Written 22 Aug 2026. Specs from the maker pages linked below. Prices from those stores. I haven't used these. Confirm the diskless SKU before you click: Amazon is full of drive bundles.

Asustor AS5402T review: four NVMe slots on a 2-bay NAS

A 2-bay file box that can run fast solid-state disks if apps need speed. Skip it if you only need two spinning disks for photos.

Nimbustor 2 Gen2. Official datasheet: Intel Celeron N5105 (4C, 2.0 / 2.9 GHz), 4 GB DDR4-2933 (max 16 GB, 8 GB × 2), two 2.5" / 3.5" SATA, four M.2 2280 NVMe, dual 2.5GbE with ADM SMB multichannel, three USB 3.2 Gen 2, HDMI 2.0b. 170 × 114 × 230 mm, 1.71 kg. 65 W brick. 3-year warranty. Volume types on two SATA bays: Single, JBOD, RAID 0 / 1. That is the 2-bay lid: no RAID 5 here.

Power table on the same datasheet: 22.9 W operation, 12.7 W disk hibernation, 0.71 W S3 sleep. That S3 number is why this chassis shows up in the bedroom watts note. Maker lab, not measured here.

Use M.2 for VMs and apps. Use SATA for bulk CMR HDD. Don't fill SATA with old laptop disks. Skip WD Red EFAX, Blue EZAZ, BarraCuda 3.5" 4 / 8 TB SMR. IronWolf 1–6 TB is 5400 RPM; ST8000VN004 is 7200. Asustor lists the Samsung 870 EVO on the AS54 compatibility page if you want a 2.5" SATA SSD in a bay, still a client SSD, not a NAS-endurance SKU. Details: 2.5 vs 3.5.

ADM is not DSM. App Central and Portainer are real. The restore muscle and the boring package list are still Synology’s. If you want sleep and Hyper Backup more than four M.2 slots, DS224+. If you want 2.5G without Asustor, DXP2800 (one 2.5G, two M.2) or F2-425 (one 2.5G, no M.2).

Street, 22 Aug 2026

Skip

Skip if you need RAID 5 on spinning disks: buy the AS5404T or a 4-bay. Skip if ADM is a worse Sunday than TOS or DSM for you. Skip SMR in the SATA pair. Skip treating this as a 10G box; dual 2.5G plus SMB multichannel is the story, and it still needs a 2.5G switch.