Review of the UGREEN DH2300: the cheapest NAS of the brand

If you are looking for the most affordable NAS without giving up the essentials, look out for the new UGREEN NASync DH2300. As the entry model of the series, it combines a careful design, good features and an intuitive interface with a very reasonable price.. I have been testing it and the truth is that it is perfect for those who just want to create their private photo cloud and manage backups easily with low energy consumption.

Of course, it has modest hardware and may fall short when it comes to executing advanced services and tasks. But let’s not rush… We will immediately analyze every detail of the UGREEN NASync DH2300 and tell you if it is bet on the essential it’s really worth it.

UGREEN NASync DH2300: a super efficient NAS with 2 bays, 4 GB of RAM, 1 GbE and 4K HDMI output

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 is the more basic and cheaper version of the UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus, which we also had the opportunity to test. Only It has two bays for a maximum capacity of 60 TBand its hardware is made up of a processor A76 + A55 8 cores and a modest 4 GB of RAM. Its technical specifications certainly do not impress, but in practice it can be more than enough. for most people.

Less is more: an elegant, efficient and discreet design

I find the design of the UGREEN NASync DH2300 very cool. It is a compact tower, with those two shades of matte gray that give it an elegant and discreet touch. What surprised me most was its size: it is almost half the size of the DH4300 Plusas you can see in the last photos in the gallery. I have it on my desk, next to the PC, and the truth is that it takes up so little space that it is barely noticeable.

Although it is made of plastic, the feeling of quality is undeniable. It has ventilation grilles on the sides and top, and the truth is that I always feel cool. Never gets too hotand I think a lot of the credit goes to the fan in the back, just behind the bays, which removes hot air efficiently.

A detail that seems super practical to me is that Its top cover is magnetic. You can remove it and replace it without tools, giving you easy access to the two drive bays, which are placed vertically. Inserting or removing a disc is very intuitive and fast.

Regarding the ports, On the back it has a 1 GbE LAN port. For home use it is perfect, although it is true that the difference is noticeable with the most powerful UGREEN models, such as the DH4300 Plus or the DXP2800, which include 2.5 GbE. If you are the only user, you will not notice limits on transfers, backups or streaming, but if there are several of you using it at the same time, you may notice some saturation.

It also has two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports on the back, and a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 on the front, all at 5 Gbps. And an interesting extra: an HDMI 2.0 that supports 4K at 60 fps, ideal for connecting a screen and playing content locally or make NAS configurations.

In front, LEDs indicate the activity of the disks and the network connection. Power is with an external 50 W adapter which connects at the back with the typical cylindrical connector. Of course, its real consumption is super low: it remains between 10 W and 15 W most of the time.

Finally, an interesting detail worth mentioning is the presence of a NFC reader on the front to connect any mobile phone to the NAS just by bringing it closerallowing for easier storage management.

Up to 60 TB for your family cloud

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 is intended for basic use, so it only has two bays and does not include slots for fast NVMe SSDs. In other words, you can only install two hard drives. But just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s limited: Each drive can be up to 30TB, allowing you to create a personal cloud of up to 60TB. For a family, that’s more than enough to store all your documents, music, photos and videos without worry.

To be more specific, Supports 3.5 or 2.5 inch SATA driveswhich connect directly to the SATA ports on the board. The trays are simple, although you will have to use four screws to secure each disk (come on, it’s not one of those tool-less systems). Even so, mounting the discs is very easy, and once screwed in, inserting and removing them is very intuitive.

Regarding the configuration of the disks, The NAS supports the most common RAID configurations: JBOD, RAID 0 and RAID 1in addition to being able to use the discs separately. This gives you the flexibility to prioritize the performance or security of your data, depending on what you need. Storage configuration is very simple within UGOS Pro (its operating system), where a step-by-step wizard guides you to create groups and volumes.

Efficient, quiet and perfect for basic tasks

This NAS runs on a modest processor and only 4GB of LPDDR4x RAM (which cannot be expanded). Specifically, it has a A76 + A55 which is a fairly efficient ARM chip with 8 cores and processing speeds of up to 2.2 GHz. Additionally, includes a 6 TOPS NPU for simple AI tasks such as facial recognition in imagesprocessing everything locally.

Its integrated GPU is capable of decoding 8K H.265/H.264 video and supports HDR, allowing 4K output at 60 fps over HDMI. So you can play content directly from the NAS, something rare in this price range.

In practice, it has plenty of power for the basic functions: Seamless backup, cloud access, media playback and file serving. But if you want to go further and use Docker or several applications at the same time, it falls short. In return, consumption is very low (10 W on average) and performance is constant even after hours of use. In addition, it remains cool and practically silent when at rest.

By the way, its UGOS Pro operating system is installed on 32 GB of eMMC 5.1 welded storage, which ensures a stable operation without you having to touch anything. Since the system is in a separate memory, everything is prevented from breaking if one of the disks fails.

UGOS Pro is ideal for beginners

Like all UGREEN NAS, the DH2300 comes standard with UGOS Pro, a Linux-based system designed for everyday use, with a clear focus on ease of use. Although it is not as complete as systems from other brands, it works well and is very intuitive for basic tasks. Of course, due to the hardware limitations of this NAS, you will not be able to take advantage of it at the software level beyond backup copies, photo storage or as a multimedia server.

In fact, You will not find Docker in the official application store, although there is a manual method to install it downloading the app from the UGREEN website. Even so, I do not recommend it if you are looking for advanced use of Docker, since it does not have official support nor does it allow you to run virtual machines.

Despite this, UGOS Pro includes all the essential features: file storage, synchronization, media management and simple AI toolsin addition to periodic updates that improve both security and the user experience. By the way, you can manage this NAS from its desktop and mobile applications remotely.

One of its most interesting functions is the “AI Album”, capable of detecting and removing duplicate photos, recognizing people, classifying images (such as landscapes, pets, etc.) and make backup copies in real time from your mobile or PC. In addition, it incorporates text recognition (OCR) locally, ideal for searching for screenshots or scanned documents.

Multiple users can access the NAS at the same time, making it useful for teamwork. Your data is also always safe because the NAS has advanced encryption, firewall protection and two-factor authentication. All this without even UGREEN having access to them.

With the mobile app, by the way, you can perform almost all the functions of the desktop version, from user management to controlling media playback. This simplifies the experience and hides the complexity of the NAS, which is a plus mainly for beginner users in this world.

Final verdict: It’s the best first NAS you can buy

If you are looking to enter the world of NAS without complications, the UGREEN DH2300 is, without a doubt, your best option. It is the most basic and economical version of the series, with a modest processor, maximum capacity of 60 TB and 4 GB of non-expandable RAM, but that is precisely where its greatest virtue lies: It does what is essential, and it does it well.

It is perfect as a multimedia server and for manage backups automatically, creating your own personal cloud in a simple way. Of course, if what you are looking for is to experiment with Docker or run advanced applications, it will fall short. Although there is a manual method to install Docker from the UGREEN website, it is not officially supported and the hardware is not intended for such intensive use.

Who do I recommend this NAS to? To anyone who wants to have their photos, documents and files secure and accessible from any device, without messing with complex configurations. Its combination of compact design, intuitive interface (UGOS Pro) and low consumption make it a very attractive option for its price.

It usually costs €209.99but right now in the Amazon Black Friday you can get it at a special price of only €167.99 (until December 1st). Before it was practically impossible to find a quality NAS for less than 200 euros, so we celebrate the existence of this model.

Take advantage of Black Friday: The best UGREEN NAS are on sale

If you were looking for a NAS with other features, I recommend that you take a look at these offers from UGREEN on Black Friday from November 20 to December 1:

• UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus (4 bays, RK3588C ARM processor): €322.49 on Amazon oh €322.49 in the official UGREEN store (25% discount) – original price €429.99. | Review
  • Package only available in the UGREEN store: €396.99 with UPS (25% discount) – original price €529.99.
• UGREEN NASync DXP2800 (2 bays, Intel N100 x86 processor): €281.99 with SSD (25% discount) – €359.99 with UPS (20% discount) – original price €375.99 with SSD or €449.99 with UPS. These packages are only available in the official UGREEN store. | Review
• UGREEN NASync DH4800 Plus with UPS (4 Bays, Intel X86 12th Generation Intel Pentium Gold Processor): €599.99 with UPS (25% discount) – €619.99 with UPS+SSD (25% discount) – €565.99 with SSD (22% discount) – original price €799.99 with UPS, €825.99 with UPS+SSD or €725.99 with SSD. Packages only available in the official UGREEN store.

By the way, UGREEN is also carrying out a raffle in its official store with which you can win 8 TB (10 winners) and 4 TB (10 winners) Seagate hard drivesas well as branded product bundles that include a 3-in-1 wireless charger, a magnetic power bank and an 8TB hard drive (3 winners). Participating is free and you can do so with the button just above this paragraph.