UniFi NAS
UniFi NAS (the UNAS line) is Ubiquiti’s network storage range, managed through UniFi OS and the UniFi Drive application. It is an appliance: shares, RAID and backups, but no documented shell, containers or VMs.
Documentation: UniFi Help Center · Tech Specs Project: Ubiquiti Store
See also: TrueNAS Community Edition · Unraid · OpenMediaVault · NAS Operating Systems Compared · NFS · rsync · Backup Strategy · VLANs
Models #
| MODEL | BAYS | NOTES |
|---|---|---|
| UNAS 2 | 2 x 3.5" HDD | 2.5 GbE; RAID 1 only |
| UNAS 4 | 4 | 2 NVMe cache slots, 2.5 GbE |
| UNAS Pro | 7 (HDD or SSD) | 10G SFP+ plus 1 GbE, needs UniFi Drive 1.16.0 or later; formerly called “UniFi NAS Pro” |
| UNAS Pro 4 | 4 | 2 NVMe cache slots, 10G |
| UNAS Pro 8 | 8 | 2 M.2 NVMe, 16 GB RAM, 10G |
| Enterprise NAS | 16 | Dual 25G |
Prices vary by store and region; check the store. CPU and RAM for the smaller models are not documented in what was read.
Storage #
| FACT | DETAIL |
|---|---|
| Pool setup | Settings > Control Plane > Storage > Create Storage Pool |
| Hierarchy | A pool holds RAID groups; a group needs same-size drives of one type (no HDD and SSD mix) |
| RAID levels | RAID 1 (UNAS 2), RAID 5, RAID 6, RAID 10 (one group per pool) |
| Groups per pool | One on UNAS 2, UNAS 4 and Pro 4; several on UNAS Pro and Pro 8 |
| Hot spare | An odd drive count leaves the last drive as spare; a global hot spare is UNAS Pro only |
| Encryption | Per pool, with its own key; losing the key means permanent loss of access |
| Filesystem | Ubiquiti articles say both Btrfs and ZFS; unresolved, so treat as unverified |
| Snapshots | Opt-in per Personal or Shared Drive; schedule and retention not documented |
Shares and Access #
- Personal drives (per user) and Shared drives (UniFi Drive > All Files).
- Access by Site Manager, the UniFi Endpoint app, SMB (optional AD), NFS (Linux) and the local web UI by IP.
- WebDAV, iSCSI and FTP are not listed.
- Whether a UniFi OS console is required is not stated; the docs assume UniFi OS and a UI account.
Backups #
| DESTINATION | NOTES |
|---|---|
| Another UNAS, SMB/CIFS | Network targets |
| Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox | Cloud drives |
| S3, Backblaze B2, Wasabi | Object storage |
| rsync | Pull or serve |
| Local USB | exFAT, FAT32 or ext4 |
SSH and CLI #
- No UNAS shell is documented. The only SSH step in the UNAS articles targets the gateway, enabled at Control Plane > Console > Advanced > SSH.
- Ubiquiti says not to use SSH unless support asks. Containers, VMs, package installs and a CLI are not documented (treat as not possible).
Gotchas #
- Restoring pools needs all drives from all earlier pools, plus a UI account backup.
- Adding or replacing drives triggers a rebuild that takes hours.
- Firmware update steps and config backup are not documented here (unverified).