• expired

AOOSTAR WTR PRO 4 Bay NAS (N150, 4x 3.5", 1x NVMe, 2x2.5G, HDMI/DP/USB-C) US$245.34 (~A$380.14) Delivered @ China Box AliExpress

831
AUAF33
This post contains affiliate links. OzBargain might earn commissions when you click through and make purchases. Please see this page for more information.

A new low price on this popular NAS and beating the recent deal thanks to the coupon codes and stacks with the AliExpress cashback promotion for further savings.

This one uses the Intel N150 4c/4t CPU that's perfect for Plex and Jellyfin transcoding and features 4 3.5/2.5" SATA Bays with a single M.2 NVMe SSD slot, dual 2.5GbE LAN ports and a single DDR4-3200 SODIMM RAM slot for up to 32GB of storage. Additionally the M.2 WiFi slot can be turned into an SSD using an M.2 key to M.2 NVMe adapter that should be included with the NAS.

Other features include HDMI 2.1, DisplayPort, full feature USB-C port including video out, 2x USB 3.2, 2x USB 2.0, DP, HDMI, USB-C, MicroSD card slot, 3.5mm audio jack and the DC port. On the rear there is a large 120mm fan (4 pin, replaceable) to keep the system cool.

While barebones it still comes with Windows 11 Pro and you can install any other operating systems like Proxmox, Arc Loader (Xpenology) and more. It's also good for Home Assistant, OPNsense, multiple VMs, Docker and more. Since this is using an ASMedia ASM1064 controller for drives, TrueNAS isn't recommend due to compatibility issues.

  • Add Bundle: Intel N150 1M.2 Slot and Plugs Type: AU to the cart
  • Apply the coupon AUAF33 or AUEF33 or AUOZ33

AU$ based on current Mastercard rate, GST inclusive and doesn't stack with TCB/SB/CR cashback.

Alternatively you can pick up the AMD Ryzen 5825U variant on the same listing. This has two M.2 NVMe slots and 2 RAM slots.


How to get the AU$ price in the title with PayPal:

Setting overseas websites to AUD or letting PayPal do the currency conversion results in an inflated rate. To get the correct rate you need a card without international fees and do the following:

  • Set the website currency to USD
  • Checkout with PayPal
  • Select your card with no international fees
  • Click "See currency options"
  • Select USD to bill the card in USD instead of AUD
  • Proceed with checkout

Now you'll get the correct MasterCard or VISA exchange rate depending on the card.

Original Coupon Deal

AliExpress Referrals

Mobile App Only: random (100)

Referee receives a random discount (not specified), referrer receives a $8 off $32 Minimum Spend Coupon which increases in value with successful referrals.

Related Stores

AliExpress
AliExpress
Marketplace
CHINA BOX Store
CHINA BOX Store

closed Comments

  • Any 8-bay NAS recommendation?

    • +3

      Aoostar WTR Max is good value with 7 SATA bays and 4 M.2 NVMe SSD slots.

      • Nice they are finally doing a pre-sale for round 2. A very interesting device, the Minisforum n5 pro is meant to be coming in the next month or two as-well but there's no price information on that yet. The hardware on the N5 pro is really impressive.

        So personally I'm holding out until they are both out and i see some good reviews comparing the two before i decide on what i'm getting.

        NASCompares did a video about this unit; they didn't have a unit in front of them to review but he did suggest that the thing probably won't be very quiet. - "no matter how many times they use the word silent on those fans this thing is not going to be quiet"
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsOVU1GdFn8

        • +2

          I'm expecting the Minisforum to be expensive like the new Ugreen NAS drives coming with really impressive specs. Such an exciting time to be alive. It's making Synology and QNAP look like outdated crap.

          Old mate NASCompares can a bit iffy. He rarely has the NAS drives infront of him and when he does he'll just talk about them or stick one drive in and call it a day. It's very rare for him to test it properly sadly.

      • +1

        I wonder how long it'll take till the Max hits Aliexpress. With the coupons, this will be the one to beat!

        • +3

          I asked them weeks ago and they said after all the preorders. I expect a few months.

          • @Clear: Oh great, thanks for letting us know! I can wait - will be interesting to see where the N5 Pro lands too. I ended up getting a 30% discount code from one of their live streams.

      • Hello Clear,
        Kindly ask your advice.
        I saw your comment, but also found this post.
        https://www.reddit.com/r/homelab/comments/1lcjazr/best_nas_o…
        Could I install TrueNas on this unit?

        Or it is better to install Unraid?

  • Any cheap m.2 and RAM to go with?

    • +1

      Better off getting it locally at somewhere like MSY, I wouldn't trust the Aliexpress no name stuff.

      • can I use DDR5 RAM?

  • I have seen the name AOOSTAR here and there recently. Like mini PC, SSD enclosure, NAS, etc. Is it a new brand?

    • +2

      Yeah they popped up a year ago and have really disrupted the niche NAS market by offering these powerhouses. A lot of other brands are following suit now.

      • Interesting! Always good to see a new brand popping up and bringing prices down, as long as the product is reliable :)

      • what other good brand is better alternative than AOOSTAR Clear?

        • At the moment Minisforum, UGreen and Orico are probably the key players, aside from Aoostar.

  • +2

    I paid close to 500 just a couple of months ago… these keep going down.

  • +1

    If you old need 4 bays then nice low powered backup nas.

    I dont like 1x RAM and 1x m.2 slot plus no pci for expandability,

    Drive bays are flimsy

    But not under $400 bare metal gets your attention

    • +3

      Swapping out the WiFi slot gives you that extra M.2. Otherwise the Ryzen 5825U variant isn't a bad option with two M.2 NVMe slots + WiFi slot and dual DDR4 RAM slots. Though no PCIe as you mentioned.

      • Tossing up between

        1. Jonsbo N3 + CWWK N150 6 Bay NAS (2 bays wasted though)
        2. Jonsbo N3/N5 + CWWK 670 8 Bay (but need Intel CPU also)
        3. Downgrading my 3700X AM4 ATX mobo to mITX and buying a smaller case

        This is a nice little backup server but Ryzen is crap for Transcodes and Intel N150 ain’t gonna cut multiple VMs with one RAM slot

        • I've old 3700X AM4 ATX as well which I can turn into a NAS.
          But I assume the power consumption will be a lot greater and hence won't be economical over the long run?

          • @congo: That was my thoughts also unless I underclock it and make a few bios changes

        • If I need PLEX and entertainment center option on top of photo storage (may be some dockers or VM later)
          Should I go with Ryzen or Intel?

          • @hishaken: For plex you want Intel. Google Intel quicksync plex vs amd, and happy reading.

            • @Ademos: Hello Ademos,
              Thanks for your reply.
              For photo storage, Bay 4 10TB with RAID 10 should be sufficient with total 20T storage right?
              or RAID 10 is over kill? Should use RAID 5?

              What is your suggestion about the storage size I should pick?

              • @hishaken: That's up to you at this point. Do you value speed, or size? Do you plan to backup a reasonable volume of shows, or do you want every blu-ray, 4k ATMOS rip on the internet? Etc

                • @Ademos: Thanks Ademos.
                  I may only have 4-5 4K videos plus all the traveling and family photos, footage etc.
                  Currently they are about 3TB. Thinking 10TB 4Bay Raid 10 can get to 20TB storage, which should be sufficient for next 10 years, even with all the recording in 4K.
                  What do you think?

                  Also in the future, if I want to upgrade all harddrive into 20TB x4, should I just
                  1 swap one 10TB with 20TB HDD, make sure it is fully replicated
                  2 then swap the other 10TB with 20TB HDD, make sure is fully replicated
                  3 now I can simply swap rest of two at the same time, after swap, the storage should automatically go up to 40TB instead of 20TB right?

                  • +1

                    @hishaken: In theory, that sounds right. In practice, I'm yet to do it myself, so I won't advise you. :D

                    • @Ademos: Good luck with your NAS journey Ademos.
                      I feel 20TB is enough but never know future high definition footage exploration or not.

                      • +1

                        @hishaken: The future will see bigger drives at cheaper rates anyway. It's all win, all the time.

        • +1

          You can get a cheap 2, 4, 6, 12, etc port pci-e to sata adapter, m.2 to sata adapter (look for the 1166 based ones) to add extra sata ports.

          The good thing about a custom build with the N3/N5 is you can scale up - e.g one of the minisforum 7945HX motherboards - you can convert the wifi slot into another pci-e or m.2 slot, to add more sata ports, and/or use a pci-e to 4x nvme adapter card with pci-e bifurcation in the main pci-e slot and add more sata/nvme slots that way.

          The N5 can take an atx motherboard, so you can start with your 3700X to save initial cost, then upgrade to something that sucks less power later on.

          • @qwijibo: N5 is hard to get, N3 would be easier but would need to sell 3700x + Asus crosshairs vi for $350

  • Are you guys running your whole opnsense/server/nas/NVR/HA on this or do you have a separate router to deal with the internet?

    • +3

      separate it

    • +3

      Started with just this, running Proxmox, got way too irritating trying to share the storage on it so got a separate SFF PC for Proxmox and now running TrueNAS. TrueNAS pretty good so far and under very active development which is great

      • Post mentions to avoid TrueNAS due to controller problems. Take it thats now resolved.?

        • +2

          I neglected to mention I have the Ryzen version.

          The only issue I've heard of with TrueNAS on my machine is when attempting to passthrough the SATA controller from a hypervisor like Proxmox to a TrueNAS VM, the CPU is throttled and fan speeds are at max because the controller is managed in the chipset, and therefore the host loses control over the CPU and fan speed.

          Personally I haven't had any issues configuring TrueNAS on the bare metal, and also hadn't heard about any incompatibility. Not sure whether that's because the issue is resolved, it's only an issue with the N150 version, or I'm just naive.

          EDIT: I'm actually struggling to find any info online about what OP has mentioned, interested though.

      • Hey wizza13, can I ask what SFF PC you got?

        I have the same problem with my ryzen WTRpro. It's easier to have a separate bare-metal TrueNAS on this, and a SFF PC for proxmox running all other VMs. I'm also thinking it might be better to get another separate SFF PC for OPNsense/pfsense.

        In hindsight, I probably should have picked up the lower power intel WTRpro and got separate more powerful SFF PC for everything else.

        • +2

          Haha, I had the exact same thoughts. My NAS is now way overspecced, but oh well. I'm at least running proxmox backup server on it as an instance…

          I grabbed a second hand Dell OptiPlex 7070 for $200, has an i5-9500T (low power), upgraded to 32GB RAM and added a 2.5" SATA SSD. Might look at eventually running the SATA SSD as the boot drive and an upgraded NVME as the VM storage but for now it's reversed.

          I've picked up a second 7070 and will probably get a third to make a 3 node proxmox cluster which will support HA.

          • @wizza13: It's a dilemma, you'd like to utilize the ryzen for VMs, but it's tied to your storage.

            Now your NAS CPU is more powerful than your SFF PC; where the SFF PC could use the extra performance more than your NAS.

    • honestly get a separate router, opnsense is nice but virtualising you lose quite a lot of performance and you over complicate the setup which also makes it much less reliable

      look at a router that has good openwrt support and use that, you need wifi anyway so might as well use that hardware to manage your network/vlans as well, more energy efficient, stable and easier to manage

  • It's about $550 for the Ryzen version. Sometimes a bit under $500.

    • +1

      5825u is a really nice chip

      only issue might be the heat/sound as they'll run a lot hotter than the intel, will need a better cooler setup but they probably use the same crap

      still though, if you are looking at virtualising, actually using the processor for something then ryzen all the way

  • Only thing holding me off switching from Synology is the firmware…

    Seems like it might be a while before theres a genuine competitor?

    • +2

      Why run Synology when there is Xpenology. I have the device in this deal running Synology via Proxmox, 4 bays all full and SHR providing me with a level of raid I'm happy with.

      You just need arcloader and your away.

      It's a beast of a device for my NAS needs which includes Plex, surveillance station and the 'arrs.

    • +5

      Only thing holding me off switching from Synology is the firmware…

      What firmware? You can install whatever NAS OS you want on this.

      Seems like it might be a while before theres a genuine competitor?

      What do you mean? There have always been "genuine competitors" to Synology, including both end-to-end solutions (e.g. QNAP, ASUStor…etc.), and x86-64 compatible software solutions (e.g. TrueNAS, Unraid…etc.).

      You've been drinking the cool-aid hard if you think there's no competitor to Synology.

      • Hello p1, post mentioned

        Since this is using an ASMedia ASM1064 controller for drives, TrueNAS isn't recommend due to compatibility issues.

        Does it mean this unit can only install unraid not Truenas?

  • +2

    Just be aware the seller tried to sting me for $43USD extra in shipping on the previous deal, YMMV.

  • -8

    Can never understand what is nas

    • +7

      We live in a world of AI and Google, start there

  • Showing as AU$393.70 for me after applying the code.

    • +2

      Added the section to the deal explaining exchange rates. AliExpress trade in USD and it doesn't fluctuate, unlike AUD.

      • And many thanks for that last section.

        Was about to pull the pin on this one the other day, for once my procrastination has paid off. Cheers.

  • Is it better to get 16GB with 5000GB? (with $40 discount)
    or
    no RAM no SSD option? (with $20 discount)
    As 16GBRAM/500GB SSD with $40 discount comes down to $442.99,

    $60 more than No RAM no SSD, which you cannot get both RAM and SSD at this price?

  • +2

    Dear all, the price is in my range
    I am going to build NAS for all my photo and video storage plus work as media entertainment center.
    Probably running some cool dockers/VMs as well.
    Budgeting is around $1000 including NAs and hard drive (may be around 10-12T)

    Should I wait for the price dip further or wait for better powerful unit?

    I am new to NAS world, need to learn to build right OS/Docker etc

    Really need your advice and help.

    • +7

      This seems good to me. Drives aren't cheap and you may want to have multiple drives in a RAID array. I have two drives mirroring each other, but that is space inefficient vs 3 or more drives. Supposedly you want NAS drives (like WD reds or Seagate IronWolf drives, which are more expensive than the standard desktop drives.

      There are second hand drives, I've not bought any before, that end up on Ozbargain that may be a better
      option than buying new if you're cost conscious.

      Lawrence Tech Systems on YouTube is a great resource for NAS information.

      Edit: if it was up to me, I'd buy this, 32 GB of DDR4 RAM, a 250 GB SSD for the TrueNAS OS, and 4 X NAS HDDs (at least 8TB each) when a good deal comes up and run RAID10. That way up to 2 drives can fail on you and you can not lose data, which makes second hand drives a good option. If RAM is $50, SSD $100, this N150 machine $380, and if you get $20/TB for 4 x 10 TB that is $1330.

      • +1

        You are amazing!
        Would this unit be future proof in my case, let's say 10 years NAS and VM requirement?

        Would N150 sufficient (don't need Ryzen?) is that mainly because of PLEX and 4K/8K video transcoding?

        I heard others mention 16GB RAM is enough. Could I ask whether I should go with 32GB?

        • +1

          The intel has hardware accelerated encoding and actually beats the ryzen.

          For 4k no issues, 8k it might need upgrading.

        • +1

          You're welcome! It's confusing getting started with NAS from scratch.

          I don't know much about VMs, I'm mostly using Docker in TrueNAS to run Jellyfin and other containers.

          You want Intel instead of AMD because Intel have QuickSync. Someone here may correct me but I wasn't sure that AMD CPUs had integrated GPU for media transcoding.

          For RAM, more is better. I can't say if 16 is enough for you or not, but 32 GB is the max this unit can take and 1x32GB isn't that expensive really, so why not max it out?

          In terms of future proofing, the N150 came out last year, so it's at least the latest tech for small PCs, albeit not a guarantee of long life. I personally think you'd be able to run this NAS for 10 years though.

          Edit: saw you can buy this with 16 GB RAM and 500GB SSD for an extra $85, I'd do that.

          • @Eldeng20: Hello Eldeng!

            Thank you very much.

            For photo storage, Bay 4 10TB with RAID 10 should be sufficient with total 20T storage right?
            or RAID 10 is over kill? Should use RAID 5?

            What is your suggestion about the storage size I should pick?

            • @hishaken: That would depend, if you're doing photography/4K video then storage adds up. That said, 20 TB is a lot of storage even if you're doing that. You could do 20TB drives for this and get 40TB in Raid10.
              I suggested RAID10 because then you can buy very cheap second hand/recertified drives. I paid 38 $/TB for brand new WD reds for my RAID1 setup (which was full price, no discount) but I've seen Seagate ironwolf (also a NAS drive) for 20 $/TB and less on here. if you're doing RAID10 you have the safety net of being able to lose up to 2 drives without losing everything that you have, so 2nd hand isn't as much of a risk if you need to replace 1 drive.

      • If I go with first hand hard drive, may be Raid 5 is ok?
        If I have Raid 5 nas, Should I still backup all photos in separate USB3 standalone harddrive in case?
        Could I use DDR5 RAM for this, or only DDR4?

        • Sure re/RAID5, but it will not be $1300 anymore :P

          Always have a backup even in RAID10 if the data is important.

          DDR4 only, DDR5 has a different physical connection In pretty sure.

      • Hello Eldeng20, post mentioned

        Since this is using an ASMedia ASM1064 controller for drives, TrueNAS isn't recommend due to compatibility issues.

        Does it mean this unit can only install unraid not Truenas?

        • I didn't see anything beyond a few years old forum posts saying not to use TrueNAS with the ASM1064 controller. And even that didn't have conclusive evidence of issues. One person saying that you shouldn't use a PCIe to 16 port, but this is only 4 drives so not the same.
          I don't see why TrueNAS would be an issue, but Unraid isn't? Unraid has a good community from what I've seen so maybe just use that to be safe.

          • @Eldeng20: Thank you for your reply Eldeng20. After I investigated further, I found people mention:
            ASMedia ASM1064 has potential compatability issue with ZFS
            Also Intel N150 process doesn't support ECC memory, which is high recommanded by TrueNAS and ZFS storage system, to automatically detect memory issue, reduce the protect capability of ZFS torwads storage.

            What do you think? Any place I could ask the question?

  • Only real issues I can see is no warranty with aliexpress

  • +5

    These remind me of the good old HP ProLiant N36L / N45L and N54L microservers. They're the closest thing I've seen to that sort of AIO, but customisable, and really "hackable" home storage solution.

    I miss the simpler days back when these were on the front page of OzBargain every few weeks.

    • +2

      They were dirt cheap from Warehouse1. The good old days.

    • HP microservers were great but most of that a N40L gen are getting a bit long in the tooth. Caveat with these is they're not very expandable with cards like the microserver and the Intel doesn't take ECC ram.

    • That’s actually what I’ve bought this to replace, an old Gen8 microserver that won’t boot any more. I suspect it’s the PSU, but I don’t want to pull apart my other working one for testing, I’d rather just leave it running and not mess with it.

      • I run a HP Prodesk G6 mini with a i5 9500T connected to my old HP N54 4 bay caddy via m.2 to Mini SAS. Pass the drives through to TrueNas on Proxmox VM.

        Works well the only annoyance is the fan is loud and I have to manually switch off the drives every night proxmox powers down

  • +1

    i had two of those HP N40L l running all my needs. Sold them all and now running just a hp elitedesk g2 micropc for my plex with a 4tb usb drive. Keeps power consumption low and i don't keep a massive collection.

    • Yeah I just use a HP 7070 micro pc connected to a usb JBOD enclosure with Proxmox managing the storage.

      • Which JBOD enclosure did you choose?

        I just bought a Dell Optiplex 7070 and need to another passthrough

    • +1

      they use a lot less electricity than the chinese mini pc, not only due to the higher low load draw but also really cheap inefficient chinese power supply that they bundle with those mini pcs, 4w vampire draw doesn't sound like a lot until you compare it to the 10w on a ex business lease mini pc from the big boys thats basically running everything you need

      besides for me the limit was ram, not processing so, the 8th, 9th gen 6 cores are efficient and powerful enough

    • Running through USB no issue? That was my only concern. I bought a micro PC and a sata adapter then thought better buy this, but you have me questioning whether or not it's overkill for Plex and photo storage.

      • +1

        nope, running on USB no issues at all. Have 2 USB drives connected.

        So I run Resilio sync which syncs all folders on my phone, my wife's phone and my brother's iphone to my HP micro pc
        Plex server to serve TV Shows, Movies and PlexAmp for streaming to TV and phone.

        i5-6500T, 16GB RAM, 1 x 4TB WD External HDD, 1 x 1TB WD BLACK NVMe External SSD, 1 x 980 Pro NVMe Samsung, 1 x 256GB Crucial SATA Internal SSD for OS. Might look into consolidating all storage in future when SSD prices come down

    • +1

      Im still running a N40 L as a backup server, these things go forever!

  • +2

    Why do I keep seeing "this coupon code can't be used in combination with other discounts" when I try to use my coupon?

    • Same issue. Codes don't work at all.

      • I bought it 1hr ago and worked fine

  • How much do used 920+s go for? Is it worth selling that and getting this?

  • Any deals on 12/14TB hard drives?

    • i've had great luck with 2nd hand enterprise drives from ebay for around $200, modern, super energy efficient and low hours

      feedback is king though, make sure theres also positive feedback about postage/handling

  • +1

    codes won't apply to cart. anyone else having this issue and figured out why? getting $322 usd total at checkout…

    • I'm getting $265.20

      $304 subtotal
      $15.22 Item discount
      $289.20 new total

      24.00 Extra discount (seller $4, AliExpress AUEF33 code)
      $28.52 TAX

      Final total: $293.72 USD

  • +1

    Any RAM and M2 deal recommendations for this?

  • +1

    Cheeky the seller removed Discount Stacking and jacked the price

    • +1

      Maybe keep an eye on it over the next couple days…

      I had the same problem this morning ("this coupon code can't be used in combination with other discounts", total price $322 USD) but just now I refreshed and it was back to the discounted price with "only 1 left"!

      Sorry to say I snapped it up, and it's now back to $322.

  • Just found on China shop for a total of $373.87AUD shipped.

    There's a $50 off $330 or more orders and then tax is applied ($46) - automatically applied in my cart.

    • Link please

  • Won't let me post link however the price is fluctuating and it's back up again. There are $30/$40/$50 off coupons available (possibly targetted however looks to be eofy sale)

    I've asked the store for a price match/ OzB deal and am awaiting a response.

  • Had a nightmare with these guys. I don't think they even sent it. Currently waiting on a refund.

Login or Join to leave a comment