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

BUFFALO LinkStation 220, 12 TB review

One of five LinkStations on this shelf that publish both the array they ship in and the usable capacity it leaves — 12 TB of drives, 6 TB available, and the cheapest usable terabyte of the three LinkStation 220 capacities here.

By Jean-Benoit Buisson

The seventh bullet is the most honest sentence on this shelf: “12TB Total Capacity With 2 Drive Bays — Ships in RAID 1 (Automatic Backup and 6TB useable capacity) but can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 12TB.”

Nineteen listings here publish a capacity ceiling. Two of them — both UGREEN — add that the ceiling assumes RAID 0, which is the arrangement with no redundancy. Five go the other way and print the number the buyer actually gets, and all five are LinkStations: here it is 6 TB usable, out of 12 TB of drives, in the arrangement it arrives in. The alternative is offered in the same breath, with what it costs stated as plainly as what it gives.

One caution about the wording. The bullet calls RAID 1 “Automatic Backup”. It is not a backup. RAID 1 writes the same data to both drives so the machine carries on when one fails; a file deleted by mistake is deleted from both copies at once, and a fire takes both. A copy on separate hardware is a different arrangement and nothing in a mirror substitutes for it. The function the bullet describes is real and useful — it is just not the thing the words name.

This is also the only one of the eight LinkStation listings on this shelf whose fourth bullet names redundancy at all: the same sentence on the one-bay LS210 pages ends at SSL encryption, and this one continues “and RAID for redundancy”. The first bullet, which claims “Value NAS with RAID”, is identical across all three — and here, with two bays, it is true. Comparing the three pages is what shows which sentences are about the product and which are about the range.

The same first bullet recommends the LS 700 as up to seven times faster than the LS 200 series, and the same second bullet caps macOS compatibility at macOS 15 (Sequoia), directing macOS 26 buyers to the LS 700 instead. Both carry over unchanged from the one-bay pages.

At $461.99 for 12 TB of drives in a two-bay box, the price works out at $38.50 per terabyte of drive, or $77.00 per terabyte of the 6 TB the unit actually offers as delivered. Either figure is worth setting against an empty two-bay enclosure plus two discs bought separately — which is what the two-bay enclosures sold empty on this shelf require, and the comparison the intro to this shelf exists to make possible.

The hardware is unpublished, exactly as on its one-bay siblings: no processor, no memory, no socket count, no port speed, no drive size, no decibel value, no watts. The management software is named — NAS Navigator, NAS Navigator 2 for macOS 15 and earlier, PC backup software included — along with folder-level access restrictions, a closed system that keeps third-party applications out, SSL on transfers, “Made in Japan”, 24-hour support from the United States and two years of warranty including the drives. The product record carries 2,504 g (88.3 oz) and 206 by 86 by 127 mm (5 in).

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 it leaves — RAID 1, 6 TB of 12 — and is the cheapest usable terabyte of the three LinkStation 220 capacities here at $77.00
Offers the alternative in the same sentence, with RAID 0 named and the full 12 TB stated as what it unlocks
Arrives with both drives fitted, so the price covers 12 TB of storage as well as the enclosure
The fourth bullet names redundancy where the one-bay pages in the same range do not, which is the sentence actually matching the hardware
Two years of warranty covering the drives, with 24-hour support based in the United States, and "Made in Japan" stated

Compromises

The seventh bullet calls RAID 1 an automatic backup, which it is not: a mirror deletes a mistaken deletion from both copies at once
macOS compatibility stops at macOS 15, and the first bullet directs macOS 26 buyers to a different range as up to seven times faster
Not one hardware figure: no processor, no memory, no socket count, no port speed, no drive size
No decibel value and no figure in watts, on a two-drive machine intended for a living space
As delivered the usable capacity is 6 TB, which at $461.99 is $77.00 for each terabyte actually available

Specifications

Bay count	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 12 TB in total, with the drives included
Drive interface	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 12 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere on the page
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
Supported redundancy levels	RAID 1 as shipped, with 6 TB usable out of 12 TB of drives, and RAID 0 available to use the full 12 — stated in the seventh bullet, one of five places on this shelf where both the array and the capacity it leaves are published together, and the largest of them. The fourth bullet names RAID for redundancy, which the two one-bay LinkStation 210 pages omit. 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 fourth bullet states a closed system to reduce exposure from third-party applications, with SSL encryption for transfers and RAID for redundancy. The fifth names NAS Navigator, 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, on a two-drive machine sold for a home
Stated dimensions	Not published in the bullets — the product record carries 206 by 86 by 127 mm (5 in) and 2,504 g (88.3 oz), and no measurement of the case appears on the page
Amazon reference	B08DZS265Q
EAN	0747464134468
On Amazon.com	Amazon.com had an offer at $462 on October 26, 2026.

The questions that come up before an order

How much of the 12 TB can be used?

Six. The seventh bullet states that the unit ships in RAID 1 with 6 TB of usable capacity, and that it can be set to RAID 0 to use the full 12 TB. Five listings on this shelf publish both figures, and all five are LinkStations.

Is RAID 1 a backup?

No, although the bullet calls it one. A mirror writes the same data to both drives so the machine survives a drive failure. A file deleted by mistake goes from both copies at once, and both drives sit in the same box. A copy on separate hardware is a different arrangement.

How does it compare with an empty two-bay enclosure?

This one costs $461.99 with 12 TB of drives fitted, which is $38.50 per terabyte of drive. The two-bay enclosures sold empty on this shelf need two discs added to their price before the two figures mean the same thing, and the two other LinkStation 220 capacities here work out at $45.37 and $71.50 a terabyte.

What does it add over the one-bay LinkStation 210?

A second bay, and with it an array that can actually exist. The 210 pages claim RAID on a single bay; this page has the hardware the claim needs, and its fourth bullet names redundancy where theirs stops short.

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, 12 TB	$462	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 12 TB in total, with the drives included	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the seventh bullet gives 12 TB across two bays with the drives supplied, and no inch figure and no bus appears anywhere on the page	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 SoHo 220, 8 TB	$475	Two — stated in the title as 2-Bay and in the seventh bullet as two drive bays holding 8 TB in total. The title specifies the division as 2 × 4 TB, which no other LinkStation page on this shelf does	Not published on the listing as a size or a bus — the title gives 8 TB as two 4 TB drives and the seventh bullet repeats the total, 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
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
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

What separates the models, in network and storage gear

If price decides: BUFFALO LinkStation 720, 4 TB, at $409.

The buyer this one serves, among network and storage gear

A two-bay machine wanted working and mirrored on the day it arrives, by someone who would rather read the usable figure than calculate it.

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