Method

This page is the machine: storage in, specification out, one shop exit after a named box.

Stage 1 is not editorial. What you already store is the pile. Years are a horizon, not a multiplier. If you name a bigger total, that total replaces the pile — it is never added on top. Spare (normal ×1.2, high ×1.5) sits on that one number. RAID then keeps one drive’s worth aside so the box can survive a dead disk — you do not get to use every terabyte you buy. That is not a copy in another house. Cross 12.00 TB (rule as of 7 Sep 2026) and the chassis becomes four bays. Cross 36.00 TB and it becomes six bays. Past 120 TB we fail closed: UNKNOWN, no enclosure, no Amazon enclosure button. We do not name a box for a pile that size.

Stage 2 is editorial, and tiny. The class maps to at most two verified-active models. Plus 2-bay is DS225+ and DXP2800. Four-bay is DS425+ and DXP4800 Plus. Six-bay is DXP6800 Pro only — Synology’s current Plus line has 5-bay and 8-bay, not 6, so it is not in that choice. DS925+ stays in the four-bay set but off this choice. DS224+ is retiring and is not in a choice set.

Files and photos only → value class. Films that already play → Plus. Converting for a TV → nothing named. We do not invent transcode capability.

Drive recommendations stay class + size band. No part numbers. No live prices. Amazon buttons are ads. Scan is not on this site. Enclosure hardware on Bayplan is copied from the manufacturer. We do not lab-test it, and we do not send you to the manufacturer to buy.

If two boxes fit, you pick. The cream bar is the only primary. That is the whole commercial path.