🔍 Read the full analysis: Why We Added A 6-Bay UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro To Our AI Setup on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
Thorsten Meyer says repeated backup-sync problems and a nearly full database server led the small publishing and AI operation to buy a UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro. The NAS has been delivered with four hard drives and an NVMe SSD, but as of November 1 it is not installed; its planned backup system has not passed its acceptance tests.
Thorsten Meyer says his small AI and publishing operation has bought a six-bay UGREEN NASync DXP6800 Pro after duplicate database dumps in an iCloud folder left one server with just 2% free disk space. The NAS has been delivered with four hard drives and an NVMe SSD, but it is not yet connected or configured, so the proposed backup setup has not been tested.
Meyer says two machines saved database dumps under the same file name to a shared iCloud folder. The service produced 29 conflict copies, nearly filling the machine that runs the operation’s main database. On October 29, he says a nightly job also timed out while trying to remove old copies from the folder. Those incidents led him to stop treating a sync service as a backup destination.
The purchased system is equipped with four Seagate IronWolf Pro 16 TB drives and one NVMe SSD. Meyer plans to configure the hard drives in RAID 6, which he estimates would provide about 32 TB of usable capacity and tolerate the failure of two drives. The SSD is intended for a separate storage pool for containers and test databases. These are planned configurations, not results from an operating system.
Meyer says the equipment was bought with his own money and that UGREEN did not provide or sponsor it. He describes the article as a deployment plan, not a review or long-term test. As of November 1, the operation still relies on its previous backups: local Time Machine disks on two Macs and an iCloud copy of the nightly database dump.
Infographic 01 · The box
Six bays, two fast slots, two 10GbE ports
What UGREEN lists for the NASync DXP6800 Pro, and how we plan to fill it.
How we fill it
Delivered and equipped; the setup is our plan (1 Nov 2026)
Bays 1–4: Seagate IronWolf Pro 16 TB, RAID 6, Btrfs → ≈ 32 TB usable, any two drives may fail. Bays 5–6: free for growth. M.2 slot 1: the NVMe SSD (ordered: Samsung 990 Pro 1 TB) as its own fast pool. Slot 2: free. Six 16 TB drives in RAID 6 would give ≈ 64 TB.
What else UGREEN lists
From the product page, not measured by us
- Separate 128 GB SSD for the operating system, UGOS
- RAID: JBOD, Basic, 0, 1, 5, 6, 10
- 1× PCIe x4 · 2× Thunderbolt 4 · 8K HDMI · SD card reader
- Power: 43.07 W drives in use · 24.91 W drives in hibernation
- Stated maximum: 208 TB with 32 TB drives · 3-year warranty
Why six bays: with RAID 6, two drives always hold parity. In four bays that leaves half the raw space usable; with all six bays filled it becomes two thirds.
Sources: UGREEN DXP6800 Pro product page, checked 1 Nov 2026; Seagate IronWolf Pro data sheet DS2129.4; our setup plan, 6 Oct 2026.
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A Local Copy for Faster Recovery
The purchase addresses a practical risk for a small operation whose publishing system depends on a database: a full disk or machine failure can interrupt service, while restoring large files from cloud storage may take hours over a home-office connection. A local NAS could provide a faster restore path and keep a separate copy on the office network, if the planned configuration works as intended.
The account also illustrates a distinction between synchronization and backup. Sync can replicate deletions or unwanted changes as well as useful files; Meyer says UGREEN’s help center makes a similar warning about its Cloud Drives app’s two-way sync. The proposed arrangement adds controls beyond simply storing another copy: separate accounts and quotas for each Mac, snapshots those accounts cannot access, and an encrypted offsite copy with deletion protection. None of those protections has yet been verified in this installation.
For readers evaluating similar hardware, the case is less a product endorsement than a report of a specific operational decision. Meyer says the six-bay model cost more than the four-bay option he had recommended in his own comparison, but gives him room to add drives without replacing the existing ones. The benefit will depend on successful testing, ongoing maintenance and a separate offsite copy—not just the NAS purchase.
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The Storage Problems Behind the Purchase
Meyer describes an always-on group of Macs: one hosts the main Postgres database, another serves local AI models, and others run content pipelines and tests. Measurements he took on October 6 put storage use at about 2.6 TB on the main desk machine, 744 GB on the database server, and 3.2 TB on the model server. He says the database itself was about 293 GB and estimates the operation’s current backup requirement at 6 to 8 TB.
The database machine has also experienced recurring kernel panics since August, according to Meyer. He says an August 8 crash caused 2¼ hours of database downtime. A NAS would not prevent the machine from crashing, but a nearby copy could reduce recovery time, depending on how the backups and restores perform. The proposed use of an SSD for test databases is also intended to move that work off Meyer’s laptop, where a virtual disk had grown to about 30 GB.
Meyer cites the 3-2-1 backup rule—three copies, on two types of media, with one offsite—as the rationale for keeping both a local NAS copy and a remote copy. The remote layer is planned as an encrypted restic backup to Backblaze B2 with Object Lock. He says the NAS will not be exposed to remote internet access, and AI agents will not receive administrator credentials.
“That was the day I stopped treating a sync service as a backup.”
— Thorsten Meyer, ThorstenMeyerAI.com
Installation and Tests Still Pending
The NAS is not yet on the network, and its software, storage pools, accounts and backup jobs have not been configured. Meyer says the two acceptance tests—whether Time Machine works with a non-admin account and whether snapshots remain inaccessible to that account—have not run. Until they do, the planned RAID capacity, account restrictions and recovery process remain intentions rather than demonstrated results.
It is also unclear how quickly the system will restore the operation’s actual data, how reliably the drives will sleep during working hours, or whether the offsite Object Lock configuration will work as planned. Meyer has not reported measured noise, performance, reliability or cost beyond saying he paid for the hardware himself. The current backup routine remains in place while the rollout is pending.
Acceptance Tests Before Rollout
Meyer says he will first test Time Machine using a non-admin account and confirm that daily snapshots cannot be viewed or deleted by that account. If either test fails, he says he will return the NAS. If they pass, the plan is to configure the RAID 6 drive pool for backups and a separate NVMe pool for containers and test databases, then add encrypted offsite copies.
He says he will report results after the system is running. Until that update, the central development is the hardware purchase and planned design—not a completed migration or evidence that the new arrangement has improved recovery times.
Key Questions
Why did Meyer buy a NAS?
He says 29 duplicate iCloud conflict copies nearly filled the database server, and a later cleanup job timed out. He wants a local backup destination rather than relying on a sync folder as the main backup route.
Is the UGREEN NAS already backing up the Macs?
No. As of November 1, 2026, Meyer says the NAS has been delivered but is not connected or configured. The existing Time Machine and iCloud backups remain in use.
How much storage is planned?
Meyer plans to use four 16 TB drives in RAID 6, which he estimates would provide about 32 TB usable. That figure describes the intended configuration, not a tested system capacity.
What tests must the NAS pass?
The two stated acceptance tests are whether Time Machine works under a non-admin account and whether snapshots remain out of that account’s reach. Meyer says the NAS will be returned if either test fails.
Will the NAS replace the offsite backup?
No. Meyer plans to keep an encrypted offsite copy using restic and Backblaze B2 with Object Lock. He says the NAS is intended to add local storage and recovery capacity, not serve as the only backup.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
