Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus Evaluate

I’ve been a giant fan of Ugreen for the previous few years, with them persistently launching nice Energy Supply chargers, moveable energy banks, and USB/Thunderbolt docks.

One product vary I’ve been desperate to check out is the brand new Ugreen NAS gadgets. I’m a eager homelabber who’s presently operating two mini PCs operating Proxmox and two TerraMaster NAS gadgets operating Unraid.

Admittedly, my curiosity within the Ugreen merchandise has been extra in the direction of the x64-based fashions operating Intel CPUs on account of their flexibility on what you’ll be able to run, however when Ugreen contacted me about reviewing the brand new ARM primarily based NASync DH4300 Plus, I used to be pleased to attempt it out.

The Community Hooked up Storage market has lengthy been dominated by a couple of key gamers. Manufacturers like Synology and QNAP have constructed robust reputations over a few years, providing polished working techniques and in depth utility ecosystems. For a lot of residence customers and small companies, these manufacturers have been the default alternative.

Nonetheless, lately, extra inexpensive choices have change into more and more widespread. I believe TerraMaster have stood out as an excellent inexpensive possibility, however extra not too long ago Ugreen and Minisforum have been making waves on this section.

Associated Critiques

Specification

UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus Options

The DH4300 Plus is a four-bay Community Hooked up Storage machine designed for residence workplaces, small groups, and households with rising knowledge wants. It acts as a high-performance residence knowledge hub and a device for skilled collaboration.

Core {Hardware} and Efficiency

On the coronary heart of the DH4300 Plus is an 8-core Rockchip RK3588C processor with a most frequency of two.4 GHz. This ARM-based CPU is constructed on an 8 nm course of. For multitasking and processing, the system is provided with 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM. The system itself runs from a 32GB eMMC inner drive.

Storage Capability and Information Administration

The machine options 4 drive bays which are appropriate with each 3.5-inch and a couple of.5-inch SATA drives. This permits for a complete storage capability of as much as 120TB, assuming 30TB drives are utilized in every bay.

To handle the info throughout these drives, the DH4300 Plus helps a variety of RAID configurations, providing selections between efficiency and knowledge redundancy. Supported modes embrace:

• JBOD and Primary
• RAID 0 (Striping for efficiency)
• RAID 1 (Mirroring for redundancy)
• RAID 5 (Striping with parity for a stability of efficiency and single-drive failure safety)
• RAID 6 (Striping with double parity for two-drive failure safety)
• RAID 10 (A mix of striping and mirroring for top efficiency and redundancy)

Connectivity and Community Velocity

For community connectivity, the NAS features a 2.5GbE LAN port, which facilitates switch speeds of as much as 312.5MB/s. This pace is considerably quicker than typical cloud add charges.

Bodily connectivity choices embrace:

• Two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports
• One USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port
• An HDMI port that helps direct media playback to a show at a decision of 4K 60Hz

Software program and Person Expertise

The DH4300 Plus runs on the UGOS Professional working system, which is designed for easy use. The preliminary setup course of is guided and may be accomplished in underneath 10 minutes. An NFC Fast Connection characteristic permits a smartphone to connect with the NAS with a easy faucet.

Administration is dealt with by means of a single, all-in-one UGREEN NAS app that centralises file administration, picture backups, and media streaming. The software program additionally gives sensible features reminiscent of computerized picture classification, OCR for textual content recognition in photos, and a sensible film hub. For extra superior customers, the machine provides Docker help, permitting for the usage of customized purposes.

Safety Protocols

The machine is constructed across the precept of native storage, protecting consumer knowledge on a bodily machine they personal to keep away from the dangers related to third-party cloud platforms.

A number of layers of safety are included:

• Transmission Encryption: Information is protected in transit utilizing protocols like TSL/SSL, RSA, and AES.
• Account Safety: Person accounts are protected with high-strength SHA256 password hashing and the choice for multi-factor authentication through e mail.
• Safety Supervisor: A built-in perform within the app gives 24/7 real-time risk monitoring and permits for scheduled virus scans to guard information.
• Native Account: For customers who don’t require distant entry, an area account can be utilized, which doesn’t require an web connection for verification.

Unboxing / Design

The Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus arrives in easy packaging. Inside, you’ll discover the NAS unit itself, an influence adapter, a community cable, and a few screws for mounting 2.5-inch drives. The unit is compact, with dimensions of 155 x 155 x 215.7 mm, making it solely barely bigger than the 4 3.5-inch arduous drives it’s designed to carry. This small footprint is a substantial benefit for customers with restricted house.

The chassis is constructed primarily of plastic, but it surely feels strong and well-assembled. The design is minimalist and fashionable. A magnetic high panel covers the drive bays, which may be simply eliminated to entry the drives. This tool-less entry to the highest cowl is handy.

Drives are put in vertically into the chassis. Every drive is mounted onto a plastic tray that then slides into place, connecting on to the SATA backplane. The trays themselves really feel considerably plasticky and fundamental, however they’re practical. They incorporate small rubber grommets and comes which seemingly assist to dampen drive vibrations and cut back operational noise. One notable omission is the shortage of any bodily locks on the drive bays. Whereas not a essential characteristic for many residence customers, locks can stop unintended removing of a drive, particularly in a family with kids.

Cooling is dealt with by a single giant fan positioned on the base of the unit, which attracts air by means of air flow grilles on the edges and the rear of the highest panel. This design goals to tug cool air over the drives and inner elements earlier than exhausting it.

Set Up

Establishing the DH4300 Plus is a straightforward course of, clearly designed with novices in thoughts, although it did truly catch me out.

Usually, with any networking product, I naturally scan my community and browse to the IP of the machine and set it up from there. With Ugreen, I had to make use of the app to establish the NAS and begin the set up course of.  

The UGOS Professional setup wizard guides you thru the complete course of. It prompts you to create a Ugreen account for distant entry, or alternatively, a local-only account. You might be then guided by means of the method of making a storage pool and quantity. A storage pool is the underlying group of bodily disks configured in a particular RAID kind, whereas a quantity is the usable cupboard space created on that pool. The wizard gives clear explanations of the completely different RAID choices and should advocate a selected kind, reminiscent of RAID 5, for a stability of capability and safety with three or extra drives.

As soon as the preliminary set up was performed, the IP was absolutely accessible.

UGOS Professional Person Interface / Settings

UGOS Professional is Ugreen’s proprietary NAS working system. The interface is fashionable, with a clear design that takes inspiration from cell working techniques. It presents a desktop-like surroundings throughout the net browser, with icons for main purposes like File Supervisor, App Heart, and Management Panel.

The Management Panel gives entry to all system settings, together with consumer administration, community configuration, storage administration, and {hardware} settings. Whereas it covers all of the important features, it lacks the deep, granular management discovered in additional mature techniques like Synology’s DSM or QNAP’s QTS. As an illustration, file sharing permissions are practical however extra fundamental than what a sophisticated consumer or small enterprise may require.

UGOS Installable Apps

The App Heart is the place you’ll be able to set up extra purposes to increase the performance of the NAS. The library of native apps is presently fairly small in comparison with rivals. It contains important Ugreen-developed apps for picture administration, cloud drive syncing, and media streaming. Well-liked third-party apps like Plex are usually not accessible as native installations. The restricted dimension of the app library is among the most vital trade-offs when selecting this NAS.

It has a lot of the vital issues I’d need, together with

The total record of apps is presently simply 27 and contains the preinstalled apps. The total record contains:

1. Cloud Drives
2. Management Panel (pre-installed, clearly)
3. DLNA
4. Docker
5. Downloads
6. File Model Explorer
7. Information
8. Firefox
9. Dwelling Assistant
10. Jellyfin
11. Logs
12. Music
13. On-line Workplace
14. Pictures
15. qBittorrent
16. SAN Supervisor
17. Safety
18. SiYuan – SiYuan is a privacy-first private information administration system, supporting fine-grained block-level reference and Markdown WYSIWYG.
19. Snapshot
20. Storage
21. Help
22. Sync & Backup
23. Process Supervisor
24. TextEdit
25. Theatre
26. Common Search
27. Vault

There are some large omissions for widespread apps, together with:

• Adblocking with PiHole/Adguard
• Recursive DNS with Unbound and many others
• Extra obtain instruments reminiscent of Sonarr/Radarr/SabNZB
• A reverse proxy reminiscent of Traefik
• NextCloud
• Plex

Docker

The inclusion of Docker help is a serious benefit that helps to offset the small native app library. Docker permits customers to run 1000’s of third-party purposes in light-weight, remoted environments referred to as containers. For customers with some technical information, this opens up a world of prospects.

As beforehand talked about, there is no such thing as a Plex underneath the installable apps, however there’s the favored linuxserver/plex picture accessible in Docker. Equally, you might have Sonarr, Radarr and SabNZB, that are all widespread choices for media fanatics who host their very own media.

File Switch Speeds

With its 2.5GbE community port, the DH4300 Plus is able to spectacular file switch speeds. In testing, with a RAID 5 array of 4 arduous drives, the NAS can comfortably saturate the two.5GbE connection, attaining sequential learn and write speeds near the theoretical most of round 300 MB/s. This can be a noticeable enchancment over a 1GbE connection, which tops out at round 110-120 MB/s. Massive file transfers which may have taken a number of minutes on an older NAS may be accomplished way more shortly, bettering the general consumer expertise.

Apps

Jellyfin / Plex Efficiency / {Hardware} Decoding

Plex doesn’t have a local app throughout the OS, however the third-party apps within the Ugreen apps retailer are all Docker apps.  

Plex has misplaced loads of favour with customers not too long ago, so I used this as a chance to take a look at Jellyfin.

The app installs simply; you simply must ensure you outline your folders presently and don’t transfer them.

I discovered that I used to be in a position to stream a 4K HEVC HDR film with no points, which is spectacular for such an inexpensive NAS.

The actual take a look at of a NAS’s media capabilities comes with transcoding, which is the method of changing a file on-the-fly to a format appropriate with the playback machine. The DH4300 Plus handles 1080p and 4K transcoding properly. It may possibly transcode a 4K file right down to 1080p for playback on a cell phone or older TV with out vital stuttering, though CPU utilization will likely be excessive. The {hardware} transcoding engine on the ARM processor is efficient, although it is probably not as universally appropriate or as highly effective as Intel’s Fast Sync know-how present in x64-based NAS gadgets.

The machine is marketed with 8K help, and whereas it could possibly play an 8K file natively through its HDMI output, CPU utilization sits at a excessive 70-75%. Trying to transcode an 8K file will push the CPU to 100% and lead to a poor playback expertise. For all sensible functions, this must be thought-about a really succesful 4K media NAS.

Cloud Drives

One characteristic I discovered helpful and simple to arrange was the cloud drive integration. You may hyperlink OneDrive and Google Drive and arrange syncing in both one course or each, and have the sync scheduled or in actual time. Whereas I really like the comfort of cloud drives, there’s at all times the danger that your account will get hacked or locked out, and I just like the reassurance of a self-hosted backup.

Picture App

The built-in picture administration utility gives fundamental organisation and AI-powered categorisation. After pointing it at your picture library, the AI processes photos to establish individuals, pets, automobiles, and varied objects.

The facial recognition works fairly properly after preliminary coaching. You may tag individuals, and the system learns to recognise them in subsequent pictures. Accuracy isn’t excellent – anticipate to manually confirm and proper some identifications – but it surely’s practical sufficient for fundamental organisation.

The interface permits shopping by date, location (if EXIF knowledge contains GPS), albums, or AI-generated classes. Computerized backup from cell gadgets works easily through the companion app, making it simple to get pictures off your telephone and onto the NAS robotically.

In comparison with devoted options like Google Pictures or Apple Pictures, it’s extra fundamental. The AI isn’t as refined, the search performance is proscribed, and there’s no computerized enhancement or modifying options. However for a locally-hosted answer that retains your pictures personal, it does the job adequately.

On-line Workplace

UGOS Professional contains fundamental on-line workplace performance for viewing and modifying paperwork, spreadsheets, and shows. This makes use of open supply elements quite than being a fully-featured workplace suite.

For mild modifying duties – updating a spreadsheet, reviewing a doc, making fast presentation adjustments – it’s enough. The interface is practical with out being polished, and compatibility with Microsoft Workplace codecs is suitable for easy paperwork.

I wouldn’t advocate this for critical productiveness work. The characteristic set is proscribed, efficiency lags behind devoted options, and sophisticated paperwork don’t at all times render accurately. Consider this as a comfort characteristic for infrequent edits quite than a correct workplace suite alternative.

qBittorrent

The qBittorrent implementation, put in through the app retailer or Docker, gives a succesful obtain consumer. The online interface is the usual qBittorrent UI, which is practical if not notably enticing.

Obtain efficiency is strong, restricted by your web connection quite than the NAS. The system handles a number of simultaneous torrents with out points, and the 8GB RAM gives enough house for typical obtain queue administration.

Storage efficiency is greater than enough for torrent operations. Even throughout heavy obtain exercise with a number of lively torrents, system responsiveness remained good.

Energy Draw / Power Effectivity / Noise

One of many most important promoting factors of this NAS is the very low energy consumption of ARM primarily based RK3588C processor compared to dearer Intel/AMD primarily based techniques.

It’s formally rated at 38W.

• With no arduous drives put in and the system idle, it attracts simply 4.6-4.7 watts.
• With 4 4TB arduous drives put in and idling, energy consumption rises to a nonetheless modest 21-22 watts.
• Below a heavy load with each the CPU and arduous drives being accessed, the ability draw peaks at round 34-35 watts. These figures are wonderful, making the DH4300 Plus a cost-effective alternative for an always-on residence server.

As a result of energy-efficient course of, the general noise produced by the NAS is minimal. I’ve had it in my workplace all through this assessment and have been unable to listen to the followers over my laptop. The one factor I sometimes hear is a slight arduous disk noise.

Worth and Various Choices

The Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus has an RRP of £360, and on the time of writing, Ugreen had it on their web site for £306 whereas Amazon has it for £324.

Ugreen then has:

• NASync DXP4800
  • RRP: £480 – Amazon: £410
  • Chipset / CPU: Intel N100
  • Storage: 4x 3.5” bays + 2x M.2 NVMe slots
• NASync DXP4800 Plus
  • RRP: £600 – Amazon: £540
  • Chipset / CPU: Intel Pentium Gold 8505 5-Core
  • Storage: 4x 3.5” bays + 2x M.2 NVMe slots + 128GB system SSD
  • Networking: 1x10GbE + 1x 2.5GbE

Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus vs TerraMaster F4-212

TerraMaster might be the very best different model, and the TerraMaster F4-212 is the closest in value.

The TerraMaster F4-212 is powered by the quad-core Realtek 1619B and is obtainable in 1GB or 2GB variants. The 2GB variant is a contact cheaper than the Ugreen at £300.

It then has 4 drive bays and a single gigabit Ethernet port.

The chipset on the Ugreen is considerably higher:

The Ugreen, subsequently, has significantly better specs for the value, however the TerraMaster is a extra mature system and after I reviewed the 2-bay F2-212, there have been 42 purposes accessible to put in, considerably greater than Ugreen. Admittedly, lots of them didn’t have a lot attraction, however they did have Plex and Emby vs Jellyfin, then some helpful instruments like AOMEI Backupper, Portainer (for higher Docker administration), VPN Server, plus different useful apps.

Terramaster additionally has TOS group apps, which embrace issues like Sonarr, however the web site that hosts the apps has restricted entry until you pay a excessive month-to-month charge.

Personally, for these ARM-based NAS gadgets, I’d go for the Ugreen, which has barely much less performance from the apps however significantly better efficiency.
Total

Whereas I usually favor a extra absolutely featured NAS OS like Unraid, I’ve shortly grown to love the Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus.

It’s a fundamental NAS with a restricted variety of simply installable apps, but it surely does cowl most issues.

It is rather quiet and extremely vitality environment friendly, which makes it very interesting for anybody wanting to cut back the general price of possession.

 The restricted variety of apps has labored flawlessly thus far. I’ve been impressed with the picture options, the cloud drive, and the efficiency from Jellyfin.  

The first weak point of the machine is its software program. UGOS Professional is a younger working system. Whereas it’s clear, fashionable, and simple for novices to make use of, it lacks the depth, customisation choices, and in depth app library of its extra established rivals. The reliance on Docker to increase its performance is an effective answer, however it could be a barrier for much less technical customers.

For a first-time NAS purchaser, a house consumer in search of a succesful media server and backup machine, or somebody prioritising vitality effectivity and affordability over a extra mature software program ecosystem, the Ugreen NASync DH4300 Plus is a superb and easy-to-recommend alternative. It provides a implausible basis of {hardware} that Ugreen can construct upon as its UGOS Professional software program continues to develop.

I’m James, a UK-based tech fanatic and the Editor and Proprietor of Mighty Gadget, which I’ve proudly run since 2007. Obsessed with all issues know-how, my experience spans from computer systems and networking to cell, wearables, and sensible residence gadgets.

As a health fanatic who loves operating and biking, I even have a eager curiosity in fitness-related know-how, and I take each alternative to cowl this area of interest on my weblog. My numerous pursuits enable me to convey a singular perspective to tech running a blog, merging life-style, health, and the newest tech developments.

In my tutorial pursuits, I earned a BSc in Data Techniques Design from UCLAN, earlier than advancing my studying with a Grasp’s Diploma in Computing. This superior examine additionally included Cisco CCNA accreditation, additional demonstrating my dedication to understanding and staying forward of the know-how curve.

I’m proud to share that Vuelio has persistently ranked Mighty Gadget as one of many high know-how blogs within the UK. With my dedication to know-how and drive to share my insights, I intention to proceed offering my readers with participating and informative content material.