Conclusion
If you are looking over this review then you know what to expect from QNAP NAS. TS-328 offers all of the features of the QTS OS but in a smaller bay count. Most of the NAS devices on the market offer NAS enclosures in 2 or 4 bays any provide the same RAID 0,1 and 5 functionality. To achieve a RAID 5 reliability you will need at least 3 drives. So when you see a 4 bay device and 3 bay device that can provide same protection level it makes it clear that you can save some money with 3 bay enclosure than with 4. But it’s not all about storage and protection of your data. The QNAP TS-328 offers H.264/265 decoding and transcoding via hardware. This will result in smoother playback of your videos. If you a photographer you can definitely use this device to store and manage all of your media in one place. What I am really trying to say is that this little inexpensive storage device has multiple ways to satisfy any type of user.
While playing around with the QNAP TS-328 I found that if you need to squeeze more I/O performance from this little unit, you can enable a feature called Cache Acceleration. Cache Acceleration is a great feature that offers 10 times overall more I/Os and reduced latency for your actions. Cache Acceleration will cost you 1 drive (I recommended using SSD). And the problem with TS-328 is that you will have to reduce your protection level from RAID 5 to RAID 1. So if you are planning to use this feature for your workload you should consider buying bigger drives for RAID 1 + SSD for cache.
TS-328 comes with two Gigabit Ethernet adapters. You can still get by with Gigabit networks for SO/HO use, however, I would love to see a 10Gbe connections on smaller NAS devices as this. With two Gigabit Ethernet adapters you can create a LAG connection, however, you would need a switch that allows you to link two ports together to achieve 2Gbps speeds. Most of the home switches do not offer that.
There are numerous applications which are available to install free of charge from the App Center. So if you want a build your own media server, web server, content management website or a proxy server you can do this in a matter of minutes. I highly recommend checking out the App Center overview on QNAPs website.
You can find the QNAP TS-328 for about $250 USD. This price is a little high considering you can buy a 4 bay NAS for about $260 USD, however, think of the extra drive you would need to buy for the 4 bay NAS and how much money will that save you. Of course, you can buy a 4 bay device and use 3 drives in it but you wouldn’t be using the NAS to the full potential. From my personal perspective, I think the QNAP TS-328 is a great device to have handy at home or at work. I Highly Recommend!
The design looks already old to me. But a 3 bay is a nice alternative for those who need space, specially with the new 14 TO Ironwolf.