Xiaomi NAS is here. The brand's first home storage holds up to 16 TB and costs less than you'd expect

Network-attached storage, or NAS, was until recently more of a toy for computer enthusiasts. Xiaomi now wants to bring it into ordinary homes – its first model, the Xiaomi Smart Storage, promises that you can keep photos, videos, and phone backups at home and under your own control, without monthly cloud fees. Crowdfunding pre-sales start on July 1st, for now only in China.

Xiaomi NAS has a capacity of up to 16 TB

The new product resembles a small upright cuboid in titanium gray with a matte finish. According to current information, it houses two bays for both 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA drives, so you can choose the capacity as needed. Xiaomi is preparing three pre-configured versions – with 4, 8, and 16 TB, each equipped with a pair of identical drives (meaning two eight-terabyte drives for the highest variant).

The accompanying application is the heart of the entire solution. According to a leaked interface preview, it should handle phone backup, photo gallery management, file organization, and playing movies and series directly from the storage. The manufacturer promises clients for Windows, Linux, and macOS, and of course for Android and iPhone, so you can access data from both your computer and mobile phone. In practice, it is intended to be a home replacement for paid cloud storage, accessible to the whole family.

Xiaomi is still keeping key parameters under wraps

Xiaomi has not yet released almost any technical specifications – we don’t know what processor and how much RAM are hidden inside, how fast the network connection will be (whether it will offer a faster 2.5-gigabit port or just a standard gigabit one), or whether the device will support a RAID disk array, which protects data from the failure of one of the drives. And these are precisely the things that determine whether it makes sense to opt for a branded NAS from Synology or QNAP, or for one from Xiaomi. The brand is expected to reveal the full specifications only at the start of pre-sales.

Xiaomi NAS is here. The brand's first home storage holds up to 16 TB and costs less than you'd expect Adam Kurfürst News Adam Kurfürst News

Price and availability

Crowdfunding pre-sales will run from July 1st to July 8th on Chinese platforms Xiaomi Mall and Youpin. The manufacturer has set prices significantly lower during the campaign than for later regular sales.

• the basic 4 TB version (2× 2 TB) will cost approximately 7,200 CZK (2,299 yuan), normally around 11,000 CZK
• the mid-range 8TB model (2× 4 TB) will cost about 9,100 CZK (2,899 yuan), later around 14,200 CZK
• the highest 16TB variant (2× 8 TB) will cost approximately 14,800 CZK (4,699 yuan), in regular sales up to 22,000 CZK

The Xiaomi Smart Storage is not officially heading to the Czech Republic or the rest of Europe yet – like many other products from the Youpin platform, it remains a Chinese exclusive for now. The brand has not announced if or for how much it will arrive here.

Would you replace paid cloud storage with your own Xiaomi storage?

Sources: MyDrivers, Gizmochina, Notebookcheck