DiskStation DS220j

The base model Synology NAS, like the DS220J, is infamous for having too little cpu and memory. It will advertise being able to run several apps that will in reality grind the system to a near halt with idle cpu usage at or near 100%. Those tend to get used by some enthusiastic new homelab users who

You're moving to a (relatively) less mature product vs Synology. The ecosystem, app market, and DSM have been around for a looong time and have many apps. UGreen, not so much. The first difference from lower-end Synology models is that UGreen models have an internal eMMC system drive whereas Synolog

Based on your description and my experience: Don’t bother with BSD based software because it just adds overhead since Linux will be a VM. So maybe OVM but not TrueNAS for instance. Zima is limited to Zima. In fact when I bought a new box I first used OpenWRT which does everything with a Synology-lik

Synology’s recent restrictions on third-party disks are making me hesitate. They walked it back after public backlash. I guess they should have been quicker to do so (took them several weeks, as I recall). Have you checked how much you'll get for your DS220j? I've heard that selling a 5-year-old Syn