How to choose a 6-bay NAS in 2026
Six bays is where home NAS turns into small-business NAS: RAID 6 stops being overkill, drive vibration starts to matter (stick with NAS-rated CMR drives), and 10GbE becomes worth paying for. The 2026 field: Synology DS1621+/DS1622+ (AMD Ryzen, mature DSM), QNAP TS-673A (Ryzen + PCIe expansion) and TS-664 (Intel value), TerraMaster F6-424 Max (10GbE under $600), and UGREEN's deep DXP6800 line — Plus, Pro and Ultra — which arguably offers the widest spread from $500 media server to $900 Docker/VM workstation, plus the AI-focused iDX6011.
Current-generation picks
The models you can actually buy new today — one card each, with the official drive-list depth most spec sheets never show:
Synology DS1621+ QNAP TS-673A QNAP TS-664 TerraMaster F6-424 Max UGREEN DXP6800 Plus UGREEN DXP6800 Pro UGREEN DXP6800 Ultra UGREEN iDX6011 UGREEN iDX6011 Pro Zspace Z4 Pro+ Zspace Q4 Zspace Z425
All 6-bay models, ranked by official drive-list depth
CPU/RAM shown where the vendor publishes them (Synology/QNAP specs); "drives listed" = rows on the vendor's own compatibility tool.
| Model | Vendor | CPU | RAM | Drives listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QNAP TS-673A | QNAP | AMD Ryzen Embedded V1500B 4-core/8-thread 2.2 GHz processor | 8 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 680 |
| QNAP TVS-672XT | QNAP | Intel Core i5 Processor | 8 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 637 |
| Synology DS1618+ | Synology | Intel Atom C3538 | DDR4 Non-ECC SODIMM 4 GB | 507 |
| QNAP TS-h686 | QNAP | Intel Xeon D-1602 2-core/4-thread processor, up to 3.2 GHz | 8 GB UDIMM DDR4 ECC | 486 |
| QNAP TVS-663 | QNAP | — | — | 465 |
| QNAP TVS-672X | QNAP | Intel Core i5 Processor | 8 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 456 |
| QNAP TVS-h674 | QNAP | Intel Core i5-12400 6-core/12-thread Processor, burst up to 4.4 GHz | 32 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 442 |
| QNAP TVS-h674T | QNAP | Intel Core i5-12400 6-core/12-thread Processor, burst up to 4.4 GHz | 32 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 442 |
| QNAP TS-651 | QNAP | — | — | 440 |
| QNAP TS-653 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 440 |
| QNAP TS-653D | QNAP | Intel Celeron J4125 4-core/4-thread processor, burst up to 2.7 GHz | 8 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 437 |
| QNAP TVS-671 | QNAP | — | — | 428 |
| QNAP TS-664 | QNAP | Intel Celeron N5095 4-core/4-thread processor, burst up to 2.9 GHz | 8 GB SODIMM DDR4 1 | 392 |
| QNAP TVS-682 | QNAP | Intel Pentium G4400 2-core 3.3 GHz processor | 8 GB UDIMM DDR4 | 384 |
| QNAP TVS-682T | QNAP | Intel Core i3-7100 2-core 3.9 GHz processor | 8 GB UDIMM DDR4 | 384 |
| QNAP TS-670 | QNAP | — | — | 376 |
| QNAP TS-670 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 376 |
| QNAP TS-653A | QNAP | — | — | 367 |
| QNAP TVS-672N | QNAP | Intel Core i3 Processor | 4 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 352 |
| QNAP TS-673 | QNAP | AMD R-Series RX-421ND 4-core 2.1 GHz processor (Turbo Core to 3.4 GHz) | 4 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 338 |
| QNAP TVS-673e | QNAP | AMD R-Series RX-421BD 4-core processor, burst up to 3.4 GHz | 4 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 335 |
| QNAP TVS-673 | QNAP | — | — | 334 |
| QNAP TS-653B | QNAP | Intel Celeron J3455 4-core 1.5 GHz processor (burst up to 2.3 GHz) | 4 GB SODIMM DDR3L | 327 |
| QNAP TS-677 | QNAP | AMD Ryzen 5 1600 6-core/12-thread 3.2 GHz processor (Turbo Core to 3.6 GHz) | 8 GB UDIMM DDR4 | 316 |
| QNAP TS-632X | QNAP | AnnapurnaLabs, an Amazon company Alpine AL524, 4-core, 2.0GHz | 4 GB SODIMM DDR4 | 285 |
| QNAP TS-AI642 | QNAP | 8-core ARM Cortex 64-bit Processor ( 4-core Cortex-A76 2.2 GHz + 4-core Cortex-A55 1.8 GHz ) | 8 GB on board (non-expandable) 1 | 266 |
| QNAP TS-669 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 244 |
| QNAP TS-669L | QNAP | — | — | 244 |
| Synology DS1621+ | Synology | AMD Ryzen V1500B | DDR4 ECC SODIMM 4 GB | 209 |
| TerraMaster F6-424 Max | TerraMaster | — | — | 207 |
| TerraMaster T6-423 | TerraMaster | — | — | 207 |
| TerraMaster F6-424 | TerraMaster | — | — | 205 |
| TerraMaster F6-425 Pro | TerraMaster | — | — | 204 |
| QNAP TS-659 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 189 |
| QNAP TS-659 Pro II | QNAP | — | — | 189 |
| QNAP TS-659 Pro+ | QNAP | — | — | 189 |
| QNAP TS-639 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 179 |
| Synology DS620slim | Synology | Intel Celeron J3355 | DDR3L SODIMM 2 GB | 166 |
| TerraMaster D6-320 | TerraMaster | — | — | 164 |
| Synology DS1621xs+ | Synology | Intel Xeon D-1527 | DDR4 ECC SODIMM 8 GB | 115 |
| QNAP TS-667X | QNAP | — | — | 107 |
| QNAP TS-h665 | QNAP | — | — | 86 |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Plus | UGREEN | — | — | 59 |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Pro | UGREEN | — | — | 59 |
| UGREEN iDX6011 | UGREEN | — | — | 59 |
| UGREEN iDX6011 Pro | UGREEN | — | — | 59 |
| UGREEN DXP6800 Ultra | UGREEN | — | — | 57 |
| QNAP TS-h665U | QNAP | Intel 4-core processor | 8 GB SODIMM DDR5 | 53 |
| QNAP TS-h665U-RP | QNAP | Intel 4-core processor | 8 GB SODIMM DDR5 | 49 |
| Zspace Z4 Pro+ | Zspace | Intel N150 (std) / N355 (perf), dual 2.5GbE | DDR5 SODIMM, up to 16 GB | requirements |
| Zspace Q4 | Zspace | Intel N95 | DDR4, user-upgradable | requirements |
| Zspace Z425 | Zspace | Intel Core Ultra 125H | 2× SO-DIMM DDR5 dual channel, up to 128 GB | requirements |
Drives the most 6-bay machines share
Cross-checked against every 6-bay model's official list on this site — the safest part numbers when you're not sure which box you'll end up with:
| Drive | Brand | Series | Listed on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD4003FFBX | Western Digital | Red Pro | 30 of 49 models | price |
| ST4000VN008 | Seagate | IronWolf | 30 of 49 models | price |
| ST6000NM021A | Seagate | Exos 7E8 | 29 of 49 models | price |
| MG04ACA400E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 28 of 49 models | price |
| MG04ACA300E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 28 of 49 models | price |
| MG04ACA200E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 28 of 49 models | price |
| WD102KFBX | Western Digital | Red Pro | 28 of 49 models | price |
| ST8000NM0206 | Seagate | Exos X10 | 27 of 49 models | price |
| ST10000NM0086 | Seagate | Exos X10 | 27 of 49 models | price |
| WD40PURZ | Western Digital | Purple | 27 of 49 models | price |
| MN06ACA800 | Toshiba | MN06ACA*** | 27 of 49 models | price |
| WD8003FFBX | Western Digital | Red Pro | 27 of 49 models | price |