Synology BeeStation NAS review: Excellent entry-level backup solution with one glaring disadvantage

Overall, the Synology BeeStation serves as a decent alternative to cloud-based solutions. You’re restricted to just 4 TB of storage, but for anyone not regularly shooting 4K HDR videos, that’s plenty. Plus, it has newbie-friendly software that anyone without prior knowledge can set up and use easily. And it won’t take up room because it is essentially a hard disc with a bunch of components around it, so you can place it next to your router and forget about it. However, the BeeStation is not an alternative to a proper NAS. If you have massive amounts of data you need to offload, you’re better off investing in Synology’s DiskStation products.

You can buy the Synology BeeStation from the company’s website and Amazon for $219.  

While Synology’s primary area of expertise is high-end network storage solutions for enterprises, they also have a decent selection of consumer-friendly products. The BeeStation is made for average users who can’t be bothered with the intricacies of a NAS. But the convenience comes at a cost, which will be discussed further in the review. Synology positions the BeeStation as a cloud storage alternative for multimedia. Instead of paying a monthly subscription, you can safely store all your photos on a device that you own.

The Synology BeeStation comes with a non-upgradable 4 TB hard drive, a Realtek RTD1619B processor, 1 GB of RAM, one USB-C port, one USB-A port and one 1 Gb/s Ethernet jack. Because it has just one singular job, to store files, it doesn’t need much processing power. But the lack of upgradable storage ultimately puts you in the same situation with local backup alternatives. Its design makes it abundantly clear that it is not meant to be opened up.

You will eventually run out of space. But the BeeStation has many advantages over conventional backup methods like an external hard drive or flash storage. It runs a full-fledged OS that can be accessed anytime via an app. You can use the BeeStation to back up photos and files, both of which have a separate app on the Play Store/App Store. In the settings, you can enable local network access for when your internet is down and even direct access via your OS’ file manager. Synology also lets you create local backups of your BeeStation for extra security. If you want a cloud-based solution, the company offers one for a monthly subscription fee.

One might argue the whole point of the BeeStation is to avoid monthly recurring fees, but Synology’s backup service BeeProtect adds a layer of AES-256 encryption to your files and creates multiple versions of your data if you want to access an earlier version. All of this can be done locally to an external hard drive or Synology NAS without the monthly fee. 

In the box, you get the BeeStation, an Ethernet cable, a power brick and quick-start guide. Initial setup is relatively easy. Plug your BeeStation into your router via Ethernet, power it on, follow on-screen instructions and you’re good to go. A Synology account is required to sync content across devices. You can change settings remotely via browser, but uploading files requires an app on smartphones.

You can also back up data from an external hard disk/USB drive by connecting it to your BeeStation via one of its ports. This will result in much faster data transfers because the connection is no longer throttled by internet or Wi-Fi speeds. The Synology BeeStation can also directly interface with select cloud storage providers like Google, DropBox and Microsoft OneDrive. Interestingly, Apple iCloud is not supported.

Apple Ecosystem users can still use the BeeStation on their iPhones/iPads via the companion app and the browser interface on Macs. Unfortunately, Linux isn’t officially supported at the time of writing. One of the best use cases I found for the BeeStation is a one-stop dump from my iPhone 13 and Pixel 7 Pro. To push the BeeStation to its limits, I synced all photos from both my phones at the same time. This caused some odd behaviour in the BeePhotos app on my iPhone. It kept asking me to sign in whenever I wanted to access the ‘Settings’ part. I had over five thousand combined photos and videos on both my devices, and the backup process understandably took time.

The Synology BeePhotos app is minimalist and doesn’t have much in the way of customization options. 

The BeeStation is positioned as an alternative to cloud-based solutions that charge a monthly subscription. Strictly speaking, you can ditch your Google One, Google Drive or iCloud subscription, but you’ll miss out on some AI-powered features that come with them, especially the suite of editing features of Google Photos.

You can even invite family and friends to upload their data on your BeeStation. They get a dedicated folder, and will need to create their own Synology account to get started. It's not ideal, especially for less tech-savvy people, but seems like a necessary step to ensure everything stays in Synology’s ecosystem.

Synology has its own AI baked into the BeeStation that does a decent job of differentiating between people. Even if you don’t organize your photos into albums, the BeeStation is capable of organizing them based on people, subjects, and locations. The “subjects” sub-category is further divided into dogs, cats, automobiles, food items and anything else it can identify.

While the Synology BeeStation isn't particularly feature-rich, it can save you a good chunk of change on cloud storage fees. Plus, it has the benefit of being integrated in Synology's ecosystem.