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

BUFFALO LinkStation 220, 8 TB review

The middle rung of the LinkStation 220 ladder, and the one the arithmetic favors: four usable terabytes at $90.75 each, against $143.00 on the smaller box and $112.00 less than the SoHo version of the same capacity.

By Jean-Benoit Buisson

Two comparisons decide this page, and both are against other listings on this shelf.

The first is the ladder. The LinkStation 220 appears here at 4, 8 and 12 terabytes, on Amazon.com on October 26, 2026: $285.99, $362.99 and $461.99, with two, four and six terabytes usable in the RAID 1 arrangement each arrives in. That is $143.00, $90.75 and $77.00 per usable terabyte. This middle rung costs $77.00 more than the smallest and saves $52.25 on every usable terabyte; the largest saves a further $13.75 per terabyte for another $99.00 up front. If four terabytes is enough, this is where the ladder stops being expensive.

The second is sideways. The LinkStation SoHo 220 on this shelf holds the same eight terabytes in the same two bays and asks $474.99 — $112.00 more than this page. What the extra buys is published: a third year of warranty where this one gives two, and a Direct Copy function that backs up a device over USB without a computer. Nothing else differs in the bullets. Whether a year of warranty and a USB copy button are worth $112.00 is a decision, and it is a decision only possible because both pages publish what they have.

The seventh bullet carries the figure this shelf is short of: “8TB Total Capacity With 2 Drive Bays — Ships in RAID 1 (Automatic Backup and 4TB useable capacity) but can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 8TB.” It also carries the shelf’s most common error of words. RAID 1 is not a backup. It mirrors, so the machine survives a drive dying; it does not survive a file deleted by mistake, because the deletion is mirrored too, and it does not survive the box being lost, because both copies are in it. A copy on separate hardware is a different arrangement.

The first bullet’s “Value NAS with RAID” is true on two bays, and the same sentence sits on the one-bay LinkStation 210 pages here where it is not. It then recommends the LS 700 range — on this shelf as the LS710 and LS720 — for enhanced features, cloud capability, macOS 26 and up to seven times the performance. The second bullet caps this unit at macOS 15 (Sequoia) and repeats the referral. Buffalo is selling the newer range from inside the older one’s page, twice.

The rest is the template, unchanged: closed system, SSL on transfers, folder-level access, NAS Navigator and PC backup software included with NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier, “Made in Japan”, 24-hour United States support, two years of warranty including the drives. No processor, no memory, no socket count, no port speed, no drive size, no decibel value, no watts.

The product record carries 247 g (8.7 oz) and 128 by 254 by 224 mm (8.82 in). Two drives alone weigh more than that. The 4 TB version of this chassis is recorded at 454 g (16 oz) and the 12 TB at 2,504 g (88.3 oz), and only the last of the three is plausible.

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

The step where the ladder stops being expensive: $90.75 per usable terabyte against $143.00 on the 4 TB version of the same box
$112.00 less than the SoHo 220 on this shelf for the same eight terabytes in the same two bays
Publishes both the array it ships in and the 4 TB usable that array leaves
Arrives with both drives fitted and a two-year warranty that covers them
The RAID claim in the first bullet is true here, unlike on the one-bay LinkStation 210 pages carrying the same sentence

Compromises

The seventh bullet calls RAID 1 an automatic backup, which a mirror in one box is not
Two years of warranty where the SoHo 220 at the same capacity gives three
No copy-from-USB function, which the SoHo 220 publishes for $112.00 more
macOS compatibility stops at macOS 15, with the page twice directing macOS 26 buyers to the LS 700 range on this shelf
Not one hardware figure anywhere, and a product record weight of 247 g (8.7 oz) that cannot be right

Specifications

Bay count	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
Drive interface	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
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. The SoHo 220 on this shelf, at the same capacity, does publish a copy-from-USB function
Supported redundancy levels	RAID 1 as shipped, with 4 TB usable out of 8 TB of drives, and RAID 0 available for the full 8 — stated in the seventh bullet, which calls RAID 1 an automatic backup. A mirror keeps the machine running through a failed drive; it mirrors a mistaken deletion as well, and both copies sit in this box, 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 247 g (8.7 oz), which is less than two bare drives weigh. The 4 TB version of this chassis is recorded at 454 g (16 oz) and the 12 TB at 2,504 g (88.3 oz)
Amazon reference	B00JY4QJZ8
EAN	0012300312141
On Amazon.com	Amazon.com had an offer at $363 on October 26, 2026.

The questions that come up before an order

How much of the 8 TB can be used?

Four. The seventh bullet states that the unit ships in RAID 1 with 4 TB usable, and can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 8 TB without protection.

Why is the SoHo 220 dearer at the same capacity?

The SoHo 220 publishes a three-year warranty where this page gives two, and a Direct Copy function that backs up a device over USB without a computer. Those are the differences the two pages show, for $112.00.

Which rung of the ladder is best value?

The 12 TB version is cheapest per usable terabyte at $77.00, then this one at $90.75, then the 4 TB at $143.00. The jump from 4 TB to 8 TB saves far more per terabyte than the jump from 8 TB to 12 TB.

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, 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
BUFFALO LinkStation 710, 8 TB	$383	One — stated in the title as 1-Bay and in the seventh bullet as one drive bay with the drive included. Unlike the one-bay LinkStation 210 pages on this shelf, the first bullet makes no RAID claim	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet states 8 TB of total capacity with the drive 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 ten bullets	Not published on the listing — no chip, no core count and no clock speed appears, on a page whose first bullet claims up to seven times the performance of an earlier range
BUFFALO LinkStation 720, 4 TB	$409	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, on a page claiming up to seven times the performance of an earlier range
Synology DS225+, two-bay enclosure with one 2.5GbE and one 1GbE socket	$421	Two — stated in the title, and the second bullet places the model in the two-bay Plus series as the replacement for the DS224+	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the first bullet states that the unit requires compatible drives and directs the reader to the maker’s own compatibility list, which is where the answer is kept rather than here	Not published on the listing — no M.2 slot and no cache slot is named, and the only expansion the page describes is a memory module	Intel Celeron J4125, quad-core — named in the second bullet; no clock speed is printed

What separates the models, in network and storage gear

If price decides: this model, at $363.

The buyer this one serves, among network and storage gear

Four protected terabytes at the best price on the LinkStation ladder, for a household that will not need a third year of warranty.

What this one costs among network and storage gear

Details checked on October 26, 2026.

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