I’ve come accross some UGreen NAS which runs their own UGOS.
Thoughts on that OS?
Couldn’t find much info on the OS.
Also, the UGreen NAS are much more affordable. Is it possible to install TrueNAS on them?
As far as I know, their NAS is still a pretty new product line. I would not trust their OS. I’d rather trust Synology if you had to use the NAS’s own OS.
I think it’s best to contact UGreen to ask if installing another firmware/OS on it is possible. You’ll likely get a faster and a more conclusive answer that way.
How about: neither. Both are insecure proprietary vendor trash. Just use TrueNAS or roll your own.
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I don’t want to deal with building TrueNAS myself and TrueNAS mini is quite expensive.
ZimaCube is sold out.
Trying to find a less expensive alternative.
what is there to build? you take any computer, slap some drives in it, write a flash drive, boot it, click next a few times and it is done.
you can literally get the parts you need out of a dumpster.
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Bro asks what’s to build. Then proceeds to describe how to build. /s
It’s not that easy for even tech savvy people who have no experience with NAS or of you’ve never used one.
and so we should not encourage learning and instead accept subpar overpriced proprietary solutions?
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Which model are you planning to buy specifically? Depending on the model, you are able to install an alternative operating system but you will lose warranty support.
If you’re deadset on not building one, installing another OS on it could be a good compromise.
I’ll be honest though, you are spending considerably more money compared to just building it yourself. It may not be future proofed given the low specs, but it can work in a pinch.
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You read my comments all the time, and this is where you misinterpret me?
No. That’s not what I meant. You have incorrectly (though not unreasonably perhaps) inferred from what I said.
Obviously, we want to encourage people to do things better/right with even their self hosting or homelabbing when it comes to choosing the right hardware and software for the same. But because it’s seldom easy for a complete newbie to follow along any tutorials that may be available online on the same, sometimes such people (myself included) have to consider settling with the NAS’s OS it comes with.
Extrapolating this - clearly we need better easy to follow guides on how to do it right and well for complete dummies in the game as newcomers to this way of life and tech. That’s what’s missing and that’s what’s needed.
If you know how to explain and guide folks like OP and me, please make a guide for us to learn and better our tech knowhow.
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I wouldn’t recommend Synology either because of them constantly removing features, adding limitations regarding the HDDs you need to run and the fact that it’s not even a “regular Linux” distro running on it.
Hence spending so much time fighting against the system or just doing it “their way” is very annoying.
I had one myself but it’s really annoying from a perspective of a tinkerer. Might be fine for the average person that wants a plug&forget solution.
Best would indeed be to have your own DIY TrueNAS or alike yes but if you’re not feeling comfortable doing so, I guess you can always try some of those:
Depending on your budget and needs, there are plenty more in the same ballpark if you check a few reddits.
I also saw that Ubiquiti released their solution. Not sure if you have some gear from them or do enjoy their ecosystem as a whole maybe?
Honestly, asking which off-the shelf brand to put your eggs into is quite a political question in itself because all the wrappers are bad in their own ways, but they make the basics simple if you are fine using their apps?
Any would do the job I think, it’s more about what you care, want and wish to do/have once setup. 
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You can disable the drive that UGreen OS is in and install TrueNAS on a separate NVME drive. I have a DXP2800 and did this. This is better than overwriting UGreen OS, because if you do overwrite it, it’s impossible to recover it. Installing TrueNAS on a separate NVME should not void the warranty.
Just mentioning that this is an option.
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The biggest issue with these and similar is that they’re unlikely to have any actual firmware support.
the issue is that Synology for example, still uses ancient and insecure Linux 4.4 on many of their units
TIL.
See, I know little about NAS’s. Was trying to advice nonetheless. Perhaps won’t say much when I know little about something next time.
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Ugreen allows you to install any operating system WITHOUT voiding the warranty. In fact, it is very simple, and there are several tutorials about it.
UGOS works very well, and since it natively supports Docker, you can install virtually anything.
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afaict it is Debian 12 based and they’re not actually providing kernel sources even to people who ask which is a GPL violation
I cannot recommend usage of this given the likely insecurity of their kernel.
A computer isn’t made to run 24/7 as opposed to prebuilt NAS devices.
I come from a QNAP NAS. I will already have to deal with learning a new OS (probably TrueNAS).
I don’t want to deal with this kind of thing: DIY NAS: 2025 Texas Linux Fest Edition - briancmoses.com
I just want to buy a prebuilt device like the TrueNAS-Mini, but cheaper.
As long as it’s secure and private, I’m open to anything.
Also, I want the solution to be as easy as possible.
And if possible not 2k$. 
Well, this convinced me not to use UGOS completely: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShZHCS2ynp4
There are a lots of pinging to China and while most is for DNS lookup, there needs to be more technical knowledge involved to block certain connections from happening.
As for using TrueNAS on a UGreen NAS, it seems safe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPmjdrYWOpQ
I don’t know about kernel security that @SkewedZeppelin mentioned though, so I’m not sure what I’ll do.
This topic’s question has been answered. Thanks everyone for chiming in!
I will continue the discussion here: Thinking of switching from QNAP to Synology or Asustor
UGOS is lacking a lot of features still since it’s new. Most notably it doesn’t have any encryption options. If you buy one for the price just install TrueNAS as they allow you to install whatever you want to use. Ctrl F12 on boot to get into BIOS, disable watchdog (this is basically a failsafe if UGOS fails to boot correctly), boot to USB and do TrueNAS install on the internal ssd boot drive.
Note: this is the quickest way but if you ever want to put UGOS back you’ll have to contact ugreen again for an OS image as there’s no public version available yet as they link unit serial/license or something to the image they give you.
Hope this helps.
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What exactly is different about NAS devices to where you think they will perform better than a regular old PC? I’ve used a now 14 year old mini PC as a 24/7 server for years and it’s worked fine for my homelabbing needs. Never even had a fan or drive failure, though I’ve upgraded the boot drive twice. In fact the processor in it is much faster than most modern NAS devices I’ve seen on the market, which is helpful for a lot of tasks. The only difference I can think of is NAS devices usually come with RAID arrays, but you can do that with a PC too if downtime is unacceptable.
Another cool reference would be this one: https://youtu.be/Q_4aXICUqnY
Wendel highlights the Minisforum N5 Pro and some use cases for it, on top of all some of the home-labbing channels doing reviews about it too.
Very powerful for a NAS + home server, even tho might be a bit overkill if you start there especially given its price.