How to choose a 5-bay NAS in 2026
Five bays is a niche Synology has quietly owned for a decade: DS1522+ (and its successors) is the "grow later" box — RAID 6 across five drives, or four drives plus a hot spare, in a desktop footprint. QNAP answers with expanding-TVS units, but the pickings are thinner than at four or six bays, which is exactly why this page exists: same bay count, every vendor, one table.
Current-generation picks
The models you can actually buy new today — one card each, with the official drive-list depth most spec sheets never show:
All 5-bay models, ranked by official drive-list depth
CPU/RAM shown where the vendor publishes them (Synology/QNAP specs); "drives listed" = rows on the vendor's own compatibility tool.
| Model | Vendor | CPU | RAM | Drives listed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Synology DS1513+ | Synology | Intel Atom D2700 | DDR3 2 GB | 823 |
| Synology DS1517 | Synology | Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-314 | DDR3L 2 GB | 772 |
| Synology DS1517+ | Synology | Intel Atom C2538 | DDR3 2 GB/8 GB | 755 |
| Synology DS1515 | Synology | Annapurna Labs Alpine AL-314 | DDR3 2 GB | 741 |
| Synology DS1511+ | Synology | Intel Atom D525 | DDR2 1 GB | 715 |
| Synology DS1512+ | Synology | Intel Atom D2700 | DDR3 1 GB | 707 |
| Synology DS1515+ | Synology | Intel Atom C2538 | DDR3 2 GB | 683 |
| Synology DS1010+ | Synology | Intel Atom D510 | DDR2 1 GB | 582 |
| Synology DS1019+ | Synology | Intel Celeron J3455 | DDR3L SODIMM 8 GB | 539 |
| QNAP TS-563 | QNAP | — | — | 470 |
| QNAP TS-531P | QNAP | — | — | 429 |
| QNAP TS-531X | QNAP | — | — | 420 |
| QNAP UX-500P | QNAP | — | — | 317 |
| QNAP TS-569 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 278 |
| QNAP TS-569L | QNAP | — | — | 267 |
| Synology DS1520+ | Synology | Intel Celeron J4125 | DDR4 8 GB | 259 |
| Synology DS509+ | Synology | — | — | 256 |
| QNAP TS-559 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 235 |
| QNAP TS-559 Pro II | QNAP | — | — | 235 |
| QNAP TS-559 Pro+ | QNAP | — | — | 235 |
| TerraMaster D5 Hybrid | TerraMaster | — | — | 199 |
| QNAP TX-500P | QNAP | — | — | 175 |
| Synology DS508 | Synology | — | — | 169 |
| TerraMaster D5-300 | TerraMaster | — | — | 164 |
| TerraMaster D5-300C | TerraMaster | — | — | 164 |
| TerraMaster D5-310 | TerraMaster | — | — | 164 |
| TerraMaster D5 Thunderbolt 3 | TerraMaster | — | — | 163 |
| Synology DS1522+ | Synology | AMD Ryzen R1600 | DDR4 ECC SODIMM 8 GB | 133 |
| QNAP TS-509 Pro | QNAP | — | — | 120 |
| Synology DS1525+ | Synology | AMD Ryzen V1500B | DDR4 ECC SODIMM 8 GB | 41 |
| Synology DS1525neo+ | Synology | AMD Ryzen V1500B | DDR4 Non-ECC SODIMM 4 GB | 41 |
| Zspace Z4 Air | Zspace | — | — | requirements |
Drives the most 5-bay machines share
Cross-checked against every 5-bay model's official list on this site — the safest part numbers when you're not sure which box you'll end up with:
| Drive | Brand | Series | Listed on | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MG04ACA400E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 20 of 31 models | price |
| MG04ACA300E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 20 of 31 models | price |
| MG04ACA200E | Toshiba | MG04ACA**** | 20 of 31 models | price |
| WD20PURZ | Western Digital | Purple | 19 of 31 models | price |
| WD30PURZ | Western Digital | Purple | 19 of 31 models | price |
| WD40PURZ | Western Digital | Purple | 18 of 31 models | price |
| MD04ACA500 | Toshiba | MD04ACA*** | 17 of 31 models | price |
| MD04ACA400 | Toshiba | MD04ACA*** | 17 of 31 models | price |
| MG05ACA800E | Toshiba | MG05ACA**** | 16 of 31 models | price |
| ST8000NM0206 | Seagate | Exos X10 | 16 of 31 models | price |
| ST10000NM0086 | Seagate | Exos X10 | 16 of 31 models | price |
| ST2000NM0033 | Seagate | Constellation ES.3 | 16 of 31 models | price |