Bay count, drive interface and the processor behind the applications · review

BUFFALO LinkStation 220, 4 TB review

The bottom rung of the LinkStation 220 ladder, and the most expensive terabyte on it: two terabytes usable for $285.99, where the twelve-terabyte version of the same box asks less than a third as much per terabyte.

By Jean-Benoit Buisson

Three capacities of this one box are on this shelf, and the only honest way to read them is side by side.

On Amazon.com on October 26, 2026: four terabytes of drives for $285.99, shipping in RAID 1 with two terabytes usable. Eight terabytes for $362.99, four usable. Twelve terabytes for $461.99, six usable. Per raw terabyte that is $71.50, $45.37 and $38.50; per usable terabyte in the arrangement each arrives in, $143.00, $90.75 and $77.00. This one is the most expensive storage on the ladder by both measures, by a wide margin, and $176.00 separates it from the version holding three times as much.

The seventh bullet is the sentence that makes the comparison possible: “4TB Total Capacity With 2 Drive Bays — Ships in RAID 1 (Automatic Backup and 2TB useable capacity) but can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 4TB.” Five listings on this shelf publish both the array they arrive in and the usable figure it leaves, and every one of them is a LinkStation. Not one of the enclosures sold empty here publishes a usable figure at all, because there are no drives in them to compute one from.

The bullet calls RAID 1 an automatic backup, and it is not one. A mirror writes the same data to both drives so the machine survives one of them failing. A file deleted by mistake goes from both copies at once; a fire or a theft takes both, because both are in this box. A copy on separate hardware is a different arrangement and nothing in a mirror substitutes for it. What the bullet describes is real and useful; the words it uses for it are wrong.

The first bullet claims “Value NAS with RAID” and here, with two bays, that is true — the same sentence appears on the one-bay LinkStation 210 pages on this shelf, where it is not. The same bullet then recommends a different range: “Check out the LS 700 for enhanced features, cloud capabilities, macOS 26, and up to 7x faster performance than the LS 200.” The LS 700 is also on this shelf, as the LS710 and the LS720, and both of those pages confirm macOS 26 compatibility in their own second bullet. The second bullet here caps this unit at macOS 15 (Sequoia) and repeats the referral.

Everything else is the LinkStation template: a closed system that keeps third-party applications out, SSL on transfers, folder-level access, NAS Navigator and PC backup software supplied, NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier, “Made in Japan”, 24-hour support from the United States, and a two-year warranty covering the drives. No processor, no memory, no socket count, no port speed, no drive size, no decibel value, no figure in watts.

The product record carries 454 g (16 oz) and 128 by 254 by 224 mm (8.82 in). A two-bay enclosure with two drives in it does not weigh 454 g (16 oz), and the eight-terabyte version of the same chassis is recorded at 247 g (8.7 oz) while the twelve-terabyte one is recorded at 2,504 g (88.3 oz) with entirely different measurements. Three capacities, one box, three records that cannot all be describing it.

Prices quoted in this text were read on October 26, 2026. The live price is at the top of the page.

Where it holds up, and where it stops

Strengths

Publishes the array it ships in and the usable capacity that array leaves, which no enclosure sold empty on this shelf can do
Arrives with both drives fitted, so the price covers 4 TB of storage as well as the box
Two years of warranty covering the drives, with 24-hour support based in the United States
The RAID claim in the first bullet is true here, unlike on the one-bay LinkStation 210 pages that carry the identical sentence
"Made in Japan" stated, and the closed-system approach given as a policy rather than a feature list

Compromises

$143.00 per usable terabyte, the most expensive on the LinkStation 220 ladder and nearly double the same box at 12 TB; only the LS720 here costs more per usable terabyte
The seventh bullet calls RAID 1 an automatic backup, which it is not
macOS compatibility stops at macOS 15, and the page sends macOS 26 buyers to the LS 700 range on this same shelf
Not one hardware figure: no processor, no memory, no socket count, no port speed, no drive size
The product record gives this chassis a weight no two-bay filled enclosure could have, and three capacities of it disagree

Specifications

Bay count	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 4 TB in total, with the drives included
Drive interface	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 4 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere
Solid-state slot count	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named in the title or in any of the ten bullets
Processor	Not published on the listing — no chip, no core count and no clock speed appears anywhere on the page
Memory	Not published on the listing — no memory figure of any kind appears in the title or the ten bullets
Ethernet port count	Not published on the listing as a figure — the second bullet says to connect the unit to a router and counts no socket
Port speed	Not published on the listing — no figure in gigabits or megabytes per second appears anywhere on the page
USB ports	Not published on the listing — no USB socket is named or counted, and no copy-from-USB function is described
Supported redundancy levels	RAID 1 as shipped, with 2 TB usable out of 4 TB of drives, and RAID 0 available for the full 4 — stated in the seventh bullet. The bullet calls RAID 1 an automatic backup; a mirror keeps the machine running through a failed drive and deletes a mistaken deletion from both copies at once, so it is not a copy of the data on separate hardware
Published operating system	Not named, and described as closed — the fifth bullet states a closed system to reduce exposure from third-party applications, with SSL on transfers. NAS Navigator is named as the management utility, with NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier
Stated idle power	Not published on the listing — no figure in watts appears on the page
Stated acoustic figure	Not published on the listing — no decibel value and no claim about noise appears
Stated dimensions	Not published in the bullets — the product record carries 128 by 254 by 224 mm (8.82 in) and 454 g (16 oz). The 8 TB version of this chassis is recorded at 247 g (8.7 oz) and the 12 TB one at 2,504 g (88.3 oz) with different measurements, and the three cannot all be right
Amazon reference	B00JY4QD4A
EAN	0012300312127
On Amazon.com	Amazon.com had an offer at $286 on October 26, 2026.

Where this unit differs

Put against the median of its own group on this site — not against every network product sold.

Drive interfaceNot published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 4 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere-50 % against the median of this group
Stated dimensionsNot published in the bullets — the product record carries 128 by 254 by 224 mm (8.82 in) and 454 g (16 oz). The 8 TB version of this chassis is recorded at 247 g (8.7 oz) and the 12 TB one at 2,504 g (88.3 oz) with different measurements, and the three cannot all be right-38 % against the median of this group

The questions that come up before an order

How much of the 4 TB can be used?

Two. The seventh bullet states that the unit ships in RAID 1 with 2 TB of usable capacity, and that it can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 4 TB without protection.

Is it better value than the larger versions?

No. At $285.99 for two usable terabytes this costs $143.00 each. The 8 TB version is $90.75 and the 12 TB version $77.00 per usable terabyte, so the ladder gets markedly cheaper as it goes up.

Does it work with current macOS?

The second bullet caps compatibility at macOS 15 (Sequoia) and directs macOS 26 buyers to the LS 700 series, which is on this shelf as the LS710 and LS720.

Against the rest of the network and storage gear

This network and storage gear share the category and the price bracket. Only what each one states is shown; an incomplete column would mislead.

Model	Price	Bay count	Drive interface	Solid-state slot count	Processor
BUFFALO LinkStation 220, 4 TB	$286	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 4 TB in total, with the drives included	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 4 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named in the title or in any of the ten bullets	Not published on the listing — no chip, no core count and no clock speed appears anywhere on the page
UGREEN DH2300	$240	Two — stated in the title and in the first bullet as an entry-level two-bay unit for beginners	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the second bullet gives a ceiling of 64 TB in total and states that drives are not included, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named in the title or in any of the eight bullets	Not published on the listing — the fourth bullet says "a high-performance processor" and gives no model, no core count and no clock speed anywhere on the page
BUFFALO LinkStation 210, 6 TB	$231	One — stated in the title as 1-Bay and in the seventh bullet as one drive bay with the drive included. The first bullet calls the unit a NAS with RAID, which a single bay cannot provide	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet states 6 TB of capacity with the drive included, which is the only line on the page that differs from the 4 TB version of the same model	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named in the title or in any of the ten bullets	Not published on the listing — no chip, no core count and no clock speed appears anywhere on the page
BUFFALO LinkStation 220, 8 TB	$363	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 8 TB in total, with the drives included	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 8 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named in the title or in any of the ten bullets	Not published on the listing — no chip, no core count and no clock speed appears anywhere on the page

What separates the models, in network and storage gear

If price decides: BUFFALO LinkStation 210, 6 TB, at $231.
Highest Drive interface in the table: UGREEN DH2300 (Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the second bullet gives a ceiling of 64 TB in total and states that drives are not included, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere).

The buyer this one serves, among network and storage gear

The smallest mirrored LinkStation, for someone who wants two terabytes protected and nothing else, and will not want more later.

What this one costs among network and storage gear

Details checked on October 26, 2026.

What buyers actually choose

Amazon reports what buyers took in the month before this page was last checked: at least 50.

The figure is a floor, rounded by Amazon, and read through Keepa — it says what buyers picked, not what a maker claims.

Sources

Specifications: the manufacturer sheet for network and storage gear and the matching Amazon product page. Prices and availability: Keepa. Every figure on this page names its source.

What we look at on this network and storage gear