Synology BeeStation 4TB Personal Cloud Storage Device (BST150-4T) Black

I was looking for a simple, reliable, affordable personal cloud storage option. This thing checks all the boxes. Plug and play, you don't have to be an IT geek to get it up and going. To be fair my only hiccup was during the initial setup it kept failing to complete the install, after over an hour of frustration I finally found a page on the Synology website that informed me that the site was temporarily down for maintenance and updating. Tried it again the next morning an voila, easy peasy! Wish they would have made it a little easier to know that little detail. Even with that, it deserves 5 stars, this thing is just what I was looking for. Love it!

Beestation has worked flawlessly under W10 and W11 so far. My main critique is the documentation is a little hard to follow.Beestation has the following modes of operation:1. Desktop -- this mode establishes a cloud drive as part of your file system. The default is on the C-drive, though you can move it to any attached drive. This is very convenient for a single user. It is a poor way to go if you are sharing the same files across multiple PC's (IMHO.) The reason is if you change a file (or do a backup) on one PC, all the other PC's have to update their cloud images and this makes for a lot of network traffic.2. As a mapped network drive. This mode works well if you are sharing the same information across multiple PC's.3. As a file server. You access the files via a web browser. This is convenient if you are temporarily accessing (upload or download) files from a PC that has not mapped the Beestation's folder(s.)4. Sharing the Beestation with other users. Each user has their own account and can access the drive via the ways mentioned.Thus Beestation is quite flexible and should operate as fast as your network allows. Though I have not tested how well it works when being accessed by multiple PC's concurrently.

Synology BeeStation One-Month Usage ReviewAfter using the Synology BeeStation for approximately one month, I would like to share my evaluation. I primarily use the Synology BeeStation to back up photos and videos taken with my mobile phone.1. Reasons for Choosing Synology BeeStation and Its Advantages1) Convenient Automatic BackupThe automatic backup feature from my mobile phone to Bee Photos within the Synology BeeStation is extremely convenient.2) Cost SavingsPreviously, I used Google Drive and Dropbox, but the monthly subscription fees were burdensome. The Synology BeeStation has freed me from these recurring costs.3) Affordable and ReliableCompared to other products, it is reasonably priced and provides stable data storage, which I find excellent.2. Areas for Improvement and Enhancement1) Performance OptimizationWhile the performance is generally acceptable, photo uploads, downloads, and deletions take a noticeable amount of time. It would be great if RAM expansion capabilities could be added to improve performance.2) App Improvements NeededThe Synology BeeStation/Bee Photos app requires several enhancements:Improved accuracy of facial recognitionAddition of private/secure folder functionalityIntegration of advanced features available in Synology NAS systemsThank you

When it works it’s great, but twice now I’ve got emails stating that the hard drive is damaged and in critical status and trying to get tech support from Synology is next to impossible. No contact phone number or chat. No email address for support. Only filling out a support ticket with limited options to choose what the issue is. Very hard to get help and response time is not good and trying to communicate the issue through emails is difficult and frustrating. I would never buy another Synology product again.

This plug-and-play private cloud storage device was easy to set up. While a bit expensive initially, I thought it was a good long-term investment. I had some initial upload issues the first 48 hours after installing, but a Synology firmware update fixed them quickly. Upload/download speeds are good. I also connected the power cord to UPS for power outage protection and to protect against data loss.It's much easier to setup and navigate than my Synology NAS for simple file storage and remote access. I chose this one over other brands for the brand reputation and it's made in Taiwan. I'll eventually add a backup external hard drive to the second USB port as a backup instead of the external Synology Cloud storage option.