I tested Synology's BeeStation Plus - and this subscription-free NAS could replace your cloud storage

I've used Synology for a while now, both personally and professionally. I've worked with DiskStations, the original BeeStation, and many other NAS devices, too. As someone who juggles many businesses, clients, and a ton of storage at any given time, even with great internal storage on my primary laptop, access to more on others that I am testing, and external drives all around me, there is something simple and so helpful about cloud storage.

But, as many of you have also noticed, subscriptions are getting ridiculous these days. Everything has moved to subscriptions, and with that, when you want to expand further, the cost continues to skyrocket. That's why I started paying attention to Synology a few years back, recognizing that while some things I can keep on SSDs, having everything accessible no matter what company I am with, if I am home or away, or no matter what device, was something that I still desired in my daily workflow.

The ease and ability to pull up any number of documents, photos, videos, diagrams, and so on for any of my clients at any time, all without cluttering my internal storage or having to rummage through several external hard drives, is hard to pass up.

The frictionless action of searching in Finder (on my Mac) to grab the file I want and have it ready on my machine without having to store it there is always spectacular. And, with how fast I move these days, that is the kind of flexibility I need. That's where the BeeStation Plus comes in. It's got a few key upgrades from the original BeeStation, the first and foremost being that it doubled in storage from 4TB to 8TB.

Synology BeeStation Plus: Pricing & Availability

The Synology BeeStation Plus is available the official website by clicking here. Right now, it's being sold for around $400 for the 8TB of NAS.Right now, it's being sold for around $400 for the 8TB of NAS.

It's also available from other online retailers including B&H Photo, Amazon.com, and Amazon.co.uk.

Synology BeeStation Plus: Unboxing & first impressions

Unboxing and setting up the BeeStation Plus could not have been easier. I opened up the box, chose a spot in my home office where I wanted it to live, and plugged it into my monster of a desk setup with battery backup from my Anker Power Station with UPS. Lastly, to ensure I had the best download and upload speeds possible, I plugged the included Ethernet cable in from the Synology BeeStation Plus to my network switch, which then routes up to my TP-Link Deco XE75 Pro system. One power cable, one Ethernet cable, that's all.

After that, I jumped in and set up the BeeStation Plus via the IP address and web interface and began setting up sync folders, shared folders, a Plex Server, backups to my DiskStation (review coming soon), and more. I also added one right-angle USB-C adapter, but more on that later. All around, this setup took a matter of minutes, and probably took longer for me to cable manage one more thing into my monster of a desk setup than it did actually to set up the BeeStation Plus itself.

Synology BeeStation Plus: Design & build quality

The BeeStation Plus has a sleek matte plastic shell with its modern and clean design. It blends in, and it fits in with my office setup. I don't feel like I need to hide it, so I didn't. It's got a visible spot in my setup, but I barely notice it, which is excellent.

Even when this NAS is up and running, I can't hear it at all. The only reason that I know it is on, other than being able to access my files, is because of the status lights.

The only ports on here are the Ethernet port, a USB-C port, and the power port. The BeeStation Plus keeps it simple while packing a lot of power in a simple package.

Synology BeeStation Plus: In use

I've had the BeeStation Plus set up in my home office for 75 days at the time of writing this review. In that time, the BeeStation Plus has been my primary storage solution for the many clients that I work with, for all of the files, content, and assets that I have created for each client, as well as working files I have received from clients. All of them are stored on the BeeStation Plus and accessed from my many devices via the files/finder integrations or from the web or mobile apps.

Thanks to the Ethernet port, I have not noticed any downtime or issues with network speeds, and because my entire workspace is backed up with a power station from Anker, I don't worry about losing any data either. Even in a power outage, I could access my files locally from my computer over local Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Alternatively, if my internet line is still active but power is out, my whole home battery backup system will kick in, and I can access files from anywhere.

If you don't have a battery backup, though, that is not the end of the world; you will want to have a plan in place in case of a power outage if you have critical client files stored on the BeeStation Plus.

Another critical way that I utilize the BeeStation Plus is to offload files from any drives I am working with. Occasionally, I have a role where I need to transfer data from external drives or SD Cards. With the BeeStation Plus' USB-C port, I can plug in an SSD directly to that port, or I can use an SD Card reader with a USB-C port and plug that in to access an SD Card directly through my BeeStation Plus.

The benefit to this, of course, is that I never have to take up internal storage, nor do I have to ingest files, to upload them to a cloud service, to then share. Instead, I can plug in, choose where to move the files to, such as a previously shared client folder, and then I am good to go. I can walk away, work on something else, and so on.

Another thing that makes the BeeStation Plus super helpful, mainly when used as a business storage tool, is the ability to sync in multiple different ways, with multiple different servers. I work across Google Drive, Dropbox, and others daily.

For those folders that I want to make sure I don't lose anything, or that I have what I need, without having to jump in and out of folders every day, logging in and out of accounts and trying to remember where I have each file. Instead, I set up cloud sync preferences so that my folder structure on my BeeStation Plus will automatically stay in sync with some folders, one way download other folders, and auto upload to others—making my file management a breeze. Setting something like this up right from the start makes it feel like I have an admin helping me manage my file management, without the need for an admin or a monthly subscription cost.

Synology BeeStation Plus: Final verdict

All in all, the Synology BeeStation Plus is a welcome upgrade from the previous model. I haven't even gone into depth on the Plex integrations and other TLC updates that Synology has made. This is the perfect storage solution if you need terabytes of secure storage and don't want to pay an absurd monthly charge to access your files on another big-name cloud storage service. Power users may still need something more robust like the DiskStation, but for small businesses, freelancers, contract workers, and fractional guys like me, this is a spectacular option.

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