HTG Wrapped 2025: 24 days of tech

24 days of our favorite hardware, gadgets, and tech

Cloud storage services like Google Photos and Dropbox force you to overpay for storage. And can you really trust these corporations to respect your privacy? For those who want to escape from cloud storage, Synology’s BeeStation is the easiest, most user-friendly solution.

The BeeStation is a network-attached storage (NAS) device, effectively a 4TB hard drive that connects to your internet router. You can upload files, photos, and videos to the BeeStation from your smartphone, PC, or tablet, regardless of whether you’re inside or outside of your home. Of course, you can also retrieve these files at any time, or share them with others via private links.

More importantly, the BeeStation comes with a set of extremely user-friendly companion apps. There’s BeeFiles, which is similar to Dropbox or Google Drive, and BeePhotos, which is formatted similarly to Apple Photos and Google Photos. BeeFiles even offers advanced functionality like AI search—you can search for photos based on where they were shot, who’s in the photo, or what’s in the photo (like a cat or a raccoon, for example). File and photo backups can be performed automatically through these apps, and you can even sync specific files or folders between your BeeStation and your PC.

Of course, the BeeStation is just one of many NAS devices available today. And any NAS device you buy (or build) can act as a Google Photos or Dropbox replacement. But Synology’s BeeStation is specially designed for ease of use. The setup process takes minutes and requires zero expertise, and because BeeStation is laser-focused on file and photo storage (as opposed to complicated “homelab” stuff), it’s pretty hard to screw things up.

Check out my review!

Synology BeeStation Review: Say Goodbye to Dropbox and Google Photos

A super-simple NAS device that mimics your cloud storage subscriptions.

But there are some caveats here. The BeeStation is technically less capable than a do-it-yourself NAS device, as it can’t install or run any additional apps. And because it only contains a single hard drive, there’s no built-in data redundancy. If the internal drive fails, you lose your data. Thankfully, you can perform automatic backups to an external drive over USB. There’s also an option to perform routine backups to cloud storage providers like Dropbox, but then you miss out on the cost-saving and privacy benefits offered by BeeStation, so I suggest using an external drive if that’s important to you.

The Synology BeeStation costs $220, which is about $100 more than you’d pay for a standalone 4TB HDD. I’d argue that the software and ease of setup are worth the extra $100, but if you disagree, you could always try using your desktop PC as a NAS. There’s also an upgraded 8TB model, the BeeStation Plus, which sells for $410 and offers Plex capabilities on top of the basic file and photo storage features.

7/10

Brand

Synology

CPU

Realtek RTD1619B

Memory

1GB DDR4

Drive Bays

1 x 4TB HDD

Store, access, and share files over the web, or from your desktop or mobile devices with the BeeStation. 
Share storage with family and friends so everyone has their own personalized storage space. Back up files from Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, and external drives to one central place.

See my other top pick!

Finally, a high-performance gaming keyboard that doesn’t look like a toy

An attractive design turned me into a Hall-effect fan.