UniFi UNAS Pro - BEFORE YOU BUY

UniFI UNAS Pro Videos Coming Soon:

My Current UnifI Setup

Video Chapters
00:00 - UniFi UNAS Pro Short Review
00:20 - The Price
01:14 - Ease of Use
01:53 - Ease of Deployment
02:40 - Update Control
03:48 - Nailing Down the NAS Fundementals
05:34 - The Hardware...
07:05 - Scalability
08:09 - Storrage Pool Management
09:02 - UniFi Protect Support
09:56 - Popular NAS Apps and Services
11:18 - The Future of UniFi NAS?

[nascompares]

*REQUEST* Hi. I have a request for anyone who ends up buying a UNAS Pro NAS system. I need your help with a video I want to work on in the new year about the "UNAS Pro 3 Months Later" (maybe 6 months, will see how UI approach the updates and roadmap). I know I have hit the 'content button' hard on this device, but as a new entry into the server space from such a well-known player in networking tech, I want to 1) obviously cover as many angles on what users want to know as possible, but also 2) keep the pressure on UI/Ubiquiti to develop this system more and more (and more!), as I think this thing nails the fundamentals very well, but could be more. So, here's my request. If you end up getting this device (or maybe you are a fellow reviewer who will be continuing to work with the system), I want to slot in a video early next year - kind of a "what has happened since launch" piece. A big, big part of that should be what real-world users think of it, did it meet expectations and did you stick with it, or abandon it as 'a fun play thing' and little else? If you can provide your input below in the comments or directly to me on robbie (at) nascompares, that would be awesome and of course, all those individually featured will be credited and linked appropriately. No worries otherwise, and cheers for reading! Have a bloody great week.

[Drischdaan]

What I don't understand is, that most people criticise the fact that it can't run apps (through docker, etc.). Its a network attached storage solution, not a server. Sure, other brands offer that functionality, but it's not really what a nas is for. If you have the money to buy a NAS, then you most certainly also have the money to buy a raspberry pi and run containers on there. I think that the UNAS Pro is something a small business would use in conjunction with an actual server.

[sebastiancojuharii]

Maybe it's just me but I love it. I love the single NAS idea, the way is made to be an Unifi NAS and nothing more. I own a synology nas but since the day one I separated the file storage part from the server applications. My point is, if you want a rackable NAS, dedicated to being a NAS and nothing else..this is for you. If not, maybe take a look at other brands.

[mackjsm]

I love how you just get to the point.. TY for the Video. From one I.T. guy to another.

[HappyOva]

All I need is a storage server and this works and looks great for my home lab.

[sloraris]

UNAS arrived about 30 minutes ago. She's already up and running, and I was pleasantly surprised to find NFS shares are already an available service! That was my main gripe when I purchased. Taking notes for you now, will keep on it and am happy to provide updates as I go.

[ImARichard]

I am genuinely stoked to get my hands on this device. Because of how critical it is to my homelab, a NAS is something I like to basically do one job and only one job: be a storage server. I had been eyeing the Synology 4-bay rack-mount device as a potential upgrade, but it felt like I was paying extra money for features that I just never planned to use and only upping my drive count from 2 to 4. But 10G onboard, 7 bays, and seemingly no catches at $499 is awesome. Even if they never added another feature to the thing from today, I'd still love it, but the potential for value added from software updates is pretty interesting too.

[aaronfisher]

If they add the option to backup workstations and restore them directly to the machine, or do bare metal backups from an ISO, I’d be all over this thing. I’d pay more for it too

[AshleyTayles]

I’d love to see this do iscsi. I can see myself using this as a shared storage for my proxmox cluster at home.

[WHJBill]

I have a Synology 920+ already and have a bunch of Unifi cameras, switches, and Dream Machine Pro SE and I'll be picking up the UNAS Pro when it comes back into stock. I have 6 8TB drives in an old computer I used for a NAS before I got my Synology that I'll use for the UNAS Pro (thankfully unlike Synology, you can use pretty much any drive without it complaining). I like the 10GB port, which the best my 920+ can do is bonded 1GB links.

I'll run 3rd party apps on the 920+ and to start with, use the UNAS to backup my 920+ in a NAS to NAS backup system. I hope they will be updating the features quickly. The one I would love to have multiple storage pools. That should be able to be added at a later date though. Might have to reformat all the drives, but should be doable.

[preacherplays]

And now I'm really looking forward to you highlighting the (assuredly) upcoming NAS hard drive sales around cybermonday/etc.

[laserbait]

Thanks for the review! I buy storage, for storage. I have servers, I don't need (or want docker/containers). It has to hold hard drives, and put them into a RAID. I would appreciate finer grained controls over the RAID level and stripe width and size, as well as performant expansion options. m.2 Cache would be a good thing for 10 Gb networks as well. But all in all, I think this is a solid firt offering from Unifi. I just hope that that they add RAID6 to the feature set soon.

[kuflik]

That is good for homelab - you have storage, and you can add whatever standalone proxmox that will work with that. No point in having 128core cpu in nas, and to be able to make everyone happy. They got storage, you can diy whatever you want to work with that but data is perfectly safe. I might switch feom synology at some point for great form factor- i like rack mount. In Synology its absolutely crazy priced

[nitropete]

Was looking to add this as a backup tool for my current nas and server, at the price and 7 bays to me its seems to be a no brainer

[MikVision]

Tbh at that price it does exactly what I need
Cheap nas that I connect to a mini pc to run all my apps
And buying those 2 things is still cheaper than a comparable synology

[michaelsims]

This is perfect for me... I have other servers for Virtual stuff.. I just wanted a NAS. They have a another system for cams . I will be picking one of these up for sure!

[timlasson]

I like the fact that it's a NAS, and nothing else. I see the addition of 3rd party apps just adding potential attack vectors. For the price savings, one can add a couple of Raspberry PIs, and configure how you want.

[SmellyCatCreations]

I just bought one of these and the only 1 pool to me is a little sad, I was hoping to have seperate pools. I hope this is something offered in a future firmware update.

[gofastwclass]

I like the idea of this NAS and I'm tempted to pick one up today, but I'm not a fan of being the first in line for a new product like I used to be.

This machine is exactly what I've wanted for ages. A good, solid name brand rack mount NAS without the gold plating I'll never use.

[bgills]

The Unifi lineup is full of devices that are simple, and do their tasks simply. So I doubt very much that they are going to allow any third party software to run on them. The reason that the hardware is fairly anemic in comparison to other NAS hardware is that the Unifi UNAS is only a NAS. It has only enough hardware to do what it is designed to do. Which makes it more price and energy efficient in the process.