Back up files from Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and external drives to one central place.
Super-Duper Simple Setup
Setting up a NAS gear isnothow I’d like to spend an afternoon.
Fortunately, the BeeSation setup process only took a few minutes of my time.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
There are a few ways to interact with the BeeStation.
Those who want to regularly pull up the BeeStation from a computer should use theBeeStation for Desktopinterface.
It lets you set up automatic backups for folders and gives you an overview of BeeStation contents.
Store, access, and share files over the web, or from your desktop or mobile devices with the BeeStation.Share storage with family and friends so everyone has their own personalized storage space. Back up files from Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and external drives to one central place.
However, BeeStation’s SMB capabilities are disabled by default.
Forcing SMB during setup would just make things more complicated.
But LAN access is also disabled by defaultan odd choice.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
Those who failed to enable LAN werelocked out of My Cloudand couldn’t access their files.
Again, I appreciate the BeeStation’s simple setup process.
These apps are super straightforward, and they were clearly modeled after cloud storage solutions.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
Sending files to the BeeStation is a breeze.
As for the BeePhotos appI was very impressed.
you’ve got the option to even use search terms like “cat” to find certain photos.
Jerome Thomas / How-To Geek
(BeePhotos isn’t perfectly accurate when identifying people or subjects.
It thinks that I’m four different people, and it confuses cartoon characters for real faces.
However, I run into the same problems with Google Photos.)
It’s worth noting that the BeePhotos iPhone app isn’t great at uploading images in the background.
I had to keep the app open to finish uploading images.
However, the BeeStation isn’t designed for advanced NAS functionality.
It can’t stream media with Plex or run virtual machines.
you’re able to’t even install Synology’s DiskStation apps.
BeeStation may replace your cloud storage subscription, but it isn’t a stand-in for a full-fat NAS equipment.
I was surprised to learn that the BeeStation runs on a Realtek RTD1619B processor.
This is the same processor that you’ll find in Synology’sDiskStation DS223.
It’s fairly powerful, and it’s capable of running advanced applications like Plex.
Predictably, the BeeStation’s performance is pretty solid.
It writes and retrieves data at a reasonable rate, and it never crashed during my testing.
Just know that the BeeStation runs on a single 4TB Synology HAT3300 drive and uses a 1GbE port.
If I had to guess, Synology’s HAT3300 drive is responsible for these minor performance pitfalls.
A Quiet, Power-Efficient Machine
The BeeStation is unusually power efficient, even for a NAS rig.
It runs at just 7.86 watts when writing or retrieving data, according to Synology.
And, impressively, its power consumption dips to a cool 1.65 watts when idling.
All in all, BeeStation should add less than $1 to your electric bill each month.
More surprisingly, the BeeStation is fairly quiet.
(An increase of 10 dB is perceived as a doubling of loudness.)
This may be the least annoying NAS equipment on the market.
Should You Buy the Synology BeeStation?
At its core, theSynology BeeStationis a low-cost alternative to services like Dropbox or Google Drive.
Those who require advanced NAS functionality should skip the BeeStation.
But if you just need a replacement for Dropbox or Google Photos, this is clearly a good option.
The 4TB BeeStation that’s featured in this review costs $200.
For reference, I’m currently paying $10 a month for my 2TB Dropbox plan.
If I canceled Dropbox and switched to BeeStation, it would pay for itself in less than two years.
And that’s for 4TB of storagetwicethe storage of my Dropbox plan.
However, I need to reiterate that this is a single-drive solution.
It only contains one HDD, which will eventually fail.
I strongly suggest waiting for a two-bay version of the BeeStation.
That way, you might get 4TB of storage mirrored across both drives.
Of course, you’re free to ignore my suggestion if you aren’t concerned about file redundancy.
