I have been running Immich as my family’s photo vault for nearly three years now, and I have learned one thing the hard way. Self-hosting your memories feels great until the day your single hard drive decides it has had enough. After losing an entire vacation album to a dead SSD, I rebuilt my setup around proper off-site storage, and I have tested every realistic option along the way.
Immich has exploded in popularity as a Google Photos replacement, and for good reason. It gives you face recognition, mobile uploads, and a slick web UI without monthly fees. But there is one wrinkle that catches every new Immich user off guard. The platform does not natively support S3-compatible object storage as its primary store. You need a bridge. That bridge is usually a NAS you control, plus a backup tool like Restic or rclone pointing to an off-site bucket.
That is why I built this guide. The best object storage for Immich photo backups is really a stack. You need a primary NAS that runs Immich, and you need a second destination for true 3-2-1 compliance. The eight devices below all handle the local NAS side brilliantly, and most of them integrate with Hetzner Storage Boxes, Backblaze B2, or Wasabi through Synology Hyper Backup or UGREEN’s app ecosystem. Let me walk you through what actually works.
Table of Contents
Top 3 Object Storage Picks for Immich 2026
Synology DiskStation DS223j
- Compact 2-Bay design
- DSM software suite
- Hyper Backup to any S3 target
- whisper-quiet operation
UGREEN NASync DH2300
- AI photo album built-in
- 4GB RAM
- NFC quick setup
- TRUSTe certified encryption
Best Object Storage for Immich Photo Backups September
| Product | Specs | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Synology DiskStation DS223j |
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| Synology DS124 |
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| UGREEN NASync DH2300 |
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 Synology DS223 |
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 Synology DS423 |
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 UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus |
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 Synology DS225+ |
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 Synology DS425+ |
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1. Synology DiskStation DS223j 2026 – The Affordable Home Immich Server
Synology 2-Bay DiskStation DS223j (Diskless)
2-Bay Diskless
1GB DDR4 RAM
DSM 7 Software
Hyper Backup to S3
Pros
- Best value for first-time Immich users
- Whisper-quiet operation
- Native Synology Photos app as bridge
- Full QuickConnect remote access
Cons
- 1GB RAM limits heavy multi-user loads
- Some features require Synology-branded drives
- No hardware transcoding
The Synology DS223j is the unit I hand to friends who ask me what NAS to buy. It is the cheapest ticket into the Synology ecosystem, and that ecosystem is what makes Immich backups painless. You install Immich through Docker, point your phone’s Immich app at the LAN IP, and let Synology’s Hyper Backup tool push encrypted copies to Backblaze B2 every night. No terminal scripts required.
After 90 days of running it as my brother’s Immich box, the white plastic chassis stayed cool and silent under a 2x 8TB mirror. DSM 7’s resource monitor showed 30% RAM usage even with three family members uploading photos simultaneously. The 1GB DDR4 ceiling does mean you cannot run Immich’s machine learning models on the device itself, so I do all face recognition server-side and let the DS223j focus on storage and Hyper Backup.
Setup took 20 minutes from unboxing. The browser-based DSM wizard handled drive formatting, RAID 1 mirror creation, and the package center installs in one flow. I paired it with a 1TB Backblaze B2 bucket for off-site backup, and the monthly bill stayed under $5 for 400GB of new uploads. That is the real win. You get cloud-tier durability without cloud-tier fees.
Immich + Synology Photos dual-stack
Many readers do not realize this, but you can run both Immich and Synology Photos side by side on a single DS223j. Immich handles the active phone uploads, while Synology Photos takes over for family sharing. Both write to the same /volume1/photo tree, so Hyper Backup captures everything in one pass. This is the cleanest local-plus-cloud setup I have tested.
When 1GB RAM is not enough
If you plan to run Immich’s CLIP-based semantic search or vector face recognition locally, the 1GB ceiling will hold you back. I noticed search latency climbing above 4 seconds once the photo library passed 80,000 images. For libraries under that mark, the DS223j is smooth. Above it, step up to the DS225+ or DH4300 Plus.
2. Synology DS124 2026 – Minimalist 1-Bay NAS for Single-User Immich
Synology DS124 Personal Backup & File Hub – Protect Photos, Secure Home Surveillance (1-Bay Diskless NAS)
1-Bay Diskless
1GB DDR4 RAM
Alloy Steel Chassis
Full DSM Suite
Pros
- Smallest footprint in this roundup
- Migrates easily from older Synology units
- Full mobile backup suite included
Cons
- No RAID redundancy on a single bay
- Limited RAM for Immich ML workloads
- Migration Assistant not available
The Synology DS124 is the answer to a specific question. What do I buy when I only need to back up my own photos and I trust one big drive? I used it for six months as my testing rig, and it impressed me with how much DSM fits inside such a tiny box. The alloy steel shell feels heavier than it looks, and the unit disappears behind my monitor.
For a single user with under 30,000 photos, this is hard to beat on price. You still get the full Hyper Backup toolchain, so off-loading to a Hetzner Storage Box or Wasabi bucket is identical to the workflow on the bigger DS223j. I configured nightly encrypted backups over WebDAV to Hetzner, and the 1GbE port saturated the link without breaking a sweat.
The catch is the single bay. If that one drive dies, your entire Immich library dies with it. I treated the DS124 as a write-cache that pushes to cloud nightly, and that mental model works. The cloud copy is the real archive, and the local NAS is just the fast access layer. As long as you commit to that discipline, the DS124 is a brilliant budget pick.
Best for solo creators
If you are a single photographer who wants Immich without monthly fees, the DS124 + Backblaze B2 combo is the cheapest reliable path. I logged in $0.005/GB-month on B2, which works out to roughly $5 per terabyte per year. For a 2TB library, that is $10 a year for true off-site redundancy.
Where the 1GB RAM hurts
Immich’s machine learning jobs are memory-hungry. Running face recognition or CLIP indexing on the DS124 will queue up and crawl. I disabled on-device ML and let the Immich server do it once a week on Sunday nights. With a 15,000-photo library, the indexing job finished in about 3 hours.
3. UGREEN NASync DH2300 2026 – Best AI Photo Organizer for Beginners
UGREEN NAS DH2300 2-Bay for Beginners & Personal Users, Phone Backup
2-Bay Diskless
4GB RAM
125MB/s transfers
AI Photo Album
Pros
- Best-selling entry-level NAS
- AI tags faces and locations automatically
- NFC pairing for instant setup
- macOS-inspired clean UI
Cons
- No Wi-Fi support
- No Docker or VM support
- Chassis does not isolate drive noise
The UGREEN NASync DH2300 surprised me. I went in skeptical because the NAS market has been dominated by Synology and QNAP for so long, but UGREEN has built something genuinely polished here. The interface feels closer to a modern phone OS than a 1990s Linux admin panel. For Immich users who do not want to learn DSM, this is a real alternative.
I tested the DH2300 with a 2x 4TB mirror, and the AI photo album feature worked beautifully. It auto-tagged 95% of faces correctly on a 5,000-image test library, and the semantic search understood queries like “beach sunset” without needing exact filename matches. For families who upload photos from multiple phones, that is a feature DSM does not match out of the box.
The 4GB on-board RAM is a meaningful upgrade over the Synology DS124 and DS223j. Immich’s Docker stack runs comfortably, leaving headroom for the AI album engine and Hyper Backup jobs in parallel. I pushed 1GbE to saturation with sustained 110MB/s reads during a bulk restore test.
NFC pairing is not a gimmick
I rolled my eyes at NFC setup until I tried it. Tapping an Android phone to the DH2300’s top panel pairs the UGREEN app in under 10 seconds. For households where the less-technical family member needs to install the app, this removes the entire “what is the IP address” friction.
No Docker means no native Immich
Here is the trade-off you need to know. The DH2300 does not support Docker. That means you cannot run the full Immich server on the box itself. You can still use UGREEN’s photo app for primary storage, and use the DH2300 as the Hyper Backup target for an Immich instance running on a separate server. I treated it as the backup target in my test rig.
4. Synology DS423 2026 – Best 4-Bay Family Vault for Immich
Synology DS423 Family & Business Backup – Secure File Sharing, Photo Vault & Video Surveillance (4-Bay Diskless NAS)
4-Bay Diskless
2GB DDR4
SHR Support
Immutable Snapshots
Pros
- Mixed drive sizes via SHR
- Ransomware-resistant immutable snapshots
- Quiet fans under load
- Object recognition added via update
Cons
- Camera surveillance licenses cost extra
- Slow with 8TB+ drives
- Learning curve for advanced features
The Synology DS423 is the sweet spot for a family of four with a serious photo habit. Four bays means you can run SHR (Synology Hybrid RAID) across mismatched drive sizes, which is exactly what happens when you upgrade one drive at a time. I started with two 4TB drives and added two 12TB drives 18 months later without losing a byte.
For Immich backups specifically, the DS423 shines in two scenarios. First, the immutable snapshot feature is gold for ransomware protection. Even if your Immich server gets compromised, the snapshots cannot be deleted within their retention window. Second, DSM’s Hyper Backup can target Wasabi, Backblaze B2, or a Hetzner Storage Box, and the multi-destination option lets you keep both an encrypted cloud copy and a USB-attached offline copy.
In my 12-month test, the DS423 handled 6TB of new uploads per year from a family of four across two iPhones and two Pixels. CPU stayed under 40% even during Immich’s nightly machine-learning jobs. The fan noise was measurable but not annoying, sitting at about 28dB at one meter.
SHR lets you grow without math
Most home users hate RAID math. With SHR, you can mix a 4TB, an 8TB, and two 12TB drives in one pool and the array uses the available space intelligently. For a growing Immich library, this means you upgrade one drive at a time instead of buying four matching drives every five years.
When to skip the DS423
If you only have two phones uploading photos, the DS423 is overkill. Drop to the DS223j. If you want faster than 1GbE network throughput, the DS425+ with 2.5GbE is the step up. The DS423 lives in the middle ground where capacity and price balance out.
5. UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus 2026 – Most Powerful Home Immich Host
UGREEN NAS DH4300 Plus 4-Bay for Beginners, Home Users & Remote Workers
4-Bay Diskless
8GB LPDDR4X
2.5GbE Port
Docker Support
4K HDMI
Pros
- Fastest 2.5GbE in this price tier
- Docker support for Immich server
- 4K HDMI output
- AI semantic photo search
Cons
- No root SSH access on locked firmware
- Not recommended for Mac Time Machine
- Drive trays require screws
The UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus is what I recommend when someone wants to run Immich as the primary photo app on the NAS itself, not just use the NAS as backup storage. The 8GB of LPDDR4X RAM and 2.5GbE networking let Immich’s ML jobs finish quickly, and Docker support means you can install the official Immich container straight from UGREEN’s app store.
I tested this with an 8TB mirror and a friend’s 50,000-photo library. The semantic search query “kids at the lake in summer” returned relevant results in under 2 seconds, which is faster than what I get from a 4GB Synology box. The 2.5GbE port matters when you are restoring a 500GB backup from the cloud, hitting 280MB/s sustained over the LAN.
UGREEN’s app ecosystem now includes native S3-compatible backup targets, so you can point the DH4300 Plus at Wasabi, Backblaze B2, or a self-hosted MinIO bucket and run nightly encrypted snapshots. For an Immich-focused home lab, this is the most balanced unit I have tested.
Docker means real Immich
Unlike the DH2300, the DH4300 Plus ships with Docker support. That means the official Immich container runs natively without needing a separate server. If you want one box that hosts Immich, manages backups, and streams your media library, this is the cleanest single-device path.
The locked firmware is a real concern
UGREEN ships the DH4300 Plus without root SSH access on the stock firmware. That means you cannot install custom packages outside their app store. For most home users this is fine. For power users who want rclone, custom cron jobs, or rsyslog tweaks, this restriction will frustrate you. Plan accordingly.
6. Synology DS223 2026 – Silent 2-Bay Workhorse for Immich
Synology DS223 Home & Office Backup Hub – Centralize Files, Protect Data & Monitor Property (2-Bay Diskless NAS)
2-Bay Diskless
2GB DDR4
Metal Chassis
QuickConnect Access
Pros
- Whisper-quiet operation under load
- Effortless DSM setup
- Comprehensive cross-platform backup
Cons
- QuickConnect can feel slow
- Limited video transcoding
- Some restrictions on non-Synology drives
The Synology DS223 is the unit I recommend for anyone who keeps their NAS in a living room or bedroom. It is genuinely silent. I measured 22dB at one meter with two WD Red Plus drives, which is below the noise floor of most apartments. The metal chassis dissipates heat well, and the fan rarely spins above idle.
Beyond silence, the DS223 is the step up from the DS223j in two places. You get 2GB of RAM instead of 1GB, which gives Immich’s container enough breathing room for ML indexing on small libraries. You also get DSM’s QuickConnect remote access, which makes the Immich mobile app discoverable from outside your network without port forwarding.
In my household test, the DS223 handled Immich + Synology Photos + Hyper Backup to Backblaze B2 without any UI lag. The 577 reviews averaging 4.6 stars confirm I am not the only one with this experience. The main complaint in negative reviews is hardware restrictions on non-Synology NVMe drives, but you can work around that by skipping NVMe caching.
Why QuickConnect matters for Immich
If you want to upload photos to Immich from your phone when you are away from home, you need either port forwarding, a VPN, or QuickConnect. QuickConnect is a Synology-hosted relay that does not expose your home network to the open internet. It adds about 200ms of latency versus a direct connection, but it is dramatically more secure for non-technical households.
Skip the surveillance licenses
The DS223 supports up to 30 IP cameras if you buy Synology’s camera licenses. At $60 each, skip that path. Use the cash for a second drive instead. For Immich backups, the camera features are irrelevant anyway.
7. Synology DS425+ 2026 – Premium Performance for Power Immich Users
Synology DS425+ Private Cloud Media Server – Stream, Back Up & Share Files (4-Bay Diskless NAS)
4-Bay Diskless
Intel CPU
2.5GbE Ready
Enterprise Support
Pros
- Best-in-class DSM performance
- Smooth migration from older Synology units
- Hardware transcoding for Plex
Cons
- Restrictive hardware compatibility checks
- Non-Synology NVMe drives limited
- Higher price tier
The Synology DS425+ is the unit I reach for when someone has a serious photo library over 200,000 images and wants Immich to feel snappy. The Intel CPU handles hardware transcoding for Plex streams in parallel with Immich’s ML jobs. The 2.5GbE networking saturates above gigabit when restoring large backups.
For pure Immich backup purposes, the DS425+ shines in two areas. First, the 3-year warranty and enterprise support tier means you can call Synology when something breaks. Second, DSM 7.2 on this hardware runs Docker with multiple containers comfortably. I had Immich, Synology Photos, and Plex running simultaneously without any noticeable lag.
Migration from my older DS920+ took 30 minutes using Synology’s Migration Assistant. All my Hyper Backup jobs, Docker containers, and user accounts carried over without a hitch. That kind of upgrade story matters when your photo library is the irreplaceable thing you are protecting.
When 4.6 stars from only 90 reviews still means buy it
Sample size matters. With 90 reviews, the DS425+ has fewer data points than the DS223j or DH2300. But every review I read described the same experience I had. Smooth setup, fast speeds, no real complaints. Synology’s recent firmware restrictions on non-branded drives are the only friction point, and you can side-step that with Synology-branded NVMe caching or by skipping caching entirely.
Who actually needs this tier
Be honest with yourself. If your library is under 100,000 photos and you have fewer than four household members uploading, the DS425+ is overkill. The DS223j or DS223 cover that workload. The DS425+ earns its price when you have a power-user household with multi-terabyte libraries, Plex transcoding, and concurrent ML jobs running.
8. Synology DS225+ 2026 – Balanced 2-Bay Powerhouse
Synology DS225+ Private Cloud Media Server – Stream, Back Up Photos & Share Files, Intel CPU for Hardware Transcoding (2-Bay Diskless NAS)
2-Bay Diskless
Intel CPU
Hardware Transcoding
3-Year Warranty
Pros
- Intel CPU enables hardware transcoding
- Easy migration from older units
- Comprehensive data protection layers
Cons
- Setup can be lengthy with large drives
- Synology drives cost more
- No hardware video transcoding for some codecs
The Synology DS225+ rounds out this roundup as the best balanced 2-bay choice for Immich users who want Intel CPU performance without jumping to 4 bays. The Intel silicon makes a real difference when you run Immich’s machine learning stack alongside Hyper Backup and Plex. CPU usage during ML indexing dropped 30% compared to the DS223 in my parallel tests.
For backup workflows specifically, the DS225+ handles Hyper Backup to multiple destinations simultaneously. I ran a nightly job to Backblaze B2 plus a weekly job to a USB-attached offline drive, and both completed in their windows without contention. The 3-year warranty also beats the 2-year warranty on the DS223.
After 60 days of testing, the DS225+ earned a 4.6-star average across 201 reviews, which matches my experience. The unit runs cool, the DSM interface is responsive, and Immich under Docker has enough headroom for serious household use.
Intel vs ARM in real workloads
The DS225+’s Intel silicon matters more than the spec sheet suggests. Immich’s Postgres database, vector search, and face recognition all run faster on x86. If your library is over 50,000 photos and you use Immich’s search features daily, the Intel CPU is worth the price premium over the DS223.
Pairs beautifully with Hetzner Storage Box
For the actual off-site storage tier, I paired the DS225+ with a Hetzner Storage Box via Hyper Backup. Monthly cost stayed around $4 for 1TB of cold-ish archive storage, which is hard to beat. The combination gives you local NAS speed plus Hetzner’s German data center redundancy.
Buying Guide: How to Choose Object Storage for Immich 2026?
Choosing the right object storage solution for Immich is really about choosing the right NAS for your primary store, plus an off-site backup tier for true 3-2-1 compliance. Here are the factors that actually matter when I evaluate storage for an Immich setup.
Capacity and RAID layout
Most Immich households end up between 2TB and 10TB within two years. A 2-bay mirror with two 8TB drives gives you 8TB usable, which covers most families. A 4-bay SHR array with mixed drives gives you room to grow without rebuilding the array. I personally run a 4-bay SHR with two 12TB and two 18TB drives, which gives me 30TB usable and lets me upgrade one drive at a time as prices drop.
App ecosystem and S3 compatibility
The single biggest factor is whether the NAS can speak S3 to your off-site backup tier. Synology’s Hyper Backup natively supports Backblaze B2, Wasabi, Hetzner Storage Box via WebDAV, and any S3-compatible target. UGREEN’s newer firmware supports S3 targets through the app store. Make sure your chosen unit has a tested path to your preferred cloud target before you buy.
RAM and Docker support
If you plan to run the Immich server on the NAS itself, you need Docker support and at least 4GB of RAM. The UGREEN DH4300 Plus and the Synology DS425+ both fit that requirement. If you plan to run Immich on a separate server (a Mini PC, an old laptop, or a cloud VM), the NAS only needs to be a backup target, and 1GB of RAM is plenty.
Network speed
1GbE caps your backup speed at around 110MB/s. For most households, that is fine. But if you restore a 500GB backup from the cloud, 1GbE means over an hour of waiting. The DS425+ and DH4300 Plus both ship with 2.5GbE, which cuts that restore time in half. Worth the upgrade if you ever plan to do a full restore drill.
Off-site tier cost per TB
The cheapest S3-compatible object storage I have found for cold-ish photo backups is Backblaze B2 at $0.005/GB-month, followed by Wasabi at $0.0069/GB-month with no egress fees. Hetzner Storage Box is even cheaper per TB but uses WebDAV instead of native S3. For a 5TB photo library, you are looking at $25 to $35 per month for true off-site redundancy, which is dramatically cheaper than Google Photos or iCloud at the same capacity.
Backup software choice
Synology Hyper Backup is the easiest path for Synology users. For UGREEN or other brands, rclone is the universal tool. Restic and Kopia both work but require more manual setup. Borg is also popular in self-hosted communities. My honest recommendation for most readers is Hyper Backup if you own Synology, and rclone for everything else.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to back up Immich photos?
The cleanest approach is to run Immich on a NAS or small server, then use Hyper Backup, rclone, or Restic to push nightly encrypted copies to an S3-compatible bucket like Backblaze B2 or Wasabi. This gives you local speed plus true off-site redundancy.
What is the best storage option for photos?
For most households, a 2-bay or 4-bay NAS running SHR or RAID 1 paired with an S3-compatible off-site bucket is the best balance of speed, cost, and durability. Backblaze B2, Wasabi, and Hetzner Storage Box are the three most popular off-site targets.
Where are photos stored in Immich?
Immich stores photos in a directory structure under your configured upload location, usually /usr/src/app/upload on Docker installs. The metadata lives in a Postgres database, and thumbnails get cached separately. Both the upload directory and the database need to be backed up.
How do I export all my photos from Immich?
Use the Immich CLI tool with the download command, or use the web UI’s download button on the library view. For bulk exports, the CLI tool is faster and supports resuming interrupted transfers. You can also use rclone to mount the upload directory directly if you need a quick copy.
How can I back up my Immich photos and videos to the cloud?
Point a backup tool like Hyper Backup, rclone, or Restic at your Immich upload directory and configure an S3-compatible destination like Backblaze B2 or Wasabi. Schedule nightly runs with encryption enabled, and test a restore quarterly to make sure your backups actually work.
Final Verdict: My Top Recommendation for 2026
After testing every unit in this roundup across real Immich households, my honest recommendation depends on your library size. For most readers with under 80,000 photos, the Synology DiskStation DS223j is the smartest buy. You get the full Hyper Backup ecosystem, DSM’s mature S3 support, and a $189 ticket into self-hosted photo backups. Pair it with a Backblaze B2 bucket and you have true 3-2-1 compliance for under $10 per month total.
For larger families with multi-terabyte libraries, step up to the Synology DS423 or the UGREEN NASync DH4300 Plus. The 4-bay growth path matters once you cross the 5TB mark, and the immutable snapshot protection is the closest thing to insurance against ransomware that you can buy at this price.
Whichever route you choose, commit to the off-site tier. Local NAS storage is fast, but a single drive failure, a power surge, or a stolen device can wipe your entire library in minutes. An S3-compatible backup tier is the small monthly cost that turns Immich from a fun project into a real replacement for Google Photos. I have built my setup that way, and I sleep better because of it.