How Much Does it Cost to Run a NAS? Synology, QNAP, WD and More (2024)

How Much Electricity Does A NAS Use and How Much Does it Cost to run 24×7?

Have you SEEN how much electricity costs these days? Because of any one of about a hundred different global factors (local conflict, slow renewable energy uptake, monopolizing energy companies with powerful lobbying – take your pick!) most of us in2022/2023 have seen increases in energy costs. In this energy-aware climate, it can be appreciated that a NAS drive (a 24×7 appliance) seemingly has its cost to the end user in terms of electricity as something of a vague number. With so many kinds of NAS available in the market, featuring a mix of CPUs, PSUs, Bays and utilities, PLUS the wide range of HDD/SSD drives in the market to choose from – there are just so many variables when trying to work out how much power your NAS drive is using and how much that is translating to in your monthly energy bill! So, today’s article is about working out how much electricity several popular NAS setup choices will consume, as well as how much that equals to you in £, $ or € per day, month and year! We tested two popular desktop 4-Bay NAS systems, connected them to energy monitors and worked out how much power they used in full active use and in idle. Let’s begin.

Note – this is a guide on energy use on a NAS drive. If you want to learn more about the energy consumption of your PC running 24×7, there is a great guide over on CCL Online that you can read here.

NAS Power Use Test Setup

Choosing the appropriate NAS drive for these tests was always going to be tough. I DO intend on repeating these tests with several different NAS drives after this, but wanted these first few tests to be focused on the most POPULAR NAS setups, as well as identifying the difference between using newer gen CPUs and Larger drives vs using older generation devices and smaller capacity media. All in all, there were four separate tests, with 2x tests on each NAS+Media configuration. These were a Synology DS920+ and 4x WD Red Plus HDDs (a very, VERY popular NAS setup over the last 2-2.5yrs) and a QNAP TS-464 NAS and 4x WD Red 22TB NAS HDDs (both Summer 2022 Releases and represent ‘New NAS’ with ‘High Capacity’ users in mind. Here is a breakdown of the hardware configurations and test architectures:

• Synology DS920+ or QNAP TS-464 4-Bay Celeron Powered Desktop NAS
• 4x WD Red WD40EFZX 4TB (Synology Test in SHR) or 4x WD Red Pro WD221KFGX 22TB Hard Drives (QNAP Test in RAID 5)
• During ‘ACTIVE’ 24hr Tests, the NAS was prevented from going into standby/idle. 1 VM running, 1-Core and 1GB Memory, 2x IP Cameras recording non-stop, drive S.M.A.R.T tests scheduled to be hourly
• During IDLE 24hr Tests, the VM was deleted, VM and Surveillance Software disabled, ALL S.M.A.R.T tests disabled and network cable (1GbE) disconnected.
• The first day of operation (which includes initialization and RAID creation) not counted (but visible at the start of the graph).
• Power was monitored with a GOSUND SMART KIT Smart Plug, Mini 13A – Find HERE

The initial 24hours (used for system initialization and RAID configuration) were NOT included in the power usage monitoring, as although they appear on the graph they are one-off single-event scenarios. Each test (Active vs Idle) was conducted for 24hrs and the overall electricity usage was displayed in kw (kilowatt). But what is the difference between Active and Idle activity? Why does it matter?

What is the Difference Between a NAS Drive ‘Active’ and in ‘IDLE / Standby’?

Although a NAS is designed to be in operation 24×7 and is consuming electricity when running, the actual reality of this and the extent to which it is consuming it is actually alot more nuanced. Most home users who have a NAS system will use the NAS directly for a significant;y smaller portion of time per day than it is actually powered on for. Perhaps to stream a movie or a couple of TV episodes, run a daily backup, have a couple of cameras in/outside their home that are sending recordings (or more likely just alerts and associated captures) to the NAS and that is about it. They will periodically do more than these, maybe a VM, more sophisticated backup or use some of the other services ad hoc, but the result is that in most domestic/bog standard home scenarios, a NAS will be switched internally to Idle/Standby after no pro-active use quite quickly and spend 80-90% of the time in low power modes. Business users might well be using the system 24×7 for sync’d tasks and on-going camera recording, but even then, this will be a lower % of system resources in use. So, in order to find a comparable and relative means to study the electricity use of a NAS and it’s cost, I have conducted two tests per NAS+HDD configuration. The first, a 24 Hour Active test, with the system using a decent % of it’s CPU+Memory, a swell as the HDDs not being given the chance to switch to Idle/Standy (by constantly writing AND performing S.M.A.R.T tests hourly). The idle tests involve all of those apps, services and scheduled operations being cancelled and the network cable being disconnected from the NAS (for another 24hrs). From here we can work out the cost of an hour of power usage by either setup in high activity and near-zero activity. But how can we work out the COST of the electricity used by the NAS in that time period?

How Energy Costs in these NAS Tests were Calculated?

The results of the energy usage are then cross-referenced by ‘sust-it.net’ and calculations of the cost of the used electricity per day, month and year was calculated for the UK, U.S, Germany, Australia and Canada. Now, using a select energy tariff is much harder, as there are quite literally thousands of different energy providers globally, each with their own pricing on the cost of energy per ‘kWh’. So, I used the national average calculations that were provided by ‘sust-it’ for each of those areas. Some are clearly more up-to-date than others (i.e the United Kingdom Avg Energy cost tariff is dated October 2022, whereas the Canada’s average energy cost is from way back in March 2020), however, these will still provide a good basis for understanding what a NAS drive is going to cost you in electricity when it is in operation. The national tariff averages used in this article for each region are as follows:

UK: Energy Price (October 2022)electricity rate of34.00 penceper kWh.

USA: Average (Feb 2022)electricity rate of14.80 centsper kWh.

Germany: Average (June 2021)electricity rate of31.93 Eurocentsper kWh.

Australia: Average (March 2022)electricity rate of23.59 centsper kWh.

Canada: Average (2020)electricity rate of8.50 centsper kWh.

Source – https://www.sust-it.net

There are the rates that we will be using to calculate the running costs of the Synology and QNAP NAS systems (and more importantly their respective WD Drive setups and CPU usage).

Test #1 – Synology DS920+ NAS and 4X 4TB WD Red Drives

In test one, I set the Synology DS920+ NAS and WD Red 4TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

• Synology DS920+ NAS PSU = 100W External PSU, Intel Celeron J4125 Quad Core 2.0-2.7Ghz, 4GB DDR4 2666Mhz Memory
• WD Red Plus 4TB HDD, SHR
• Surveillance Station 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• Synology Virtual Machine Manager, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• Synology Storage Manager (DSM 7.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a WD Red Plus 4TB (Single):
  • Read/Write: 4.7
  • Idle: 3.1
  • Standby Sleep: 0.3

The Synology DS920+ NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$550+	The WD Red Plus 4TB HDD (x4) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$79
Intel J4125 CPU, 4-Core 2.0-2.7Ghz Celeron CPU 4GB 2666Mhz non-ECC Memory, 1GbE	4 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 5400RPM – 128MB Cache – 4x 1TB Platters

Then, 24hrs later, I disabled all these processes, disconnected the RJ45 LAN and let the NAS fall into idle/standby mode. The results were as follows:

The 0.42kW that was used in the initialization of both the NAS and the drives in the RAID was NOT included in the respective Actie/Idle tests. The 24 hours of Active use energy consumption was 0.51KW

Synology DS920+ and WD Red Plus 4TB HDD Test Results:

0.51KW divided by 24 (hours) = 0.02125kW use per Hour

0.18KW divided by 24 (hours) = 0.0075kW use per Hour

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

Now it is worth keeping in mind that the costs for each region have a notably different price per kW rate, so even after factoring in currency conversions between different units (eg Pounds vs Dollars), there is a significant degree of difference in the costs per day, month and year of the exact same NAS+HDD setup above. The idle power use was just 35.29% of the power use of the active testing in the same 24hr time block.

Test #2 – QNAP TS-464 NAS and 4X 22TB WD Red Drives

Now, the big thing to keep in mind when it comes to our 2nd test is that although the preliminary architecture of the QNAP TS-464 NAS may seem comparable to the DS920+, the Intel N5105 in the QNAP NAS has a higher TDP rating and general power use. It IS more efficient, but that doesn’t always translate to a lower electricity consumption – it just means that the CPU has a higher total capability when push comes to shove. Likewise, although the 4TB drives in the Synology test and 22TB drives in the QNAP test are both standard-looking WD Red 3.5″ SATA hard drive media, built of multiple platters and using Conventional Magnetic Recording (CMR), the 22TB is a WD Red Por drive – which is much more industrious in design, features 10 2.2TB platters internally and have alot more mechanics inside for stable running. This all translates into the WD Red Pro 22TB Hard drives AND the QNAP TS-464 being comparatively higher in power consumption when compared against the 2020 released Synology DS920+ and WD Red Plus 4TB. Here are the makeup for the QNAP/WD Red Pro Tests:

• QNAP TS-464 NAS PSU = 90W External PSU, Intel Celeron N5105 Quad Core 2.0-2.9Ghz, 4GB DDR4 3200Mhz Memory
• WD Red Pro 22TB HDD, RAID 5
• QVR Pro and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• QNAP Virtualization Station, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• QNAP Storage Manager (QTS 5.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a WD Red Pro 22TB (Single):
  • Read/Write: 6.8
  • Idle: 3.4
  • Standby Sleep: 1.2

The QNAP TS-464 NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$689+	The WD Red Pro 22TB HDD (x4) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$699
Intel N5105 CPU, 4-Core 2.0-2.9Ghz Celeron CPU 4GB 3200Mhz non-ECC Memory, 2.5GbE	22 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 7200RPM – 512MB Cache – 10x 2.2TB Platters

The initialization and RAID creation on the QNAP + WD Red Pro 22TB RAID setup took longer than the previous test and also resulted in a higher power consumption (with RAID ReSync set to High Priority) ending in 0.73kW (versus the 0.42 during the more modest Synology/WD Red Plus setup). Indeed, this continued into the 24hr active period, with this setup ending at 1.28kW use during high active use and 0.59kW during the 24hrs idle period.

The difference that a more powerful/capable CPU and the more than 5x Capacity of those WD Red Pro drives did to the power consumption is pretty clear and certain. Let’s see how those results translated into your potential energy bills.

QNAP TS-464 NAS and WD Red Pro 22TB HDD Test Results:

1.28KW divided by 24 (hours) = 0.0533kWuse per Hour

0.59KW divided by 24 (hours) = 0.0245kW use per Hour

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

With the 25 % Active and 75% Idle ratio, the pricing on this high-capacity solution does seem alot more palatable. Still, there is no denying that in order to enjoy more modern large-capacity media, there can be a hidden cost as this technology becomes more industrious.

Test 3 – Synology DS1621+ NAS and 5x WD Ultrastar 10TB Drives

I set the Synology DS1621+ NAS and WD Ultrastar 4TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

• Synology DS1621+ NAS PSU = 100W External PSU, Intel Celeron J4125 Quad Core 2.0-2.7Ghz, 4GB DDR4 2666Mhz Memory
• WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD, SHR
• Surveillance Station 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• Synology Virtual Machine Manager, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• Synology Storage Manager (DSM 7.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a WD Ultrastar 10TB (Single):
  • 9.2W Active
  • 8.0W Idle

The Synology DS1621+ NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$999+	The WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD (x5) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$259
AMD Ryzen V1500B CPU, 4-Core 2.2hz Celeron CPU 4GB 2400Mhz ECC Memory, 1GbE	10 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 7200RPM – 256MB Cache – 6x Platters

Then, 24hrs later, I disabled all these processes, disconnected the RJ45 LAN and let the NAS fall into idle/standby mode. The results were as follows:

The 0.80kW that was used in the initialization of both the NAS and the drives in the RAID was NOT included in the respective Actie/Idle tests.

Synology DS1621+ and WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD Test Results:

0.0479kW use per hour active and 0.0266kW use per hour idle =

1.15KW over 24 hours Active =

0.64KW over 24 hours idle =

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

I will be conducting more tests with more NAS configurations in the coming months and either adding them to this article, or creating their own articles. Stay tuned, check below to see if other NAS power tests have been published and recommended to you, or watch the video version of these tests (which goes into more detail on the current predicaments in the energy crisis facing many of us in 2022, 2023 and beyond.

Test 4 – Synology RS422+ NAS and 4x HAT5300 16TB Drives

I set the Synology RS422+ NAS and HAT5300 16TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

• Synology RS422+ NAS
• HAT5300 16TB HDD, RAID 5
• Surveillance Station 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• Synology Virtual Machine Manager, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• Synology Storage Manager (DSM 7.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a HAT5300 16TB (Single):
  • 4W Standby/Idle
  • 7.63W Active

The Synology RS422+ NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$799	The HAT5300 16TB HDD (x4) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$599
AMD Ryzen R1600 CPU, 2-Core 2.6-3.1hz Celeron CPU 2GB DDR4 Memory, 1GbE	16 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 7200RPM – 512MB Cache – 8 Platters

Then, 24hrs later, I disabled all these processes, disconnected the RJ45 LAN and let the NAS fall into idle/standby mode. The results were as follows:

The power that was used in the initialization of both the NAS and the drives in the RAID was NOT included in the respective Actie/Idle tests.

Synology RS422+ and HAT5300 16TB HDD Test Results:

0.03583kW use per Hour in full access/use and 0.01375kW use per Hour in idle/standby:

During 24hrs of Active/Full Use, 0.86KW:

During idle by 24 (hours) 0.33KW:

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

Test #5 – QNAP TS-453E NAS and 4X 4TB WD Red Drives

I set the QNAP TS-453E NAS and WD Red 4TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

The QNAP TS-453E NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$699+	The WD Red Plus 4TB HDD (x4) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$79
Intel J6412 CPU, 4-Core 2.0-2.6Ghz Celeron CPU 8GB 3200Mhz non-ECC Memory, 2.5GbE	4 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 5400RPM – 64MB Cache – 4x 1TB Platters

QNAP TS-453E NAS PSU = 100W External PSU, Intel Celeron N5105 Quad Core 2.0-2.9Ghz, 4GB DDR4 3200Mhz Memory

• WD Red Plus 4TB HDD, RAID 5
• QVR Pro 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• QNAP Virtualization Station, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• QNAP Storage Manager (QTS 5.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a WD Red Plus 4TB (Single):
  • Read/Write: 4.7
  • Idle: 3.1
  • Standby Sleep: 0.3

Let’s see how those results translated into your potential energy bills.

QNAP TS-453E NAS and WD Red Plus 4TB HDD Test Results:

0.03125kW use per Hour in full access/use and 0.0204166kW use per Hour in idle/standby:

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF ACTIVITY (no standby time or drive hibernation)

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF IDLE/STANDBY with no system use and ethernet/network connection disconnected

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

Test #6 – Synology DS1522+ NAS and 5x WD Ultrastar 10TB Drives

I set the Synology DS1522+ NAS and WD Ultrastar 10TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

The Synology DS1522+ NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$799	The WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD (x5) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$249
AMD Ryzen R1600 CPU, 2-Core 2.6-3.1hz Celeron CPU 8GB DDR4 Memory, 1GbE	10 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 7200RPM – 256MB Cache – 7 Platter

• Synology DS1522+ NAS
• WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD, RAID 5
• Surveillance Station 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• Synology Virtual Machine Manager, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• Synology Storage Manager (DSM 7.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a WD Ultrastar 10TB (Single):
  • 9.2W Active
  • 8.0W Idle

Then, 24hrs later, I disabled all these processes, disconnected the RJ45 LAN and let the NAS fall into idle/standby mode. The results were as follows:

The power that was used in the initialization of both the NAS and the drives in the RAID was NOT included in the respective Actie/Idle tests.

Synology DS1522+ and WD Ultrastar 10TB HDD Test Results:

0.047083kW use per Hour in full access/use and 0.02333kW use per Hour in idle/standby:

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF ACTIVITY (no standby time or drive hibernation)

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF IDLE/STANDBY with no system use and ethernet/network connection disconnected

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

Test #7 – Synology DS2422+ NAS and 4x HAT5300 16TB Drives

I set the Synology DS2422+ NAS and HAT5300 16TB Hard drives up in the following configuration for the Active tests:

The Synology DS2422+ NAS Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$1899	The HAT5300 16TB HDD (x4) Current Price/Availability on Amazon–$599
AMD Ryzen V1500B CPU, 4-Core 2.2hz Celeron CPU 2GB DDR4 Memory, 4GbE	16 Terabyte Capacity – SATA 3.5″ Form Factor 7200RPM – 512MB Cache – 8 Platters

• Synology DS2422+ NAS
• HAT5300 16TB HDD, RAID 5
• Surveillance Station 9 and 2x Reolink Dome IP Cameras (24hrs Active)
• Synology Virtual Machine Manager, 1x Windows VM, 1 Core, 1GB Memory (24hrs Active)
• Synology Storage Manager (DSM 7.1) and S.M.A.R.T Tests per Hour (24hr Active)
• Reported Average power requirements of a HAT5300 16TB (Single):
  • 4W Standby/Idle
  • 7.63W Active

Then, 24hrs later, I disabled all these processes, disconnected the RJ45 LAN and let the NAS fall into idle/standby mode. The results were as follows:

The power that was used in the initialization of both the NAS and the drives in the RAID was NOT included in the respective Actie/Idle tests.

Synology DS2422+ and HAT5300 16TB HDD Test Results:

0.053333kW use per Hour in full access/use and 0.02625kW use per Hour in idle/standby:

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF ACTIVITY (no standby time or drive hibernation)

Here are the results for 24 HOURS OF IDLE/STANDBY with no system use and ethernet/network connection disconnected

So, what about if you were to only use the NAS at active use for around 25% of the day (i.e 6hrs of active with backups, multimedia, etc) and 75% of the day as idle (i.e 18hrs unused):

25%/75% Active/Idle Use:

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