UGREEN NASync DH2300 review: the perfect first NAS for photographers

UGREEN is becoming quite the force in the world of NAS drives. Now boasting two series of drives, the entry-level, budget-friendly, personal cloud DH series and the high-performance, prosumer DXP series, UGREEN offers a wide range of products to suit most types of users.

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 belongs in the DH series and is a super compact two-bay NAS that functions as a private cloud. This makes it a particularly attractive alternative to paying for monthly Google One or iCloud subscriptions.

It's also a fantastic entry-level NAS for photographers who want a cheap backup solution and the ability to quickly dump large shoots via high-speed USB-A and USB-C ports. Unfortunately, there's no built-in SD card slot though.

Its reliance on a standard Gigabit network port also means it's never going to be the ideal solution for streaming raw, multi-gigabyte image files directly off the server in real-time.

Its biggest strength for photographers and families alike is its intelligent built-in photo management app. Backed by a dedicated AI smart chip, the system automatically scans your catalog to recognize faces, objects, and scenes. Because all of this processing happens locally inside the box, your family photos and professional shoots are never uploaded to a corporate web server, which helps to guarantee privacy.

UGREEN NASync DH2300: Specifications

UGREEN NASync DH2300: Design & Handling

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 is a sleek, minimalist, and aesthetically pleasing unit. The design and color choices follow firmly in line with almost all other UGREEN devices, from power banks to chargers. The modern design sets it apart from many other NAS alternatives which are chunky, industrial, and purely functional.

In terms of materials, UGREEN has chosen a plastic chassis styled in a two-tone gray palette. There's no metal in sight, and you can tell that as soon as you pick it up. I'd count this as a positive in terms of weight but a negative in terms of robust build quality. It feels pretty cheap, but that's no surprise given the price.

The internal bay trays are hidden below the top removal 'hood' and are constructed of thin plastic, which meant I had to treat them with a lot of care when inserting the hard drives. If you weren't careful, then you could definitely snap something. The trays are able to house 3.5-inch or 2.5-inch drives, with the included screws providing stability.

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Thermal management is built into the design with vent cutouts subtly integrated at the bottom of both the left and right sides, working alongside ventilation holes in the top panel and the base to maximize airflow and heat dissipation. I never experienced the unit getting too hot, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the design.

The front panel is kept pretty minimal with an on/off button, three light indicators, and a USB-C port. At the back there is an RJ45 port, two USB-A ports, an HDMI port, and the DC power port. All in, it's a really nice design that's only let down by the budget materials.

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UGREEN NASync DH2300: Performance

This is my first experience of using a UGREEN NAS drive, and having experienced a number of other brands, I think UGREEN has absolutely nailed the setup and software experience, especially when we're considering users who are unfamiliar with NAS.

I was able to get the NAS setup in less than ten minutes simply by plugging it into a power source, connecting it to my router, inserting my hard drive, and navigating through the easy-to-follow user guide.

I loved the ability to discover the NAS device through a variety of different methods. I opted to download the dedicated client via the UGREEN downloads page, and after a few simple procedures I was up and running quickly. My experience fills me with confidence that beginners to NAS technology will be absolutely fine.

The NAS can also be discovered via a browser or even with NFC detection on an NFC-enabled phone. UGREEN really has done a good job of making the NAS work with a variety of different devices and operating systems to make it a genuine alternative to existing familiar media backup solutions.

The DH2300 is powered by an 8-core Rockchip RK3576 processor and 4GB of LPDDR4X RAM, which makes it both snappy and efficient. It also features a Mali-G52 GPU and dedicated 6 TOPS NPU which comes into its own when transcoding for H.264, H.265, and AV1, alongside smooth 4K output via HDMI 2.1.

We all care about transfer speeds, and the DH2300 maxes out its single 1 GbE network port, delivering consistent real-world transfer speeds of roughly 110 MB/s to 115 MB/s for sequential reads and writes. These speeds are okay for backup and retrieval, but I wouldn't rely on it to stream footage for video editing, especially if it's 4K in size. For that you'll want a device that can deliver around 300 MB/s to 400 MB/s.

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 features a native Photos app that uses a built-in NPU for local AI-driven image processing. As a result, users can take advantage of facial recognition, object detection, and OCR text extraction tools. It also includes an intelligent cleanup tool for identifying duplicate or blurry photos to optimize storage.

During operation, the NAS is incredibly quiet, so you'll hardly notice it's there. You could even put it in a space you use regularly, and it'll blend into the background. It also draws just 10 to 15 watts of power, which means it's economical to run too.

UGREEN NASync DH2300: Final Verdict

The UGREEN NASync DH2300 is a superb, budget-friendly entry-level NAS that serves as an excellent private cloud alternative to costly subscriptions. It features a sleek design and an incredibly easy setup process that takes less than ten minutes via app, browser, or NFC.

Its biggest strength for families and photographers is its local, AI-driven photo management app, which automatically sorts images while keeping your data entirely secure and private at home.

Unfortunately, its low price point comes with notable hardware compromises. The lightweight plastic chassis and internal trays feel cheap, and performance is bottlenecked by a standard 1GbE port that limits transfer speeds to around 115 MB/s. This makes it too slow for serious, real-time 4K video editing.

Lacking support for M.2 NVMe drives, Docker, and virtual machines, this NAS also offers very limited scalability, meaning power users and tech enthusiasts should look elsewhere.