like HeadphonesSennheiserHD820return.jpg. This system keeps everything organized and easily accessible.How does UGREEN NAS compare to other competitors?The main competitor - Synology - likely holds the largest share of the NAS market. However, its hardware falls short for the price.For example, the Synology DS725+, which costs twice as much as the UGREEN DXP2800, has less RAM and slower and fewer USB ports. Even worse, Synology NAS devices lack a dedicated system drive. This means you’ll need to install and configure the operating system on the drive(s) you install in the NAS. If a drive fails or needs replacement, you must reinstall and set up the operating system from scratch. I’m speechless—how much has Synology saved by omitting a small 32GB system drive, like the one UGREEN includes? Maybe $5–10? It’s absurd.UGREEN DXP2800 uses eMMC for its system drive. eMMC (Embedded MultiMediaCard) is a type of flash storage commonly used in mobile devices due to its low power consumption, which is typically 2–10 times lower than that of SSDs. While eMMC is usually slower than SSDs, it outperforms HDDs in both sequential and random access. Sequential read speeds range from 150–400 MB/s, and write speeds range from 100–250 MB/s. For random reads and writes, eMMC is significantly faster than HDDs, offering 50–500 times higher IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second). The IOPS difference does not directly translate to MB/s, but it’s closely related. For 4K random reads/writes, eMMC typically achieves ~10–120 MB/s, while HDDs achieve ~0.3–3 MB/s.Turning to other hardware specifications, no 2- or 4-bay Synology NAS matches the CPU power of the UGREEN DXP2800. The only Synology model with a comparable CPU is the 8-bay DS1823xs+, which can be yours for a mere $1,900 :)In comparison, Synology’s offerings look underwhelming next to UGREEN’s. There’s simply no contest.NAS devices are typically designed for low energy consumption, and the UGREEN NASync DXP2800 is no exception. According to UGREEN's official email, the power consumption for this model is as follows:Idle: 9–10WDisks Running: 16–27WFull Load: 51WWhen operating the DXP2800 without HDDs, the typical noise levels in different fan modes (adjustable via Control Panel > Hardware & Power) are:Quiet Mode: 29–34 dBDefault Mode: ~40 dBFull Speed Mode: Potentially exceeds 50 dBThese noise levels are quite low and barely noticeable in a quiet room. For comparison, my nearby mini-PC is significantly louder than the NAS when both are running. Of course, noise levels can be much higher if you install a very noisy HDD :)The DXP2800 maintains relatively low temperatures. Currently, under light workload (mainly just running qBittorrent), my NVMe and SATA SSDs are all in the 32–36°C range, while the CPU stays around 52°C. Initially, I was very concerned about the lack of space for NVMe SSD heatsinks. However, heat dissipation is managed effectively through a thermal pad between the SSDs and the aluminum chassis, which draws heat away from the bottom of the NVMe SSDs. It’s also important to note that the DXP2800’s M.2 slots use PCIe 3.0, which limits speed (still very fast for NAS use) but results in significantly lower temperatures compared to faster slots. An NVMe SSD in a PCIe 4.0 slot typically runs 5–15°C hotter than in a PCIe 3.0 slot, while a PCIe 5.0 slot can increase temperatures by 10–30°C for the same SSD.For peace of mind, I tested the NVMe SSD temperatures during extended full-load conditions, and they never exceeded 42°C—a very safe temperature for SSDs.Final Thoughts:After months of use, I’ve experienced zero issues with this NAS. It’s reliable, powerful, and packed with features that far exceed my expectations for its price. I’m absolutely happy with it and highly recommend it to anyone looking for an affordable and capable NAS solution.

After two weeks of use, my Ugreen DXP2800 2-Bay NAS with my older, upgraded ASUS AS6602T (8GB RAM + 500GB dual SSD caching) have shown clear differences in performance, efficiency, and usability. Despite Ugreen’s newer Intel N100 processor, both NAS devices deliver similar overall performance, though Ugreen feels snappier in simple tasks like UI navigation and file browsing.However, Ugreen struggles with resource management, especially when running apps via Docker or Virtual Machine. Even when Firefox (installed through Docker) is not actively in use, it continues consuming CPU indefinitely unless manually restarted. This inefficiency leads to higher CPU usage and unnecessary disk activity over time, something ASUS manages much better due to its more mature OS and application optimization.One clear advantage of Ugreen is power efficiency. Under average load, Ugreen consumes around 17-20W/h, increasing to 25-35W under heavy load, and drops to 9-12W in sleep mode. Comparatively, my ASUS NAS idles at around 20W, runs at 30W under normal usage, and spikes up to 50W during intensive server tasks. While the difference might seem small, over a year, Ugreen’s lower power consumption could save around $40+ in electricity costs, which adds up significantly over time, especially for 24/7 operations.Ugreen’s aluminum enclosure looks premium and dissipates heat well, but it acts like a soundbox, amplifying HDD noise. My ASUS NAS, despite using the exact same WD 3TB NAS 5400RPM HDDs, remains much quieter, likely due to better HDD insulation and optimized read/write handling. If your NAS is stored in a garage, laundry room, or server rack, noise won’t be an issue, but if it’s in your office or bedroom, the HDD noise from Ugreen can be irritating under load.One area where Ugreen clearly outperforms ASUS is photo backup and remote syncing. Ugreen’s Photo Backup for iOS is so efficient that I’m seriously considering canceling my Google Photos subscription. With RAID1 syncing to both my NAS setups across two locations thousands of miles apart, I now have a seamless, private cloud solution.Setting up RESYNC to pull backups from my ASUS NAS over the internet was smooth and reliable, syncing 700GB without issues and continuing to update efficiently. Meanwhile, ASUS’s photo app has been broken for me since 2020, making this a huge win for Ugreen.Ugreen feels fast and modern but currently lacks the mature software ecosystem and refined features of major NAS brands. That being said, if Ugreen continues investing in UGOS over the next 6-12 months, it could become a serious competitor to ASUS and Synology. Right now, I’m happy with my purchase, especially at the discounted price, considering that a comparable ASUS or Synology model would cost nearly twice as much. If Ugreen keeps improving, this might just be one of the best value NAS options out there.

I was looking for a small NAS/mini pc with decent specs and at least 2 drive bays to replace my makeshift Dell Optiplex "server" and I was debating on whether to go with this DXP2800 or the AOOSTAR R1 and I ended up getting this one. The R1 is probably a better value, especially if you tinker with the software (it comes with Windows 11 out of the box), but I really like UGREEN OS and the build quality is great. I also really like that it comes with a 2 year warranty and UGREEN is respected brand, so I'm sure they should be easy to deal with if I end up having a problem.Setup was pretty easy, you just put the drives in, connect it to power and ethernet and setup the software on your browser or the client. I did encounter some problems, though. First of all the NVME SSD slots are kind of hard to get at, especially if you have big hands. I also couldn't get UGREEN WebFind to find my NAS, so I had to install the client to set it up. Afterwards I could just enter the ip address on my web browser use the web interface just fine and it was smooth sailing from there mostly.Like I said before I like UGREEN OS, it's easy to use and most things are preconfigured for you already. SMB worked like a charm and docker works as expected, but I do wish they had more apps to choose from, even if they're just pre-configured docker containers, it would be much better than having to set them up manually in the docker app. You can install another OS on it, but I didn't want to do that because it already works well enough for my needs and I also couldn't find anything else that was as simple to use as UGOS without paying extra.