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Head-to-head · Best 4-Bay NAS Drives

Synology DS923+ vs TerraMaster F4-424 Pro

Which is the better buy? Side-by-side on rating, price, strengths, and watch-outs — with the published ratings we averaged to get there.

The short answer

Synology DS923+ comes out ahead by a clear margin (4.6 vs 4.2). The gap is mostly about households and prosumers who want the least-friction NAS experience and value mature software over raw hardware spec — read the strengths below before deciding.

Synology DS923+
Higher ratedRanked #1 in Best 4-Bay NAS Drives
Synology DS923+
$599

The DS923+ is the default 4-bay NAS recommendation for most users, and has been since launch — DSM is the most polished OS in this space, ECC RAM support is unusual at this price, and the platform handles continuous backups, media serving, and a few virtual machines without breaking a sweat. The two main limitations — gigabit-only stock networking and no native hardware transcoding — push power users to the QNAP TS-464. Everyone else gets the easier path with the Synology.

Strengths
  • — AMD Ryzen R1600 dual-core CPU with ECC memory support — rare protection against silent data corruption
  • — DSM (DiskStation Manager) is the most polished NAS operating system available
  • — Two M.2 NVMe slots for read/write caching (or storage pools on DSM 7.2+)
Watch-outs
  • — Ships with only 2x 1 GbE ports — 2.5 GbE is becoming standard at this price tier
  • — Synology's drive-compatibility list pushes you toward their branded HAT3300 drives
  • — Hardware video transcoding requires a Plex Pass workaround — no iGPU like QNAP
$599 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →
TerraMaster F4-424 Pro
Ranked #4 in Best 4-Bay NAS Drives
TerraMaster F4-424 Pro
$700

The F4-424 Pro is the value-per-spec pick — 8-core CPU and 32 GB DDR5 RAM at $500 is unmatched. The catch is TOS, which most enthusiasts swap out for TrueNAS Scale or Unraid. If you were going to do that anyway, this is the platform; if you want a polished out-of-box experience, the Synology DS923+ or QNAP TS-464 are better matches.

Strengths
  • — Core i3-N305 8-core/8-thread CPU is the highest core count in this round-up
  • — 32 GB DDR5 RAM stock — far more than the DS923+ or TS-464 ship with
  • — Dual 2.5 GbE ports stock
Watch-outs
  • — TOS (TerraMaster Operating System) is the least polished NAS OS in this lineup
  • — Build quality is plastic where Asustor and Synology use metal
  • — TerraMaster's reputation for support and patches is mixed
$700 · Check Price on AmazonFull review →

How they stack up

Synology DS923+

DSM is materially more polished than QNAP's QTS, Asustor's ADM, UGREEN's UGOS, and TerraMaster's TOS. Loses on raw spec to the QNAP TS-464 (4K transcoding, 2.5 GbE stock), the UGREEN DXP4800 Plus (10 GbE stock), the TerraMaster F4-424 Pro (8-core CPU), and the Asustor Lockerstor 4 Gen3 (5/10 GbE dual). The software gap closes the hardware gap for most non-power-user buyers.

TerraMaster F4-424 Pro

Highest core count and most stock RAM of any pick here. Less polished software than the Synology DS923+, QNAP TS-464, and Asustor Lockerstor 4 Gen3 — most users end up running TrueNAS or Unraid. The UGREEN DXP4800 Plus runs similar new-OS-young-platform energy but ships with proper UGREEN OS rather than an excuse to wipe and reinstall.

Specs side-by-side

SpecSynology DS923+TerraMaster F4-424 Pro
Bays4 (3.5" / 2.5" SATA)4 (3.5" / 2.5" SATA)
CPUAMD Ryzen R1600 (2-core, 2.6-3.1 GHz)Intel Core i3-N305 (8-core, 3.8 GHz turbo)
RAM4 GB DDR4 ECC (up to 32 GB)32 GB DDR5 4800
Networking2x 1 GbE (optional 10 GbE)2x 2.5 GbE
OSDSM (DiskStation Manager)TOS (or TrueNAS/Unraid)
Max Sequential Read625 MB/s—
M.2 NVMe Slots2x slots2x slots
ExpansionGen3 x2 network upgrade slot (eSATA)—
Video Output—HDMI 2.0 (4K 60)
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