QNAP TS-233: capacity calculator
By Devin Chua · Data checked by Owen Nakamura · Updated In the QNAP TS-233 with 2 × 8 TB in RAID 1 you keep 7.28 TiB usable (8 TB in drive-maker terms), surviving 1 drive failing. The calculator below is preset to the 2 bays and the RAID types QTS 5.2 actually offers on this model (there is no SHR equivalent here), with the cost to fill in Canadian dollars from live Amazon.ca prices.
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Preset for the TS-233: 2 bays, and only the RAID types this model actually supports.
RAID 1 (Mirroring)
That is 8 TB the way drive makers label capacity. Your NAS shows you the smaller number because it counts in powers of two.
Drives: from CA$1,008 for 2 × 8 TB (CA$63.01/TB overall)
What to know about the TS-233
The cheapest QNAP and deliberately modest: an ARM processor, 2 GB of soldered RAM, one gigabit port. The network caps you at about 110 MB/s here, so a faster drive buys no more speed. Buy on noise and price per TB, not on data rate.
The TS-233 at a glance
| Bays | 2 × 3.5-inch SATA and 2.5-inch SATA SSD |
|---|---|
| Processor | ARM Cortex-A55 (4 cores, 2.0 GHz) |
| Memory | 2 GB stock, 2 GB, soldered Soldered, not upgradeable |
| M.2 NVMe | none No M.2 slots |
| Network | 1 × 1GbE |
| RAID types | Single, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 |
| Third-party drives | unrestricted Open. QNAP locks no drives. |
No SHR: mixed drive sizes cost the TS-233 capacity
QTS 5.2 has no flexible RAID like Synology's SHR. Put one 16 TB drive with three 8 TB drives in the TS-233 and it counts 8 TB per drive — eight terabytes sit idle. So buy matched drives for the TS-233, or work the loss out in the calculator above before you commit to this model; the "unused" figure shows exactly how much you would lose.
Two bays means RAID 1 in practice on the TS-233
With two drives there is no sensible alternative to RAID 1 on the TS-233 (or SHR with two drives, which is arithmetically the same). You pay half your capacity for fault tolerance: 2 × 8 TB becomes 8 TB, not 16. RAID 5 needs at least three drives and is not available here. For more capacity per dollar without giving up safety, a four-bay model is the move.
Which drives belong in the TS-233?
CMR NAS drives rated for 24/7 use — Seagate IronWolf, WD Red Plus, Toshiba N300 or their Pro variants. Our drive picks for the TS-233 with live prices show which of those currently offers the best capacity per dollar. If you are working back from a target capacity instead, the drive-count calculator works out how many drives you need.
Frequently asked questions
How much storage is left in the TS-233 with 2 × 8 TB?
About 7.28 TiB usable — 8 TB in drive-maker terms — computed in RAID 1, the sensible default for this model. It survives 1 drive failing. The gap from the 16 TB raw goes to parity.
Which RAID types does the TS-233 support?
QTS 5.2 offers Single, JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1 on the TS-233. There is no flexible RAID like Synology's SHR here, so mixed drive sizes cost the TS-233 real capacity — every drive counts only as much as the smallest in the array.
Can I put third-party drives in the TS-233?
Open. QNAP locks no drives.
How much memory does the TS-233 take?
It ships with 2 GB (2 GB, soldered). Soldered, not upgradeable The memory is soldered and cannot be upgraded.
Why does my NAS show less than the calculator says?
Because the maker and the OS count differently. A drive maker calls one trillion bytes a TB; the NAS counts in powers of two and calls that a TiB — about 9 percent less. That is why this calculator leads with the TiB figure: it is the number you will read off the screen.
Devin Chua works out which drives, RAM and NVMe cache fit which NAS model at nasdrives.ca, and what the RAID choice means for usable capacity, checked against what is in stock on Amazon.ca.
Data checked by Owen Nakamura, Technical editor (data checking)