Scenario recommendations
Three tiers, three product views, one use case.
Every scenario compares a NAS enclosure, exact hard drives, and a complete checked bundle at entry, midrange, and high-end levels.
Home backup & Mac Time MachineChoose a NAS for Mac and Windows backups by restore needs, protected capacity, ongoing maintenance, and a separate backup copy.Photo library & RAW archiveBalance photo library growth, thumbnail indexing, 2.5GbE/Thunderbolt speeds, and off-site replication.Plex media server & 4K transcodingChoose a Plex NAS by Direct Play or transcoding needs, full enclosure-and-drive cost, library growth, and the devices you actually watch on.Home server, Docker & containersPrioritize expandable memory, processor headroom, Docker/VM support, and safe separation between homelab services and irreplaceable data.Small-office file sharing & business backupFavor predictable administration, user permissions, snapshot replication, 10GbE networking, and multi-drive redundancy.