UniFi UNAS Pro: The Best NAS For The Price?

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UNIFI NAS PRO Review: Is it the best NAS for the price or for you? Discover the features of this versatile network attached storage device. I cover what this device can do and what shortcomings it has.

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Chapters
00:00 UniFi UNAS Pro Review
01:15 The Hardware
02:12 UniFi UNAS Pro Setup & Raid File System
03:47 Snapshots Management
05:27 Time Machine Samba and NFS Share Options
06:40 User Management and External Authentication Support
07:12 UniFi NAS Backup Options
08:54 Creating Share Links
10:20 Web Previewing Files
10:37 Changing Raid Settings
12:40 What The UniFi NAS Can Not Do

[johnvanwinkle]

Thank you for your "professional" review versus everyone else that wanted to be "first on the net" to review this NAS. I was hoping you would make a video review of this since I am interested in this for my home system. As always, great job Tom!

[clarkpoland]

This video is right next to Jeff Geerling's look at the M4 Mac Mini power efficiency on my subscribe list. Using the UNAS as pure storage and the Mac Mini as a media server / Docker host for just about any production type homelab use is a killer combo.

[lifefromscratch]

I'm a big advocate of running storage and services on separate machines so I actually really like their approach of it being just storage and didn't go overboard with some i9 processor or something which would just be a waste of money for my use case.

[mausball]

Having run a bunch of different NAS types and systems over the years, I like that they're keeping the system cheap and functional within a narrow range. a NAS should be storage, and it does that well. A virtualization server is where docker or proxmox should live, not on the storage server IMO. I really like this.

[GrComputerServices]

I Think this is ideal for most of my customers, the majority don't need all the extra things like docker container and plex etc.

[TrailFeatures]

Honestly, even as someone that likes to tinker this would make a great addition for a TrueNAS system. For many of my files, I don’t need high speeds, I just want a 2nd local backup in addition to my main storage and cloud.

[timezonewall]

Has solid potential. While containers and VMs are not essential for a NAS, having a robust backup system with versioning and a variety of local and cloud targets is. Hopefully they will get backups addressed as quickly as they did with NFS.

[yourpcmd]

How about turning the 4-bay UNVR into a NAS? Should be able to utilize the same software.

[enderish]

I do really hope that Unifi produces a phone backup app that can automatically backup data to the unas like photos, I'd love to stop using Google photos so much

[rogerjenson]

On a lark I checked the UI store and the UNAS Pro was available so I bought it immediately. The next day when I checked on the order status the UNAS Pro was sold out again. Lesson learned, be prepared to buy it when you see it. Installed the drives, applied updates, everything works as advertised. Time to setup workstation and server backups to get comfortable with the product.

[fishnet]

I hope they integrate S3 as a Backup Destination. I usually use an "independent" S3 bucket with versioning enabled. This NAS would be a good system for companies up to 5 users. Only disadvantage: being heavily dependent on Unifi.

[MCentral]

A good start ftom Unifi -- except one glaring issue that needs addressing - Theres no need for both the NAS and NVR to exist. Unifi Protect needs to be integrated into the NAS

[jmugoose]

I use truenas and a synology in my home lab. Synology backup solutions is ideal for backing up and versioning for all my vms (stored on a hl15) and pcs/mac. Backup solution on the unas will have to greatly improve before switching to it over the synology.

[jimharberson]

Thank you for doing a relavant and honest review of this NAS!

[shadowknyt]

I ordered one specifically because I want ease of use. It will be fun to test out when they come back in stock.

[jmd]

My ideal NAS. 100 Tb plus 3 drives for redundancy. All you''ll need is an identical configuration system for back up operations, and a rack mounted tape drive for off-site backups.

[michaeldmorrison]

I like seeing that dropdown box for AD and Entra, hopefully that makes it's way over to client VPN authentication... (and hopefully they add a few more cloud options to this NAS)

[MikeFaucher]

Great review. I am testing one right now and have much of the same results. I did find the file performance to be good on the non-encrypted drives but much slower on encrypted drives. Overall, it is a great unit.

[kevinmitchell]

I'd be very wary of buying a UNAS PRO at the moment. I purchased one, added four Seagate IronWolf 4TB, NAS drives to it, and it was fine. I also had two external Seagate hard drives I'd purchasing recently containing Barracuda drives. I took these out their enclosurers and added them to the NAS. Both failed almost immediately saying the drives were faulty with I/O errors. Prior to removing the drives from the enclosures I'd checked and there were no faults. The compatibility chart from UI gave no indication these drives were incompatible with the UNAS. UI's support was less than helpful, basically saying that i should just buy some other drives. So unless you are buying drives from the UI store it sounds like there's no real guarantee that the drives will work, and no support from UI to determine why the drives are incompatible. I purchased the UNAS because I was worried about Synology's plans to restrict the drives they support. But the UI approach seems even worse. The final straw was when the support person seriously suggested I purchase a third Barracuda drive to see if that worked! So buyer beware, at least until UI get their act together.

[LimeasaurusRex]

The bang for the buck is strong on this one.